All it takes is 10 Mindful Minutes

Day 11 / 365

When was the last time you didn’t do anything for 10 minutes? Not listening to music, or surfing the net. Not even reminiscing the past or worrying about the future.

Our brain is the most important part of our body, and its the most overworked as well. Yet we don’t seem to care about it a great deal. Some of us might care about our hair more than our brains.

Meditation and the importance of the present moment

We live in a busy world. Our minds are always filled with multitudes of thoughts and lots and lots of confusing emotions. We are so distracted that we don’t live in the “now” anymore. We miss out on important moments of our lives. We have grown to accept this as the norm, and that’s the saddest part

A research done in Harvard found that on an average 47% of our time is spent lost in thought. We have a limited time on earth as it is, does it makes sense that we spend half of it lost, and likely unhappy?

This is where medication can help us. Meditation has been scientifically proven to help bring down stress levels. It allows us to be more mindful and less distracted. And it’s not so tough to do, or time-consuming.

How to meditate?

It’s a common misconception that meditation involves getting rid of all thoughts. On the contrary, meditation means taking a step back and allowing all thoughts to come and go. Observing each thought without judgment. It requires a nice balance between focus and relaxation.

If it’s your first time trying this, you might feel agitated, or overwhelmed by the number of thoughts going on in your mind. You might begin to observe different patterns in your thoughts. But you must remember to not judge your thoughts, just observing them with a relaxed mind. Mindfulness takes practice, but it’s well worth it. All you need to do is take out 10 minutes each day, to sit back and do nothing, to observe your thoughts and familiarise yourself with the present moment.

This story is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Up next — Success Isn’t a one-way street