My friend Doris from twitter shared these wonderful mindfulness exercises with me. I thought I’d share her wonderful insight with the world too. If you’d like to follow doris her username is @dorisdeals
1. “Leave no trace.”
The idea is to leave the room in the way that you exactly left it. Like tidy up after yourself as soon as you can. A tidy room is a tidy mind. It is not about obsessive cleaning, more like taking your cup or plate back to the kitchen to be cleaned as soon as you finished eating drinking.
Doris says she finds it quite hard to do especially as some younger parts are quite messy. So shes chosen 3 that she always does.
1 – always put my keys in the same place as soon as I enter the house (that’s being mindful of arriving home)
2 – always take my shoes off as soon as I arrive home and put them neatly in the hallway before I go into the rest of the house (it’s being mindful arriving home too)
3 – put my pyjamas under my pillow so they are tidied away and ready for the night time. (Last night is then in the past and tonight is then in the future.) (It’s also easier to find them!)
2. Washing up mindfully
Taking time to wash up, and only wash up rather than rushing onto the next thing.
Feel the water, notice the soap suds, notice the clattering of the plates, squeaking of the sponge against the plates.
The idea is that you’re doing something in the present. By only focusing on the washing up you’re not worrying about the past or dashing off to do something in the future. By only focusing on the washing up, you’re giving your mind a rest from thinking about the past or what’s next.
Therapy Bits 