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Daily One-minute Mindfulness Hacks

Mindfulness is a challenge when you have a busy life, but a critical tool to incorporate into your toolkit. This can serve as a reset if you’ve fallen off of your mindfulness practice or, if you are new to mindfulness, it can serve as a starting point. With these one-minute hacks, you can start to incorporate mindfulness throughout the day. Eventually, you’ll be able to engage in longer mindfulness exercises, increasing the benefits to your mind and body.

What Is The Point Of Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is about being aware in the moment of what you are feeling, thinking, and experiencing. It is about being aware of your immediate surroundings. It is without judgement. Simply listen to what your mind and body are telling you. By doing so, you allow yourself to relax and reset an overly stimulated nervous system. Think of it as your personal reset button. With practice, when you start to feel a little stress, you can deploy these techniques to minimize the impact of stressors.

Engaging in mindfulness is a way to connect with yourself using all of your senses. It is about learning how to understand what you feel physically and emotionally. Your back is screaming at you that it hurts because you’ve been slouched in your chair for the past two hours? Is your mind foggy because you haven’t eaten a nutritious meal? Are you feeling pressure to get a task done at work because you know your boss won’t be happy if you delay any further?

By acknowledging what you are experiencing in the moment, it allows you to get to the root of stressors and any feedback cycle that is heading in a negative loop. It also helps you understand yourself better. What are the things that drain you and what are the things that bring you joy? When the emotional pendulum is swinging too far to the negative side, you can deploy the things that make you feel good. By engaging in short bouts of mindfulness, you can address your personal needs in a more timely manner.

1-Minute Mindfulness To Try

To get started, pick two or three of the one-minute mindfulness hacks below to incorporate into your day. The goal is to focus on the activity you are doing and see how your mind and/or body feel while doing it. Try those for a few days, and then add one or two more. Repeat a hack until it comes naturally. By stacking one-minute mindfulness hacks, you can increase your overall ability to engage in mindfulness, building your resilience to stressors.

Basic Needs

  • Drink a glass of water to keep your body hydrated.
  • Grab a healthy snack to eat and fuel your body and brain. This doesn’t mean you scarf it down in a minute, the act of making a conscious decision on what to eat is the hack.
  • Go to the bathroom. When we get busy, it’s easy to forget the basic necessities.
  • Stretch your muscles. Regardless if you work standing or sitting, your body should not be in one position for long. Regular breaks to stretch achy muscles can ease tightness throughout.
  • Although, if you are prone to muscle knots, release a pressure point. A tennis ball can be a great hack for those hard to reach areas.
  • Get moving. Do some jumping jacks to get your blood flowing through your body and decrease built-up tension. Bonus – you get an energy boost out of doing this.
  • Go outside to catch some sun rays on your skin. Natural light can do wonders for your mind.

Additional information on basic needs can be found in Bio-Breaks.

Connect

  • Text someone you care about and wish them a good day.
  • Pet your pet. Take a moment to engage with another living creature. It doesn’t take long to alter your mood.
  • Water a plant or simply observe it. Having a little bit of nature close to you can calm your mind.
  • Look at pictures of loved ones. Remind yourself how lucky you are to have people in your life.
  • Smile at a stranger as you walk past them and say a nicety, like good morning or wish them a good day. Bonus – you also made their day better.
  • Express gratitude. Be grateful for what you have in life or say thank you to someone in your life.
  • Connect with your inner creative and doodle. Keep a sketchbook nearby so you can see your progress over time. You can also do it as part of your art journaling practice.

Use your senses

  • Smell essential oils. Smells that you like can have a powerful impact to calm and energize you. Find a smell you like and either use a diffuser or just take a sniff.
  • Stop and smell the roses, literally. If you pass by flowers, stop and take a whiff. What do you smell? Then appreciate the complexity of their structure. What colour are they?
  • Close your eyes. Our eyes work hard, especially for those that spend hours in front of a screen. Shutting them allows your eyes to lubricate. It also turns all visual stimuli off for a little bit so that you can calm your nervous system.

More in-depth information available on Mindfulness with a focus on your senses.

Change your perspective

  • Breathe. Focus inwards on your breath. While on the go, I like to inhale for four seconds, hold my breath for four, and exhale for eight. Longer exhales help slow down your nervous system. Adjust to what works for you, and repeat until you find yourself calmer than when you started.
  • Look at a picture of your happy place or use your imagination to transport you there. Remind yourself why it makes you feel good.
  • Spend a minute finding pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. This is a great reset and a lesson for steps towards a greater goal. Even if you don’t find a spot for the piece, you can at least group like with like. Warning – set a timer so you don’t lose track of time!
  • Keep a poetry book nearby and read a poem. Bonus – your vocabulary will most likely expand.
  • Look at a piece of art. Focus on the shapes, colours, textures, and materials. Is there a message behind it? Does it evoke any feelings?

Stack your one-minute mindfulness hacks to maximize the benefits!

Undeniably, like most self care tools, to increase your chances of being successful, start small and build up. With practice, you can stack one-minute mindfulness hacks to build blocks of time dedicated to your practice. We can all find a minute here and a minute there. The hard part is making the decision and committing to it.

Mindfulness at the end of the day is about respecting yourself. It is about prioritizing and committing to your self care journey. Regardless of where you find yourself right now in life, by inserting pockets of mindfulness into your everyday, you are honouring your mind and body. This builds your self-awareness which also makes it easier to ask for help when you need it. You can better understand what is out of your control and teaches you how to manage your thoughts and feelings. All of this leads to overall better well-being and life satisfaction.

IMAGE CREDIT: Pexels | Ekaterina Bolovtsova.