Living in the Moment-Mindfulness Technique

Feeling stressed, depressed or overwhelmed? It seems like today’s world is built around the concept of more is better. In the constant rush and race to be the best, from super mom to ladder climbing career woman and don’t forget being a sex kitten for your partner. Who has the time and energy for that? Sometimes we just need to literally stop and smell the roses.

What is Mindfulness Technique?

Basically, it consists of the practice of focusing attention and awareness in the present moment. It is a technique popularized in the west by Jon Kabat-Zinn that has recently gained attention in the psychological community. However, this isn’t a new concept. It has been used for thousands of years with roots in Buddhist meditation.

Many have embraced the practice from the health care community to large corporations and even the military for a variety of benefits including:

Sharpening the Mind- In fact, the U.S Marine Corp are in the process of investigating the effect of mindfulness meditation to improve troops’ performance and their ability to handle and recover from stress.
Lowering Stress- The journal of Healthy Psychology published research that shows mindfulness not only helps you feel less stressed, but it is also linked with the decreased levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Improving Mood and Better Sleep- A study at the University of Utah sited that mindfulness can help with controlling emotions and moods as well as help with having a more restful sleep at night.

Practicing Mindfulness with the Five Senses

One basic way of introducing mindfulness technique into your daily life is to simply take 10 minutes daily to focus on the five senses. As you sit take in everything by going through your five senses without attaching judgment to what you observe and experience.

1. Hearing: Take in all of the sounds that you hear around you. Do you hear your breath, birds or traffic, a conversation or TV on, a fan blowing or even your own heart beat? 2. Touch: What do you feel? Do you feel the softness or hardness of your seat, your shirt or sweater against your skin, warmth or coolness, or perhaps a breeze? 3. Sight: What is in your field of vision? What is the setting? Are you outside and see clouds, trees, birds and leaves? Are you in an office and see books, desks, computers and carpet? 4. Smell: What scents are in the air? Do you smell the fragrance of perfume or cologne, food cooking, or even freshly cut grass? 5. Taste: What do you taste? Did you recently have a cup of coffee, tea, lunch or a piece of candy or gum?

Try practicing this 5 senses mindfulness technique for ten minutes a day for the next ten days and see what happens!

It's amazing. Practicing mindfulness allows you to truly live in the present moment, free from depression and without anxiety about the future. Right now, you are exactly where you need to be, whole and complete.