WHY YSK- Many people practice mindfulness and meditation as part of their lives, and some would like to but feel like they don’t have time to sit down and meditate properly. Once you’ve gotten used to doing it as a part of your daily activities, it becomes easy to simply take a few breaths and gain some peace from your everyday existence. You don’t need to wait for a time when you can sit and clear your mind completely. It’s a nice bonus, but not necessary for living a mindful life.
Can you provide more details about what you call mindfullnes and how you combine it with different activities, please.
Mindfulness for me, now, is to be aware of myself and my surroundings. It started with meditation during a one year chronic pain remedy program, and helped with learning to deal with all the noise that comes up (pain, stress, intrusive thoughts). To not ignore them, but to observe them. Detach myself somewhat and just “look” at it. This helped me to eventually do this during monotonous activities: brushing my teeth, doing dishes, combing cats, vacuuming, even emptying litter boxes. Then to external activities where I am observing the things outside and inside me: waiting in line, sitting on the bus, hiking, drinking tea at a café.
When I exit the state I feel a bit more refreshed. If I need more, and have the ability, I will go and sit in my favourite spot and meditate deeper.
This is where I struggle to understand mindfulness. Doing dishes, detach yourself and look at it, sounds like doing dishes on an autopilot and thinking about your feeling, but this is not be aware of surroundings.
Could you dive/explain deeper in this using this example: what does it mean to me mindfulness doing dishes: what do you think about during this etc. Thank you!
i think the simplest way to look at is that, while you’re doing dishes, you clear your mind and just think: “i’m washing this dish”… instead of letting your mind sort of entertain itself with all the thoughts that want to take your attention away from the dishes… thoughts that might make you anxious or sad or something that dishes obviously wouldn’t… if you’re thinking about that argument you had while you’re doing dishes, you don’t really have your mind on that bowl in your hand… poor bowl… :(
basically just trying to give yourself a break from mentally being “somewhere else”
Strangely enough, it all clicked once you personified the bowl! It is what matters in that small moment, no matter how insignificant it may seem to be.
that’s super cool to hear, putting that emotion on the end did the same thing for me as i wrote it… thanks for sharing!