Whether you travel or stay at home, mindful living enables you to be present and enjoy every minute of your life.
6 Ways to Practice Mindful Living when Traveling and at Home
Calamities, disasters, and misfortunes often turn our world upside down. Suddenly, we don’t feel ourselves, we don’t know what to do and how to react. We strive to find solutions, but there’re none. The whole world seems to be falling apart, and we can’t do anything about it. And this is the perfect time to practice mindful living. Whether you travel or stay at home, mindful living enables you to find peace within yourself despite the circumstances.
What is Mindful Living
So what is mindful living? To answer this questions, you need to look at mindfulness as your ability to stay present. Mindful living means being an impartial observer, rather than trying to enforce your will and control everything and everybody around you. Practicing mindfulness and mindful living have positive effects on every area of your life be it at home or when you travel. It helps strengthen your relationships, improve your health, and enjoy your life more.
HERE ARE 6 WAYS TO PRACTICE MINDFUL LIVING WHEN TRAVELING AND STAYING AT HOME:
1. Accept Your Life
Mindful living, first of all, implies a great deal of acceptance. You accept your life, people you meet, different cultures and traditions, and even such things as disasters. You might think that life is not easy. But does it always have to be difficult? Why people who live in poverty seem to be happier than those who can afford anything? Is there a secret why some people radiate joy and happiness regardless of the places they visit and reside? On the other hand, a person can travel all over the world, live in Manhattan, and still whine and complain about his or her life.
The difference between these two categories of people is whether they accept their lives, the world, and other people as they are or not. The ability to appreciate your imperfect life and this world before they get perfect lies at the core of mindful living. However, the acceptance doesn’t mean that you don’t need to try to make your life better or reach your goals. The main focus here is to abandon your “when-I-get-this” or “become-this” mentality. Instead, strive to enjoy every step of your literal or metaphorical journey. Happiness is a way of “travel”, not a destination after all.
2. Accept Other People
Like you can’t prevent natural disasters, you can’t change other people. You can’t make them better or demand from them to behave specific way. Mindful living enables your to accept other people including all their flaws and imperfections. It’s especially difficult when you travel and meet people from different cultures. Accepting their beliefs and traditions without imposing yours is one of the great examples of living mindfully.
3. No Need to Always Be ahead of Time and Others
Mindful living doesn’t require you to always excel and be ahead of time. In fact, perfectionism, one of the main characteristics of the modern world, is nothing but an enemy of mindful living. Moreover, you don’t always have to be ahead of time or others to visit a new place or country. It’s completely ok to pass for way too ordinary and touristy and travel to Rome even though millions of other travelers have been there already. On the other hand, feel free to venture to a remove village in Peru if this is something you want to do.
Mindful living assumes that you trust yourself and follow your callings regardless of other’s opinions. You don’t have to be ahead of the time or your friends and colleagues. There’s absolutely no need to wake up at 5 a.m., work hard all day long, and go to sleep past midnight just to get ahead of the game. With such unhealthy and unbalanced life all you can get are exhausted mind and body, lack of energy, and no joy for your life whatsoever. Living mindfully, however, helps you get in touch with your body and needs.
4. Meditate
A lot has been said about mediation and its benefits. More and more people incorporate this practice in their lives. For some it’s a way to start a day. Others find it useful to calm down. Regardless of the motives, meditation is one of the main components of mindful living. Letting your mind to be free for at least 10 minutes a day promotes emotional health and reduces stress and anxiety. Moreover, this simple practice enhances self-awareness and increases productivity. Even if you travel, try to devote at least a few minutes to meditation and see how it affects your overall travel experience.
5. Exercise
Your body and mind are interconnected. Where there’s a healthy body, there’s a healthy mind and vice versa. Therefore, exercising is absolutely essential for mindful living. With that being said, you can choose any type of physical activity. Be it working out at the gym, doing yoga, going for a hike, or working in your garden, get your body moving. When you travel, make sure to walk instead of taking a bus. At airports, try to do some simple stretches, rather than sitting idly and drinking tons of coffee while waiting for your flights.
6. Eat Healthy
To achieve that healthy body and mindfulness, one has to pay close attention to what he or she eats. Greasy, processed food has less then welcoming effect on your mindfulness and mindful living. Moreover, it leads to sluggishness and lack of energy. So try to nourish your body and mind with healthy food with lots of greens and plants.
While you can easily attain this goal at home, traveling might have some difficulties with finding the right food for your body and mind. Nevertheless, it’s not impossible. When on the road, eat where and what locals eat. Even if you don’t have access to the healthy food at the moment, do what it feels right. And if it’s eating pizza or French fries, go for it. One slice of pizza or cake doesn’t end your path of living mindfully or makes you unhealthy. In the end, mindful living is a process, not the end result.
