8 Tips to Become a Mindful Badass

Mindful. It is a word that is used a lot nowadays, but what the hell does it actually mean? To me being mindful is all about my awareness of the present moment. Am I focused on what is going on right here and now or am I thinking about yesterday, tomorrow, or even next year?

Regardless of how you define mindfulness, it is a SKILL that takes patience and practice to achieve. I, a mental health therapist, am still patiently waiting to become a zen little buddha goddess who kicks ass at being mindful all the time. Is this realistic? Eh, probably not, but it is something I am working towards. Starting last year, I realized the amount of TIME and ENERGY I was spending looking forward. I was so focused on who I was going to be, where I was going to be, with whom (is this supposed to be who?) was I going to be with? I wasted so much time, it makes me cringe to even think about it too much. I recognized that I was wasting this time and decided to practice what I preach and learn how to be more mindful in my daily life. Here are 8 tips that I’ve learned in my process to becoming a mindful badass…

1. Practice being mindful EVERY DAMN DAY. However this looks for you, just put in the effort to practice. Download a meditation app (my personal favorite is insight timer). Take a yoga class. Take ten deep breaths and think about what you are doing right now. Look around the room and find something of every color. Say your intentions out loud. Think about what you are eating as you eat it.
2. Encourage others around you to practice mindfulness with you. It is much easier to be mindful when some of those you surround yourself with practice it too. Tell your mom about it. Ask a friend if they know what it is. Have your dog mediate with you (I am not joking with this, I actually do this and my dogs love it. Zen puppies for all).
3. Journal or Verbalize. Mindfulness comes from looking inward and identifying what is happening right now. Take the time to journal or verbalize to yourself (its okay if you look and feel weird doing this, you’ll get used to it) what is happening internally in yo HEAD.
4. Take a Breath. Just take a deep, belly breath. In case you don’t know what a belly breath is… sit up straight, put your hands on your stomach, and take a deeeeeeep breath in (feel your stomach rise as you breath in), hold the breath, and releaaaseeeeeeeee slowlyyyyy.
5. Recognize you will get better at it with time. Its all about the journey not the destination babay (repeating this to myself as I type it). You will get better at this as you stick with it and practice. There is no perfect in mindful, there is only progress.
6. Find a way to be mindful that works for YOU. Just because a way of being mindful works for me, doesn’t mean that it will work for you. Try out different ways of being mindful and do what feels right. Remember it will likely feel a little weird at first, but it shouldn’t be painfully terrible. If it is, try something else. I always recommend starting with one minute of guided imagery meditation per day for the first week! Then if it still doesn’t feel like a good fit, move on to something else.
7. Be mindful in everyday life. Mindfulness is a practice that can be implemented into everything you do. As you build up your mindful yogi self, try applying it into everyday life. Did a coworker piss you off today? Try being mindful about the situation. Is your neighbor being a piece of shit and tap dancing upstairs? Take a minute to try to be mindful about it. Did your dog eat an entire pizza off the counter? (true story). Engage in a mindfulness exercise before you react.
8. Realize that you have already taken the first step to being a mindful badass by engaging in this post for this long.You made it all the way through this post! You’re already crushing it. Remember to pat yourself on the back for your mindfulness successes.