What If I Don’t Have The Time To Practice Mindfulness?
“Ego says: Once everything falls into place I will find peace. Spirit says: Once I find peace, everything falls into place.”- Marianne Williamson
“Mindfulness gives you time. Time gives you choices. Choices, skillfully made, lead to freedom. You don’t have to be swept away by your feeling. You can respond with wisdom and kindness rather than habit and reactivity.” – Henepola Gunaratana
Making Time When You Don’t Have Time
Leadership speakers, spiritual gurus, and organization lovers alike all agree that if you don’t have time to (insert action or behavior here) then (insert action or behavior here) is the most important thing you need to do. If you don’t have time to make time, making time is what you need to spend your time doing. Mindfulness practices are an important tool in anyone’s recovery toolbox for mental health. Practicing mindfulness helps us to connect to ourselves, calm down our heart rate, get grounded into the present moment, and regulate our emotions. For anxiety, depression, panic, OCD, and PTSD, mindfulness can help ease any uncomfortable moment. Making time for mindfulness practice each day is a way to keep maintenance over yourself spiritually, physically, and mentally.
Life gets busy when we make our way back into it after treatment. Treatment for mental health is a special time where all time revolves around you, your needs, and being taken care of. Outside of treatment, we have to put all our new knowledge, strength, and tools to the test to live life manageably. Mindfulness practices don’t have to take up large chunks of time, like getting lost in a two-hour meditation. Quite the contrary, mindfulness can be effective in as little as one minute.
Short, Simple, Impactful Mindfulness Practices
Two methods of mindfulness that are powerful ways to get connected to the present moment are checking and scanning. At any point in time during the day, you can take even ten seconds to close your eyes, focus on your breath, and turn your attention inward. Noticing your emotional state helps you to keep a gauge on what you are experiencing. For more than just a check, try being with your thoughts in a mindful way for one whole minute.
Body scanning is a practice to help separate physical sensation from emotional sensation and find peace in between the two. Depression can cause us to feel lethargic, heavy, slow, and unmotivated. Anxiety can get our adrenaline pumping, causing us to feel antsy, edgy, and squirmy. A body scan can take just five minutes. Starting from your toes, mindfully notice the physical sensations in each part of your body. Actively and gently tell your body it can relax.
Your mental health is our priority. We make the time to meet your needs as you uniquely need them to be met. Avalon By The Sea offers premiere mental health treatment as one of Southern California’s only mental health treatment facilities licensed to treat psychiatric issues as a primary diagnosis. For more information on our program and a confidential assessment, please call 1-855-464-8409.
