Do you ever walk into a room and forget what you went in there for? Do you have trouble paying attention and remembering what you experienced just moments ago? At the end of the day do you feel mentally exhausted, even after working a reasonable number of hours?
No, you’re not getting early onset Alzheimer’s. But some days it might feel that way.
You are not alone.
Let me explain…
In the U.S. we put a high value on physical exercise but fail to recognize our mental health also needs the same level of attention. We also put a high importance on being able to multi-task when in fact multi-tasking is killing our overall performance and decreasing our ability to remember what we experience.
Our culture is also rampant with negative thoughts and poor self-esteem. Where did we learn to think so poorly about ourselves? It’s unheard of in Eastern cultures that practice mindfulness to think negatively.
So how do we start improving our mental health?
Recently I’ve begun my own personal journey to improve my mindfulness. I want to share some resources with you that have helped me learn about the mind, meditation and first steps to recognize my own poor mental habits.
I’ll start with the most basic foundation.
Be Present
The key to mindfulness is being present. Not thinking about what happened earlier in the day or what you have planned for tomorrow. Soaking up the present moment. It’s not an easy concept to grasp until you start noticing how much you deviate from the present moment.
So many things demand our attention. In this digital age its worse than ever before.
I’ve almost finished reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle on meditation and spiritual enlightenment.
I’ve taken away many helpful techniques I’ve already begun to use daily to help live in the present.
There was one point in particular that encouraged me to keep reading. You only get one chance to experience something in the present. If you waste it thinking about yesterday or tomorrow you’re not truly living at all.
Learning to Meditate
You don’t need to believe in Eastern religion, join a cult or shave your head and become a monk to meditate.
Meditation is for anyone.
It isn’t a fad. It’s been practiced for thousands of years and has remained a core part of Eastern philosophy.
If you’re interested in getting started with meditation I recommend checking out the Headspace app.
Headspace offers a program called Take10. Ten, ten-minute sessions to help you learn meditation techniques.
Ten short minutes per day. Meditation can fit into your busy schedule.
Benefits of Meditation
- Focus on a single task longer
- Improve your memory by being present
- Reduce your feelings of anxiety and worry less
- Improve your relationships by seeing others and yourself in a more positive light
- Lower the amount of stress on your mind and body
- Free your mind to allow you to generate more creative ideas
Headspace also has a blog and podcast with interviews and research from leading cognitive scientists to help further your journey to becoming a more mindful person.
Are you ready to start reaping the benefits meditation has to offer?
I’ve already started to notice how great I feel after a short meditation session. I’ve started to extend the time I meditate to 15 minutes a day after completing Headspace’s Take10 program.
Feeling good is addictive.
