Mindfulness is number two in my meditation series. Be sure to watch them in order so you’ll know what I’m talking about and I won’t have to repeat myself.
Mindfulness is a particular type of meditation where we’re learning to just “be” in the present moment. That’s the gist of it.
The way you do it is to trust yourself. Observe and stay quiet. What you’re trying to do is be present to this ongoing moment of presence.
Mindfulness is taking meditation and having the intention to extend it out into the rest of your life. Because what is the use of being mindful for five minutes and then going back into forgetfulness? What you’re wanting to do in a mindfulness practice is keep the idea of being present as a baseline for your day.
Listening is in the moment
So again, it just sit quietly. Being in the moment.
You will notice in our last meditation session where you were simply listening to your mind, that I never mentioned being in the moment. But when you were listening to yourself, you were naturally in the moment.
Maybe your mind was thinking about something in the past. Maybe you drifted away into planning something in the future. But the listening itself was happening in the moment. So the number one thing to know about mindfulness is that you literally cannot get out of the moment. It’s like gravity. You cannot jump your way off the earth. Gravity is always there. It always keeps you down on the planet.
Mindfulness is exactly the same thing. No matter what your mind is doing. You’re in the present moment. The more often you can remember that, the more mindful you will be.
The baseline
So use this as your baseline for meditation. Continue along with what we did in the first video. Set a timer for five minutes and just sit still. If five minutes starts becoming easy, set it for more. Increasing it is always good.
It would be really good to meditate for at least 15 minutes a day. The optimum is an hour or so. Try to have that be your goal. I know we’re so busy that it may not fit into your life. Five minutes will be very beneficial, so don’t worry about it if you can’t squeeze in more than that. If you’re at five minutes and doing it regularly, good for you. Keep doing it.
Bringing it into your life
Mindfulness is an intention. Keep that as a thought of what we’re already doing. It’s not a difficult thing. Sit still. Pay attention to yourself. Pay attention to your mind now.
What you’ll find happening is that as you practice regularly the mind will naturally relax. Every time that happens call it a win.
You’ll notice that I didn’t say to try to relax the mind. Just sit still and if you relax than mind will naturally relax. You’ll notice during your five minutes that your heartbeat will slow down. Your breath will slow down. Your thoughts will slow down.
So we’re simply looking for a nice state of relaxation. Every time you are aware of yourself call it a win. As you do that you will become more and more mindful as you move through your day.