Meditation or other mindfulness practices seem daunting. How can you quiet your entire mind!? I don’t have time to sit in silence!?

Each morning I make space for 5 minutes of meditation and it is a habit I cherish each day as a workout to increase my mindfulness.

Mindfulness helps us create an internal environment suitable for high effective work and living. Helps us regulate our emotions, build resiliency, increase our ability to focus, make us more aware of subtleties around us…

Meditation is a workout. It might even feel stressful at times. That’s the point!

While meditating we should improve our awareness and focus. We focus on a specific object (breathing, phrase…), notice when we lose focus, release that loss of focus, and gravitate back to original object of focus. It’s a workout!

Here’s a simple start to building your own mindfulness practice:

Set a timer for 5 minutes (or more)

Get comfortable sitting. Close your eyes or keep them slightly open.

Bring your attention to your breath. If helpful count each in and our breath and focus on the breathing or counting.

As you gain focus on breathing, lift your focus to what you’re thinking about. Think of it like watching cars move through a four way stop. Acknowledge those thoughts and consider how you feel about them. Notice those feeling and thoughts as if they are moving through the intersection and outside of yourself.

When you want to release a thought, simply imagine yourself blowing a bubble and release the thought and emotions as if they were a bubble floating away. If they come back, let them sit and then release them again.

Bring your attention back to your breath as needed and as your focus gets too busy.

Repeat the cycle.

The goal is to have a mental workout. Help your mind grow in its ability to be simultaneously aware and focuses.

I learned of this tactic from The Mind of The Leader Book and the app included. Ed Batista has a couple great posts on mindfulness. I recommend this one with a thorough breakdown on getting started.