Life can be chaotic, but a great first step in cutting through all the noise and disorder is mindfulness: the practice of being in the present moment in a nonjudgmental way. However, when you’re frequently lost in conversations and in physical space, it can be even more challenging to quiet your thoughts and figure out what exactly is happening. Here’s a guide on how to stay mindful when you never really know what’s going on.
Focus on your breathing.
Keeping track of your breathing is a great way to steer your mind into the present. Let’s say an acquaintance sees you on the street and strikes up a conversation with you: Instead of panicking because you don’t remember any of the people they keep bringing up, focus on your breath instead. You won’t have a lot to offer the conversation, and will probably make things really awkward between the two of you, but at least you’ll leave knowing that you were living in the moment.
Ground yourself.
Even when you don’t understand what’s occurring right in front of you, grounding yourself physically is an amazing way to bring your attention to your body and the world around it. This may not help you to fully grasp who the celebrities are that your coworkers are talking about right now, but it will aid you in identifying how they’re talking about it. Do they seem excited? Scared? Happy? A simple google of the pop culture news might aid you in the short run, but your ongoing mental health journey should always come first.
Take note of your surroundings.
You don’t exactly have to know what’s going on to look around and identify the things in your environment. You might have forgotten what you were doing, what you were talking about, or where you were going, but that’s okay! Just look around and see what you can find: Floor, window, table, counter, barista — Oh yeah! You were getting coffee! Hopefully you remember your order this time!
Go to sleep.
After one too many conversations about the stock market, you may find that practicing mindfulness doesn’t seem to be helping you in your daily life. In that case, you can always just go to sleep! You’re actually kind of required to stay mindful in your dreams, even though you won’t know what’s going on in those either.
Mindfulness isn’t a one-and-done exercise, and that’s what makes it so great! It’s a practice that you can choose to use whenever and wherever you feel like it, which is amazing for you since you never know what’s happening or what you’re doing. Good luck, and please watch where you’re going!
