How to Stay Mindful

Last updated on: November 26, 2012 at 2:51 pm by Spiritual Naturalist Society

How to Stay Mindful 2012-11-26T14:51:48-05:00 Spiritual Naturalist Society

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Stop to smell the flowers!
(cc) Enrico (RM), Flickr.com.

Recently I had the pleasure of attending a gathering of spiritual naturalists and similar folks at a local tea house. One in our group recommended we discuss an issue he’d been dealing with: how to stay mindful throughout the day? We all learn and read about various teachings, wisdom, and more but as the day’s events take place, we get swept up in what’s happening and forget these words of wisdom. Before long we’re getting stressed out, not stopping to smell the roses, living in the past or future, and so on.

In our discussion, I decided to present five tips I had come up with, which often help me stay mindful throughout the day…

Meditate regularly: Breathing mindfulness meditation can be beneficial on a session-to-session basis, but it’s best effects can be witnessed when we cultivate a practice of doing it regularly – perhaps once every day for at least 15-20 minutes as a good minimum. I am not always on top of my game doing this, but when I am, it’s noticeable. A regular practice of meditation really starts to shape our minds and the way they work (and this has been backed up by the latest brain studies). We find it easier to maintain focus, have stillness of mind, and be mindful as a norm. So, the operative term in this is ‘regularly’. See our article on meditation for more information.
.
Journaling: Keeping a daily journal of your goals and progress integrating wise thoughts into your way of living can be remarkably effective. Again, it’s a habit that requires building. But making the notes at night, as well as reviewing them in the morning helps keep teachings alive throughout the day. We also build a sense of progress in our walk by doing this. For more information on Journaling, please see our article on it.
.
Worn or carried objects: I sometimes use mala beads to aid in counting breaths during meditation. But aside from this use I have found that when I’m wearing them on my wrist, the tangible object serves as a reminder of my practice and helps me to stay mindful. When I brought this up, a woman at our gathering produced a smooth stone which she said gave her peace by handling it. The object could be a trinket on a necklace, a string on your finger, or anything really – whatever works for you.
.
Reminder notes: Sometimes placing inspirational or motivational notes around your home or office can be helpful reminders for staying centered and not getting distracted. These can be simple bullet points, important concepts, or even small koans or poems. While no purchase of a product is ever a requirement for spiritual progress, Thich Nhat Hanh has released a nice little book that comes in a box with a deck of reminder note cards, called Present Moment Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living which I have found very useful.
.
Mindfulness alarms: Although you may not wish to do this as a norm, setting alarms to go off at regular intervals throughout the day can be a very effective project to help kick start good mental habits. I have done this before with alarms spaced every 2 hours, but one person in our group told us about reading of someone doing it every 7 minutes! Of course, you will have to consider what is practical for you during a normal day, but trying to remain present, in the moment, and mindful between these alarms can definitely help our progress.

Aside from these little tips for staying mindful, it is also important to note of what we are to be mindful! This is where what the Buddhists refer to as Right Thought and Right View come into play. Often times the things that consume us during the day, like anger, worry, or frustration, comes from unwise, delusional, or misguided perspectives and value systems. Having a larger perspective than our own narrow ego is a big help to appreciation of life. My wife has a very effective practice of referring to the issues she deals with at work and on the highway as “first-world problems”, which reminds her that while she’s dealing with a malfunctioning printer, there are people in the world who don’t have access to clean water.

What can this kind of attention practice and mindfulness achieve? For thousands of years, practitioners have reported greater happiness and tranquility when we are able to stay ‘in the moment’. Recently, happiness researcher Matt Killingsworth gave a TED talk in which he shared data collected on the habits and happiness of 15,000 people in over 80 countries. I’d highly recommend watching this fascinating video on happiness (this article continues below the video)…

This video illustrates the kind of exciting things spiritual naturalists can do and benefit from – using rational scientific approaches to understand Nature and inform our spiritual practices. While Killingsworth’s work seems to merely confirm what the Buddha taught centuries ago, we can now see more refined information about it. For example, this project gives reason to think that we are less happy when our mind wanders – even when it wanders onto happy subjects! This remarkable result suggests that even, in general, the best fantasies are no match for the one thing we truly have – the present reality. Another useful piece of information from this project was the kinds of activities that seemed to elicit the most mind-wandering. Here, the practitioner can use this information to construct some practices that help redirect our mindfulness precisely while doing those tasks in the higher percentage ranges (for example, selecting out the reminder cards from Thich Nhat Hanh’s deck that correspond to the most likely mind-wandering activities.

What are some ways you’ve used to improve your mindfulness?

Subscribe to The Spiritual Naturalist Society
Learn about Membership in the Spiritual Naturalist Society

__________
The Spiritual Naturalist Society works to spread awareness of spiritual naturalism as a way of life, develop its thought and practice, and help bring together like-minded practitioners in fellowship.

__________
Written by DT Strain. Many thanks to my friend James for suggesting this topic.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 19, 2012

The Power of Gratitude

Next Post

December 3, 2012 Working ritual with the Center, Pt1

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Spiritual Naturalism Uncategorized

Select a Month August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 August 2017 July 2017 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 January 2015 December 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz