Here at The Good List we are pretty keen to share (and learn) ways to live a less stressful life (if you hadn’t already noticed…) We are, after all, an incredibly busy society; we go from one task to the next without a moment’s pause and all the while we are constantly connected thanks to social media, and there’s pressure for our responses to be constant and quick.
In other words, we are perpetually feeling stressed, worn out and as if we are rushing around – because we are. Our waking (and sometimes sleeping) hours are spent thinking five steps ahead, rather than 100% focusing on the task at hand.
All of this rushing and not living in the present is wearing us down; our guts are madder than a pub full of losing away fans, our skin is lacklustre and there are spots popping up left, right and in the centre of our foreheads and noses – in other words, our body is screaming out an SOS.
What we need to do, is be in the moment. You’ve probably heard of this craze called Mindfulness…it’s kind of a big deal. What mindfulness encourages is being more aware of ourselves (e.g. reading our bodies SOS signals…) and the world around us.
And while it sounds like a difficult thing, it’s actually quite easy once you get started. And that is why we are here, with some baby steps into living a more mindful life, noticing joy in every moment.
Think about it this way, how many cups of tea or coffee do you make a day? You do it so mindlessly you probably don’t even think about it: boil the kettle, grab the tea bag, add the hot water, milk and stir. But what if you did each of these little steps more mindfully? As you boil the kettle, take some deep breaths, don’t go on your phone and aimlessly scroll and double tap…As you drink your tea (or coffee) make sure you take a deep breath again, actually think about sipping your tea, about tasting your tea – cause we all know tea is pretty bloody amazing.
It really is quite simple to do daily tasks mindfully, you just need to slow down and take more notice.
Another way to be more mindful, and something many of us should do more of, is mindful eating. Yes, you know what I am talking about. That lunch you ate at your desk, the dinner you ate while laughing at Joey’s iconic one-liners on Friends…well, that wasn’t mindful eating. At all. Actually think about eating, not Joey, and make sure you are taking deep breaths as you are eating (you might notice that breathing is imperative in a mindful life.) Mindful eating also means eating until you are full, eating nutritional food and eating when you are hungry not bored (sorry snack drawer, it’s not me, it’s you).
It really is quite simple to do daily tasks mindfully, you just need to slow down and take more notice and it can be implemented when you brush your teeth, have a shower and walk to work. Just focus on the task at hand, not your inbox or what you are going to eat for dinner tonight (my dessert is waiting for me, but I’m not eating and working because, mindfulness! So I’m sorry about all the food chat…)
By simply slowing down, and taking more notice in what you are doing, you will feel less stressed and also notice all the pretty amazing things that are going on around you because you were in the moment and not thinking about how to reply to Janice from accounting.