Mindfulness Hack
It’s apparent that it's becoming harder and harder for us to stay connected and grounded in the now.
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how to stay present and mindful in this world full of increasing noise and constant distraction. Between living in a big city shuffling from one place to the next, the constant stream of information thrown at us, and being connected and reachable through our smartphones all the time, it's clear to me that I need to become more intentional about staying connected and grounded in the now.
Digital Noise
I personally experience the downsides of this ‘noise’ often through a subtle feeling of frustration. This build-up usually creeps up on me when I've spent too much time online one way or another and not enough time connecting with where I am in the present. In speaking with friends and family I know I’m not the only one feeling overwhelmed by this. On average, we touch our smartphones over 2,600 times a day and we pick up our phones every 10 minutes, that is just mind-blowing and honestly quite alarming. It makes me nostalgically think back to my childhood (shout out to all the 80’s babies) of growing up in a time of analogue technology that afforded us to play, explore and be present in the moment, to be mindful.
Taking Charge
So what do we do now that we live in this hyper-connected world where we depend on technology and the internet to communicate, do our jobs, pay our bills, create our art, book our travel, order our food and many other things? My approach has been to focus on catching small glimpses of mindfulness daily, this mental state of being completely present here and now.
My approach has been to start catching small glimpses of mindfulness daily, this mental state of being completely present here and now.
My mindfulness hack is simple and something that you can try in your day-to-day life today; the core idea is to create small pockets of technology and digital ‘noise’ free space. The easiest way for me to do this has been through disconnecting from my smartphone. Find at least 30-60 minutes in your day where you can be totally free from your phone, maybe leave your phone behind when you're in the gym, or put it in flight mode while you are walking to work, or put your phone away immediately when you come home from work and just let the silence or conversation fill the space.
Discomfort = Growth
Warning, this may feel uncomfortable at first! You might experience tons of thoughts flooding your awareness, just keep observing your mind, don't fight it and soon enough you'll start to feel calmer and ease into the silence, without interruption. Try to tune in to how you feel without all the noise, notice how it affects your mind and body.The reward of increased mindfulness and the calm that ensues far outweighs the momentary discomfort. In fact, discomfort is a signal of being outside of our comfort zone and potential growth, I say keep going and work past that to get the type of peace and balance that you deserve to experience, daily.
Level Up
I want to leave you with some level up's for increased mindfulness for those of you that might be feeling inspired by this post and that might want to take it up a notch;
Keep your phone on silent all or most of the time, set a schedule for when to check your phone. The notion that we need to be contactable every single minute is a myth that is increasingly contributing to our collective stress levels that are getting out of control. I say call the shots yourself, take your power back by deciding when to be reachable.
Keep your phone outside of the bedroom and on flight mode when you sleep, give yourself at least 1 hour after waking up until you start checking messages, emails, social media. A regular old school analogue alarm clock does a great job with keeping you on time for work. I use a Lumie clock that simulates a sunset and sunrise which really works well for me.
Deep breathing, when you are not on your phone try to regularly connect with your body through 3 deep belly breaths in a row, it'll bring you right back to the here and now.
When you are outside, look up to the sky from time to time to remember that you are "on a planet spinning around in the middle of absolutely nowhere" as brilliantly put by Michael Singer, so if anything that can put whatever is happening in your life into the context of the universe which is pretty wild, I know J.
Last but not least, switch off all your notifications, become the boss of your phone by deciding yourself when you engage with your email, social media, messages instead of having your phone dictate when you should react and respond by spoon-feeding you data points that never, ever, end!
P.s. If you find the idea of being separated from your phone for 30-60 minutes hard then that is all the more reason to practice to create more space for simply being.
Conclusion
Smartphone habits can run our life if we don’t pay attention. We are flooded with information from all directions today, more information than we could ever possibly process or need. If we don’t take charge and become the gate keepers of what we consume, we will continue to be overwhelmed by a lot of unnecessary information.
There are actions that we can take to start balancing the scales in favour of mindfulness and balance, such as taking strategic scheduled breaks from our phones throughout the day to make sure that we are staying balanced and in the moment where we can.
This strategy has helped me immensely with my mental health, sense of balance and I dare say helped me feel more joyful in life. Life is here and now in the present, despite living in this era of fast speed technology, we have the agency to create space for mindfulness. It all comes down to the choices that we make for ourselves.
Do you feel overwhelmed by your smart phone habits ? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
XO
Ruthie