No Time to Meditate? Try a Quick Fix to Apply Mindfulness in Everyday Life
Posted on 28th April 2025 at 13:15
It is the most frustrating, yet excitingly challenging task for a mindfulness coach; convincing people that mindfulness is a tool for everyday life.
How many times do you see flyers and adverts for mindfulness courses on notice boards of spas, gyms and clinics? Do you look at them and think you might be interested one day, but just not now? Maybe you have already ‘tried’ mindfulness, and it wasn’t for you because you couldn’t stop your thoughts racing. Perhaps you find it boring or self-indulgent. It’s a little bit mystical, isn’t it? Or mumbo-jumbo? You recoil at the thought of sitting cross-legged, chanting, and becoming all ‘woo-woo.’
It can be whatever label you choose to give it, but mindfulness is an ancient practice, millennia in the making, the benefits of which, modern science is only recently catching up with. Our brains, as sophisticated as they may be, are only now giving up their secrets, and the neuroscience shows that the practice of mindfulness is a way of enhancing the performance of this squishy organ in our skulls. It is a way of changing the way we think about our lives and the problems we face. It is a way of transforming how we breathe, feel, think, and live.
The benefits of mindfulness are much publicised now, including resilience to stress, reducing effects of depression and even preventing recurrence, improved response to pain, reduced anxiety, improved sleep, and even weight loss. But many people either remain cynical about that or find it too difficult to settle down to creating a mindfulness ‘habit’. And like many activities that they might try out to help cope with life—running, a new diet, a yoga class—it is all too easy to give up if you don’t get the benefits straight away or it feels too difficult to do.
There are two main barriers to developing a mindfulness practice that I encounter. One is the mistaken belief that someone cannot be mindful as their thoughts race all the time. When they come to meditate—this act is what we most associate with mindfulness—their minds are too busy. I always smile at this one as that person seems to think they are in some way special. In actual fact, everybody’s minds race. We all have thousands of thoughts spinning round in our heads like clothes in a tumble dryer.
The very point of mindfulness, which is rarely understood, is that we can step back from the drama in our heads and see the patterns of our thoughts and feelings, so that we may start to understand ourselves and have the opportunity to keep what we like and change what we don’t. It is simply playing witness to what is inside of us and making choices. It doesn’t solve problems per se, but it gives a new perspective for sure, and the change in brain state from stress to calm gives us a much better view on the world anyway.
So, when we think of mindfulness – it should be just what the word says. Mind. Full. There’s no point in fighting that. But slowing down those thoughts using the practice has enormous value. In addition, we need to be aware of mind-less-ness. When we give in to the autopilot activities which make us stumble through the day like a zombie, such as going on a commute we have been on many times before, then realising we have no memory of it when we got to work, or automatically reaching for a gin and tonic at the end of the working day because we are stressed, then this is where we need to catch our minds in action. The habits we develop ultimately define us, and most are acted out subconsciously, of course (that is how they become a habit, because we don’t have to consciously think about them). Mindfulness makes the unconscious conscious again, shining a light on the actions, thoughts and feelings we have, allowing us to review, change or keep as we see fit. We are taking back control of a mind which has been allowed to rule the roost and drive us as if we were some kind of servant to its bidding.
The second main barrier is that old chestnut of having no time. Of course, we have no time. W e are constantly chasing all day, achieving and getting things done that we need to tick off our to-do lists. We know too, that we are so busy we really do need to try and redress our balance, so we try to slot in an extra half hour of sleep, a morning work-out routine, take time to cook real food and not ultra-processed ready meals or order takeaways, and then finally, a meditation practice. We add on extra things to do on top of an already packed day without even thinking properly as to why we need to do it, or how we can make it sustainable. No wonder they go by the wayside as we stress ourselves further (counterproductive!) and feel bad for ‘failing.’ Side note: there is no failing at meditation. There is no being good or bad. You just need to do it.
Time is not the enemy in fact, it is our state of mind and attitude towards what we do. But on that topic, and in the interests of time, dear reader, I shall cut to the chase. You don’t need to spend 10- or 15-minute blocks of the day listening to Headspace (or even me) guiding you through meditations, you just need to remember to be mindful for 10 or 15 SECOND blocks!
Mindfulness is awareness, so at any point of the day, if you feel as if your mind is racing away from you and you cannot control your thoughts or your feelings, then you can use a few simple techniques to being you back to the present moment. The trick then is to be aware of what you are thinking and just allowing it to be exactly as it is. No judgement, no need to change anything. No need to DO anything right now.
Here is an example of what I mean. I try and do this about 5 times a day, and it means I barely break stride from my busy routine, but it does re-charge me so I can be better equipped to get on with my tasks. And here is also a demonstration of how the busy mind works, constantly trying to solve problems and actually making them worse. Imagine a dialogue between that part of your brain which keeps functioning all day, fretting, planning, doing—I call it My Inner Narrative—and also think of another part. A voice of reason. That part of your mind which can keep you grounded, safe, and re-charged. I call that Mindful Mind.
My Inner Narrative
Feeling a little angsty. Inside something is not quite right. Maybe it’s a lack of sleep last night and general fatigue. Maybe I shouldn’t have had that whisky before bed. I can’t seem to settle to anything and get any work finished. I feel like I am always needing to be on the go, always needing to be doing something and not wasting time. This is all too much!
Mindful Mind
OK, stop a sec.
My Inner Narrative
Thoughts are running away with me and inside I feel so stressed. I am probably making myself ill.
Mindful Mind
I know. It’s OK. Just stop a sec. Take a breath. Breathe in through the nose, and out through the mouth. Feel your feet on the floor. Feel where your soles touch the floor or where there is contact between your feet in your shoes or socks.
My Inner Narrative
Ok, feels nice for a moment. A thought just hit me though. I feel bad for not getting back to my friend. Totally forgot to What’s App him back.
Mindful Mind
Be aware of the thought, but then let it go. Imagine the thought drifting away as though it’s in a bubble or a cloud. Don’t get lost in it or follow it. Stay on the breath if you can.
My Inner Narrative
I like this, but I feel like I am a bad friend.
Mindful Mind
Just breathe in and then out again. Feel the breath calm you. Don’t forget to sense your feet. Now listen to what’s around you. Birds. Traffic. The sounds of now. Don’t judge, just listen to what you hear. You are just taking a moment. You are aware of the thought of the What’s App, but you’re not going to act right now. Take a moment for yourself. It’s OK to feel like a bad friend and it’s ok not to like it. You will put it right, but not right now. Take a moment for you. To realise that you are not superhuman or not caring.
My Inner Narrative
OK, calming a little now. Breathing in and out is nice when you focus on it.
Mindful Mind
It’s just a few seconds. The normal impulse is to reach for the phone and start messaging. To fix it. To be at the mercy of society conditioning and to get caught up in your narrative that you are a bad friend or all those other things. Take this moment to reconsider. Cool down any thinking by feeling the senses of the moment. Feel your breath, your sense of grounding through your feet, your hearing. Say to yourself. ‘It’s ok to feel like this, it’s ok to feel stressed even.’ Watch how the power of the thoughts fades away.
My Inner Narrative
You’re right! I am just accepting that I feel angsty and stressed right now. It will pass. I will take the action I need when I am ready to do so. I will take back control of my own mind, thoughts, feelings and actions. Those thoughts are fading away or at least becoming less powerful. My whole perspective has changed on myself and the situation – in just a few moments!
Mindful Mind
Good. Come back to me when you need me again😊
See how this works? Nothing really changed. I still hadn’t got back to my friend in this instant moment, but I did not get lost in the drama of thinking I was a bad friend, or that I needed to do something NOW. The ‘bad friend’ idea was just a concept, put there by my mind to stop me from losing connection with the other person, even though in reality, they might not have given it a second thought.
Note as well how quickly this dialogue in my mind can take place once I take a conscious step to avoid being dragged along by habitual thoughts. I use the breath to kick off the process, a bodily function quite deliberately chosen to get me out of the mind, and then notice the thoughts starting to dissipate. This takes virtually NO time at all to go through this process. There is no sitting still for a long time to try and resolve. It's dealt with healthily and quickly.
Taking a couple of minutes to just be mindful and re-set the brain is like pulling over at the side of a road when lost and looking at a map. A few seconds reassessing will save minutes of aimless driving. So it is with the mind. We waste our time and energy being at the behest of our habits and reacting constantly in a stress mode, when we can use mindfulness to put our minds on a more relaxed footing, all the better to cope with life and all of its quirks.
I am a mindfulness coach and teacher. I can help you cope with life better by teaching you the skill of not reacting mindlessly when you need to merely respond mindfully. You will be less stressed and make better decisions. You will start to shape your life in a much more constructive way, geared towards YOUR specific needs.
Book a call with me to discuss how we start your journey.
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