~ take a breath ~
You can be mindful with every step you take on your way to work, whilst doing the dishes or even in conversation there is an opportunity to be mindful. Being present with yourself helps turn the mundane into meditation.
Take the Japanese concept of the Zen garden (枯山水, karesansui) a simple task of raking to create ripples in the sand. An ancient Buddhist technique they have used to bring stillness, contemplation, and mindfulness into their life. What starts out to be what seems like a mundane project (raking the sand) turns out to be a fruitful exercise to help grow contentment in the life you live.
We can constantly find things in our lives to help us be more mindful, the skill of mindfulness, although very straightforward, can become incredibly powerful and deepening when you harness the full power of its ability… of YOUR ability. A common practice to control one’s mind is meditation. Meditation is one of the best and most accessible ways to begin practising mindfulness, it’s a great way to help reduce stress & muscle tension, improve overall wellbeing, set intentions, and empower yourself with complete clarity. It’s a lack of clarity that creates chaos and frustration in the mind and without clarity, we lose attention and our attention to the present moment is where we can find our happiness.
~ “A human mind is a wandering mind and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind” ~
- Sam Harris
Mindfulness will soon become an undertone of your everyday life. Maybe you’ll find yourself driving down the street and get cut off by an aggressive driver all of the sudden, a usual reaction might have been to let your emotions get the better of you and burst out in a bottle of fury. Now, maybe you will access the situation more mindfully, be present, relax, and contemplate the other driver’s actions. You are only responsible for your own actions. When acting be mindful of others and be mindful of yourself. When mindful, life becomes a beautiful space to effortlessly approach every step we take.
