How to Live Mindfully

Simple Ways to Live Mindfully

One of the simplest ways to live mindfully is to become AWARE of your thoughts as an OBSERVER by:

• NOT buying into any drama or paranoia

• NOT creating and believing a ‘story' that is negative and full of fear

• NOT giving the thought a painful or destructive meaning

Have the understanding that those negative thoughts are not YOU – they are simply your default, fear-based, negative thoughts. These have been hard-wired from Primitive times (our Reptilian Brain) – when humans needed to be on the alert for Sabre-toothed tigers to survive!!

Mindfulness begins with Awareness

Awareness of your thoughts is the first step in re-wiring your negative neural pathways and then creating new, positive ones. When you become aware of a negative thought, you can simply pause (take a long deep inhale and slowly exhale to the count of five) create the SPACE for peace and stillness.

In that ‘space', you can take a moment to look at that negative thought as an ‘observer', (disassociated from the ego), and know that “this is not me" and instead choose a more compassionate, kind and positive meaning for that thought.

A good example of putting this into practice is when you notice a negative thought "I didn't get the job that must mean I'm not good enough – there must be something wrong with me", take a deep breath and slowly count one, two, three, four, and five. Whilst in that ‘space', observe the thought in a more kind, empowering and positive way, and saying to yourself: "obviously that job wasn't meant for me – something even better is just around the corner".

When it comes to your thoughts, always ask yourself the question, "Is this thought helpful"? In the above example, with the thought, "I'm not good enough, there must be something wrong with me", as the observer ask yourself, "Is this thought useful" or "is thinking ‘I'm not good enough', helpful"? You can then choose a more empowering thought and meaning and start to create positive neural pathways.

Mindfulness of THOUGHTS is key to living a happier more peaceful and fulfilling life!