Mindfulness 101: The Road To Success In 10 Minutes

Success in life largely depends on our perspective of things.

Now many habits can help you achieve your goals; mindfulness is one of the most beneficial ones. A lot of people assume that practicing mindfulness is merely about sitting in a corner, trying to calm your mind and quiet the thoughts. Well, being mindful is about much more than that. It focuses on becoming aware of your surroundings, of your thoughts and emotions. The awareness itself plays a significant role in influencing your mind and helps you think objectively.

In today’s chaotic world, the pressures of our social and professional lives make it difficult for us to focus. We forget to slow down and stress out our selves so much that our mind doesn’t function optimally. There are situations, where you need to take control of things and that is where mindfulness comes into play. It helps us make better decisions, let go of the stress and therefore improves focus and enables effective communication. All these are the ingredients to achieving success in your personal as well as professional lives.

Another opinion is that mindfulness exercises require hours for practice. Well owing to the dynamic nature of today’s world there are exercises tailored to cater every individual’s needs. These can be done at home or even during quick meditation breaks at work to improve productivity and performance. Here is a list of 10-minute practices that can set you on the road to success.

Remember your goals

You will only be able to achieve success if you focus on the bigger picture. People who forget their actual goals in life get stuck in the same place and overlook what they wanted for themselves. To prevent yourself from doing so, recall your goals and affirmations each day. Jot down 4 or 5 qualities that you wish to develop, and aims that you want to achieve. Then each morning take out a couple of minutes to remind yourself about these affirmations. You can even write down your skills and positive characteristics to evoke yourself each day that you can achieve it!

Practice self-compassion

Some people are too hard on themselves, especially when they stress out they undermine their skills and panic. It is crucial to remember that as human beings we are bound to make mistakes, but we can always work on correcting ourselves. If you wish to spread compassion among others, you will need to start with self-love and acceptance.

• Sit in a quiet place away from all the distractions.
• Recall any stressful or hurtful situation and imagine yourself in the same scenario.
• Feel the pain or hurt that you faced.
• Take deep breaths and then remind yourself that suffering is also a part of life.
• Put your hands on your heart and release the tension in your body.
• Acknowledge the stress leaving your body as you exhale each breath and feel the healing energy flowing through your body.
• To comfort yourself repeat any phrase that will help you heal, for instance, you can say “May I be strong” or “May I be patient.” It can be anything that can help let go of the pain and stress and enable you to be kind to yourself.

The focus exercise

Being able to focus is essential for fulfilling your everyday tasks. For some people, it gets difficult to keep their concentration in one place for longer times. People who can’t concentrate are at a higher risk of making mistakes while working that may end up getting you in trouble. So how do you get your mind to pay attention, you can try this simple exercise:

Place any object in front of you and focus on it, look at every little detail and don’t let your mind wander. If your thoughts do bug you, recognise them and then slowly recenter your attention towards the object again. The practice will boost your concentration and focus abilities.

Let go of the tension

Anxiety and stress may get on your nerves but don’t let it get the better of you. If you ever feel like the chaos around you is affecting your productivity and focus then it is time to step out. Go outside and practice walking meditation. Although some think that meditation in its true spirit can only be done while sitting, walking is a great way to practice mindfulness. Start by stepping slowly and feel each part of your body move, feel the cool breeze against your body and synchronise each step with your breath. It will help you release the tension in your body while boosting focus.

Establish and spread peace

You may have seen that there are some people whose presence lights up the surroundings whereas there may be others that you don’t feel happy around. It is true that people do radiate positive and negative vibes that affect those around them. And to succeed both personally and professionally, you need to be the kind of person that people want to stick around. That can only happen when you give off positive vibes and harmony. It will impact not just yours but the life of the people around you.

There is a meditation that can help you establish peace within yourself which may enable you to influence those around you and spread harmony. You will need to sit in a quiet room away from the worldly distractions. Now close your eyes and take deep breaths. Concentrate on your heart and utter these four words, peace, harmony, laughter and love.

Keep repeating them silently, let each phrase radiate through your heart into the outside world. Imagine that you are radiating positivity to the people around you. Afterwards, ask yourself what one thing you would want to change about others and then listen to what your heart says is. The messages may help you evolve and enable you to spread awareness.

I hope you find these 10-minute practices useful. Your road to success awaits!

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