{"id":3874,"date":"2021-09-06T15:00:53","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T13:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/contattoblogs.timslatter.co.za\/?p=3874"},"modified":"2021-10-04T08:52:26","modified_gmt":"2021-10-04T06:52:26","slug":"making-mindfulness-easier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/","title":{"rendered":"Making mindfulness easier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anything in life that is truly worth doing &#8211; is not easy. It is easy to forget this when we see others doing really well and making the difficult seem like a cinch. We don\u2019t see all the hard work that goes into the background.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But in our own areas of expertise, we have had to start from level zero and apply ourselves over time to gain the knowledge and experience akin to being proficient.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it comes to mindfulness, a key practice for our mental health, it feels like it\u2019s something that should come naturally. All we need to do is focus our attention on the present moment, and we will be able to get it right. Mindfulness has been proven to calm the mind, ground the body, and increase overall well-being and good health, scientifically and spiritually.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We understand that it\u2019s worth doing, but in practice, it\u2019s not that easy. We get distracted, our thoughts run all over the show, and before we know it, we\u2019re no longer practising mindfulness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mindfulness is an incredible tool to help us make better decisions around our finances, relationships, career and extracts more enjoyment and fulfilment from the activities that we love so much.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are a few ideas that we can all work on, gradually and steadily, to grow our mastery of mindfulness and make this journey a little easier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>DO EVERYTHING SLOWLY<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consciously slow down. Walk slowly, drink slowly, sit slowly, breathe slowly, talk slowly, move your body slowly \u2014 practice slowing down your natural tendency to rush everything. When we wake up to an alarm clock, judge our travel time by traffic flows, set meetings for productive hours in the day, watch the clock during dinners and keep trying to get to bed earlier, we\u2019re living by the clock. And this will always leave us feeling rushed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Slowing down helps us break the grip of \u2018always feeling rushed\u2019 and helps us focus on what we\u2019re doing right now. When you slow your breathing &#8211; you\u2019re focused on the air going in and going out. You\u2019re probably doing it right now as you read this &#8211; and that\u2019s a super start! You\u2019re already more mindful.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whenever your world starts to spin a little too fast, witness your breath and feel yourself begin to slow down.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>LET EATING BECOME A SENSORY EXPLOSION<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s a moment in the 2007 Disney movie, Ratatouille, where Remy and Emile taste some cheese that was struck by lighting. Visually, as Remy takes a bite, we see the background fade into a fireworks display, and his face shows the visceral delight in this new taste experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When we want to improve our mindfulness muscles, we can do it with every meal and snack during the day. As we slow those down (not eating on the run\u2026), we can experience more of the flavour, texture and benefits of what we are putting in our bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>SPEND MORE TIME IN NATURE<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve said it many times in our blogs, spending time in nature is healing and helpful on so many levels. It boosts happy-hormones, improves our air intake, stimulates creativity and reduces emotional tension. But &#8211; it also makes mindfulness easier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Living indoors all day tends to restrict the mind immensely. By going outside, we open our minds to experiencing more expansion and relaxation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If we\u2019re walking a little slower (let\u2019s assume we\u2019re not trying to get our lifestyle-plan points!), we will be able to commit to watching, smelling and hearing whatever comes into our field of stimulation. Experts say that doing this for at least half an hour a day is all we need to begin making mindfulness easier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can work on mindfulness of sounds, smells, flavors, feelings\/textures, and what we see and start small. Focus on one mindfulness exercise and commit time to it each day. As this becomes easier, you can journal your experiences (this enhances mindfulness of a recent experience) and reflect on what you\u2019ve learned or how you\u2019ve changed. Be kind to yourself and have some fun with it!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anything in life that is truly worth doing &#8211; is not easy. It is easy to forget this when we see others doing really well and making the difficult seem like a cinch. We don\u2019t see all the hard work that goes into the background. But in our own areas of expertise, we have had to start from level zero and apply ourselves over time to gain the knowledge and experience akin to being proficient. When [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-life"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Making mindfulness easier - Contatto North<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making mindfulness easier - Contatto North\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anything in life that is truly worth doing &#8211; is not easy. It is easy to forget this when we see others doing really well and making the difficult seem like a cinch. We don\u2019t see all the hard work that goes into the background. But in our own areas of expertise, we have had to start from level zero and apply ourselves over time to gain the knowledge and experience akin to being proficient. When [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Contatto North\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-06T13:00:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-04T06:52:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Making-mindfulness-easier.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"770\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"anthonyb@timslatter.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"anthonyb@timslatter.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/making-mindfulness-easier\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/making-mindfulness-easier\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"anthonyb@timslatter.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b55c4b0a6054f79a0f61aa82405b972\"},\"headline\":\"Making mindfulness easier\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-06T13:00:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-04T06:52:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/making-mindfulness-easier\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":696,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/making-mindfulness-easier\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/Making-mindfulness-easier.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\",\"LIFE\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/making-mindfulness-easier\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/making-mindfulness-easier\\\/\",\"name\":\"Making mindfulness easier - Contatto North\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/making-mindfulness-easier\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/making-mindfulness-easier\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/Making-mindfulness-easier.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-06T13:00:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-04T06:52:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b55c4b0a6054f79a0f61aa82405b972\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/making-mindfulness-easier\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/making-mindfulness-easier\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/making-mindfulness-easier\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/Making-mindfulness-easier.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/Making-mindfulness-easier.jpg\",\"width\":770,\"height\":385},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/making-mindfulness-easier\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Making mindfulness easier\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/\",\"name\":\"Contatto North\",\"description\":\"Moving Financial Planners Forward\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b55c4b0a6054f79a0f61aa82405b972\",\"name\":\"anthonyb@timslatter.com\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ccde1ee561fd0252de63548ca8e3757cbb208c3cc93dba514690b9c8a7e33635?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ccde1ee561fd0252de63548ca8e3757cbb208c3cc93dba514690b9c8a7e33635?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ccde1ee561fd0252de63548ca8e3757cbb208c3cc93dba514690b9c8a7e33635?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"anthonyb@timslatter.com\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/contattolive.co.za\\\/north\\\/author\\\/anthonybtimslatter-com\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Making mindfulness easier - Contatto North","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Making mindfulness easier - Contatto North","og_description":"Anything in life that is truly worth doing &#8211; is not easy. It is easy to forget this when we see others doing really well and making the difficult seem like a cinch. We don\u2019t see all the hard work that goes into the background. But in our own areas of expertise, we have had to start from level zero and apply ourselves over time to gain the knowledge and experience akin to being proficient. When [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/","og_site_name":"Contatto North","article_published_time":"2021-09-06T13:00:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-10-04T06:52:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":770,"height":385,"url":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Making-mindfulness-easier.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"anthonyb@timslatter.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"anthonyb@timslatter.com","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/"},"author":{"name":"anthonyb@timslatter.com","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/#\/schema\/person\/6b55c4b0a6054f79a0f61aa82405b972"},"headline":"Making mindfulness easier","datePublished":"2021-09-06T13:00:53+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-04T06:52:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/"},"wordCount":696,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Making-mindfulness-easier.jpg","articleSection":["Blog","LIFE"],"inLanguage":"en-ZA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/","url":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/","name":"Making mindfulness easier - Contatto North","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Making-mindfulness-easier.jpg","datePublished":"2021-09-06T13:00:53+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-04T06:52:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/#\/schema\/person\/6b55c4b0a6054f79a0f61aa82405b972"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-ZA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-ZA","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Making-mindfulness-easier.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Making-mindfulness-easier.jpg","width":770,"height":385},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/making-mindfulness-easier\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Making mindfulness easier"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/#website","url":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/","name":"Contatto North","description":"Moving Financial Planners Forward","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-ZA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/#\/schema\/person\/6b55c4b0a6054f79a0f61aa82405b972","name":"anthonyb@timslatter.com","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-ZA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccde1ee561fd0252de63548ca8e3757cbb208c3cc93dba514690b9c8a7e33635?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccde1ee561fd0252de63548ca8e3757cbb208c3cc93dba514690b9c8a7e33635?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccde1ee561fd0252de63548ca8e3757cbb208c3cc93dba514690b9c8a7e33635?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"anthonyb@timslatter.com"},"url":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/author\/anthonybtimslatter-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3891,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3874\/revisions\/3891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contattolive.co.za\/north\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}