Four benefits of a few minutes of mindfulness daily.

So the topic today is pretty obvious. One minute mindfulness is even in the title. I know I’m so subtle, right?

The initials for One Minute of Mindfulness are OMOM which I thought was just so cool. And no, I didn’t plan it that way. 

I came up with the title one minute of Mindfulness back in 2012 when I was trying to become a little more spiritual and really mindful at the time, my attention span was crap. And I was overthinking everything. And I was also starting to get some more anxiety and worry. 

I just felt like I was missing something, the simplicity of life, the joy of life, the ability to be mindful and be present. 

As they say, as you get older life goes by faster. 

And I really believe that it’s so true. 

Do you think so? 

Mindfulness can definitely be spiritual. But it doesn’t have to be in this episode, I’m not really going to talk about the spiritual part of mindfulness, just my experience with it. 

So trying to become mindful at that time was very hard. But, then I realized that I could just be mindful for say, five seconds, 30 seconds, or a minute, I could take a few mindful breaths. 

And now taking around 16 to 18 breaths a minute, depending on how fast you breathe, is one minute. 

It was a challenge, of course. And it took some time as everything else does. 

But now years later, I still do my OMOM. And now I just string them together. And I expand them into being present more and more. 

 

So how can being mindful for just one minute change your life? 

Well, I wrote an article on the Tiny Buddha webpage, explaining my experience and when it actually clicked.

Let’s see if it can click for you…

Four benefits to one minute of mindfulness practice 

1. Tiny is powerful

This all comes from tiny habits, and doing anything in small increments bypasses your critical overthinking mind. You become mindful almost by default because your brain is not getting in the way of what you’re doing. 

It’s not questioning or overthinking it, it’s accepting it as okay. 

As you start off small, you can actually increase it without even realizing it.

Thirty seconds becomes forty-five seconds,  Forty-five seconds becomes a minute, and then it becomes five minutes, and so on and so forth. 

So it becomes less about getting rid of a habit that your mind does not like, and instead, it’s about creating neural pathways to override your bad habit. 

Or your old habits I should say. 

2. Mindfulness can help you be okay with where you are 

Mindfulness does not remove difficulties in your life. You don’t go around like a unicorn with rainbows shooting up your ass and all hippy-happy.

It helps you to remove future worries and stop you from dwelling on your past issues and concerns. 

When you take those two components out, you end up feeling calmer, because that is where ninety percent of our overthinking comes from. 

You don’t overthink in the present moment, you don’t worry about your past and the present moment, you don’t worry about where you’re going, what you’re doing, who you’re going to become how you’re going to do it. 

In the present moment, you just take action as you’re there. 

When you remove these components, you do actually feel calmer.

Just remember, you’ll still have difficulties, you’re just dealing with them one minute at a time, so it is a little easier.  

3. You gain a better perspective

You become more aware of how your mind works and how you process information. And when you can understand that, you’ll laugh at how crazy your mind is. 

(crazy not being a clinical term). 

We don’t realize how we allow this stream of thinking to interfere with what we’re doing and how we’re living our lives. 

We r chase the rabbit down the hole every day. 

We overthink going to the grocery store, we overthink talking to people, and we overthink everything.

So when you actually start to just notice and recognize and see how your brain works, you realize that most of what your brain is thinking is just abstract thoughts that can be watched and can be acknowledged…and then let go. 

4. You actually slow down

You become more present more aware, and more engaged and everything becomes more spacious. There is a deeper connection here. 

You don’t feel as rushed, you don’t feel as overwhelmed. 

You actually get a little bit of space between your thinking. And it feels really good. 

How to Start One Minute of Mindfulness Practice

Give the one minute of mindfulness or try, start five seconds set up thirty seconds, then I suggest three times a day, morning, noon, and night. 

There are 1440 minutes in the day, you can spare three…Yes three of them. 

I’m not asking for your blood. I’m not asking for your second child. Just spare a few minutes a day and you will be so surprised at how good you feel. 

It’s basically little effort for a huge outcome.

Take a deep breath in and exhale.

So, before I go, listen closely and remember this ONE thing. 

Your future is a thought, your past has passed, but your now is always here. 

Be mindful-one minute at a time.

Hugs, Cheryl 

Sponsors & Links Mentioned:

• The Art of Breathing –Free Audio and Video Mini-Meditation 
• Tiny Buddha Article– How One Fleeting Mindful Minute Completely Changed My Life
• Setting up a simple Mindfulness Practice – Take a listen to this podcast episode