Develop A Routine
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One of the best ways to ensure that you feel mindful within yourself on a regular basis is to make sure that you set and follow a daily routine that suits you. Obviously, if you have different things going on each day then you can switch things up, but if you can find a sense of stability within your daily life then you're likely to only feel the positive effects in the long run.
Pick A Specific Time To Be Mindful
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Similarly to developing a daily routine, you might want to set aside a specific time of the day for you to aim to increase your mindfulness. The goal here is that you do it so often and for the same time that it eventually becomes a habit more than a task! Maybe you'd prefer to do this in the morning just after you wake up, or if you're not a morning person, maybe consider a late job?
Meditate
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It's become quite popular within many communities to introduce meditation to your daily routine as a way to improve your mindfulness. It's believed that meditation can have a whole range of positive effects on us including: an improved attention span, greater memory and being more empathetic towards your own and the people around you when it comes to feelings.
Spending Time With Friends
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Mindfulness can appear in a whole range of ways, one of which is via our own relationships with friends, family members and our partners. You'll probably notice a greater sense of mindfulness and stronger relationships too if you regularly communicate. You'll notice a whole range of improvements including the aforementioned empathy as well as less stress in regards to relationships too.
Breathing Exercises
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One of the most common ways that people attempt to achieve mindfulness in their daily lives is by introducing breathing exercises to their day. There are a whole range of different exercises you can do in regards to your breathing; with many available for you to look at online as well as on video streaming sites. Find which ones suits you best and introduce it to your routine.
Introduce Chamomile
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You've probably heard of chamomile and you might have used it in some form at one point or another. The herb can be used in a whole range of ways as a way to help calm the body down and soothe the mind. Most commonly, you'll find chamomile as an ingredient in a tea and they can be particularly beneficial in helping you get yourselves to sleep at night more than anything.
Stretching Exercises
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If you already regularly work on your body in the form of yoga then you're already a step ahead on your road to achieving mindfulness. As you might already know, breathing is extremely important within yoga as its something you have to focus on within your exercise; during the process of your yoga exercises all of your thoughts should be directed towards what you're doing and nothing else.
Observe Yourself
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Okay, so I'm not talking about physically looking at yourself in the mirror (although I know some of you definitely do that!) but instead looking at yourself mentally instead. Sometimes our feelings can become a little overwhelming and you don't look after yourself properly; instead of fighting your stress or anxiety, try to understand what's causing it and accept that it's going to happen from time to time.
Aromatherapy
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Aromatherapy has been used for centuries around the world as a way for people to relieve stress and in some cases alleviate pain. It turns out though, that aromatherapy is one of the most effective routes to achieving mindfulness. The oils used as part of the process can be great for helping control our stress and anxiety as well as boosting our attention span for the time being.
Listen Well
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When we're receiving information from anyone, that could be friends, colleagues or partners (amongst many others) it's important to ensure that you're listening too and taking in everything they're saying to you. Always listen to someone's full story before you make input yourself; this way you'll be able to give the best reply and likely ensure you get the same treatment yourself.
Think About What You're Eating
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In order to be mindful, sometimes you have to purposely focus on things you already do in your daily life to really understand everything. One way people do this is by mindfully eating; this might sound bizarre but instead of just eating and maybe watching TV, instead focus on all of the flavours you can taste, how it feels within your mouth and how it was made too!
Don't Get Annoyed
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Okay, well I wish it was as easy to steer clear of being annoyed as it was to type it out! There are many things that will get on all of our nerves in some way or another; but to be mindful, you need to know how to mitigate these possibilities. You might instantly see red, but instead of letting out your anger, take a step back and consider all of the other possibilities before you let rip.
Create A Journal
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As you might have noticed, much of developing a sense of mindfulness is based around you being able to understand your own feelings. One of the best ways to do this and keep track of yourself is to create a journal to collect a each of your feelings within a day. There are a whole range of ways you can do this from colour charts to writing short sentences detailing your feelings.
Do Some Doodling
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Although you might not have doodled since you were a child at high school, this can be a great way to introduce mindfulness to your daily routine. The best thing about this is that it allows you to be creative, there's nothing stopping you from drawing or colouring in anything that comes to your mind! This can be great for distracting you from your own negative thoughts and boosting your mood.
Learn Or Make Some Music
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If you're someone with musical talents then a great way to de-stress and help achieve some mindfulness is to set your focus to learning to play or creating some of your own music. This will obviously occupy much of your brainpower for the period that you're either learning or making, the best part is that you'll only be improving a skill that you obviously love to have!
Listen To Music
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Don't worry guys, if you (like me) aren't particularly talented when it comes to writing music and playing an instrument that doesn't mean music can't be of use to us during our mission for mindfulness. Simply listening to music that we enjoy (mostly the calmer, more relaxing stuff) can be a great way help us de-stress and boost our daily mindfulness. Seems like an easy one right?
Use Nettles
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So I'm obviously not suggesting that you sting yourselves with the nettles that you find on the side of nature paths, but instead that you (safely) collect them and help to process them. If you manage to do so, you might be able to find out some of the benefits that this plant can have on the human body. Typically, involved in meditation, it's supposed to help with awareness.
Set Daily Intentions
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One of the best ways to set ourselves up for a good day is by setting out an intention for each day, this could be anything from setting a target in regards to your work or social life to just being kind to yourself. Many of us say this at the start of the day but then don't commit to completing the task we've set ourselves, always keep your mind on your set intentions through the day.
Go To The Gym
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Spending time at the gym or even just working out without equipment at home can be a great way to help keep your mind activated and positive during the day. Any exercise can be great for this, from swimming to running and leg day to arm day. It's great for your mind as it offers a distraction from the negatives whilst also invigorating you to feel better about yourself too.
Go For A Walk
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Not only can getting out into nature for a walk be quite good exercise, it's also a great way to help our minds refresh and distract us from spending time thinking about all of our thoughts. Although you can enjoy the fresh air and the beautiful scenery around you, you should keep your focus on your own body too, pay attention to all of the individual bits of movements that you do on the way.
Take Mini Breaks
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Sometimes we can overwork ourselves throughout the day and for that reason we might feel as though we don't have any energy or any motivation to keep going. One of the best ways that you can refresh yourself and restart would be to give yourself mini breaks throughout the day, this might be just taking a 5 minute fresh air break or you might need to lie down for a while.
Download The Apps
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If you have a browse on your chosen phone's app store then you'll probably come across a whole range of applications dedicated to helping you achieve some mindfulness. Each of them work slightly differently, but they do help you find a way to add mindfulness techniques that will suit and benefit you. Give them a search and see if you can find the right app for you!
Tidy Your Workspace
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Sometimes are work can become a little overwhelming and for that reason we might let our workspace become cluttered and overcrowded with our work and some trash. Try and tidy up the place you work more frequently and when you do it, try and focus on how it is you're doing it. It doesn't need to be spotless, but there needs to be at least SOME organization within all the chaos.
Turn Your Phones Off
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Many of us turn to our electronic devices as a way to comfort ourselves and pass some time, the problem with this however is that it's more just a superficial way to distract ourselves and it doesn't offer any real benefits. Instead, try and keep away from technology for periods of the day in order to allow your mind to recharge and refresh within a natural environment, not a virtual one.
Use CBD Oil
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Many people can be deterred by the name CBD but its actually very good for you in the form of the oil, not offering any addictive or dangerous qualities. Although studies are still ongoing, it's believed that the process of using CBD oil can actually help with lowering the effects that anxiety can have on a person and it's now readily available in most superstores around you.
Take Herbal Supplements
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Just as chamomile tea can be great for a person's mindfulness many supplements readily available on the market can be just beneficial, for our bodies. Lavender is one of the most popular herbal supplements people tend to purchase and they can come in the forms of tea themselves or as oils. Other supplements like magnesium can come in tablet forms too.
Don't Drink Too Much Coffee
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Caffeine might be an essential thing for many of us to start our days (including me) but if you already suffer from some levels of anxiety then it might be worth avoiding too many cups of coffee or cans of energy drinks for the foreseeable. Too much caffeine has been known to trigger higher levels of anxiety so it might be worth you considering cutting down a little from now on.
Spend Time With Animals
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Not only can spending time with our friends and family be beneficial for helping with our mindfulness, but also spending time with our pets too. We all love the way that our favourite four-legged friends spend time with us but it turns out that it can be great for helping tackle issues like depression and anxiety as well as keeping ourselves distracted from our many problems.
Avoid Alcohol
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Although it might seem fun at the time whilst you're drinking, consuming alcohol, as you probably already know, isn't particularly safe for the human body, both physically and mentally. Although alcohol might actually alleviate some anxiety during the process of drinking, this anxiety can come back tenfold the following day and really harm your levels of mindfulness as a result.
Commit To It
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It might seem easy to just want to become mindful, I'm sure all of us would wish we were at peace with all of our inner feelings; but that doesn't come as easily to some people as it does to others. In order to advance the mindfulness and ensure its something realistic for you then you have to be ready and prepared to commit to starting a fresh mindfulness routine for yourself.