You can use mindfulness principles when doing your normal daily activities, like eating, talking to friends, and exercising. When you notice your mind jumping ahead to worries about what you are going to do next, bring your attention back to what’s happening right now.
Mindfulness is about focusing on what is happening right now, rather than replaying things that happened in the past or worrying about what’s going to happen next. It takes a lot of practice to build the mindfulness habit.
Having a sense of purpose and hope for the future such as having personal goals, strong values and connectedness to others will help you manage stress.
Feeling secure about yourself, having a sense of self-worth, and having a clear sense of self-identity so that you step away or create some physical or psychological distance from things that pull you down or give you stress, will help you be more resilient.
Trying new things, such as sitting in a different seat in meetings or going somewhere new for lunch, can help you notice the world in a new way.
To add mindfulness to your daily routine, it can be helpful to pick a regular time – the morning journey to work or a walk at lunchtime – during which you decide to be aware of the sensations created by the world around you.
Thinking “I would like to do well in my assignments, and I will try my hardest” is healthy and appropriate because it is flexible – it doesn’t demand that it must be perfect. This talk doesn’t create stress because the thoughts are preferences rather than “shoulds” or rigid rules.
Things won’t always work out the way that you would like. Whilst some of our thoughts of how things “should” be are helpful, when you hold onto these beliefs in an absolute, inflexible way, it raises your chances of feeling bad about yourself and can damage your self-esteem.
When we tell ourselves that things must be a certain way or that we must achieve certain things, we put ourselves under a huge amount of pressure. Learning to be flexible instead doesn’t mean you have to ignore your values or preferences.
If your fear is commitment, imagine yourself happily with a partner. If your fear is heights, imagine yourself conquering a tough hike, and connect with the feeling of accomplishment. If your fear is spiders, imagine yourself seeing a spider and feeling neutral.