Mindfulness is an incredible skill that can benefit your quality of life. However, becoming mindful on a daily basis can take time and practice. It is common that many of us are living our lives mindlessly and going through our daily emotions and activities without really taking the time out to actually go through them and live in the moment.

Staying in the present and enjoying the moment or even just working through a difficult moment takes courage, practice and training. It is essential to train your mind to become conscious of your activities and thoughts and become conscious of staying present instead of going through the motions mindlessly. There are many activities you can incorporate into your life to become more mindful and conscious so you can lead a healthier and mindful life.

Practice Gratitude

This life changing act can help you in many ways. Practicing gratitude is a simple act of taking a couple minutes out of your day to ponder, speak, or write out what you are grateful for. Doing this can increase happiness in your life while also allowing yourself to see the positive things in your life that you may not have noticed before.

Mindful Breathing

Mindful breathing exercises is an exercise that is suitable for anyone. This exercise can be practiced anywhere and at any time that is convenient for you. In this exercise you will want to shift your focus to your breath. As you shift your focus to your breath, you will begin to notice your breath and how it feels. How deep are you breathing and how does it feel in your lungs? Here is a great 5-minute mindfulness breathing exercise that you can do anywhere and anytime 5 Minute Meditation ~ Breathe & Relax ~ Mindful Meditation – YouTube

Body Scan

Checking in with yourselves throughout the day to take notice of how you are feeling as well as your body is essential to developing mindfulness. When you take time out to do a body scan you are able to tune out distractions and tune into what is going on inside. This simple act can help you to release tension and increase mindfulness throughout the day where you will likely realize when your body does not feel right and what to do about it. Here is a quick 3-minute video on how to do a body scan meditation 3 Minutes Body Scan Meditation – Mindfulness For Kids And Adults – YouTube

Mindful Eating

Mindful eating requires a time just with you and your food. In this exercise you are focusing on the moment of when you are eating and taking time out to be present with the food of choice and how it feels when we eat that meal. Most of the time we are being distracted when eating such as, reading, watching YouTube or Tv. However, eating more mindfully can increase your quality of life by allowing your body to digest your food better which helps increase your digestive health.

Active Listening

Active listening is the act of focusing on what the message of the sender is trying to send. Most of the time we are focused on trying to think of a response when others are speaking to us. Practicing active listening is putting your full attention on the other individual and truly hearing the message they are trying to convey.

These activities will be able to increase your self-awareness and help aid you in becoming more mindful. With this skill, you will be able to change negative habits into positive ones as you are more aware of them. To help assist your progress in becoming more mindful, here are some mindful questions you can ask yourself.