10 Mindfulness Practices To Bring You Peace

Trauma keeps you reacting to the past or fearing the future, and in this way mindfulness becomes the anchor that keeps you in the present. - Amanda Chils

What Is Mindfulness:

Let me start with a story. I was driving to Aldi the other day, and there I was bopping along when all of a sudden I thought “Shit! I just passed Aldi and now I have to turn around.” I drove too far because I was in my head thinking about what happened earlier in the day, and I was accidentally heading to the other grocery store in town that I go to but didn’t want to go to. You’ve been there right Most people go through life checked out, going about their day by going through the motions and then looking back at the end of the day and thinking "what the heck did I even do today?" 

Mindfulness - paying attention on purpose - is the act of keeping your attention on the present moment. When we practice mindfulness, our full attention is on the space we are moving through, the task we are doing and what's happening in the now. It sounds simple because it is, but if you have been working on it, you know that it's about as easy as making a really good croissant. Ya girl buys croissants for a reason, they’re hard to make well.

When you aren't practicing mindfulness, life can quickly get away from you. When you're present, you have the ability to make intentional choices, which then means you get more of what you want. So, the more you pay attention on purpose, the more purposeful your life becomes. 

Why Its Helpful To Practice Mindfulness: 

Think about it this way, modern life is so overstimulating and demanding that our bodies and brain - in their efforts to protect us and conserve energy - shut down and go on autopilot just to get us through. We’re inundated with ads and social media and work and notifications and news and people and then talking to those people and interaction with them and the list goes on forever. In fact, the amount of down time our system experiences now compared to even fifty years ago is drastically smaller, and all of that leads to overwhelm and overstimulation. 

Practicing mindfulness helps rewire your brain to stay present, to put your attention - and therefore your energy - onto what is most helpful, the thing currently in front of you. Have you ever tried to have a serious conversation with someone who was clearly somewhere else or who was looking at their phone the whole time? Cue immediate rage If you're like me, you wanted to yeet them off a cliff right about them, and when you did get their attention back, they lost so much of what you said that you forgot whatever brilliant or vulnerable thing you had just been talking about. This is what our systems experience all day, every day if we aren’t practicing mindfulness.

How Does Mindfulness Help With Trauma? 

Mindfulness keeps you in the present, and when you’re in the present you aren’t reacting to your past or to anything that has happened to you, which is the definition of trauma. The presence of PTSD, by definition, is the body reacting to past experiences in the present moment. One of the benefits of mindfulness is that - for someone who is working through trauma and healing - it keeps you grounded in the present, which is the opposite of what trauma does. Trauma keeps you reacting to the past or fearing the future, and in this way mindfulness becomes the anchor that keeps you in the present.

When you are healing trauma, mindfulness helps you stay grounded and anchored into the now, so that your subconscious understands that the experiences you’ve had in the past are not happening currently. When subconscious understands there is no threat in the present, there is no need for a trauma response because there is no danger.

So, now that we understand the benefits of mindfulness, here we go.

Ten ways to practice mindfulness:

1. Meditation: I know, I know, but it does work. Set aside time each day to sit quietly and focus on your breath, thoughts, and sensations in your body. The goal here is simply to bring awareness to a particular thing, and to return your focus to the thing when your mind wanders. Think of meditation as training the refocus. 

2. Mindful breathing: Focus on your breath, taking slow, deep breaths and noticing the sensations in your body as you inhale and exhale. If you want to amp this one up a little, as you exhale think the word release.

3. Read: Read anything long - an article, a book, a newspaper. When you feel yourself wanting to pull your attention, work through that and keep your attention on what you’re reading. 

4. Mindful eating: Slow down and savor each bite of your meal, paying attention to the flavors, textures, and sensations in your body. If you are eating with friends, really pay attention to how the experience is amplified by their presence and energy. 

5. Walking meditation: Take a walk in nature and focus on the sensations of your body as you move, the sounds of the environment, and your breath. If you are able, take your shoes off and really feel your feet hugging the earth. Wiggle your toes. 

6. Gratitude practice: Take a few minutes each day to reflect on the things in your life that you are grateful for. As you go throughout your day, play detective and intentionally look for evidence of where you are already resourced and thriving. 

7. Intentional language: When you speak and as you think, pay close attention to the words you use and how they make you feel. Intentionally choose words that give you power and energy. 

8. Write or Journal: Any time you are working through something or creating something, you are paying attention. There are a ton of great journal prompts online, or you could start with “What feels heavy lately? What feels good lately?”

9. Actively listen: Practice really paying attention to what people are saying when they speak. Uuse empathetic communication by fully engaging with the person you are speaking with and being present in the moment. Yep, that means putting your phone down. 

10. Create: The act of creation itself requires your full attention. So whether its drawing, playing music, painting, gardening, dancing - whatever - create anything your little heart desires. Remember, it doesn’t have to be good, the process itself is the gift.

That's it, love. That's the list. Let me know which one you found to be the most helpful!