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2023 Author: Katelyn Chandter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 13:08
In the daily rush and heap of affairs, people and habits, it seems that there is no time at all to stop, take a breath and think? How to be happier?
Have you ever had the feeling that you are missing something? Everything seems to be in order: family, and career, and friends, and a loved one, but still something is wrong. Perhaps … you are missing yourself. In the daily rush and heap of affairs, people and habits, there seems to be no time at all to stop, take a breath and think.
As the authors of Mindfulness, Mark Williams and Danny Penman, write, "sometimes we begin to guess that we lack ourselves - our willingness or ability to be present in our own life and live it as if it really means something."
But a more conscious life and feeling happier is not difficult. You can practice mindfulness in completely ordinary things and actions.
How to be happier
1. Find happiness in small things
In fact, life is wonderful. Stop. Look around. Happiness is never far from us, it is in simple things. Blue sky, sunlight, children's eyes. Happiness is even in breathing (remember how unpleasant it is to breathe when you have a runny nose). You can also feel happiness by performing simple actions.
2. Wash the dishes. Seriously
Washing dishes seems unpleasant until you start. Standing in front of the sink, rolling up your sleeves and immersing your hands in warm water, you understand: this has its own charm. Spend time on each plate, fully aware of it and the water and any movement of your hands. You know, rushing to wash your dessert plate will make the time allotted for dishwashing unpleasant and not worth living. It's sad, because every minute and second of life is a miracle.
The same trick can be done with any duty: vacuuming the apartment, ironing the linen and walking the dog will become much more enjoyable. And after such ordinary, as it may seem, affairs, you will feel even a little happier.
3. Give Your Brain a Rest
Sometimes it takes a few minutes to feel as if you were reborn. Sit on a chair or on the floor. Close your eyes. Inhale and exhale several times. As you inhale, say to yourself, "As I inhale, I know that I am inhaling." As you exhale, say, "As I exhale, I know that I am exhaling." Try not to think about anything.
Stop the flow of consciousness. Try to feel every inch of your body. Smile. Take a few more deep breaths in and out. Such respite meditations are simple and very powerful. Try to live a happy life.
The brain will definitely appreciate the respite given to it!
4. Don't eat mindlessly
Try eating mindfully for at least one week. There is an Eastern proverb: "When you eat, think only about food." So she's just about that. You will understand that food has become for you not only a way to get enough, but also a time of solitude, knowing yourself. And to understand what the trick of this attitude towards yourself is, try the Chocolate Meditation from the book Mindfulness.
For this meditation, choose chocolate that you have never tasted. It can be rich dark chocolate or a simple bar. So let's get started.
Expand the wrapper. Breathe in the aroma of chocolate, immerse yourself in it completely.
Break off a piece and look at it. Examine the shape and shape carefully.
Place a piece on your tongue so that it begins to melt, and notice if you feel like pressing it against the palate.
More than 300 different flavors are concentrated in one chocolate bar. Try to feel at least some of them.
If you notice that you are distracted, just note what it is, and then return to the tasting again.
When the chocolate is completely melted, slowly swallow it. Feel it flowing down your esophagus. Do the same with the next piece. What do you feel? Has anything changed?
Chocolate meditation is a great way to practice mindfulness
5. Treat your feelings with soul
You are angry? Or annoyed? Maybe a little more and run into a rage? We so rarely can honestly admit our feelings, even to ourselves. Meanwhile, admitting your emotions, even negative ones, is much more useful, pleasant and correct than engaging in denial.
The next time you feel an unpleasant thought or emotion, try practicing mindfulness breathing and just observing it. Calling a feeling by name (anger, regret, joy or happiness), we become more aware of it and recognize that it owns us, and this is the first step to breathe freely and joyfully again.
6. Be careful
Mindfulness is the foundation of happiness. Its main condition is the realization that you are happy. Not realizing that we are happy, we cannot survive this state. If we have a toothache, we know that the absence of pain is a great happiness. But if the tooth does not hurt, we do not feel happy, although getting rid of the pain is very pleasant.
There are many pleasant things in the world, but without practicing mindfulness, we cannot appreciate it.
Become attentive to be happy!
7. Stop
Busy mode eats up a huge part of your life and takes a lot of time. Take a couple of minutes to answer these questions and look at your life from the outside. Perhaps this will be an important step towards feeling happier.
Do you find it difficult to focus on what is happening at the moment?
Do you have a habit of walking fast to get to the right place without noticing anything along the way?
Do you feel like you are living on autopilot, regardless of what you are doing?
Do you tend to do your tasks in a hurry, not paying much attention to them?
Does it happen that you are so fixated on a goal that you do not realize what you are doing to achieve it?
Have you ever noticed that you are too absorbed in the future or the past?
If the answer is “yes” to almost all of the questions, then it's time to think about it and slow down a little.
8. And don't get your hopes up
Hope, of course, is possible, because it eases the difficulty of the present moment. When we believe that tomorrow will be better than today, we deal with today's problems. But that is the only thing that hope can do for us - to ease our hardships. The tragedy is that by clinging to hope for the future, we do not focus energy and ability on the present moment.
It is important today (yes, right today!) To stop hoping. Live, rejoice, act. Believe me, this is enough for happiness.
Lack of hope is not a sentence, but the beginning of a new life
9. Think less
Of course, a person cannot help but think. But in endless reflections, we ourselves do not notice how we lose calmness and harmony. Imagine that the same record is constantly spinning in your head. We think and worry so much that we often cannot sleep.
Try to stop the flow of thoughts. Don't think. Buddhists, for example, love the word "contemplation." Begin to contemplate. Admire what the sky is like today, how the trees sway, how many cars pass by you, when you are standing at a pedestrian crossing, etc.
Why is it important? In this way, we free ourselves from regrets about the past and worries about the future, which allows us to connect with our life, wonderful in this particular moment.
Meditation will help stop the flow of thoughts. This is what Tit Nan Khan, the author of the book "Peace at every step", teaches.
10. Take a walk every day
Walking on foot is also a kind of meditation, as it provides an opportunity to think, watch, take a break from business and breathe deeply. This kind of meditation can bring a lot of joy. You can walk slowly, alone or with friends, preferably in a beautiful place. Walking meditation allows you to enjoy the process of walking in order not to walk somewhere, but just to walk.
The goal is to be in the present moment and enjoy every step, knowing that we are breathing and walking.
You need to shake off all worries and anxieties, not think about the future and the past, rejoice here and now. Take the child's hand. And walk, walk, as if you are the happiest creature on Earth.
Hiking is good not only for your health but also for your emotional state.
Eventually, your mind can calm down and become as smooth as the mirror surface of a lake. See, feel, let life lead you by the hand.
Let life live through you. And then you will definitely become even happier.