In last week’s blog post, I talked about how to shift your perspective on the hiccups that happen every day. Today, I’m talking about how to use mindfulness and other tools to take the insights gleaned from those hiccups and turn them into life-altering lessons.

What to do differently.

One of the best ways to pay attention is to be present for every moment of your life. Basically, become an active participant in your life - practice mindfulness - the state of being aware of something.

Mindfulness facilitates our ability to tune into and observe the lessons being offered. When we listen closely (internally and externally), we gather valuable information that is actionable in profound ways. Self-awareness gives us the time and space to choose for ourselves what to do next.

“The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.”
― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

I believe there are many tools that help us facilitate a better understanding of Self. We just need to find the one that works the best for us, which might change as we evolve. Here are a few that I use

Start a Journaling Practice

Five minutes a day or a week. Heck, if that's a stretch, try once a month, put it on your calendar. Schedule 15 minutes of journaling once a month.

Reconnect with Your Body

Find a physical activity that helps you move your body to reconnect with it. Because when we reconnect with our body, it helps us feel the subtle sensations that this intelligent vessel is offering every single moment of every single day. That practice for me is yoga. Maybe yours is running, hiking, or something different.

Meditate

Cultivate a meditation practice. Similar to journaling, five to 15-minutes a day, start small and slowly increase the duration. Because sometimes five minutes a day seems undoable. (And believe me, I know it personally.) Try every Sunday evening, before bed, or morning (whatever floats your boat). Give it a whirl. I promise you'll notice a difference.

Talk Things Out

Seek out the support you need through conversation with your friends, family, therapists, yoga teacher, life coach, or coach, you name it. Who are you most comfortable with spilling the beans to?

Get Creative

Other forms of mindfulness are painting, coloring, sewing, walking, singing, gardening, puzzles, knitting, or rock climbing. There are so many options! Pick one and do it consistently for a month.

Become a Book Worm

Another tool would be to find a book. There are a lot of mindfulness books out there. One that comes to mind is A Book That Takes Its Time: An Unhurried Adventure in Creative Mindfulness. There are journals too. I often see them at World Market.

And if you're interested, use my book, Love Thyself, First + Always, which offers its readers powerful questions to create positive change for themselves. As a result, you'll feel more confident and courageous, and you’ll achieve some wonderful things.

Mindfulness is a muscle that we build over time, in baby steps.

I encourage you to pick one of the tools I mentioned above and give it a try for three months. Then, check in and ask yourself:

• what’s working?

• what’s not working

• what do I want to change?

• what step(s) will I take to create the change I seek?

Psst. Did you see what I did there? I squeezed in a little bit of mindfulness.

If what you’re doing is working, keep doing it! If it doesn't work for you, try a different tool. Rinse and repeat until you’ve created the positive change that you seek.

When you practice mindfulness - consistently - and you're able to see the lessons for what they are, you start making conscious choices. Those choices might shift the direction of your life more drastically than you’ve ever experienced before. The best part is that whatever direction you choose is based on your needs and desires.

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