10 Ways Mindfulness Reduces Stress Level
Practice mindful living to change your life
Are you struggling to be mindful in your life? This post answers about the 10 ways mindfulness helps to reduce stress.
With so many distractions, a busy schedule, chaos, and added social media life makes your mind spin in the vortex of mindboggling distracting thoughts, where you are unable to live in your present moment and enjoy life.
Distraction and chaos often invite stress and anxiety into life where everyone is always rushing to accomplish the next best thing to make them feel good.
Mindfulness practice and living in your present moment is the way to free yourself from the clutches of unrest and distraction leading to more stress, and anxiety.
In today’s topic, I will be sharing 10 ways mindfulness can reduce stress and change your life for the better.
Transform your life with a new habit of incorporating mindfulness into your daily routine and see how positive you start to feel in your mind and body.
Before we jump to the 10 Ways Mindfulness Reduces Stress in Your Life, we need to address a few basic questions about today’s topic!
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What is Mindfulness or Mindful living?
In the haste of keeping pace with daily activities, we miss out on paying attention to the present we have now and most importantly being connected deeply with those events in daily life.
Mindfulness is the practice of being focused or attentive to your now without judgments.
Mindfulness is being totally in the moment.
It is a state of not getting distracted by what’s happening around you things that have happened in your past, or mindless worries about your future.
Being mindful of your now and here moments helps you to enjoy the activities at full capacity. The habit of mindfulness also plays a founding role in creating you capable of taking over difficult life conditions.
Why mindfulness is important for your overall mental well-being?
1. IT REDUCES STRESS AND ANXIETY
Being mindful of your present and surroundings helps you to focus on what you have or do.
It is quite likely that we cannot avoid the challenges of life that aid our increased stress levels.
But what we can do is find ways to minimize them to feel happy and relaxed even with problems.
When you are not mindful your mind wanders away to your nagging life problems making it more difficult and exaggerated.
Those useless worries about your future that haven’t taken place in your life yet due to your farsighted overthinking are drowning you in the ocean of more stress and anxious thoughts.
By practicing mindfulness, you are less likely to be held back by regretful past events which create low self-esteem and spoil your happiness, and more connected with the small abundance of now.
Mindfulness practice will cut you from letting your mind think about your unforeseeable doubtful future and painful past.
Nothing in this world has any right to spoil your mindset as well as your beautiful present moment.
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2. INCREASES YOUR AWARENESS
Mindfulness helps to make you more aware of your own life and surroundings.
When you start focusing and centering all your attention, getting into a gentle flow state of mindfulness your brain relaxes.
Notice your thoughts as they unfold in a pattern.
3. IMPROVES YOUR FOCUS AND PRODUCTIVITY
When you become stress-free you become more attentive to adapting to any new skills. When you are fully aware of your thoughts and feelings concentration level increases making you more productive in your daily work.
Personal development skill improves making you more aware and focused while learning anything new.
Mindfulness helps in learning a new set of skills needed for all of us to be more productive.
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4. BOOST YOUR MOOD
Having a focused mind free of worries and stress makes you aware of your thoughts and life goals. this helps to make you more productive at work and accomplish your goals.
When everything is going according to plan you start to feel happy from your heart and your mood improves.
No one can indeed control all situations of life. And we cannot avoid our problems.
Nevertheless, being mindful of those problems and distinguishing between which genuine problems to tackle and which useless worries to let go of, you can be happy and peaceful.
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5. IMPROVES COGNITIVE POWER
Your brain works more efficiently when you are being mindful.
Mindfulness improves the power of your brain to concentrate on different things and retain information intact.
Your memory improves because of your heightened awareness and cognition.
6. HELPS YOU TO LIVE A SIMPLE LIFE
Mindfulness is great for living a slow and simple life. When you are aware of your present you are living in the moment with fewer distractions.
An intentional life with mindfulness induces living a simple lifestyle.
For example, while having your meal instead of checking your phone with mindless eating, try to be present and taste your meal.
Pay attention to the color, smell, and taste. Adding these small moments of mindfulness into your life, you are practicing slowing down.
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7. REDUCES OVERTHINKING
Mindfulness helps to stabilize your galloping thoughts running from past to future and thinking too much with useless worries.
This is something I used to struggle with but starting the practice of mindful living has helped me a lot in getting back to my wonderful present.
Let go of overthinking your past events, at least try to minimize them whenever something pops up in your head, let it be, and slowly shift them by coming back to the work you are doing right now.
It seems easy to say but if you are a beginner then you need some patience to take little steps toward your mindfulness journey.
If you want to know the steps then you may want to keep on reading!
There are so many ways you can practice mindfulness to alter your mindset from negative to feeling positive.
In this post, we shall discuss how daily 10 ways mindfulness practice reduces stress to make our mind and body positive.
But you can always pick your own choice of practicing mindfulness however you feel fit to your life.
Mindful activity is very personal as it will be your mind that is trying to be aware of the present moment.
There are often times when I feel anxious about a situation that has not arrived yet in my life and I have created that scenario in my mind based on the ongoing life challenges.
Overthinking that made-up situation gets me stressed to feel a negative emotion in my mind without being present in my now.
This is that emotional sensation I feel that has transformed into a physical sensation in my body maligning my beautiful present. Mindfulness has helped me immensely to come out of being held back by the past and mindless worries about the future.
Awareness and acceptance of reality are the positive outcomes of practicing a mindful life.
We always find ourselves lost when we dissect from the path of mindfulness and ponder over something that is yet to happen in life or may not even take place.
Only our negative mind is empowering that made-up story in the form of worry to be a reality in the coming future.
This habit only hampers our present time which makes us not see, hear, smell, and feel everything around us with prompt awareness.
Next time when you start feeling that unease in your mind or body owing to your wandering mind to some distant and vague future events or your past times, try to slowly take small steps to get back to the zone of your present with mindfulness.
7 steps on how to proceed to practice mindfulness in your everyday life.
The steps below can be used to start your mindfulness journey and see how it changes your life into positive poise.
Be aware of what you are feeling in your mind
The beauty of mindfulness practice is that you can resort to this process in your daily life while doing any normal chore.
For example, while you are washing your dishes, focus on the thoughts that creep into your mind.
Are you thinking about how tired you are and still it is you who have to do all the dishes at the end of the day? Allow those feelings to crop up in your mind.
This step can also be applied while you get ready to sleep.
A series of thoughts volley in your mind when you retire for the day, get aware of those thoughts and how they make you feel.
Write it down in Journal
Jotting down your feelings that pop up from the thoughts you are having in your daily journal. This can be a simple scripting of all your bridled feelings or frustrations on paper.
Journaling also helps you to be mindful while you are in the writing process as your mind is focused on recollecting everything happening in your mind.
Move back from that sensation
Step away from the sensation to get back to the present again. It sounds very easy but while in the grit, you need to make a few slow attempts to return to the work you are doing now.
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Focus your mind on your deep breaths
Taking a few deep breaths feeling the inhale and exhale while focusing your mind back to the present helps you to notice and be attentive to your now.
You can also use a mantra or word to repeat to yourself for focus and calmness.
Resort to mindful meditation
In addition to taking deep breaths focus your mind with the help of meditation practice to bring your attention to your now.
If you are new to meditation, try giving it 2 minutes by closing your eyes and letting any type of thoughts or emotions you feel wander across your mind.
Avoid passing any judgment on yourself. These 2 minutes of mindful meditation will turn 4 minutes into 6 to 8 to 10 if you bear patience and practice it daily.
If daily meditation is something you find challenging, then try sitting in a meditative posture with your eyes closed and no distractions around for some moments in your week.
Feel, hear, and smell the sensations that you encounter in your surroundings. How does it make you feel, notice your thoughts and let it pass.
Never quit if you want to turn any habit in your lifestyle. Keep at it and you will be able to make mindfulness a daily habit when you embrace your reality!
Be kind to yourself.
You deserve your kindness and love. Avoid being forceful when you are trying to get into the zone of mindfulness practice for the first time.
Remember, your mind is precious and a delicate haven, sensitive to your treatment.
Start treating your mind with care and patience. If you are someone who is struggling with staying on with the practice of mindful living, approach with kindness so that whenever you falter in your attempt to become mindful, self-love drags you back to your present.
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Let go of Judgement
While practicing mindfulness, let go of any judgment you encounter while feeling sensations like sound, sight, smell, or touch.
Mindfulness is not about emptying your mind but being connected to your present moment.
Mindfulness is about acceptance of your present feelings and sensations.
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Let go of your phone
This is very important, considering that we are always glued to our distracting phones, no matter how much we focus our attention on minimizing that toxic habit.
Keeping your phone while mindfully doing an activity or sitting quietly will only help you reach your mindfulness goal. The last thing you need is a ping notification about the latest sale!
10 Ways Mindfulness Exercises Help to Reduce Stress in Your Life – Simple Practices to Embrace Mindful Living
You can easily practice mindfulness exercises while carrying out normal daily activities. You do not need any special time to be mindful.
Let’s check out these 10 mindfulness exercises that you can incorporate into your daily routine for a happy and stress-free life.
10 WAYS MINDFULNESS REDUCES STRESS AND ANXIETY
1. While doing Yoga
Yoga helps you to feel more energized with those moves, bringing you to your present. As you twist and turn and start focusing your breath, yoga makes your mind feel light and clear.
At least 10 minutes of daily yoga is the key to improving your mindfulness practice, giving you more peace and awareness.
2. Reading a Book
Tame that skipping mind back to focus while you are cozying up with your favorite book as your mindfulness practice to reduce stress. Feel the words while you read them in your mind or aloud.
Focus on your breath and forget all your worries. A book is a powerhouse to keep your mindfulness in full effect. If you want to focus your mind on the right now moment, then grab a good book and find your mindful zone.
3. Being closer to Nature
Noticing the wonders of nature is a great way to relax your mind and practice mindfulness.
Let yourself feel the wind touch your face, notice birds fly away, how the beautiful flowers are magnificent, and how the sun’s rays make you feel warm.
Staying close to nature in any form like when you are out for a walk, from your window, balcony, or garden helps you to become more aware of your surroundings and process those feelings you are having right now.
4. Listening to music or watching your favorite show
Focusing and enjoying that music that soothes your mind gives you the chance to practice mindfulness.
Or that beautiful video or TV show you are watching now. Listen to those words and how they make your heart feel, what emotion the sound and sight evoke from you.
5. Cooking your meal
If you are not mindful while cooking that favorite meal then chances are you may forget to add that salt in place of adding sugar!
Be in the present while going through all the steps needed to cook yourself a lovely meal, from getting your ingredients ready, washed, and cut, to smelling the aroma from the dish, feeling how it tastes, how well have you made it, or how your cooked meal makes you feel.
With mindfulness, your focus and awareness make your cooking more meaningful and minimize your stress.
6. Enjoying your meal
Enjoying the meal that you have cooked with love is another easy mindfulness exercise you can do in your daily routine. Be aware of how the taste of the meal feels like, and how it makes you satisfied.
Staying in the moment with mindfulness while having your food makes you focused and calm.
7. Moving your body
One of the 10 ways mindfulness reduces stress is by moving your body outside daily to feel your thoughts and sensations run while your heart is all pumped up.
Any form of activity like walking, running, jogging, swimming, kickboxing.
8. Practice Gratitude
Gratefulness makes you humble and appreciative of everything you are already blessed in life.
Being thankful incorporates mindfulness to be fully aware of the things, persons, and events in your life that make you gratified.
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9. Chatting with loved ones
When you chat with your loved ones give your full attention and become a listener.
Feel the words spoken, the feeling evoked, and the thoughts wandering in your mind. Talking and listening are simple daily activities to practice mindfulness.
10. Having a good night’s sleep
Regular deep sleep bereft of any distractions is perfect for mindfulness practice. Sleep for 8 hours every day is great to recharge your brain and body the next morning.
Be aware of your thoughts while you retire for sleep and focus on your breath and how it slows down as your eyes get closed by the peaceful state of your body.
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Final thoughts on mindfulness practice -10 Ways Mindfulness Reduces Stress
These are the 10 ways mindfulness reduces stress in your life. You can easily take up mindful living practices in your daily life naturally. You do not need to spend any extra hours to live mindfully.
How do you keep up with your mindfulness practice? You can comment below to let me know!
Thank you for reading!
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