Worry to spare, inability to relax, and a flurry of thoughts invade each of us. It is important to learn to enjoy the moment without dwelling on problems. How to start living mindfully and consciously? Read the article to find out!
Mindfulness is a step towards a conscious perception of reality. A meditation that will quiet your mind and make you start to live more in the moment. To achieve this, regular practice and patience are essential. Listening to your body will become an integral part of every day.
For meditation to give you more and more benefits, you need to start practicing it. This includes mindfulness training, such as sitting with your eyes closed, learning to breathe evenly, and allowing thoughts to arise.
Meditation is not a way to achieve another state of consciousness, but to listen to yourself and understand the emotions that arise within you.
Mindfulness exercises are varied and all are based on directing your attention to particular things. You can try them at any time, just start directing all of your attention to each thing you do, such as taking a shower, walking the dog, driving the car, or eating a meal.
One of the more popular exercises for improving your mindfulness is the raisin exercise. The idea is to eat a raisin with every sense fully engaged. It may seem strange to you, but if you try to do it, you will understand what it is all about
Take a raisin and engage your sense of sight. Look at it carefully from all sides. Feel its weight in your hand, check the color of its skin. Can you crush it? Try looking at it from different angles. Notice its texture, how it looks against the sun. Try putting it slowly on your tongue, see how it tastes. Only later bite it to see if it has changed in taste. Suck on it for a while, crush it into pieces, control the way it behaves in your mouth. Do everything with great attention and concentration.
Meditation is not about doing all of the exercises at a certain pace. The most important thing is to engage all your senses in every activity you do. It is about being in the here and now, in control of your behavior.
Another exercise for mindfulness can be called walking meditation. It involves taking steps very slowly, with special attention to how the rest of your body is behaving. Just like with the raisin exercise, feel every muscle, every tense. Maybe something hurts? Think about that pain and try to locate it. If you are walking on carpet, feel its texture and material
Meditation helps in developing our mind. It increases levels of creativity and confidence, helps with sleep and reduces stress. The amount of stimuli we receive throughout the day is surprisingly high. Living in a constant rush, we don’t have a moment to rest and we easily pile up our problems. Just 15 minutes a day is enough to notice the first effects. Exercises will certainly improve your memory, concentration and improve your mood during the day! Besides, you will become a more patient person and your self-control will increase dramatically.
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