Practising mindfulness. Wait, I hope there's no meditation, right?

Haha! You guessed it, while there would be some meditation involved :) this doesn't necessarily have to be a chore. We are so busy in our daily lives and running our brains on autopilot mode that sitting down still for even a minute can seem daunting. For example, whenever I sit still to try and get some meditation in I have thoughts like,

"What's up with this girl? I texted her 3 days ago, ping me back!" or

"Damn I need to complete that pending task, it's been 2 weeks and I'm stuck. What do I tell my boss?" or

"Man I feel so tired, do I really need to work. Is there a money tree somewhere?"

Autopilot mode? Why are we flying planes here?

While that seems like an excellent idea, that's not the intention here :) Although feel free to get in touch with me if you do have recommendations for flying schools, haha. I've been meaning to learn this

So what do we mean by autopilot mode? In today's crazy world where we've got a ton of things vying for our attention, from relationship commitments to family and friends, career goals, etc our brain's neural network receives millions of inputs per day. Our brain helps to digest all these complex inputs into actionable insights, which help us navigate our way through life.

For example, if you've got a deadline the next day, it's your brain which tells you well ok you're probably going to be awake on caffeine all night and finishing up that task. Better not sleep!

So why do we call this autopilot mode? This is because this is the most natural state for our brains to operate in, the de-facto standard, the modus operandi if you will. This is when the brain is in control of our thoughts and actions, and we just follow it mindlessly, without paying attention to where or how it's directing us.

Hmm, if the brain knows best, let it do its thing right? Why meditate?

Excellent question! While the brain does know how we can navigate through life, sometimes, these external stressors can cause our brain to go on overdrive and be unable to cope with life. If you've read my previous blog post, you know how bad stress can be for our health. With overdrive mode, we've given our minds executive control and have no control over the thoughts and feelings we experience on a daily basis.

This is where meditation comes in. It allows us to regain executive control of our brains. When we become self-aware and reflect inwards, we can observe our thoughts, feelings, and actions and divert our mind's chatter whenever we find ourselves preoccupied. We can direct our minds to observe our stream of thoughts instead of reacting to them, which helps us calm our minds and achieve some much-needed inner peace. This, in turn, has a ton of health benefits!

Ok, I'm convinced! How do I meditate?

I'm happy that you're on board! So let me leave you with a simple meditation that you can start doing today :)

1. Find a calm place where you can practice meditation, ideally a place without distractions. No screaming kids, no Instagram notifications, and no TV. Hard, I know but bear with me

2. Take a relaxed position, close your eyes, and begin to take deep breaths. Inhale, then exhale while observing the stream of thoughts in your mind.

3. When you have a thought, don't react to it. Just observe what it is, take note of it, and move on.

4. If you find your mind constantly wandering, gently bring it back. You can use an anchor, for example, your breath to help you with this. Whenever you have a distracting thought simply focus on the breath.

5. Do this for about a minute or 2. Trust me, you might think you could do this for hours but this takes practice! so don't be too hard on yourself, start small and make your way up.

6. And that's it!

Wait, I've heard there are many types of meditation?

You're absolutely correct! There are many kinds of mindfulness meditations, which I will cover in later posts. Stay tuned!