How To Improve Your Mental Health Using Mindfulness
In today’s fiercely competitive world, keeping one’s sanity intact is no short of a miracle. For working professionals there is always a pressure of deadlines, office politics at play, friction in working relationships, etc., thereby resulting in a lot of stress and anxiety.
Peace of mind can seem like a far-fetched concept for today’s workforce. It is not just the working professionals that suffer from extreme amounts of stress, though. University students have enough on their plate as well that becomes a source of stress and anxiety. Students have to finish their assignments, study for examinations, take part in co-curricular activities, have a social life, etc. Doing all of this properly results in a lot of work stress. Although university students have the liberty to take help from writers for writing their paper and focus on other things that make them happy to reduce their work stress.
And what about the working professionals? We do not always have the time or the liberty to focus on our mental well-being amidst a heavy workload. In that case, the only thing that can come to rescue is mindfulness.
Mindfulness is the ability to be completely aware of your thoughts, emotions, and actions. This ultra-awareness helps you in reducing stress and anxiety and enables you to make better decisions.
Here are the top three ways in which you can improve your mental health using mindfulness.
1. Mindful breathing – The best aspect of practicing mindfulness is the fact that it requires almost no time and efforts. This is the reason why it can be done in the middle of an urgent deadline as well. You don’t need to specifically take out time from your routine to practice mindfulness (although if you can, it would be great.) While you are in the middle of your work and all of a sudden stress hits you, stop your work for a few minutes. Close your eyes. Breathe. Now, focus on your breathing — and just that. Your mind will try to trick you. It will want you to think about the work, but don’t! Only focus on your breathing. If you keep doing it properly for some seconds, your mind will start getting clear of the dirt naturally. The stress levels will drop down. You will become calmer and rejuvenated in a matter of minutes. And all you had to do was — focus on your breathing. No pills, no supplements. Just you and your breath.
2. Mindful walking – Mindful walking is almost the same technique as the first step and renders the same results, that is — reduction in your stress levels and a feeling of rejuvenation. All you have to do is, take some time off of work and go out for a walk. But, there is a catch — you are not allowed to think about your work while you walk (what good will that do?) In fact you are not allowed to think about anything. All you have to do is focus on your feet while walking. You do not have to look at them directly. Just feel the sensation of you walking. As soon as your mind begins to wander, direct your thoughts back to the soles of your feet. Soon, your mind will naturally only focus on your feet, and you will feel truly relaxed.
3. Mindful eating – Eating well is one of the best stress buster. And eating mindfully takes the eating experience to a whole new level. While eating only focus on the food, you are eating. Become aware of the flavours, and chew the food with utmost focus. This will help you focus only on the food, thereby enhancing your eating experience and taking your mind off of your work, reducing stress. A true win/win situation.
Conclusion
As you must have observed, like any other work — mindfulness is all about focusing your mind on a single task and doing just that. Which means that you need to practice mindfulness to master the craft. The best part — you do not need anytime and resources to practice it. So, why don’t you start already? Take a deep breath …