Author Topic: 9 Mindful Rituals to make your day better  (Read 6533 times)

sonamdhargey

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9 Mindful Rituals to make your day better
« on: February 17, 2013, 08:20:29 AM »
By Leo Babauta.

Are you simply moving through your day, without fully living?
I did this for many years. It was as if life were just passing by, and I was waiting for something to happen. I always felt like I was preparing for something later.
But today isn’t preparation for tomorrow. Today’s the main event.
Fully live today by being mindful. I realize this is easier said than done — mindfulness is a habit that’s not easily picked up. And so I’ve decided to share with you some of my favorite mindfulness rituals to help you appreciate every moment.
You don’t need to do all of these, but give a few of them a try to see if they make your day better.

1. Sit in the morning. When you wake up, in the quiet of the morning, perhaps as your coffee is brewing, get a small cushion and sit on the floor. I will often use this opportunity to stretch, as I am very inflexible. I feel every muscle in my body, and it is like I am slowly awakening to the day. I’ll also just sit, and focus on my breathing going in and out. I’m an absolute beginner when it comes to meditation, but this always starts my day right.

2. Brush your teeth. I assume we all brush our teeth, but often we do it while thinking of other things. Try fully concentrating on the action of brushing, on each stroke of each tooth, going from one side of the mouth to the other. You end up doing a better job, and it helps you realize how much we do on autopilot.

3. Eat mindfully. Turn off the TV, put away the computer and mobile devices, even put away the book or newspaper. If you eat with any of these things (most people do), eating without them will seem boring. And yet, unless you do this, you are not truly appreciating your food. I like eating my oats (with nuts and berries — see my diet) mindfully, paying attention to each bite. It makes the food taste better, and I eat slowly and with gratefulness.

4. Wash your bowl. When you’re done eating, wash your dish immediately. Do it while paying full attention to your washing, to the water and suds. Read more.

5. Drink tea. There’s something ancient about the tea ceremony — and when you drink tea as a mindfulness ritual, you’re connecting with millions of others who have done so over the centuries. Make your own tea ceremony — prepare the tea carefully and mindfully, pour it slowly, sip it with thoughtfulness. See if you can set aside one time each day to do this, and it will transform your day.

6. Walk slowly. I like to take breaks from work, and go outside for a little walk. Walk slowly, each step a practice in awareness. Pay attention to your breathing, to everything around you, to the sounds and light and texture of objects.

7. Read in silence. Find a quiet time (mornings or evenings are great for me), and a quiet spot, and read a good novel. Have no television or computers on nearby, and just immerse yourself in the world of the novel. It might seem contradictory to let your mind move from the present into the time of the novel, but it’s a great practice in focus. Also, I love a good novel more than almost anything else.

8. Look at someone gratefully. Each day, find someone you care about. Instead of just seeing what you always see, really look at the person. Try not to do it creepily. See this person for the miracle that she is, and be grateful for her existence. If you’re feeling generous, tell that person how thankful you are for her.

9. Work with focus. Start your workday by choosing one task that will make a big difference in your work, and clearing everything else away. Just do that one task, and don’t switch to other tasks. Single-tasking is a great way to find focus. Increase your Monk Mind.

These rituals aren’t the only time you should be mindful, but they’re great reminders. Today, try a few of them to fully live and fully appreciate this wonderful day.

Source:http://zenhabits.net/ritual/

buddhalovely

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Re: 9 Mindful Rituals to make your day better
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2013, 01:53:02 PM »
The knowing aspect of mindfulness is deliberate and conscious. When you know something this way, not only do you know it, but also a presence of mind grows in which you clearly know that you know. It is like being one of two calm people in an unruly crowd. Neither of you gets caught up in the crowd’s agitation, and a spark of recognition, maybe even a smile, passes between you as you share knowing that both of you are not caught.

When the focus is on knowing, we make no attempt to try to change anything. For people who are always trying to make something happen, just observing the mind can be a radical change and a relief.

Barzin

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Re: 9 Mindful Rituals to make your day better
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2013, 08:58:19 AM »
All these actions happen in our daily life, but how mindful are we to focus on the job?  Yes, these could be ways that we can actually trained ourselves to be mindful on the job and not get distracted regardless of surrounding.  Many of us tend to think about other things and allow other subjects occupy our mind.  Hence, focusing on the action we are doing and contemplating the actions allow us to be very alert and train our mind to be stable regardless what the situation is.

Tenzin K

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Re: 9 Mindful Rituals to make your day better
« Reply #3 on: February 24, 2013, 11:10:03 AM »
The Pali word for "mindfulness" is sati (in Sanskrit, smriti). Sati can also mean "retention," "recollection," or "alertness." Mindfulness is a whole-body-and-mind awareness of the present moment. To be mindful is to be fully present, not lost in daydreams, anticipation, indulgences, or worry.

Mindfulness also means observing and releasing habits of mind that maintain the illusion of a separate self. This includes dropping the mental habit of judging everything according to whether we like it or not. Being fully mindful means being fully attentive to everything as-it-is, not filtering everything through our subjective opinions.

It's important to understand Buddhism as a discipline or process rather than as a belief system. The Buddha did not teach doctrines about enlightenment, but rather taught people how to realize enlightenment themselves. And the way we realize enlightenment is through direct experience. It is through mindfulness that we experience directly, with no mental filters or psychological barriers between us and what is experienced.

angelsherfield

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Re: 9 Mindful Rituals to make your day better
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2013, 07:08:09 PM »
Hi.

Thanks to Sonamdhargey sharing the mindfulness rituals that some actually already practised in our daily life.

This is actually to train our mind to focus and stay calm while doing a thing. Like myself, doing prayers and offerings on daily basis is a good training before starting work day in the morning. Especially doing water offerings, I have to be careful and focus when pouring the water into each bowl without any water spleading around.

Then only I start my day doing office or house work. It helps us to stay in focus at our work even though there might be other interruptions may incur like phone calls for enquiries.

It's not easy to be mindful. But if we start practised on daily basis, we are almost there.

bambi

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Re: 9 Mindful Rituals to make your day better
« Reply #5 on: February 27, 2013, 05:08:48 PM »
There are many things that we are on auto pilot already. Like walking and brushing our teeth. When we are not mindful, we may trip or over brush our teeth and cause it to bleed. No matter how we practice, the main point is to focus. But instead of just focusing on many at once, lets try to focus on 1 and make it the best we can. For me, meditating would be one of the best way to keep calm and focused.

Zach

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Re: 9 Mindful Rituals to make your day better
« Reply #6 on: February 27, 2013, 11:32:03 PM »
Don't forget to be mindful of the Guru at your Heart :)

Aurore

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Re: 9 Mindful Rituals to make your day better
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2013, 08:36:31 PM »
Sounds like you gotta have plenty of time to practice mindfulness. What happens when life is busy bee? LOL.

I think the best way to practice mindfulness is to be aware of every action and do each actions the best we can. Yes, we can definitely practice by being more aware with our daily rituals. Most of all, we should keep in mind of the importance of being mindful. Which is so that our actions (body, speech and mind) does not cause inconvenience, harm and pain to others.