I fold one piece of paper over the other and just keep going. I choose the colour paper I like the most, the design I think will be challenging enough to keep me concentrating but too challenging that I become frustrated and I begin. Over and over I fold and repeat. Once I am done I not only feel a small sense of accomplishment but I also feel more present, more awake and I've given myself time to stop thinking. I am of course talking about Origami. It is one of my favourite mindfulness practices with sketchbook work being a close second. Mindfulness is kind of like an active meditation. It's contemplation on the present moment. The more you do it, the more you cultivate a still and present mind that you can take with you into other tasks. Now you all know I love meditation and having upped my practice of it recently I am thinking also about incorporating or finding new ways to be mindful. Recently I have been taking Oscar on longer dog walks and it's been amazing. I have always found the trees and the sea to be a meditation in itself but spending more time with them these days has been it's own mindfulness practice. I just love looking at the bark of the trees and the patterns and I sometimes make up names for them which I know sounds crazy but there we are.
So what is your mindfulness practice? What would you like to try? If you can't think of anything then borrow one of mine, get some origami paper, maybe a small sketchbook, a doodle book or even one of the popular colouring books. Just grab something that you can chuck in your bag and work on during your lunch hour or your morning tea break. Nothing too hefty. It's meant to be a completely gentle process and it's one where the benefits are cumulative. The more you work your mindfulness muscles the more they will begin to impact your life. It's like another sneaky way to get a meditation in your day. I've noticed that since incorporating it that I have become gentler with myself. Even when I have those horrible moments of self doubt, as soon as I sink into a pile of paper and fold the weight of the worries of the world just go away for a while. In that quiet space so often I've come across a solution to whatever puzzle I am currently dealing with or the problem just gets put into its correct perspective. Sometimes a mindfulness practice is the stepping stone we need to get above whatever is around us and see it in it's correct context.
Another unexpected side effect of a mindfulness practice is the increased dialogue you get with your own inner voice. Whenever I am feeling more brain chatter than normal I try my best to remind myself to sink into a mindfulness practice and more often than not I engage with my intuition and I am able to hear it more clearly. I used to run development classes and a practice like this was mandatory. It was an additional part of creating a still place within yourself in order to hear the guidance that is being given to you. So, what are you going to do? Are you already doing a mindfulness practice? Whatever works for you leave a suggestion below. If there's something that I haven't mentioned why not leave it below? You might be helping someone else. This blog is a sort of mindfulness practice for me. I sit down, relax and because I've already planned what I am going to write at the beginning of the week I just relax into my own mind and away I go. Start something. Start small. Start today.
Thank you for reading.
Big Love,
Ryan James x
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