TIPS TO IMPROVE SELF-AWARENESS
1. Body check-ins
Lie on your back comfortably and focus your attention slowly and deliberately on each part of your body. Start with your toes and work your way up to your head. Be aware of each sensation of your body.
2. Be mindfully happy
Take part in a mindful activity that you enjoy and that roots you in the present. This could be through drawing, journaling, practicing yoga, or any other hobby that brings you peace.
3. Pay attention through your senses
You notice external sensations such as sounds, sights, and touch that make up your moment-to-moment experience. Watch what comes and goes in your mind and discover which mental habits produce a feeling of well-being or suffering.
4. Simply observe
The aim of mindfulness is not quieting the mind or attempting to achieve a state of eternal calm. The goal is simple: aim to pay attention to the present moment, without judgment.
5. Uninterrupted few minutes is key
You don’t need a special cushion or any sort of special equipment to access your mindfulness skills—but you do need to set aside some time and space.
6. Be kind to your wandering mind
Don’t judge yourself for whatever thoughts come up. Just practice recognizing when your mind has wandered off, and gently bring it back.
7. Go with the flow
Once you establish concentration, you observe the flow of inner thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations without judging them as good or bad.
8. Stay with it
At times, this process may not seem relaxing at all, but over time it provides a key to greater happiness and self-awareness as you become comfortable with a wider and wider range of your experiences.
9. Try and try again
If you miss your intended time for a relaxing session, you get carried away, or you want to stop for that day. It’s okay, pause and simply start again. Remember to be back the next day.
10. Find ‘you’ in it
A lot of apps, courses, videos are present on the web teaching and guiding you on the many ways to be mindful. But it all begins and ends with how much you bring yourself into the process, customize the process, personalize what works for you and do more of it.
Above all, mindfulness practice involves accepting whatever arises in your awareness at each moment. It involves being kind and forgiving toward yourself. By practicing acceptance of your experience during mindfulness, it becomes easier to accept whatever comes your way during the rest of your day.
