Mindfulness For Dummies, 3rd Edition



Chapter 8

Using Mindfulness in Your Daily Life

IN THIS CHAPTER

Integrating mindfulness at work

Turning travelling time into mindfulness time

Exploring mindfulness at home

Mindfulness is portable: you can be mindful anywhere and everywhere, not only on the meditation cushion or yoga mat. You can engage in a mindful state of mind while giving a presentation, feeding the cat, or hugging a friend. By cultivating a mindful awareness, you deepen your day-to-day experiences and break free from habitual mental and emotional patterns. You notice that beautiful flower on the side of the road, you become aware and release your tense shoulders when thinking about work, and you give space for your creative solutions to life’s challenges. All the small changes you make add up. Your stress levels go down, your depression or anxiety becomes a bit more manageable, and you begin to be more focused. You need to put in some effort to achieve this, but a totally different effort to the kind you’re probably used to; you’re then bound to change in a positive way. This chapter offers some of the infinite ways of engaging this ancient art and modern ...