Mindfulness in daily life

betaboy

How do you practice mindfulness outside of meditation? Do you simply focus on one thing at a time?

Glass

I'm so new at practicing mindfulness that there are only a couple ways I do it right now. I get an email each day with a reminder to take a few minutes to be mindful of a specific subject; sound, or color, for example. The other is as soon as I'm feeling an extreme feeling (I tend to operate from my emotions), I now give the feeling some mindfulness rather than reaction. (So hard!!) And, of course, the dishes.

how

Try starting by not thinking that there is an inside & outside to meditation.

Hamsaka

Pay attention to little tasks that you do, like making a sandwich. Focus your mind, as you do in meditation, on the way your hands move to open the bread wrapper, as your hands lay out the bread, as you decide how much mayo and carefully spread it -- not in a perfectionist way, but as if you are doing something important for yourself.

When you are eating, think on the bread. The wheat was grown, harvested, processed by many hands, probably in many places before it was combined with other ingredients and baked into the bread you are chewing. As you chew, focus on the flavor, the texture and the sensations of swallowing and feeling your hunger satiated.

Mindfulness can be practiced doing anything, including your daily #2, it's canonical The Buddha exhorted the monks to be mindful as they squatted over the latrine. Take great interest in examining the tissue after blowing your nose. It's partially about disciplining your monkey mind to pay attention in the moment, instead of bolting down your food while you ruminate over what some rude person said last week.

One thing I still find myself doing -- when I remember to be mindful, which is still not very often -- is not judge yourself. No assigning 'good' or 'bad' or any of that. If the thoughts occur, just watch them go by, like in meditation, like leaves in the stream.

Gassho
LG

poptart

Be present in every moment.

Sabre

Being mindful of the moral precepts is I think the most important. Then after that just be mindful in a way your thoughts don't run away, especially not into anger and greed. What your object is doesn't really matter. Build up some mindfulness in meditation and it will come quite naturally.

banned_crab

Hamsaka said:

Pay attention to little tasks that you do, like making a sandwich. Focus your mind, as you do in meditation, on the way your hands move to open the bread wrapper, as your hands lay out the bread, as you decide how much mayo and carefully spread it -- not in a perfectionist way, but as if you are doing something important for yourself.

When you are eating, think on the bread. The wheat was grown, harvested, processed by many hands, probably in many places before it was combined with other ingredients and baked into the bread you are chewing. As you chew, focus on the flavor, the texture and the sensations of swallowing and feeling your hunger satiated.

Mindfulness can be practiced doing anything, including your daily #2, it's canonical The Buddha exhorted the monks to be mindful as they squatted over the latrine. Take great interest in examining the tissue after blowing your nose. It's partially about disciplining your monkey mind to pay attention in the moment, instead of bolting down your food while you ruminate over what some rude person said last week.

One thing I still find myself doing -- when I remember to be mindful, which is still not very often -- is not judge yourself. No assigning 'good' or 'bad' or any of that. If the thoughts occur, just watch them go by, like in meditation, like leaves in the stream.

Gassho
LG

All this post did was make me want sandwitch

DairyLama

betaboy said:

How do you practice mindfulness outside of meditation? Do you simply focus on one thing at a time?

I find simple labelling quite helpful, eg "walking", "thinking". Some people return to the breath at regular intervals, or use prompts like change of posture, or focus fully on a particular activity like eating or walking or driving. I've found from experience that a regular meditation practice is a good foundation for mindfulness off the cushion.
It takes time to establish a "habit" of mindfulness, but it does get easier with practice. Be creative in your approach and find something that works for you.

Jeffrey

Make wishful prayers to be mindful. That will cause energy to channel to more mindfulness. Even non-Buddhists do this. For example they have lost an item and they keep it in mind to look for it and then find it later.

David

Try not to daydream and pay attention. If you catch yourself daydreaming, don't be hard on yourself and use it as a lesson to draw you back to center.