Our daily lives are often filled with a constant stream of activity, and even the moments when we’re not doing much are still noisy with chattering minds or social media! This often leads to us missing what’s going on within ourselves. Our minds and bodies become exhausted and we end up stressed, burnt out or ill. We may find that our emotional state hits bursting point and before we know it we’re swept into reactive behavioural patterns where everything we touch seems to go wrong! Without mindfulness we think the whole world is against us – when actually it just reflecting back our inner state! So to minimise this pattern try this incredibly useful tool – the Mindful Check-in…
Mindful Check-ins can be done anytime, anywhere and only take a few minutes – like any practice, the more you do it the more beneficial it is. Here is some basic pointers to get you started…
- Stop (it’s easier than you think – and sometimes it happens for you, for example – waiting for a train, in a queue, making a coffee/tea)
- Breathe – Take a slow conscious breath, in and out, and just observe it, feel it; relax your shoulders and soften your stomach
- Notice – Where am I now? Is my mind noisy or quiet? Feel your feet on the ground
- Feel – How am I feeling? What physical sensations can I feel in my body? Acknowledge what you feel without judgement
- Be here – What’s real right now? Simply observe yourself in this moment
- Breathe – Spend a few moments observing your breath again
After you’ve mindfully checked-in you can shift your attention back to the tasks at hand, taking the mindful awareness you’ve cultivated into your activities and interactions.
Regularly checking in gives us room to notice how our thoughts affect our emotional state and can often put things in perspective when we find ourselves in challenging situations.
When you can, try a longer check-in…
Here’s some pointers to take you a bit deeper:
- Stop
- Breathe – Take several slow conscious breaths, spend a minute observing and experiencing your breath
- Notice – Is my mind noisy or quiet? Feel your feet on the ground or bum on your chair, scan through your body, relaxing each part as you go; become aware of your hands and feet
- Look – Where am I? Go through your senses – what can you see, smell, hear, take a moment to go through each sense individually then experience them all together
- Feel – How am I feeling? What physical sensations can I feel in my body? Acknowledge what you feel without judgement and take some time to explore where the sensations are and allow them to be there; observe the minds tendency to attach a story to them
- Be here – What’s real right now? Simply observe yourself in this moment, watch your thoughts as they come and go and notice what is happening within your body
- Breathe – Spend a few moments observing your breath again
Your mindful practice will evolve as you go so it’s important to let your intuition guide you, the pointers here are to get you started but you might like to add things as you go or adapt it to suit you. There are no rules – just be!
We’d love to know how you are getting on with your mindful practices and help you along – so if you have any questions or just want to share your experiences please either leave a comment below or get in touch with us at support@lovelifelivenow.com
