Boost Your Mood Tenner Week Day 7: Mindful moment
Welcome to Day 7 of the Boost Your Mood Tenner Week budgeting challenge. It’s our final day and we’re going to have a Mindful Moment.
A great philospher once said: ‘Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.’
Okay, okay, it was Ferris Bueller. But the quote stands the test of time, trust me.
Mindfulness is paying attention to what is going on inside and outside ourselves in the present moment. We often get caught up in problems from our past, or race ahead with anxious thoughts about the future – and mindfulness is something that can stop us ‘living in our heads’ too much.
Regular use of mindfulness brings several benefits. If you increase your awareness you can enjoy individual moments more fully, rather than missing them or taking them for granted (Bueller! Bueller!). It also helps you reconnect with your body, all your senses, and your thoughts.
Try out today’s Mindful Moment
Today, all you have to do is spend ten minutes being mindful or ‘present’. Focus on your senses, and what you can see, hear, smell, touch or taste – allowing your thoughts and observations to come and go without forcing them.
If your concentration wanders then don’t be annoyed with yourself because this is a skill most of us need to build up. Instead, thank youself for noticing that you’ve become distracted, then gently being your focus back to the present.
Some mindfulness ideas you might like to try:
- Go for a short walk: become aware of what you can see, hear or smell, any thoughts that might float up, or the feel of the air against your skin.
- Eat a piece of fruit or some chocolate: weigh how it feels in your hand, see what the peel or the wrapper looks like, smell the food, break off a tiny piece, taste the food, chew fruit or let chocolate melt, swallow the food, then have some more.
- Focus on your breathing: sit quietly and follow your breath as it goes in and out, think about the way the air feels moving through your nose or mouth, and how your body feels as you sit still for a little longer.
You can pick one of these three ideas, or try some of the many different exercises provided by the NHS or explore further at Mindful.org.
Choose something you can do for around ten minutes, and give it a go.
More useful resources
- The Tenner Week Challenge rules
- 12 tips for a successful Tenner Week
- The ‘Boost Your Mood’ Tenner Week schedule
Have you tried mindfulness before? Which exercise would you like to try most?
I hope you’ve enjoyed the free and low cost-activities this week – and you’ve had success sticking to your budget.
By the way, if you’d like a free printable spending diary to give your Tenner Week budgeting challenge an even bigger boost, just fill in the form below.
