7 Ways to Practice Mindfulness in Your Daily Life Without Meditating

Mindfulness is the difference between actively living and passively existing.

Are you alive? Dumb question. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be reading these words. But behind this question is another one that cannot be answered as easily.

Do you live? Or do you just exist and have life happening around you?

The first one means you are actually experiencing life. You are aware, you are there, you do and feel. The second one means you are just a mindless zombie who stumbles around and misses out on the amazing things life has to offer.

The distinguishing factor between these two is mindfulness.

There are numerous benefits associated with it, proven by various psychological studies.

While stress reduction, improved general health, improved patience and more self-acceptance are all good reasons to practice being more mindful, the biggest benefit by far is more profound.

Mindfulness is the cornerstone to actively living and experiencing your life instead of passively existing and get through.

It is more than a fancy buzzword. In fact, the American Psychological Association has put down a hands-on definition of it in 2012 already:

‘[…] a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgment. In this sense, mindfulness is a state and not a trait. While it might be promoted by certain practices or activities, such as meditation, it is not equivalent to or synonymous with them. ’

Mindfulness is a state of awareness without judgment. It is observing something without categorizing it or thinking about the implications.

Moving beyond the textbook definition, the Buddhists have come up with a plausible analogy for mindfulness.

Life is like a waterfall. A constant stream of events, emotions, things, thoughts and people. Every single drop of water represents something from your life.

The cup of tea you drink, the air you breathe, the moment of hesitation before approaching a stranger, the sound your keyboard makes when you type “hot naked girls” into Google. All of this makes up the endless stream of life.

When I was travelling around Colombia earlier this year, I went hiking and had the chance to explore quite a lot of national parks and rainforests. There are quite a lot of waterfalls in which you can swim, sit in front of and have lunch or stand right underneath them.

Although it is refreshing, sobering and in a single word amazeballs, the experience is very different from what you would expect. It has got little to do with the nice, soothing stream of liquid you know from your shower at home. The water is hammering away at your head and shoulders, it’s cold and it is loud. Still an incredible experience, which you won’t ever forget.

But while you are right in the center of a thunderous waterfall, it is impossible to look at single drops or streams of water.

They are all around us, splashing against our body and getting washed away fractions of a second later. With enough water coming down, you might not even be able to see where you are or what is happening.

And that is exactly how life is most of the time. Whatever you do, the next thing or thought is always around the corner. The next wave of water is sure to come rushing down.

Coffee in the morning? Quick, let’s read the news or check social media. Oh, I gotta leave for work in a minute!

Sitting in public transport? Ugh, why is this bus is moving so slow? My appointment is in twenty minutes.

Only when you step behind the waterfall you will be able to look at it from an outside perspective, seeing how the water moves from top to bottom and which way it takes.

To become aware and observe the fall of water without judgment, you need to step out of it.

This is why meditation is labelled as the number one practice for increased mindfulness. Because by sitting there and doing nothing, you remove yourself from life for a while.

You to take an observing role and take a look at what is actually going on.

How to Become More Mindful

The cool thing about mindfulness is that you don’t have to meditate like a Zen monk — although it certainly helps.

It is something that you can practice in your daily life. While doing your choirs, while drinking your coffee, while having sex and while commuting to work.

The super-simple version is this: Pay attention to what you are doing and what is happening.

How can you do that? Well, since I have been practicing mindfulness in my everyday life for years now, I have found a couple of areas that offer the chance to do so. The chance to step out of the waterfall, to consciously and mindfully observe what is happening without distracting myself or judging.

Morning coffee or tea

First things first, so let’s start with getting up in the morning. Brewing and drinking fresh coffee or tea is a great opportunity to practice mindfulness. Instead of simply pressing a button on a machine and then grabbing your phone to read the news, sit back and watch.

Look at the coffee pouring into the cup, the tea bag colouring the water. Sit down and smell it. Close your eyes and taste every sip. Don’t just consume your beverage, but experience it.

Music

‘If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week. ’— Charles Darwin

I love listening to music. It’s always there, from the moment I finish my morning routine to when I start reading right before I go to bed. As I am writing this article, soft downbeat music is playing.

Sometimes I hook up my portable speakers to go into the kitchen and pour a bowl of cereal — hooking them up takes more time than I actually spend in the kitchen, but that is how important music is to me.

Even though I have it playing all day long already, sometimes I take my time to listen to it without doing anything else. It doesn’t matter if I am on public transport with headphones or crank up my speakers at home to annoy the neighbours. I press play, close my eyes and just listen.

It also makes for a great time-out when you are stressed or can’t think straight because you are overworked.

Sit there. Listen. Understand. Play a song two times in a row, just to notice what has slipped your ears the first time you listened to it.

Observation

I love people watching. A couple of years ago when my dad and I were on vacation in Croatia, we sat on a bench for two hours and did nothing but watch people walk by. It’s cool. It makes you think about the hustle and bustle we are all part of.

But you don’t have to limit yourself to people, you can observe anything interesting you come across. A flower, an insect, a building or the moon. Sit back and observe, without judging, without thinking. Simply take it in.

Waiting time

Waiting time used to be my nemesis. If I had to wait for more than five minutes, in my mind I would rage. I have so much to do and now I am stuck here, how dare this world waste my time?!

That was until a friend of mine told me a simple sentence which has changed my life forever.

‘There is no waiting. Live in the moment.’

Waiting time is great for practicing mindfulness. The next time your butt starts to go numb from sitting at a doctor’s office for too long, instead of pulling out your smartphone, make use of the time. Check your five senses. What do you see, hear, smell, taste and feel?

Conversation

Conversation is a great way to practice mindfulness. There is a myriad of articles on how to become a good listener, but in the end, it all comes down to this: Listen to what people say without immediate judgment.

Don’t get into your head and craft your response while they aren’t even halfway done with what they have to say. Simply listen. Be with them. Pay attention to what their eyes and bodies are saying. Make them the centre of your attention.

Eating

Ah, my favourite topic. Seriously, I love food. This is why it makes me so sad to see people consume calories instead of enjoying a meal. If you want my opinion on what is wrong with food culture, look at the term Fast Food.

When I go out to eat at a restaurant, I make a point to not talk during my meal. I don’t have the brain capacity to focus on the taste and a conversation at the same time. I don’t want to gulp down my food and miss out on flavour because I have to answer a question.

Not talking at all might be too extreme for you, but putting your phone away during the meal is a step in the right direction. Have you ever noticed how the exact same burger tastes totally different based on how the ingredients are stacked and in which order they hit your tongue? Thought so.

Be mindful when you eat.

Acting with care

Last but not least. This can be applied to pretty much anything in your life. When you do something, pay attention and do it with care. Don’t just put soap on your hands and wiggle them under a stream of water, but make sure you wash and scrub the whole surface.

Experience how the soap leaves your skin squeaky clean and dry. When you write a mail, send a message or put together a presentation, don’t just throw things together in order to get done.

‘Life is big, but it consists of many small moments. The only way to do great things is to chain together those moments into one, brilliant, shiny sequence. ’— Niklas Göke

Dedicate yourself to what you do. Step behind the waterfall. Be mindful.

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