Take 5 minutes to sit and breathe. Turn the TV off, turn the phone off, turn away from your computer. Turn away from your outside life and go within. Just for 5 minutes. You can even time yourself if you truly believe that you “don’t have 5 minutes” in your day to do this exercise.
Sit in a comfortable chair, with feet on the floor. Close your eyes and breathe. Count your breaths, in, out, in, out. Keep at it for a minute and as thoughts enter your mind, which they will, just tell them, “Give me 5 minutes and I’ll be back to tend to you”.
Breathe. Feel the rhythm of your body as it breathes. Feel yourself and your mind slow down as it tunes in to the rhythm of the in breath and the out breath.
Be present in the moment. Feel your body, the sensations of breathing, the muscles in your body relaxing, the eyelids drooping. Feel. Be. Do nothing, be everything. That’s all. Just be totally present in this moment. If a thought of the future or the past comes up, just say “Thanks – I’ll be with you in a moment”, and go back to breathing and count your breaths.
Now, think about what life would be like if you felt this way all the time. Feel the tempo of your Spirit, that eternal spark that you are, in sync with your body, with your thoughts.
Feel yourself fully here, fully present in the moment.
Open your eyes if they are closed and look around the room. See it as if for the first time. Experience the colors, the way the light shines on the table. This is your present moment. Do you feel like you haven’t fully appreciated this room before? Is it possible that you’ve taken it for granted and forgotten to see it?
Now imagine you are standing outside of yourself looking in on your life. Imagine you are the casual observer of you – what would you see? Would you see a frowning, stressed-out person, one that is not fully here, but always thinking about the future?
Breathe.
Just observe. Feel. Be. Do not judge. Do not listen to the inner critic. Just keep breathing and looking around and feeling and Being.
Your 5 minutes are up, and you can return to your activities.
But wait – before you just jump back into your life, think about how you felt and what you observed during this 5 minute mindfulness break.
Did you enjoy the sensations, the ease, and the relaxation? If so, do this again and again. Over and over. Soon it will become part of your normal way of being. This is the first step to consciously living your life and choosing to be fully present each and every day.
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