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Searching for ways to practice mindfulness? Start by looking to your everyday habits and routines. A quick look at how you spend your hours—and what gets your attention—can help you become aware of countless mindful moments, whether practiced on purpose or happened upon by chance.
From noticing the beauty on your commute to starting your day with an intention rather than a reaction, your day has the potential to be filled with wonder. Maybe you find that doing something for yourself in the morning before being drawn into the latest drama in the news or work keeps you from “frantically searching for yourself throughout the day.” Perhaps your mind feels less cluttered if you tidy the space around you. What’s important is that you remain aware of the small acts of presence that make you feel more like, well, you.
We asked YJ editors, friends, and followers on social media to share small ways that they foster mindfulness throughout their days so we could borrow their approaches. Go ahead—romanticize your life.
33 Ways to Practice Mindfulness
1. Watch the sunrise.
2. Find pleasure in the personalized motions of your morning routine.
3. Be mesmerized by the vapors from your coffee or tea.
4. Try free writing.
5. Play a song and make a moment out of it, whether that means grooving along or lying in your bed with your eyes closed. Indulge in dance parties of one and press repeat on any song that’s making you feel all of the feels.
6. Move your body.
7. Drink water.
8. Stop rushing. Allow yourself the extra time you need to complete a task or reach a destination without the frenzy.
9. Pause and make a memory—without taking a photo.
10. Get outside, even if it’s just for two minutes.
11. While you’re out there, walk barefoot on grass.
12. Follow a bug or a watch bird for a few minutes. See what everyone’s up to.
13. Smell the smells.
14. Breathe through everything. Giddiness. Impatience. Elation. Confusion. Heartache. Everything.
15. Surround yourself with artwork and meaningful quotes and photos and other reminds of the feelings you want to experience.
16. Unfollow rather than comment.
17. Light a candle. Light a bunch of candles.
18. Listen to the sound of running water as you wait for your shower to warm or the washing machine to fill. (Bonus points if you’re in the position to hear water in the wild.)
19. Water your plants. Talk to your plants. Sing to your plants.
20. Phone a friend or family member.
21. Daydream out the window while watching (really watching) the leaves on the trees.
22. Drive in silence. The same goes for your daily walk—try turning off the music/podcast/audiobook for a bit.
23. Send a silly, soulful, sweet, or sassy text or meme to the human you most appreciate.
24. Organize your space.
25. Have a meal without distractions.
26. Practice meditation. Start with one minute.
27. Spend quality time with your pet—without doing it for the ‘gram.
28. Cry when you need.
29. Read one paragraph or page of a book that calms, inspires, or incites you to contemplate. Pause to absorb the message.
30. Lose yourself in watching something other than TV. The churn of the washing machine, your pet’s stretching routine, the clouds floating by…
31. Eat tacos. (They sort of command one’s complete awareness.)
32. Linger over your skin care routine.
33. Put your phone on “do not disturb”—while you sleep, at least.
34. Listen to a yoga nidra recording before bed.
35. Take time to think about ways you fill your days with awareness.
