Have you ever driven home from work, church or the grocery store and when you arrived in the driveway you couldn’t even remember whether you were stopped by that light on Main Street that always catches you?
It’s kind of scary! Did you stop at the light, did you run the light and not even know it or was it green and you sailed right on through? You don’t even know.
Where were you? Were you thinking about the conversation you had earlier and what you should have said or were you thinking about that presentation you have tomorrow and what you are going to say?
How much do we miss when we are living in the past or living in the future?
What if you got out of your head and lived in the present? What might happen?
Living in the present or mindfulness has many health benefits including reducing stress, overwhelm, depression and anxiety, improves digestion, possible weight loss and even boosting your immune system.
Listen in or read on below for three free easy ways you can practice mindfulness.
Enjoy your food.
I lost about 5lbs, I previously couldn’t seem to get rid of, when I slowed down, removed stressful distractions while eating and really enjoyed my food. This greatly helped my digestion.
It’s a fact if you are stressed out when you eat your body is not going to digest your food well and may cause bloating. So, turn off the TV and put your phone away.
Before eating take several deep breaths to reduce stress. Pray or bless your food. Enjoy the smell and taste. Notice the texture and how your food looks. Spend time savoring your food by really chewing your food at least 25-30 times before swallowing.
Your body doesn’t win when you are the first one finished eating at the dinner table.
Take a walk.
Take a walk without any distractions. Turn off the music, the podcast, the audio book or the training you usually listen to and tune into your surroundings as you walk.
What are you missing when you are listening to something?
Use all five of your senses. Check in with each of your senses. What are you seeing, what are you hearing, what are you smelling, what are you tasting and what do you feel (touch)?
For instance, on my morning walk today I saw the duck gliding across the lake, I heard the commuter train in the distance, smelled the jasmine flowers, I could feel the unevenness of the road underneath my feet and I could still taste the grapefruit essential oil I added to my water that I drank before my walk.
Usually, I also find many flowers that I stop and take pictures of with my phone to enjoy later and share with family and friends.
Stop and smell the roses along the way and reap the health benefits.
Just breathe!
Mindful breathing can reduce stress, overwhelm, anxiety and even negative thoughts.
You can do it anywhere and anytime you need. It’s free and only takes about a minute or two to receive the stress relieving benefits.
There are many ways you can practice mindful breathing. Numerous different counts or just focusing on your breath. There are lots of videos out there for different breathing techniques.
Find one that resonates for you. I do love box breathing (4-4-4-4) but I also will use counts where the exhale is longer than the inhale. A 2-4 count or 5-5-7 is also great (the middle 5 is holding the breath in for 5). Adjust the counts if they seem too long or too short for you.
When you use mindfulness practices it may increase your ability to be calm, think clearly and manage stress better throughout your day.
There are so many mindfulness practices that I have not even discussed here.
Get your free guide ➡ 7 Easy Mindfulness Practices to Ease Your Stress to help improve your health and wellbeing.
Do you use mindfulness practices throughout your day? I would love to hear. Let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email - sheri@empoweredhealthcoaching.com I would love to hear.
Live life empowered!
Sheri Johnson is a certified Transformational Holistic Health, Wellness and Life Coach in the Central Florida area. She believes everyone deserves an amazing healthy, balanced life, full of energy and feeling fantastic! When you get back on track in life and feel like yourself again then you can easily step into who you truly want to be, living out your purpose, passion and what you were called here to do.
If you are ready to decrease stress and overwhelm while creating balance in your body, mind and spirit then please check out her website and book a free strategy session with her below.