MEDITATION (Part 2): 5-Minute Mindfulness Tips for Peace and Tranquility!

Unconscious living isn't a term that many of us will have heard, but unfortunately, it's the way a lot of us live our lives.

Thinking about the future, worrying about the past, going through the day on autopilot, never actually living in the present moment. You can't control what hasn't happened yet or what has already passed, but you can enjoy the beauty of right now. If you look hard enough, it is always there.

In my previous article, I talked about the importance of meditation and how it can help us to maximize our minds' creative potentials.

It's so busy out there.

Ancient people may have other problems than us. They have focused more on survival, food, and housing, while our concerns are less practical but equally stressful — The opinions of others, social networks, and work problems. The effects of this stress on our body are always the same.

Our brains may have evolved considerably and grown three times, which is changing our abilities and needs, but our desire for inner peace and our need for tranquility in our minds still exists.

What Can We Do About It?

This is where the practice of meditation and mindfulness comes into play.

Recommended by many health professionals, it is considered one of the ideal methods to calm the mind and improve the mental, spiritual, and physical health.

It will connect you to your inner self and help you to live the life you have always wished for, away from this unconscious and unhealthy life.

In this article, I'll present three exciting ways to engage in mindfulness in a way that can make it work. Hopefully, for just 5-minutes out of your day, it'll become a stimulating activity to which you'll look forward to doing every day.

MINDFUL BREATHING

Mindful breathing is possible at any time of the day, no matter what you do, and for as long as necessary. Breathing is something we do all the time to keep us alive, so we always have it with us. You can do it without anyone knowing, so it is always possible. It is ideal to leave room for the head to calm stressful situations or moments of emotional explosion or just for a second of peace.

• Find a quiet place to start.
• Sit in a comfortable position.
• Set a timer for five minutes.
• It is time to start.
• Do not look for anything special.
• Then breathe: Inhale through the nose; exhale through your mouth.
• First, take a deep breath to feel the air flowing through your body before returning to your regular breathing pattern. Observe the sensations of how the air feels in your body, how your abdomen expands and lowers, and your chest rises with each breath. When your mind goes astray, focus on your breathing and your body every time you notice it.
• After five minutes, slowly open your eyes or return to the room to see how different it is now.

MINDFUL OBSERVATION

Mindful observation is noticing your direct sensory experience. What you can see, hear, feel, smell, and taste. We experience the world around us all the time without really noticing it, so this exercise is just taking five minutes to experience it all.

This practice is a wonderful one to do outside in nature, where the world is a beautiful place.

• The best way to start this exercise is with mindful breathing to ground yourself. Focus on your breath for a while, until your thoughts have stopped racing.
• Can you taste anything on your breath while you're doing this?
• Feel your body first. Where you are sitting or standing, what your body is touching. Notice these things without labeling them with judgment.
• Let the sounds around you fall on your ears, again, without judgment. You don't even need to worry about working out what the sounds are. Then, if your eyes are closed, it's time to softly and gently open your eyes and see what's in your direct line of vision.
• Experience all these things at once for the rest of the five minutes, really connecting and just being where you are.

COUNT YOUR BREATHS

If you find yourself struggling with the mindful breaths, no matter what exercise you try, if you're having issues with your mind always wandering off and you can't seem to get focused, you can always count your breaths as a way of keeping your brain where it needs to be.

Don't worry too much about the counting; it's important not to get caught up in it because that isn't the point of the meditation.

It's just a way to anchor yourself, so don't count higher than ten, and if you forget where you are, don't worry about it. Just start again.

Here are some tips to help you with this:

• Sit in a comfortable position and start breathing deeply, then pause.
• Count one after you exhale.
• Then, inhale again, pause, and count two after you exhale.
• Count after each exhale like that until you get to ten.
• After you reach ten, start to count each exhale going backward. Start with nine, until you get back to one.
• If a thought should interrupt your counting, and you forget which number you were on, start over again from one. Try to get up to ten and back to one without any interruptions.

This article is inspired by: 5-Minute Mindfulness: 100 Effortless Mindfulness Tips for Abundant Happiness and Inner Peace (Mindfulness for beginners Book 1), by Karen Gray