If you want to experience acceptance and awareness of your thoughts, you need to cultivate it with repeated Mindfulness training.

Just as with any new thing you start in your life, it takes a bit of time for mindfulness to become a habit.

1. Start small

If you are running a marathon, you don’t begin by running the entire distance.  Instead, you start out slowly by building stamina, the correct frame of mind, etc. The same is true with mindfulness.

You need to grow mindfulness slowly to fully integrate it into your life and use it correctly.

If you want to see the benefits of mindfulness quickly, start by using it every single day for a short period of time, say 5 minutes.

Even a few minutes of mindfulness a day can make a difference.
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To do this, you need to spend some time paying attention to what is happening at the moment, but not so much that you end up altering your everyday life!

By incorporating mindfulness into your daily routine gradually it is more likely that you will develop a long-term mindfulness habit.

You are likely to be much more motivated if you aim to do 5 minutes of mindfulness and succeed in doing it, than aim to do 30 minutes and fail.

2. Pay attention to all your physical sensations

One of the quickest ways to get into a state of mindfulness is to bring attention to all your physical sensations:

• What can you see?
• Hear?
• Smell?
• Touch?
• Taste?

For example, if you are eating, notice the texture of the food, the aroma and the feel of the food in your mouth as you chew. You might think that you have tasted this food before, but when you stop and become mindful, taking all other thoughts out of your mind for the moment, you will experience both the food and eating in a different way.

If you go for a walk, take notice of the birds. What are the colours of the bird? Is the bird chirping? What is the sound it is making? Is it still or moving? Notice your walk itself. Listen to your footsteps. Feel the connection between your shoe and the ground as you take each step.  Be aware of everything that is going on around you without judging it.  It doesn’t matter if there is traffic noise or the kids yelling, take in everything.

Notice every single thing about this moment
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By doing this, you are likely to experience details you haven’t noticed before.

3. Choose some Mindfulness Anchors

While your intention may be good, often the obstacle to being mindful is simply remembering.  That is why choosing some mindfulness anchors can be useful.  A mindfulness anchor is a cue or reminder to bring you back to the present moment.

Some examples are:

• When you open a door
• When you look at your watch or out of a window
• When you wash your hands
• When you touch a piece of jewellery

Pick something that is part of your daily routine and which works for you.

Then, whenever you do that particular thing, it will act as a cue to be mindful.  At that moment, bring your attention to your breathing for a little while.

The anchors will bring you out of mindfullness, when you are absorbed in your thoughts, and connect you with your breath and your direct experience of the present moment.  By being mindful for a couple of breaths, you are creating some mental space, and the opportunity to be more aware of your actions.

4.  Spend a bit of time in silence every day

Many of your daily activities you do, such as showering, eating and doing chores, may be done in silence.  You can use this quiet time to practise mindfulness.

The silence helps you learn to be fully present in what you are doing.

Silence will magnify your awareness of your mental chatter.
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Becoming aware of your mental noise will allow you many insights that can transform your life.

5.  Sit with whatever arises, without distractions or labels.

Mindfulness meditation involves sitting still and bringing your attention to what is happening in your body and your mind.  The idea is to accept whatever arises, without judgement or wanting it to be different.

You do this by centering on how you experience the event in your body.

Is there a part of your body that is aching? Is there an emotional experience bubbling up that is affecting your body?

For example, you may feel sadness as something like a lump in your throat or a burning sensation behind your eyes.

Experience whatever you are feeling without turning that feeling into words.
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The reason for this is that labels and words are static and limiting.  They cannot fully describe what we are feeling so sometimes it is better not to try and instead focus on keeping our minds open.

Just let whatever is arising be, and wait for it to pass.

Live in the present 

Mindfulness training like this can help you experience whatever is arising in the current moment with acceptance.

Take the time to learn how to quiet your mind and rid yourself of all the stories in your head.

Stop reminiscing about the past, quit daydreaming about the future, and live in the here and now.
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What mindful training techniques do you use in your daily life and why?

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