Six ways to make 2015 a mindful year

Practising mindfulness - or practising mindfulness more often - is an aspiration many people will have for 2015. To make it happen, try these six tips:

1. Don't start with long meditations.
It's good to sit and observe your breathing mindfully for 20 minutes a day - but most people give up after a few days. Instead, find short practices that help to bring you into mindfulness many times a day. The best mindfulness practices are the ones you will actually do - not the ones you "ought" to do.

2. Remind yourself often: Return. Invite silence.
A useful working definition of mindfulness could be: Returning your attention again and again with acceptance to what's going on outside your head right now. What's going on outside your head could be your breath, the feeling of your feet against the ground, sounds, a conversation you're having and so on. Acceptance means postponing judgement for at least a while. We usually judge through statements of condemnation or approval that we make to ourselves in our heads. So you could think of acceptance as inviting silence into your mind for a while. So, Return. Invite silence.

3. At the start of every day, form the intention to be mindful.
Form the intention before your feet touch the floor when you get up in the morning. This could be a simple as telling yourself, "I intend to be mindful today." Far better than grumbling on the way out of the bed!

4. Return to awareness of your breathing for a least a minute whenever you notice an hour has passed.
It is said that mindfulness is easy to do but hard to remember to do. Most of us are surrounded by reminders of the time, so resolve that whenever you notice an hour has passed you will come into awareness of your breathing for at least a minute. You don't have to be exact: just guess it. Your mind will drift even during that short time so bring your attention back without complaint or self-criticism.

5. Build mindfulness reminders into your day.
To do this, choose one or two routine activities which you normally do with little awareness of the moment. Let them remind you to be mindful and do them in awarenness. Examples: Brushing your teeth, boiling the kettle, starting the car, entering passwords, washing your hands, washing dishes, preparing food, eating, moving from room to room, showering, opening your door on the way to/from work.

6. Use a free mindfulness resource.
You'll find many free mindfulness resources on the internet. Thousands of people receive a brief daily mindfulness reminder in their email from myself. It's called The Daily Bell, even though it doesn't actually ring, and you'll find a sign-up box on the front page of this blog or on my website at www.padraigomorain.com You can also email me at pomorain@gmx.com and ask me to sign you up.

For more ideas try these posts on this blog:
A mindfulness routine
Morning grouch? Try a mindfulness routine
Mindful walking from The Irish Times

Click for my free audios/resources and my courses. 

Seven ways to make 2016 a mindful year

If practising mindfulness is in your plans for 2016, these seven tips will help:

1. Choose a short mindfulness practice you can use every day or several times a day.
For instance, notice the sensation of your breath at your nostrils for the length of three in-breaths and three out-breaths. Even in this short space of time, your attention will drift; bring it back to your breath calmly and without self-criticism.

2. Try a little acceptance at the start of the day.
Mindfulness has two major aspects: returning your attention from mind-wandering to the present moment; and practising acceptance. Briefly look over what you are going to have to do today and accept it. This could include an annoying task or an unpleasant meeting or any of the other challenges in our day. Just accept it. Try to do this at a set time, for instance before you get out of bed in the morning, having breakfast, waiting for a train or tram and so on.

3. Make a "no problem solving" period part of every day.
We have an addiction to mulling over problems and this exiles us from the present moment. Set a short period every day during which you promise not to solve a single problem in your life! During that time you will find it much easier to be present and mindful. Good times for this? During meals, when commuting or tidying for instance.

4. Find your anchor point.
The "anchor point" is a practice or sensation that anchors you to mindfulness and helps you come back when you find yourself wandering off in your mind. Examples are: the sensation of your breath against your nostrils; the feeling of your feet against the floor, ground, or against the soles of your shoes; or the use of a silent word such as "returning."

5. Do a body scan when you wake up at night.
When you wake up at night it's all too easy to drift into worries or regrets. Instead, bring your attention to your body from your toes to the top of your head, in stages (for instance toes, feet, calves etc). Rest your attention on each area for the length of three in-breaths and out-breaths. When you find your mind has drifted, come back to wherever you had reached. Doing this mindfulness practice is far more restful than worrying about being awake - and it might even send you back to sleep!

6. Use a free mindfulness resource. 
If you're on Facebook, join my mindfulness group for a simple, unobtrusive way to remind yourself to be mindful during the year. Enter the name of the forum (Padraig O'Morain's Mindfulness Forum) in your Facebook search box. It's a closed group but if you click "join group" I'll add you. Thousands of people receive a brief daily mindfulness reminder in their email from myself. It's called The Daily Bell and you'll find a sign-up box on this blog.

7. Eat with awareness
Be aware that you are eating while you are eating. Pay attention to taste and texture and to the sensation of fullness. If you don't already eat mindfully you will be surprised at how much of our eating is "mindless".  One way to practise mindful eating is to choose to be aware of your food for the first minute of every meal. This will then expand into a more general mindful eating practice.

Related: Six ways to make 2015 a mindful year


Click for my free audios/resources and my courses.