4 Tips for Finding Mindfulness
There’s plenty of ancient wisdom imploring humans to stay present. Even modern-day research supports mindfulness as a legitimate health tool, pointing to its benefits for both mental and physical well-being, in part because developing healthy habits means learning to be mindful of our choices and aware of what feels good in our bodies.
Yet many of us still fail to grasp the simplicity of “Be here now.” In this age of multitasking and increasing distractions, living in the moment can be a real struggle.
“Being mindful isn’t hard, but remembering to be mindful is hard,” says Diana Winston, director of UCLA Mindful and coauthor of Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness. Winston defines mindfulness as paying attention to the present moment with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to be with that experience.
“Being mindful isn’t hard, but remembering to be mindful is hard.”
It can be a powerful way to calm your mind, says William Edelglass, PhD, director of studies at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. “When we take that pause to be mindful, we can settle into our body — allowing the mind to move at the pace of the body. A sense of relaxation can follow that is deeply nourishing.”
It can also be a useful antidote for anxiety, Winston notes. “If you check in with your mind, you’re often thinking about the past or obsessing about worst-case scenarios for the future,” she says. “Mindfulness is an invitation into the present moment, which can offer peace from the ruminations that cause anxiety in our lives.”
And while a seated meditation practice can yield plenty of positive benefits, there are ways to incorporate mindfulness into your daily life that don’t require more of your time — by turning typically mindless moments into mindful opportunities.
4 Tips for Finding Presence
1) Get Grounded.
We use the term “down-to-earth” to compliment someone who is sensible and genuine; it’s also a quality we want to embody. “Feeling your feet on the ground effectively moves your attention away from distracted, distraught, or stressed thinking,” says Lidia Zylowska, MD, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and author of The Mindfulness Prescription for Adult ADHD.
She adds that feeling connected to the ground can evoke a sense of support, both physically and emotionally. Especially when combined with some deeper, slower breathing, getting grounded can shift our bodies from a stressed state to a more relaxed one. Try sensing your weight through your feet, and visualize your connection to what’s beneath you.
Mindless Moment Opportunities:
- Getting out of bed in the morning
- Standing in the shower
- Exercising
- Waiting in line
2) Use Your Words.
Gathas are short poems used in the Zen tradition to keep the mind on-task. “Words are powerful and can provide a little bit of ritual,” Edelglass explains. “They invite us to enter into a world that is meaningful, and [they] support joy even in a world that includes enormous suffering.”
Reciting these short poems is like a modern-day sticky-note reminder attached to the bathroom mirror, a prompt to bring yourself back to the present moment. Many of these can be found in Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Present Moment Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living. In one example, the gatha for doing the dishes begins: “Washing the dishes is like bathing a baby Buddha.”
“Washing the dishes is like bathing a baby Buddha.”
The world-renowned Zen monk also encourages people to create gathas for themselves, writing that “composing your own gathas to fit the specific circumstances of your life is one wonderful way to practice mindfulness.”
Mindless Moment Opportunities:
- Brushing your teeth (“Bristles circling my teeth brush away debris.”)
- Looking in the mirror (“There I am, fully present and so human.”)
- Driving (“I am watching the road for what I need to know.”)
- Going to the bathroom (“My body welcomes nourishment; my body releases waste.”)
3) Create a Cue.
A bell sounds at the beginning and ending of a formal meditation session. You can also use cues as part of an informal practice to bring more mindfulness into your day.
Consider designating a certain sound — like a train whistling from a nearby rail crossing — as a reminder to yourself to be mindful. Or use any daily repeatable action to help your mind focus on the present, bring awareness to your breath, and notice what your body is doing.
For Winston, it’s emptying the dishwasher. “I feel the dish in my hand and notice how my arm moves as I lift it into the cupboard,” she says. “Every time you do it, you train your brain to cultivate more moments of mindfulness.”
That response can have downstream effects for the rest of your day and your overall health.
Mindless Moment Opportunities:
- Opening a door
- Washing your hands
- Putting your shoes on
- Hearing the phone ring or a siren in the distance
4) Be Proactive.
Sometimes we need to initiate mindfulness spontaneously to respond to a real-life event, like if your child has a meltdown or someone confronts you aggressively at work. This is the moment you want the mindfulness you’ve been practicing to take over.
“When we do that, not only do we act more skillfully and let go of our own suffering, we are also more open to recognizing and alleviating the suffering of others,” Edelglass says.
In Buddhism, there is an ethical call to be mindful, he explains: When we behave or interact in a way we might later regret, it’s often the result of being reactive. Choosing mindfulness over reactivity provides the opportunity to take a pause. When we do, we tend to act with more integrity.
When these situations arise, you can get into the moment by placing your pointer finger in the center of your forehead just below the hairline, or by putting your hand on top of your head or over your heart. And consider this acronym to get you through challenging moments:
Stop.
Take a breath.
Observe what’s happening inside your body.
Proceed with more awareness.
Make Your Tech Work for You
Smartphones and computers are major sources of distraction, but they are indispensable to most of us — and they’re not going away anytime soon. So how can we use technology for good in our own lives?
Lidia Zylowska, MD, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and author of The Mindfulness Prescription for Adult ADHD, suggests paying attention to your attention — and observing how your devices pull or fragment it. Then create rules for yourself, such as putting in a certain amount of uninterrupted work time first or keeping the phone face-down and muted when meeting with others. (Get more advice on mindful tech use at “Use Technology More Mindfully With “Contemplative Computing.”)
“Of course, devices have an addictive quality, so managing the urge to reach for them is also an important skill,” Zylowska says. “Mindfulness practice is about noticing what is happening to us and in us in the moment, and having an opportunity to make a different choice. It is about being aware in the moment, not lost in it.”
Mindful Tech Tips:
When you pick up your phone, use that impulse as a cue into mindfulness.
- Create a gatha — from Sanskrit, meaning “song” or “verse” — for sitting down at your computer, such as, “My screen lights up. I partner with my computer to do my best work.”
- Make your computer password an inspiring word or phrase that reminds you to stay present.
- Follow mindful social media accounts so the algorithm drives more uplifting moments to your feed.
- Use apps, like Chill, to provide mindfulness reminders.
This article originally appeared as “Mindfulness in Mindless Moments” in the January/February 2025 issue of Experience Life, written by Kara Douglass Thom.
