Many people dwell on past troubles or thoughts of future failures. This greatly interferes with living and acting sanely. To combat this problem, Gestalt psychologists have suggested developing the skill of mindfulness.
For almost 50% of our waking hours, we are distracted by thoughts that are not related to what we are doing. Very often people, committing an act, begin to ask themselves: was it the right thing to do this? Did I make the right decision? To avoid such situations, it is important to perform actions not "automatically", but fully involved in them.
Mindfulness is a continuous and endless process, it should not become a separate exercise, but a lifestyle that permeates all activities. And to develop this skill you need to start in separate, specific situations.
How to develop mindfulness?
- Try to always and everywhere be attentive to your breathing. After all, this is a process that accompanies us all our lives, and an attentive attitude towards it can teach us to concentrate on something for a long time and firmly.
- Start meditating. Meditation is the best practice for training mindfulness. There is no otherworldly and mysticism in her, which are often attributed to her. These are just exercises aimed at creating harmony in our mind.
- Control your emotions. Always ask yourself: what emotion am I feeling? Why do I feel it exactly? What brought me to this state? At first, the answers to these questions will require careful analysis, even better written. Over time, the analysis will become a habit and will not take so long.
- Watch your thoughts. Thoughts are an endless and continuous stream. Controlling their patterns and origins can be very difficult, but it is the most important and fundamental part of the mindfulness skill. Pay attention to your thoughts as often as possible during the day: what am I thinking about now? This will help as little as possible to go into the jungle of negative emotions and experiences.
Thus, the main method of developing awareness is to constantly observe yourself, your thoughts and feelings. As you gradually develop this skill, you will notice how much more productive your actions have become and how much happier you become.
