English
In today's modern world, everybody is in a rush: some hurry to build a career. Someone else out there is starting a family. Others are learning seven foreign languages and moving to the country of their dreams.
Of course, everyone has goals, dreams, and ambitions - and that's great! However, suppose you want to achieve your goals quickly and effectively so that your efforts can bring you real happiness. In that case, you need the skill of mindfulness.
Today it's a massive trend! Mindfulness helps people find the balance between their frantic pace of life and their aspirations. The movement itself is called mindfulness. There is a good reason that increasingly more online courses are dedicated to it. It's not just about "mindful eating" or "mindful parenting," but also about using mindful behaviour throughout your whole life. It's only through awareness of this skill that you can sensibly plan your time, give one hundred percent at work, and the most crucial thing is to enjoy the moment without dwelling on the past or the future. So how can you develop it? And what precisely does the skill of mindfulness involve?
What is mindfulness, and why do we need it?
First of all, mindfulness is the ability to be in the current moment, without being distracted by unnecessary thoughts and without distorting reality. So, the skill of mindfulness allows you to:
- Realistically perceive what is going on around you. Individuals who practice mindful behavior do not amplify their problems with anxiety and stress but rapidly find a solution.
- Work more productively. Having a better level of concentration and, consequently, the quality of their work increases. Spending less time on "time-wasters" like social media, and work will be completed quicker.
- Manage your emotions. Mindfulness practice includes emotional intelligence - the ability to follow your feelings, control them, and stop them.
- Enjoy every day. It sounds cliched, but isn't feeling happy about appreciating the moment? The fast pace of our lives forces us to think about the future while living in the present. Consequently, without having these skills, we miss many opportunities and even suffer from emotional burnout.
Currently, there are many terrific books about mindfulness from famous psychologists, philosophers, and coaches like Mark Williams, Danny Penman, Richard Moss, Eckhart Tolle, and many others. However, with Lectera, you can also develop the skill of mindfulness - to help you with this, we have developed the course "Awareness Is a Lifestyle. The Path to Your Own Happiness" where you will receive the best meditation and concentration techniques, discover how to manage your emotions and turn mindfulness into a daily habit.
Six techniques for developing mindfulness
Whatever technique you use to develop mindfulness must be repeated regularly for 3-4 months. The reason for this is that mindfulness tends to "switch off," especially if your job includes a high- paced stressful lifestyle. If this occurs, it can then stifle your new habit of living mindfully, so it must be activated over and over again until it takes hold.
Technique one. Alarm clock
To turn mindfulness into daily practice, then make a habit of setting your alarm clock regularly. Set it every hour. Do you think it will be distracting? No! This helps you to feel the flow of time and rather than get lost in it. This technique is particularly useful if you are the type of person who continually exclaims: "Is it already evening?!" Knowing the clock is ticking can be highly motivating.
Whenever the alarm clock rings, put your work aside and go to your window. What's changed on your street since the last time you looked out? What is the weather like now? What kind of cars and people are around? What sounds can you hear outside? Do this for about three to five minutes, and then return to your work.
Technique two. The balance wheel
Using this method, you can assess your current level of awareness and analyze the condition of different areas of your life. To do this, draw a circle and divide it into eight sections (like splitting a pie into pieces). Use the following titles for each section:
- Money
- Career/business
- Personal growth
- Hobbies and entertainment
- Spirituality
- Private life (love) and family
- Friends
- Health and sports
Fill all sections using distinct colors, depending on how successful you think you are in each area. For example, if you devote a lot of time and resources to an area where you are successful and are happy with everything about it - color in even more of it, even all of it (and vice versa). Then compare the different sections: which one has the most color and what is empty? In which areas do you have an imbalance? Why? Write down the answers!
The course "Create Yourself anew: How to Learn to Enjoy Life" will help you decide about making changes and discover how to find a balance between your career and your personal life, to enjoy every area of your life, and set priorities.
Technique three. Dear Diary
This is a fairly common, simple, and effective practice: it is essential to regularly describe events that happened to you during the day and the feelings that occurred. However, you don't have to analyze what you describe - you simply discover how to keep track of your life circumstances and emotions and notice them during the day to enter them into your diary in the evening.
Don't forget to ask yourself at the end of each day:
- What good things happened today? How did it make me feel?
- What was a bad thing that happened today? How did it make me feel?
- What did I do well today?
- What am I grateful for today?
- What conclusions have I come to about my day?
Technique four. Breathing
"In any demanding situation, start breathing deeply!" Better still, notice how you breathe. You can do this even while walking on the subway or right in your workplace. Just allow yourself to observe your breathing for a moment and think:
- What is the temperature of the air I am breathing? Is it cold or hot?
- Do I make any sounds when I breathe?
- Do I breathe from my chest or belly? What if I try it the other way around?
- How do I feel when I inhale? And on the exhale?
- How long are my inhalations and exhalations?
Special mobile apps can help you control your breathing, such as the Breath Ball, which can even relieve anxiety and stress.
Technique five. Ambidextrous
If you're right-handed, try typing or holding a fork with only your left hand - and the other way around. Develop both arms. It will make our brains activate and eventually "switch it on" to the present moment. Since we most frequently live our lives according to learned patterns, we do not even think about eating or writing. A new practice that disrupts the normal process shakes our consciousness and brings it back into the moment.
Technique six. Slow-motion
Attempt to slow down dramatically. For example, walk slowly from your office to another office, eat and chew your food, type slowly, etc. Do not rush to answer your colleagues and think, be quiet immediately. In a nutshell, make yourself slow down instead of acting at your usual frantic pace.
Mindfulness is the first step towards having a successful and happy life. Together with its help, even routines stop feeling like that. Your work will be even more pleasurable and productive. Time will no longer slip through your fingers, and your emotions will always be stable and under your control. However, suppose you want to increase your mindfulness fully and boost it as quickly as possible. In that case, the course "Awareness Is a Lifestyle. The Path to Your Own Happiness". Would be perfect for you! Here you will discover the best techniques from our international experts, and real-life changing opportunities await you!
