How to find your mindfulness | Psyche Guides

Mindfulness is the act of being aware of our present experience in real-time.

Normally people start processing inside their minds what they experience, creating perceptions. At its core, mindfulness puts our attention towards the present moment, with kindness, empathy and interest. This continuous act of being in the present moment with interest is called ‘simple knowing’.

Mindfulness can be practised to:

1. Manage pain, anxiety, stress, or mood swings.
2. Provide the body and mind an oasis of calm in between a hectic lifestyle
3. Reduce suffering, distress and trauma caused by pain and depression, along with the negative emotions that come with life-threatening diseases.

Mindfulness opens up a space inside our minds that helps us respond to outside situations with ease, instead of just reacting impulsively.

We become aware and are able to detect our default setting, which is our ‘driven-doing mind’, and catch hold of it before any impulsive reaction is acted upon. It also helps us arrest our cycle of negative thoughts.

Stop the rush of the mind from planning the day and simply take some slow, deep breaths.

While falling asleep at night, set an intention to ‘see’ the morning experience as soon as you wake up. As soon as you realize you are awake, notice the smells and sounds of the morning, checking up your mind, body, breath and energy levels. Do not rush towards the smartphone.

Mindfulness can be applied to any task, by paying your full attention and gentle interest.

Even the taste of your breakfast will be different if you pause and savour it. You can also pay attention to your body sensations, moods, thoughts as the day goes by.

Mindfulness is more difficult than it sounds as our attention is gone in a few seconds from our intended focus point.

Take note of your daily habits and stuff you do without thinking, like checking your phone notifications, or washing your hands, and plant ‘cues’ in them to be mindful. Feeling the sun on your skin, adjusting your posture, or relishing your coffee are all acts of mindfulness.

Mindfulness may make you mistakenly assume that you are having lots of negative thoughts, but the reality is that now you are more aware and attentive to your thoughts and are able to register them.

Mindfulness can require some resilience, as you may be tempted to go back to being in a perpetual mind-sleep again when you are not completely conscious of yourself.

The DO-IT formula makes us take any task, like eating a meal, going for a walk, or being with friends and family as a mindfulness practice:

• D: Directing oneself to be attentive.
• O: Observing the experience.
• I: Investigating one’s responses and reactions.
• T: Trying again.

To help stabilize your attention and set you up on a higher frequency, you can start a formal meditation practice, setting aside just 10 minutes in the beginning:

• Adjust your body towards an alert and upright position.
• Close your eyes or lower your gaze, allowing you to concentrate.
• Bring your kind-hearted attention to the next few moments, being aware of the sensory experiences like touch, sound, sight, and smell.

• As your mind starts to wander or gets distracted, and random thoughts related to the regrets, dreams and worries about the past or the future begin to flash before you, try to observe them neutrally as passing thoughts, without clinging to them.
• Do not resist, chase or pull away from your chain of thoughts, and try to recognize your moment-to-moment awareness.
• Apart from thoughts, you may find certain changes in the mood or other feelings bubbling up on the surface for you to explore.
• Be aware of the rhythmic breath of your body, from the tip of your nose to your chest/belly.
• Focus on any sensations that occur on your feet, legs or hands.