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5 important skills linked to greater physical and mental health

Many of us are looking for a simple answer or quick fix to improve our physical and mental wellbeing. However, new research shows that a combination of life skills, which can be learned and built upon, may be key for reducing risk of depression and enhancing wellbeing into older age.

A study by Steptoe and Wardle (2017) examined 8000 participants over the age of 52 years old. The findings of the study link 5 important life skills with a variety of benefits, including lower levels of depression, greater social connectedness, greater levels of subjective wellbeing, greater physical health in older adults and greater economic success.

The authors of the study outline that the combination of these five factors and can lead to greater wellbeing:

Concientiousness
Optimism
Emotional Stability
Sense of Personal Control
Determination

No one factor alone can account for the benefits outlined in the study, but instead an accumulation of the aforementioned life skills is important. The authors suggest “fostering and maintaining these skills in adult life may be relevant for health and wellbeing at older ages.”

Individuals with the lowest rates of the five skills had a 23% rate of depression. Those with the highest amounts of the skills, had a rate of just 3% who suffered from depression.

The good news is, is that if you feel you could improve in some of the skills mentioned above, these things can all be developed and built on.

Here are some simple tips I’ve put together to help you to increase these important skills:

Conscientiousness – if you’re not someone who is naturally conscientious, this can be a broad area to try and improve. Focus on a small area at a time – for example, improving your punctuality by planning ahead the night before…or creating a plan or list of tasks that you’re going to complete the next day. Remember when planning, to be realistic about what you can achieve in a day so you don’t run the risk of overcommitting, then feeling you haven’t accomplished your goals.
Optimism – If you tend to see things from a pessimistic viewpoint, you may have a tendency to attribute good things to external successes, and bad things to internal, permanent causes….but this can be changed. Reflect on a recent success or positive event in your life, and write down what you did that contributed to that success. If you’re feeling doubtful or pessimistic about an event in the future, try asking others for their unique perspective, to help you to gain a more balanced view of the situation.
Emotional Stability – Practising mindfulness may be a simple way to improve your emotional stability. Regular practice of mindfulness has been linked to improving mood fluctuations and having better control over mood throughout the day (see study here!!). If you’re interested in practising some simple mindfulness mediations, try downloading a mindfulness app, such as Smiling Mind or Calm.
Sense of Control – If you’re feeling like life is often out of control, try setting yourself a small goal where you can measure and assess your progress. Keeping a log of your baseline behaviours, then recording and monitoring your successes can be a great way of helping you to feel in control and to improve your self regulation. It could be learning a new skill, or making a lifestyle change such as increasing your exercise or changing your diet. Reflect on the hand work and effort that you put in to help make your goal a success.
Determination – Once you’ve set yourself a goal, aim to persevere, and avoid changing goals too soon. Try and persevere and stick to the task you’ve set yourself. If you set yourself a regular time to devote to your goal, you’re more likely to stick with it.

Would you try these tips? Do you excel in any of these skill areas, or are there specific areas you feel you need improvement in?

If you’re finding that any of the skills mentioned above are holding you back, speak with your GP for a referral to a psychologist in your local area, or contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 (Australia only) for 24/7 telephone counselling support.

Are you kind to yourself? Self Compassion can help you to flourish!

Are you your own worst critic? Do you set higher standards for yourself than you do for others? Cultivating some self compassion could help you to thrive, and to reduce your stress levels!

A recent study by Gunell and others (2017) showed that uni students who showed higher levels of self compassion, were better able to cope with the demands of stress, and reported higher levels of energy, optimism and engagement, compared to their less self-compassionate peers. They also showed increased psychological needs satisfaction, and decreased negative emotion, leading to higher levels of wellbeing.

The questionnaire measured three components of self compassion: mindfulness, self kindness and common humanity. The participants were 189 first year university students, and were asked how frequently they agree with questions such as “when something upsets me I try to keep my emotions in balance.”

Photo by RNR Productions

A further study by Fredrikson and others (2008) showed that people who participated in daily loving kindness meditations showed increased levels of daily happiness when compared to a control group.
The researchers state “these shifts in positive emotions took time to appear and were not large in magnitude, but over the course of 9 weeks, they were linked to increases in a variety of personal resources, including mindful attention, self-acceptance, positive relations with others, and good physical health. Moreover, these gains in personal resources were consequential: They enabled people to become more satisfied with their lives and to experience fewer symptoms of depression.

The researchers state that “positive emotions produce success and health as much as they reflect these good outcomes.”

So is self compassion simply being easy on yourself? Rewarding yourself more? Developing self compassion can take time and practice. We often have quite deeply ingrained thoughts about ourselves and the world, which take time to change. Try the below simple techniques to increase your self compassion:

Try “Loving-kindness” meditations. These meditations can help you to learn to direct compassion towards yourself and to others. In addition, regular practice of mindfulness meditations can help you to connect with the present and let of go of judgements. The less we judge ourselves, the simpler it is to be easy on ourselves!! Try the Calm app, for free and easy to follow loving kindness meditations, or read more here.
Put things in perspective. If you experience a setback or hardship, ask yourself the following question: “If my friend X were in this situation, what advice would I give them? What would I tell them?” We’re often much tougher on ourselves than we are on others – take the time to think about what your reaction would be if someone else were in the same situation.
Reframe setbacks into positives – if you’ve encountered something difficult, consider what your learned from the situation? Did you grow from the situation? Did you use your strengths and try hard? Try and reflect on the learnings you gained from the situation, and acknowledge the effort you put in.
Turn your ANTS into PETS. Get to know your automatic negative thoughts (ANTS), and turn them into performance enhancing thoughts (PETS). What do you tell yourself when you’re judging yourself harshly? You may find the same negative thoughts creep back again and again (“not good enough”, “I’m a failure” etc). Remember that these thoughts are simply thoughts and not facts. Try and think of some more useful self talk that could help you through the situation (Performance enhancing thoughts) – such as “I can keep trying and succeed” or “I can you my strengths to help achieve my goal in another way”.

Are you self compassionate? Would you try these tips? What do you do to cultivate self compassion?

Best of the Best Wellbeing Apps

Do you use wellbeing apps? Wellbeing apps are huge at the moment and with improvements in technology are getting better by the day. However, it’s often hard to know where to start (and it’s so much easier to scroll through Instagram than to do something mentally taxing)!! I’ve been road testing a few apps lately, and have found that being able to use my smart phone to fit in health and wellbeing activities around my busy schedule has been fantastic. I can practice mindfulness anywhere, get a free workout without going to a gym, and become more mindful of my health behaviours.

No more Snapchat, it’s time to improve your wellbeing!!

Here are a few of my favourite apps:

Mindfulness and Psychological Wellbeing

Smiling Mind (Cost – Free!!). This is my favourite mindfulness app – it has mindfulness meditations designed for adults, as well as for children and teens. You’re guided through simple to follow mindfulness activities that require no previous experience with mindfulness. The great thing about this app is that you can follow structured programs, or you can choose “bite-size” meditations from as short as 2 minutes. Once you get your practice up, you can also choose from longer and less guided meditations. The app keeps track of your practice time, and you even receive reward badges as you build up your practice time!! I also find the voice of the narrator to be quite pleasant!!
Calm (Cost – Free for a selection of meditations, then $14.99 per month on a subscription basis). Calm is another mindfulness meditation app which is great for beginners. With the basic free app, you can complete the “seven days of calm” course, which will take you through a 10 minute daily mindfulness meditation, which includes information about learning mindfulness before each meditation commences. You can also access a loving kindness meditation and a body scan meditation for free. My favourite thing about this app, is the relaxing sounds and visuals which play in the background during the meditations (you can choose from a gently flowing lake, falling rain, waves on a beach and all sorts of other delightful sounds!!). If you decide to subscribe, you can access mindfulness courses to help with anxiety reduction, increasing focus, happiness and other great topics.
Mind the Bump – (Cost – FREE): This is another great app from the creators of the Smiling Mind App, in collaboration with Beyond Blue. It’s specially designed for new mothers, pregnant mothers-to-be and for partners too, to support their emotional wellbeing when becoming parents!! I thoroughly recommend this for mummas and mummas to be. As well as guided meditations, it also includes introductory information about mindfulness and info on the importance of mindfully caring for your baby.
Mood Mint (Cost – $2.99) – Mood Mint is a game designed to reduce stress, anxiety and depression, and uses a technique called Cognitive Bias Modification, which trains the brain to develop a tendency to focus more on positive information in your day to day life, rather than negative information!!

Fitness and Exercise

Freeletics (Cost – Free – with additional in-app purchases) – Freelethics gives you short workouts which can be tailored to your fitness level!! You can choose from a variety of routines, and no equipment is needed!! I just started on the “Aphrodite” which consists of a series of Burpees, Squats and Situps. If you don’t know what the hell a “burpee” is, luckily the app also provides short videos of how to perfect each technique (Phew!!).
FitBit (Free, but you have to buy the Fitbit first 🙁 approx. $80 – $370). I recently started tracking my daily steps, using the FitBit app. Since doing this, I’ve actively been finding ways to increase my walking throughout the day. As well as tracking your steps, the FitBit app can store all sorts of information – you can enter your daily calories, and based on your height, weight and daily exercise, the app will calculate how many calories you should be consuming. You can also track your quality of sleep, how much water you’ve consumed and set goals around exercise and weight. I’ve been using this app every day for about a month now and find it’s helped me to increase my exercise, as well as become more mindful of what I’m eating each day.
Pocket Yoga (Cost – $4.99). Pocket Yoga takes you through easy to follow yoga routines from 5 minutes, up to an hour long!! This is a great way to practice yoga at home (however, I would suggest doing some initial classes first to correctly learn the poses if you’re a beginner).

Close your Facebook/Candy Crush/Snap Chat App immediately!! There are a world of amazing health and wellness apps out there which you can draw on to improve both your mental and physical health!! Do you use any of these? Do you have any favourite health and wellbeing apps I haven’t listed here? I’d love to hear about them!!

Gratitude: Increase your wellbeing by practicing gratitude

Do you practice gratitude? Do you take the time to stop and think about all the things you are thankful for each day? Whilst I continually express gratitude to my skim cappuccino in the morning, I rarely find the time to truly reflect on the things I’m grateful for. In my experience, it’s easy to feel like you always need more and to compare yourself with others. Despite all the wonderful things that happen each day, feelings of wanting more can override my ability to think about all the positive things in my life – from the amazing family and relationships I have, to having the freedom to pursue my goals, or simply the beauty and wonder of being in nature.

Practising gratitude is a great way to put things into perspective, but in addition, having a grateful outlook on the world could greatly increase your wellbeing, through a multitude of factors!

In addition to leading to increases in positive emotions, Emmons & McCullough (2003) state that “gratitude is effective in increasing well-being as it builds psychological, social, and spiritual resources.”

Being grateful can lead you to reciprocate acts of kindness towards others (performing acts of kindness also boost happiness!).
Gratitude can strengthen the social bonds you have – for example, by reflecting on the positive actions of a friend or family member, this may help you to feel more cared for and help you to be mindful of the supportive relationships in your life.
Gratitude has strong links with spirituality and may help strengthen spirituality
As a positive emotion, according to Broaden and Build Theory, the practice of gratitude can lead to increased creativity and flexibility.

Gratitude has also been recently linked to increases in self control!.

How could you integrate the practice of gratitude into your day? Would you keep a gratitude diary or log each day? How could you integrate discussions around gratitude into dinner table discussions, or in the workplace? Do you express gratitude to the people you care about this? What are some creative ways you could do this?

I would love to hear some suggestions!

Mindfulness: Mindful Colouring – Science or Snake Oil?

Do you practice mindfulness? Are you on the adult colouring bandwagon? Mindfulness colouring books and magazines are everywhere…. but is there evidence to support the benefits of “mindful colouring”? Personally, I like the idea of kicking back with a cup of tea and a colouring book, but the question I ask is.. is “mindful” colouring any different from regular colouring? Could I potentially colour in the Sydney Morning Herald and gain the same benefit? Could I pick up a $2 children’s colouring book instead of one of the $20 “mindful” colouring books?

My second question is….does “mindful” colouring help you to achieve a state of mindfulness? Or does it perhaps just help you to relax and unwind, because you’re taking some time out to do something creative and engaging in an activity that’s nostalgic. Or….could it help you to achieve a different psychological state, such as flow? When you’re experiencing flow, you’re so involved in a task, it feels like time stops, and you may also be experiencing feelings of joy….this is different to mindfulness, where you’re simply noticing things, rather than judging or appraising an activity as fun, joyful, good, bad etc.

There isn’t a lot of empirical evidence supporting mindful colouring that I could find. A study by Carsley, Heath & Fajnerova (2015) looked at the effects of “mindful colouring” (using mandalas, similar to the patterns pictured below), vs regular unstructured colouring, on reducing test anxiety for children. Results showed that both the unstructured colouring, and the mandala colouring (the “mindful” colouring) reduced anxiety….but for boys, the unstructured colouring had greater effects in anxiety reduction! So based on this study….colouring in (regardless of what you colour), may help with anxiety reduction….but….keep in mind that this particular study was done on children.

All in all, I think that engaging in an activity that you find enjoyable or relaxing is a positive thing, and if adult colouring works for you, then go for it!! Adult colouring can definitely be a great way to practice mindfulness with a few simple instructions.

These books sure look delightful….but at $20 a pop, are they worth it?

Next time you pick up your colouring book (the $20 mindfulness colouring book, or the $2 Winnie the Pooh colouring book), try having a read through the below instructions, and try and apply them to your colouring session, to make your colouring time a mindfulness activity.

Bring your awareness to the page in front of you – start to notice the images and patterns on the page.
Pick up your first pencil or crayon. Notice the feeling of the pencil/crayon in your hand – is it rough, or smooth? Notice the feeling of the paper beneath your other hand.
Start your colouring – keep your awareness on the feeling of the pencil in your hand, Notice the feel of the pencil as you begin to colour – notice how it feels when you lightly colour the images in front of you. If thoughts come into your mind, gently unhook from them, bringing your awareness back to the task at hand.
Start to notice the colour appearing on the page. Notice the subtle differences in colour when you apply different amounts of pressure to the pencil.
You may find your mind wandering – you may be thinking about the other things you have to do today. If you notice your mind has wandering, gently bring your awareness back to the colouring task. How is your page looking? Can you notice the different colours, or the subtle changes in direction of your pencil strokes?
Notice the sounds the pencil makes as it touches the paper.
Choose an area to focus your awareness on – it may be focusing on the images on the page and noticing the colours appearing as you work. It may be focusing on the feel of the pencil as you colour, or the sound of the pencil and paper. Try and keep your awareness on one of these areas.
Time and time again, your mind will wander. This is perfectly normal. Each time you notice your mind wandering, simple notice you’ve been distracted, and come back to the colouring.
Use the task as an anchor, helping you to keep from drifting off with your thoughts….noticing each time you’re distracted and coming back to the task at hand.

Would you give this a whirl as a strategy to practice mindfulness? Or do you prefer to be mindful in other ways? My overall stance is, if you enjoy it, go for it, but use it in conjunction with other wellbeing strategies!! You might find that going for a walk is more relaxing and present focused than adult colouring!

If anyone has any empirical studies about the efficacy of “mindful colouring” that I haven’t mentioned, please share them with me!

Can mindfulness help enhance your performance?

Do you experience difficulty in high pressure situations, like giving a presentation, performing in public, or competing in sports? Mindfulness could be a key strategy in helping you to remain focused and give your best performance.

There are many factors that occur psychologically before any performance, which may negatively impact our performance; these include our self talk or inner dialogue (“I know I’ll stuff up this presentation, they probably know I don’t know what Im taking about!”), our expectations about success or failure (“I’ll probably be so embarrassed I’ll have to find a new job!” *facepalm*), a focus on our own physical sensations (such as noticing yourself feeling shaky or jittery – “why oh why did I drink three coffees and skip lunch!?”), self doubts, and even efforts to try and “block out” negative thoughts.

However, it may be that the more time we focus on trying to control these uncomfortable thoughts, feelings and behaviours, that performance can actually be impaired… this could be because that by focusing on controlling our mental processes, it distracts us from the task at hand, and brings our attention from the present moment and external environment, back into our inner selves. “Experiential avoidance” is a term that means using strategies to try and control or block out unpleasant thoughts, feelings or sensations. For example, someone who is feeling excessively anxious before giving a work presentation, may call in sick to work that day, thus preventing the discomfort of the feelings of anxiety (at least in the short term). Other experiential avoidance techniques might include attempts to try and control our thoughts through distraction or trying to suppress our thoughts….but by being kept busy trying to control our negative thoughts, this doesn’t leave much time to focus on the actual performance task at hand, and the environmental demands!!

Gardner & Moore (2007) outline an “Acceptance-based approach” to performance, which outlines that when performers are able to accept that their negative thoughts, feelings or internal experiences are normal, and refocus their attention to the performance task at hand, this will enhance performance by keeping them focuses on the key aspects of the environment needed for excellent performance. In contrast, performers who engage in experiential avoidance are likely to have impaired performance outcomes.

“Performance outcomes depend on the degree to which the performer accepts his or her own experiences as normal or naturally occurring; is willing to persist on the task despite these experiences and maintains his attentional focus on the environment at hand rather than his or her internal thoughts, feelings an physical sensations.” (Gardner & Moore, 2007, pp. 166)

So how can you just “accept” your negative thoughts, crushing feelings of anxiety etc, and focus on a performance, when you feel terrified!? A key strategy to help you to learn to “unhook” from negative thoughts, and to learn to focus on the present is mindfulness.

Mindfulness can be defined as “Paying attention on purpose, without judgment to our experience as it unfolds moment by moment” (Kabat-Zin, 1990). Whilst this all might sound great, mindfulness takes practice!! Fear not though, there are some easy ways you can integrate mindfulness into your daily routine…through regular practice of mindfulness you begin to unhook from thoughts, and focus more on the present.

Click here for my introduction to mindfulness post with two simple exercises you can try. I’ve also just downloaded the Smiling Mind app for some simple mindfulness exercises I can download on my phone and do every day.

Are you a performer, athlete or someone who gives regular presentations? Have you tried using mindfulness as part of your pre-performance routine? How could you integrate mindfulness into your practice and preparation before a big event?

On (not yet) Acheiving Balance

Every year I get older I seem to realise that life throws more and more responsibilities at me, and frankly, I find it quite overwhelming at times!!

I’m lucky enough to have a fantastic job, where I can help people and work as part of a great team…but nonetheless, balancing a career, with studying a masters degree, raising a one year old son, maintaining relationships, blogging, attempting to look after my health, fitness and wellbeing and having some semblance of social life all comes at a price. That price means that I often feel that I have so many competing demands that I just don’t know where to start!! This can be exhausting, because instead of just enjoying what I’m doing, my mind is constantly ticking away about all the numerous other things I have to do.

No matter who you are and what you do, you’re probably balancing multiple roles and multiple demands. Here are a few strategies you can try to help you to feel more balanced.

Acceptance. Sometimes simply accepting that we can’t do it all is a good start. Even though I know that no one has a perfect life, everywhere in the media we are bombarded with images of people who have all their shit together – perfect house, great social life, great job etc etc… but no one can do everything at once, and sometimes certain priorities have to take preference over others. Sometimes when I’m feeling overwhelmed, I try and think about my core values…what’s most important to me? Having a day to just hang out with my husband and son means so much to me and makes me feel happy…. yes, there is plenty of house work I could be doing, and I’m sure I could spend more time studying, but is that something I’ll look back on and be thankful for?
Learn to engage in the present. It’s really hard to focus on the task at hand when you’re sending an email, whilst watching some TV and keeping an eye on dinner on the stove (oh, and having a half-assed conversation with a loved one while you’re at it!). Try and practice mindfully savouring the task at hand, rather than cruising through it on autopilot.. for more information on Mindfulness, click here! Set yourself small goals, like enjoying dinner without looking at your phone or laptop.
Notice when you experience flow….and do more of that!! Flow happens when we become so engaged in what we’re doing, that we lose a sense of time, and become so caught up that we don’t even think about all the things we should be doing. Flow leads to greater wellbeing and reduced stress… they key is allowing yourself the time to do those activities that help you experience flow… For me, I experience flow when playing the guitar, yoga or cycling, or even writing or reading a good book…. the biggest battle for me is making the time for those activities!
Outsource! In your quest for the perfectly balanced life, could it be that by wanting everything to be perfect, you might in fact be holding on to some unnecessary activities that you could actually hold less lightly, or even outsource? For example, is there a work task you could delegate so you can leave on time today? Could you get a cleaner once a fortnight, or some help with a task that’s painstaking for you, like yardwork, doing your taxes, or a myriad of other painful life admin tasks?
Set boundaries and say NO more. At the end of the day, there are only 24 hours in that day!! Is right now the best time to commit to that volunteer project you’ve been thinking about, or to fill your weekend schedule when you know you may have trouble meeting all those commitments? Be easy on yourself, and allow yourself time to meet your existing commitments before taking on too many more.
Look after yourself!! When life gets crazy, self care is more important than ever….taking time out for exercise works wonders for our mental and physical health…you might feel too overwhelmed for a break, but after a 1 hour gym class or even a 20 minute walk, you’re sure to feel more energised and ready to take on even more challenges… remember, that positive emotions broaden our thought-action repertoire, and may help you to solve problems more effectively and be more creative!! Schedule time for your wellbeing. Just like you schedule work activities and appointments, it’s important to schedule time out for important things like exercise, social and family activities and even some downtime!

Most importantly, just remember that at the end of the day, no one can do it all. Be good to yourself and accept that there is only so much you can take on, and that sometimes things will come up that are completely out of your control.

What strategies do you utilise to stay balanced? Would you try these?

Dress - Anine Bing

Sunglasses - Quay Eyewear

Be Mindful

I’m a notorious multi-tasker. At the moment, I’ve got a load of washing on the go, am entertaining an eight month old baby, sterilising some bottles, writing a blog post, studying for a uni exam and have some trashy TV on in the background. Did I mention I also just ate some dark chocolate at so fast a pace I can barely remember eating it? Oh, and where did the glass of wine I just poured go? That’s right…I drank it at rocket speed (woooo)!! If you’re anything like me, you might on occasion (or on a regular basis…) find yourself on auto-pilot, racing through life so busy thinking about all the things you have to do that you lose sight of the present moment, and often miss out on fully engaging in the task at hand.

Pot and pot stand - Kmart

Do you ever find yourself so caught up in your thoughts that you miss out on all sorts of exciting things? Like realising that you’re halfway through a conversation with a friend, but you haven’t actually listened because you’re thinking about what a mess your house is, or you’re playing with the kids, but realise that instead of really engaging, you’re thinking about work stuff, financial stress etc…

This is where mindfulness comes in. Mindfulness can be defined as “Paying attention on purpose, without judgment to our experience as it unfolds moment by moment” (Kabat-Zin, 1990).

Through regular practise of mindfulness, we can learn to remain in the present, allowing us to fully engage in the activity we are doing. Mindfulness allows us to “unhook” from our thoughts so that we can focus on what’s going on around us. A second key component of mindfulness is openness and non-judgement – this means that whilst even the most mindful of people will experience stressful thoughts, they are able to appraise them through a lens of curiosity, seeing those difficult thoughts as simply thoughts, which are neither good or bad, without the judgement and loading we usually attach to our thinking (the way we appraise our thinking subsequently affects the emotions we feel!!).

Mindfulness isn’t designed as a relaxation technique, but many people find that they feel more relaxed once they begin practising mindfulness.

“Great, where do I sign up?” you say! Just remember, like any new skill, learning mindfulness takes practice, practice, practice!! If you can allocate five to ten minutes a day to practice, you will be well on the way to improving your skills in mindfulness.

“but I barely have five minutes to shower, let alone sit and meditate!!” you say. Fear not – there are simple ways you can factor mindfulness practice into activities that you are already doing on a daily basis!! Here are some suggestions, but you can probably come up with some of your own once you get started.

Choose a particularly devious food that you enjoy (like a piece of dark chocolate). Put the piece of chocolate in your mouth, and instead of eating it faster than you can say “pass me some more,” try savouring the experience of eating the chocolate. Bring your full awareness to the chocolate. Notice the depth of flavour. Notice the smell of the chocolate. Notice the texture of the chocolate change as it melts in your mouth. Each time you find your mind wandering, gently unhook from the distracting thoughts, by bringing your awareness back to the sensory experience of eating the chocolate. If you get distracted from the delicious task at hand, remember that this is completely normal, and continue to draw your awareness back to the delicious, delicious chocolate. Repeat, as often as required 😉
Choose a tedious housework task that you don’t love, but have to do most days (this might be washing the dishes or hanging out the washing). We will use the example of washing the dishes – as you are washing the dishes, focus your awareness on the sound of the running water as you fill the sink. Notice the sound of the bubbles as you pour in the detergent. Notice the warmth of the water as you immerse your hands in to begin scrubbing the dishes. Listen for sounds – the clink of plates, the scrape of a fork on the bottom of the sink. Notice the feeling of the dishes, the slipperiness of the detergent, the feel of the bubbles. What can you feel? What can you see? Can you smell the scent of the detergent? As you do this task, your mind will wander (time and time again). Each time you notice that your mind has wandered, simply notice this has happened, and without judgement of the thoughts that have swept you away, bring your awareness back to the experience of the task of doing the dishes. Think of the task as an anchor, which you can use to bring your awareness back to the present, each time your mind wanders. If you find yourself caught up in your thoughts, try not to judge or appraise your thinking – if you need to label your thoughts, simply label them as “thinking,” then bring your awareness back to the feel, the sound, the smells etc of the task at hand.

So here are two techniques for “mindfulness on the fly.” They don’t take a lot of time, and can be factored in to your every day experiences. Just remember, the more you practice mindfulness, the better you will get!!

Would you try these techniques? I’d love to hear how you go.