Mindfulness activities like the ones I describe below are very simple but are also very powerful. They are a fantastic way to shed yourself of unwanted mental chatter and find tranquillity in your everyday life.

While the practice of mindfulness meditation is the most powerful way to achieve complete inner stillness, you don’t have to stop what you are doing and close your eyes to experience the benefits of mindfulness. Try some of these mindfulness activities and you will soon discover that you have the ability to infuse your daily life with stillness and peace, to convert the most
mundane tasks into enriching, serene experiences.

You can find peace in the every-day. Mindful actions are the key.

Lessons from the Mind of a Child
As I mentioned earlier in this article on mindfulness, most of them time we live our lives on “autopilot”. Our minds seem to have a will of their own. Thoughts come and go, and it seems as though we don’t have much say in what thoughts turn up in our head. When we are not mindful of our thoughts, they skip from one unfinished idea to the next, constantly interrupting each other and overlapping in a constant stream of pictures, ideas, memories and desires.

Children are free from much of this mental chatter and they are not burdened by the responsibilities of adulthood that we all know so well. To a young child the world full of newness, fascination and wonderment. In some ways, practicing mindfulness is like reclaiming the pure, simple awareness that you had in your youth. These mindfulness activities will help you to appreciate your life more completely, to find freedom of mind, and a renewal of your experience of life. With this in mind, here are some easy mindfulness activities for you to try.

Mindful Eating
This mindfulness activity is definitely the tastiest of them all. It involves nothing more than eating a meal. HOWEVER, there are some do’s and don’ts that will turn this into a technique for mindfulness, and not just any old meal.

No gobbling! Eat slowly and deliberately. Mindful eating means paying full attention to each piece of food you select to eat, how it looks, how it smells, how you cut the food, the muscles you use to raise it to your mouth, the texture and taste of the food as you chew it slowly. Be absorbed by the experience. If possible, avoid engaging in any other activities. Put away the newspaper or book. Turn off the TV or radio, and remain quiet while you enjoy the meal.

You will be amazed at how much more enjoyable food can be when eaten in this way and how much more fulfilling a meal can be. Eating this way also happens to be very good for the digestion.

Remember, the purpose of mindfulness is to bring you into the present moment, and to quiet your mind. The whole point of mindful eating is to dedicate your attention to the experience of eating, leaving no room for mental chatter. This is a meditation on the present moment, and the present moment consists of you eating a meal...nothing more. If your mind wanders off, then bring your attention back to the experience of eating. Be with the moment.

Mindful Listening
When was the last time you REALLY listened to the sounds that are taking place around you? Most of the time you are surrounded by a whole range of environmental noises and most of them barely register in your awareness...much like the noise inside your mind, external noises often go unnoticed. The noise inside your mind and the noises around you in the world both form an invisible backdrop to your entire life.

Stop and notice some of the sounds around you right now...the sound of the computer humming away under your desk. The car that passes by in the distance. The sound of the television in the next room. The birds outside. All these sounds present you with an excellent opportunity to experience the serenity that comes from mindful listening.

Stop whatever you are doing and just listen. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Well it is simple, but this mindfulness activity does require some concentration or you’ll find your mind wandering off. If you are new to this experience then you may find that it is more effective if you begin by deciding how long you will spend practicing mindful listening. “For the next ten minutes, I will practice mindful listening” you might say to yourself. Now stick with it for that amount of time.

Let the sounds you hear be your anchor to the present moment. Don’t judge what you hear or analyse the sounds, just listen, observe and experience them. If you become restless or impatient, notice these feelings and allow them, but do not react to them. Stay with the sounds. Listen intently. The practice of mindful listening can really open you up to inner silence. You may experience moments in which you feel as though you are waking up to a part of you that, until now, had been hidden behind a wall of noise. This is mindfulness.

Mindful Walking
The same principles apply to mindful walking as they do to mindful listening and eating. In this mindful activity, you bring your full attention to the simple act of walking from one place to another.

With this mindfulness technique, you simply become consciously aware and absorbed in movement of your body as you walk. Concentrate on the feel of the ground under your feet, or your breathing as you travel. Observe what is going on around you in the world, you don’t have to try and ignore or blot out anything. Just observe everything that you experience, staying in the present moment as you do so. If thoughts pop up, just let them go and return your awareness to the walk.

The great thing about this activity is that you can practice it any time you walk, at a moment’s notice. On your coffee break, on your way to the subway, in short trips from one room to another - anytime you are walking.

Mindful...Anything!
Any activity you can think of can be used as a focal point for mindfulness training. Just allow the activity to be your anchor to the present moment.

Even the most mundane, everyday habit can be transformed into a mindful activity that comes alive with newness, presence and power when you practice mindfulness, and you can engage in mindfulness exercises anytime. The secret is to place all your attention on what it is that you are doing. Be completely in the now.

If you are interested in living a calmer and more enjoyable life, free from the noise of mental chatter, then you may like to download this free guided meditation. It will help you achieve a state of deep relaxation and inner stillness. Just click on the image below. It's yours to download and keep.

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
Buddha

Click here for more quotes on mindfulness.

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Article by Dr. Christopher Lloyd Clarke from www.The-Guided-Meditation-Site.com.