Mindfulness for Beginners: 7 Practical Tips For How You Can Be More Mindful In Your Everyday Life

Mindfulness has been around for thousands of years. However, as of late, it's popularity in the Western world has skyrocketed.

It has become a form of medicine in order to cope with the ever-changing, fast-paced world that we live in. As our lives get busier and more stressful, people are retaliating against their 24/7 lifestyle to one that is more self-aware and focused on the present moment.

Mindfulness isn't just a practice. It has become a movement. Every business leader, celebrity, and religious follower alike practices it. Experts say that mindfulness offers a rest for the brain, increased productivity, and the ability to turn off the unfulfilling autopilot of the daily grind.

Are you ready to learn 7 practical tips for how you can be more mindful in your everyday life?

In the video below I talk about why you should meditate every day:

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The promise to achieve a more relaxed state of mind has created a strong following of believers, inspiring everyone from university students to business executives to adopt a mindfulness practice. However, it's important to understand that mindfulness isn't a pill that cures all of your problems. Rather, it's a new way of seeing the world that takes time, patience and commitment.

What is mindfulness?

In his mindfulness book, Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness, Dr. John Kabat-Zinn, founder of the American mindfulness movement, offers one of the most widely-used definitions of mindfulness as “the awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.”

If you are new to the world of mindfulness it's important to understand what it is not before you dive into this practice and make it a way of life.

Mindfulness is a way of life. It's not merely a mindfulness meditation that you practice for 5 minutes every day. As mindfulness has increased in its popularity it has brought to the forefront a lot of critics and naysayers. One of the biggest contradictions of mindfulness training is that sitting in silence and thinking about nothing is the answer. However, it's not only an internal practice. The real magic occurs when this skill is shared with others.

Reseach shows that more mindful leaders make for happier employees, which is one of the many reasons why mindfulness training has become such a popular movement. The line of thinking is that if a leader cultivates mindful traits then that will positively influence and bring out the best in his/her employees and the overall work culture.

When the mindfulness came onto the scene and started to gain in popularity, I had an overall idea of what it meant. However, it wasn't until I started to do research that I learned why it is such a powerful tool. My mindfulness journey began with a simple meditation practice. I would meditate in the mornings before I started my crazy work day.

I've got to be honest. I didn't see the value of meditation at first because I wasn't able to connect with it on an emotional level.

However, once I forced myself to meditate on a consistent basis, I started to notice the benefits that it was having on my emotional, mental and spiritual state. The rest is history. Here's the thing… the words “mindfulness” and “meditation” are used interchangeably but they aren't the same thing. Both mediums give you the tools so that you are able to be present and access the inner calm that already resides inside of you.

However, mindfulness is about having an awareness of your outer world, whereas meditation is focused on accessing your inner world.

In the world today, we are taught to become obsessed with multitasking. As a result, we don't ever fully focus on anything at all. As someone with an insanely busy life, mindfulness for me means mastering my mind and emotions so that there is no room for my limiting beliefs to run wild. It means living more in the present moment and not looking too far ahead of myself. By practicing mindfulness, I am actively aware of what I am doing while I am doing it, instead of operating on autopilot.

Here are 7 practical tips for how you can be more mindful in your everyday life.

1. Be Grateful

When you wake up in the morning what is the first thing that you think about? Your to-do list or what you are grateful for? A lot of people start their day doing the former. As a result, they drop into a reactive state and feel stressed and anxious about what's to come.

When we adopt an attitude of gratitude we drop into a present state of awareness and give thanks for our lives and the people in it. Mindfulness is the avenue that allows us to do so. It's easy to take life for granted until we are faced with an experience that reminds us how lucky we are to be alive. This is why many people who are near death start living every day as if it were their last.

Gratitude has helped me get through some of the most difficult times in my life. No matter how hard life may be, there is always something to be grateful for. Tap into what that is for you and give thanks every single day. When you do, your life will transform.

2. Tune Into Your Senses

Most of the time, we live in our heads. Can you relate? We are either thinking too much about the past or the future, neither of which we have any control over. Unfortunately, our head is where our inner critic likes to roam wild.

Being in the present moment is all about dropping out of your head and into your heart. One of the easiest ways to connect with your body, which is your true intelligence, is to engage all of your senses. It shifts our attention away from our worries and towards the experience of being in our bodies.

Your senses serve as your mind's authentic inner compass. When the world gets hectic and you lose your center, access the parts of yourselves that you don't usually connect with – the beat of your heart, the touch of your skin, and the sound of your breath.

3. Connect With Nature

For a lot of people, the only time that they spend in nature is when they walk or run from their house to their car. In our busy, 24/7 world filled with never-ending responsibilities, it makes sense why we've lost touch with the natural world. In the words of William Wordsworth, “The world is too much with us; late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.”

Consciously taking the time to connect with nature helps us stay in the present moment and have an awareness of all of the beauty that exists in the world. It makes us realize that there is more to life than just work. The stress of an environment that makes us feel anxious and burnt out wreaks havoc on our mental and emotional well-being.

Switch it up and put yourself in an environment that calms your mind. Be a kid again and enjoy nature's beauty. Get your feet dirty, breathe in the fresh air, look up to the sky. It's all about creating more space for you.

Numerous studies have shown that spending time in nature can boost your immune system, relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety, improve concentration and creativity, relieve stress, and improve your memory. It doesn't only feel good to be in nature, it's also good for your health.

4. Observe Your Thoughts

When people think of mindfulness they think that it means controlling or stopping your thoughts altogether. Adopting this mode of thinking only results in extreme frustration and a desire to give up on mindfulness. I hate to break it to you but trying NOT to think of something actually makes it more likely that you will.

Thoughts come and go. It is our job to watch and observe them, instead of getting attached to them. All that matters is how you respond to the world around you. The reality is that we don't have any control over our external world. All that we have control over is our inner world. How will you respond to life's challenges? Let life move through you instead of resisting it. That is what allows us to think less and live more mindfully.

5. Practice Deep Breathing

Many people don't even know how to breathe properly. They breathe shallowly because their bodies are in a constant state of stress. Practicing deep breathing helps to quiet your thoughts because the very nature of focusing on your breath requires deep concentration and a focus on the present moment.

When you inhale, start to become more aware of what is happening in your body. As you exhale, consciously let go of the things that don't serve your highest self. To breathe is to live, so do it well. I am a firm believer that learning how to breathe properly is one of the most effective ways to relieve stress and find peace from the craziness that life brings with it.

6. Write In Your Journal

I believe that journaling is one of the most powerful ways to bring you into a state of mindfulness, thereby increasing your self-awareness. It is your time to be present with your thoughts and reflect upon what is important to you. In this mental place, anxieties lose their power. Your mind stops wandering and you become an active observer of your thoughts instead of feeling out of control.

For the past two years, as part of my morning ritual, I've been engaging in an exercise using something called, The Five Minute Journal. This is a journal that inspires you to start and end each day with gratitude. This has been the secret weapon that has allowed me to be more mindful so that I can live from a place of intention every single day.

In her book The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron invites readers to begin each day with what she calls “Morning Pages.” She explains that “Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, a stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages – they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind – and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand.”

7. Embrace Minimalism

When we live simply we only focus on things that matter most, encouraging us to return our attention to the present moment. By embracing minimalism, we declutter our inner and outer world, which creates more space for us to become more mindful.

Instead of being obsessed with the final outcome, the focus is placed on the journey of living. When we adopt this mindset, a simple life becomes the only one that makes sense.

Practicing mindfulness can change your life.

The world will continue to change and move at an ever-rapid pace. Mindfulness gives us the opportunity to be present with ourselves and find stillness amidst the chaos, no matter what is going on in our external world. In this place, we find an inner calm that transcends time and space.

Mindful living is something that you can start practicing today. Don't try too hard or overthink what it looks like. Instead, just focus on paying as much attention as you can to what is happening in the here and now.

How can you bring more mindfulness into your world? In the words of Sharon Saltzberg, “Mindfulness isn't difficult. We just have to remember to do it.”