Maintaining Mindfulness—Being Present over the Long Term
Mindfulness is a wonderful practice with many benefits. When we practice mindfulness, the world can feel different—colors are more vivid, relationships more dynamic, and we are more focused on what we’re doing. It can seem like we’re more alive. However, many people committed to being mindful struggle to make it a consistent part of their everyday mindset. It’s easy to be mindful if we’ve just attended a workshop or read a book about mindfulness, but our discipline may wane over time, and we can find ourselves distracted, worried about the future, and firmly in control of the monkey mind.
How can we make mindfulness practices a consistent part of who we are? How can we build mindfulness into our psyche so that we don’t have to be on the see-saw between mindfulness and distraction? It can be difficult, but it’s not complicated. Like any habit, it comes down to creating a regular routine and sticking to it. It involves making mindfulness as much a part of your life as eating, working, or anything else you do every day without having to remind yourself.
Developing and maintaining habits
Much has been written about how to establish and maintain habits, one of my favorites being a book by Leo Babauta entitled The Habit Guide: Zen Habits’ Most Effective Habit Methods + Solutions, so I won’t spend too much time on that topic here. However, I will emphasize a couple of key points from Leo’s book, which I have found invaluable. First, keep the outcome of your habit in mind. Why do you want this habit? With mindfulness, the approach is logical and beneficial, but what will it do for you? Whatever comes to mind when you think about adopting mindfulness practices, keep focusing on those benefits. Next, integrate the habit into your existing lifestyle. Don’t think about mindfulness in the abstract; think about it in terms of your day-to-day activities. How will you make it part of your daily routine? If you can do that, it will be much easier to keep mindfulness in your life, because it will become one of its components. Finally, don’t allow setbacks to keep you from your ultimate goal. If you find yourself falling back into old patterns of distraction, multitasking, and a busy mind, acknowledge it without judgment and gently pull yourself back toward the practices you are trying to incorporate into your life.
Identify those parts of your life that aren’t mindful
We all have parts of our lives and emotional states that are less conducive to mindfulness. For some, it’s our work style. Maybe you’ve always been a multitasker, working on multiple tasks simultaneously while answering emails and phone calls. Maybe your mind runs wild when you’re trying to sleep. You constantly replay the day’s events or stress about perceived wrongs, disagreements, or challenges. Maybe you feel a need to be entertained. You can’t let an evening go by without shutting off your brain and watching TV. Sometimes, mindfulness challenges stem from our emotional states. Our minds tend to lose focus when we’re bored, hurt, or tired.
The first step in addressing any of these challenges is identifying and understanding them. As you move through a typical day, notice the times when you’re not being mindful. Think about what is going through your mind and what circumstances drive those distractions. Once you have this information, you can begin working on specific solutions to your challenges. If your mind is all over the place because you multitask, find ways to focus on one thing at a time, such as dividing your day into manageable chunks and tackling each one. If your mind races while you’re trying to sleep, choose a mantra (a short phrase or thought) to repeat and focus on. Each time your mind races, gently bring it back to your mantra. If you feel you can’t relax without mindless entertainment, experiment with other forms of relaxation, such as drawing, playing music, or playing games with your family. The key is finding mindful alternatives to your unmindful habits. Finally, intense negative emotional states are difficult. We can feel we want to be distracted so we don’t have to think about what’s bothering us. But these are the times when mindfulness can really help. If we fully understand the source of these emotions and how they affect us, we will be closer to coping with them effectively and mindfully.
Being intentional about mindfulness
Incorporating mindfulness into your life won’t happen by chance. Like any worthwhile endeavor, it takes planning and effort. One key aspect is having mindfulness practices you know and can turn to easily. If you are new to mindfulness, here is a great introduction, along with some practices you can explore. By having go-to practices you can do with little difficulty or preparation, you can keep mindfulness in your life more easily, making you more likely to adopt a mindful approach to the rest of your life.
The following are some ideas to help you establish and maintain mindfulness as part of your life:
- Reinforce your intention to be mindful.
Starting your day on the mindfulness path is key to staying on it throughout the day. Begin your day by stating your intention to be mindful. Tell yourself you will be mindful that day, and remind yourself of the mindfulness practices you plan to do. - Build a regular morning practice to kickstart your mindfulness.
Along with stating your intention, start your day with a specific mindfulness practice. For example, meditating as one of your first activities of the day helps you gain focus that carries into the rest of your day and gives you a sense of serenity and self-awareness. - Build in mindfulness practices throughout your day.
Maintaining mindfulness requires combining intent with action. Plan mindfulness practices throughout your day by scheduling specific times for specific practices. For example, set regular times to get up and practice walking meditation; before meetings or phone calls, build in an extra minute to review mindful listening techniques; and make time to get outside and practice sensory awareness. Most importantly, treat these practices like any other important part of your day—add them to your calendar and guard the time you set aside for them. - Make mindfulness part of your identity.
To incorporate mindfulness into who you are, make mindfulness part of your essential self. Include mindfulness practices in how you define yourself and how you interact with the world. Make them a part of who you are.
Make mindfulness part of who you are now and who you aspire to be, and you can achieve consistency. Live in the present moment—now and in every moment.
Artwork by BartolArt
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