"Mindfulness saves a lot of hassle" is a slogan coined by Sogyal Rinpoche to help remind us to bring mindfulness and awareness into every moment and action of our life.
How to Practice Mindfulness in Daily Life
So how do you practice mindfulness in daily life? Here's some advice from the Buddha:
Of course, we shouldn't become overly concentrated on the task at hand either. If we do, we might just get a tension headache or become oblivious to what's happening around us, which could be dangerous. It's best to balance mindfulness with spaciousness and watchful awareness.
Eat When You Eat
There's also a famous Zen dialogue between a master and a student that speaks about how to practice mindfulness in daily life, recounted in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying like this:
"By eating and sleeping," replied the master.
"But Master, everybody sleeps and everybody eats."
"But not everybody eats when they eat, and not everybody sleeps when they sleep."
From this comes the famous Zen saying, "When I eat, I eat; when I sleep, I sleep."
If you find there are too many hassles in your life due to being forgetful, accident prone, or losing your attention in the moment, the practice of mindfulness may be the perfect solution for you.
Skillful Reminders
You can set a gentle alarm on your computer, cell phone, or watch to remind yourself to come back to the present moment every 30 minutes, every hour, or whatever time frame works well for you. Just bring your mind home, place your attention on your breath, and let your mind be. These “mini-mindfulness” breaks can be as short as a minute or as long as five minutes. By repeating them regularly, mindfulness will gradually start to infuse the moments in between.
You can also use regular events in your life - like eating or drinking a cup of coffee or tea - to trigger mindfulness. Or post the slogan - "mindfulness saves a lot of hassle" - in obvious places at home or work to help you remember to bring your mind home.
Integration breaks like this are not a substitute for formal meditation. A daily or regular meditation practice is essential for mindfulness to blossom fully in life. But even if you haven’t made the leap into meditation quite yet, you can nourish yourself with “mini-minduflness” breaks and start eliminating all those unnecessary hassles from your life.
Image: Public Domain Pictures (dot) Net
Comments
I like your idea to have reminders that bring us back to the present moment. I've found it helps me to have that visual aid. My two current faves are designs with "Breathe" and "I will be at Peace". Thanks for the mindfulness encouragement :~)
Sue
Thanks so much for taking a moment to read this article and leave a comment. Many of your designs at Inspired Type (inspiredtype.wordpress.com) are perfect for this purpose, combining both beauty and inspiration. Thanks for spreading good thoughts!
Oh I love this! Yes to all that you shared.
I chuckled when I first read the title as these are my sentiments exactly. I have seen family members running around frazzled in the past looking for this or that, not even present in that moment, but already thinking of the next and the next task at hand.
If and when we get mindful the world truly takes on a whole different meaning and life takes on a different pace. All of a sudden things seems more within our creative control and we are less likely to feel like victims of fate who think things are happening to us.
Thank you for sharing this. Through mindfulness alone we can change the world to reflect peace and love.
Think of you and have subscribed to your blog. You hold a special place in my heart beautiful soul. Much love, Robin
The second thing was that many of the mentally disabled people I worked with enjoyed a very simple activity that would make most adults restless. They like to rock back and forth with or without a rocking chair. I started rocking with doing the "use your own body as rocking chair" technique. I found that this was fun and it allowed me to bond with these individuals. Which I think is a must if one is genuinely going to make a lasting healing in their lives.
While this is certainly not a technique of the Buddha or any of his followers it works. Oh I almost forgot the "spin your like a top" Tha was always my favorite one as a kid trying to entertain myself while being surrounded by"normal children".
have a great day Sandra.
Thank you for adding this profound perspective > "All of a sudden things seems more within our creative control and we are less likely to feel like victims of fate who think things are happening to us." That's an amazing transformation and mindfulness is the vehicle for getting there.
I also love this aspiration > "Through mindfulness alone we can change the world to reflect peace and love."
I'm so happy you came by and shared your inspiring insights. Thank you.
I agree! The online world is definitely a temptress. I appreciate the tips you've shared here for staying mindful when you are online: "So, I not only set timers and return to my self, my garden, my breath, but I continually ask, is this what I need to be doing right now. I limit the windows I keep open and the tasks that I undertake, one at a time, with full focus on each one."
I turned off my Facebook email reminders. Maybe that would be an option for you too!
It's lovely to "see" you. Thanks for adding to the conversation.
Your practice of observing your muscles in your body when you walk is similar to the Buddhist practice of Mindfulness of the Body - one of the Four Mindfulnesses. The body can be a great vehicle for bringing our mind home as you have intuitively discovered.
I also enjoy rocking and types of body work that involve rocking. It can be so soothing and another way of bringing us back into our bodies and releasing all the stress that accumulates in this crazy world. What a compassionate way you found to bond with these children.
Thanks for sharing your experiences here. I appreciate you.
I actually smiled when I read "When I eat; I eat; when I sleep, I sleep." (I just finished up my lunch spending more time gazing a a computer screen that my scrumptious kale salad.)
This is a brilliant reminder to stay present with the what is.
Succinct and helpful post.
Susie
I do meditate every morning and sometimes a beach walk becomes a meditation and then I do know that as Evita says through mindfulness we can make a difference to change the world......
and i love this "mindfulness saves a lot of hassle" having had a few lost things in the past 24 hours :-)
thanks
Suzie♡♡
S
That computer screen is tempting, isn't it! Yet our body will thank us when we "eat when we eat". In Chinese Medicine it is said that thinking too much detracts from our digestive capacity. Now there's something to "think" about! I appreciate your comment.
Thanks for your appreciation and enthusiasm! It seems these days that we are all trained to multitask and that it's not an easy habit to break. But with your good foundation of meditation and compassionate motivation, I'm sure you will become a pro at mindfulness in the moment in no time.
I so agree with everything you've said here. Being mindful is so important. When we allow our focus to be scattered we cannot do anything really well, nor can we enjoy the thing we are doing. Life just seems like a series of frustrations as we are constantly pulled away from the task at hand. I used to think that multi-tasking was an advanced skill. Now I know it's actually quite the opposite!
This is a fantastic point about the detrimental effects of multi-tasking. Your description of the frustration that comes about from being pulled all over the places is so vivid. I'm grateful for your perspective.
These are excellent questions. It would serve us well to ask them of ourselves regularly! Sometimes we need a few curmudgeons to set us straight. Thank you.
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