The Daily Mind

Daily Steps To Mindful Living

Liz Parry

Tips for the mindful traveller

Life, Mindfulness, Travel

I’ve not mentioned this before, but I’ve been writing my blog posts for the Daily Mind whilst travelling through South East Asia.

It’s been an enlightening journey in many ways, but I was particularly struck this week by the behaviour of my fellow travellers. We’ve been visiting some fascinating sites, from the Buddha park in Vang Vieng, Laos, to the Grand Palace at Bangkok, yet so few travellers seem to be living in the present moment and absorbing what they are seeing. Most people are busy clicking away on their cameras or filming the view that I wonder how much of the actual experience they are taking in. Others are texting or updating their Facebook and Twitter, telling their friends about what they’re seeing.

I’ve been guilty of this myself in the past, so I’ve decided to make it a bit of a project to be more mindful and present during my travels/holidays in order to fully appreciate the experience. Here are some ideas I’ve come up with, which I think can also be relevant to everyday life:


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Originally posted on November 15, 2011 @ 9:51 am

Calling all spiritual bloggers!

Inspiration, Personal Growth, Spirit

I’ve recently had a few emails from followers of the Daily Mind asking how they can promote their own writing on matters of spirituality, wellbeing and personal development. Well, if you already write a blog about these subjects, or if you’d like to start one up and want to build up a following, then read on to find out how you can promote your blog! 

How to promote your blog

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Originally posted on November 7, 2011 @ 12:21 pm

How to streamline your life

Life, Personal Growth

If you’re anything like me, you’ll find yourself constantly rushing around trying to fit lots of things into the day and never quite feeling that there’s enough time. I think the key here is time management – something that doesn’t come easily to me, I must admit – so that’s why for this blog I’ve decided to speak to a number of health experts to get some tips. I’m going to take a look at how to manage your work life better so that you feel less stressed, and I’m also going to look at how to fit more time in your day for fitness, a healthy diet and meditation.

Work

I like to think that I’m pretty organised, but I do sometimes get overwhelmed at work when I’ve got lots of things to do at once. I asked business coach Catherine Billam for some advice on how to be better at multi-tasking and, interestingly, she claims that it’s “a very inefficient way of using the brain.” She adds: “Doing two tasks at once can reduce your performance by up to 50 per cent, and constant emailing or text messaging reduces intelligence by an average of 10 points on an IQ test.” Yikes! That puts my IQ down by several numbers.

Instead of trying to juggle lots of tasks, Catherine advises cutting your day into chunks and focusing on one type of activity at a time. “Have separate chunks of time for admin, phone calls, meetings, emails, dealing with today’s emergencies, planning, creative thinking and writing,” she says.

Catherine also suggests being clever in the way that you plan your day. “Do the most difficult tasks when you have the most energy and the routine tasks when you have the least energy,” she says.

“Most people are at their brightest early in the morning, so do your hardest creative tasks and decision-making then. If dealing with admin or emails is routine, do that when you have less energy. Most people have a dip in the middle of the afternoon. Do routine tasks then.” I’ve always wondered what to do during the dreaded 3pm slump – now I know!

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Originally posted on October 21, 2011 @ 10:51 am

Giving thanks – Practising gratitude

Inspiration, Spirit

Here’s a confession – I’m not a natural optimist. I’m not one of those people for whom the glass is always half full. I have to really train my mind not to focus on how empty it looks. It’s not easy, I can tell you.

One thing that I’ve found particularly effective in recent times is practising gratitude. At the end of every day I sit and write down a list of five things I’m grateful for. Sometimes it’s easy and I can think of more than five, whereas other times I really struggle, but I make sure I complete the list. By focusing on the good things that happened in the day, or just the positive things in my life, I find that I feel happier and more optimistic.
Shopping List
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You don’t even have to write them down – it’s the process that’s important – so instead you could list them in your head as you’re getting ready for bed. If this sounds difficult, why not enlist a friend or partner to help you? You could send each other a daily gratitude email or text.

Incidentally, there’s research to back this all up. In one 2003 study a group of individuals wrote down five things they were grateful for each week, for 10 weeks. At the end of the trial this group were 25% happier than a comparison group who just wrote down five things that happened in the week.
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Originally posted on October 7, 2011 @ 10:19 am

How to deal with energy vampires

Life, Personal Growth, Spirit

Have you heard of the term energy vampires? I think it’s a particularly apt phrase used to describe people who sap you of energy and positivity, leaving you feeling drained and downbeat because of their negative mindset. A friend of mine likes to call them “vibe suckers”, whilst Liam O’Connell, author of Don’t Feed The Ducks, calls them “mood hoovers”. Whichever way you refer to them, I certainly know a few people who dampen down my mood and I bet you do too.

Shandi-lee X {pieces I}
Creative Commons License photo credit: Shandi-lee

People’s moods and energy are infectious. Associating with happy, positive people will do wonders for your state of mind – you can’t help but be influenced by their upbeat nature. But hanging around with negative, downbeat people will inevitably rub off on you and drag you down. It’s a bit like when someone walks into a room and the atmosphere changes – either for better or for worse – because of the vibe they give off.

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Originally posted on September 28, 2011 @ 9:44 am

Paying it forward

Inspiration, Spirit

I was having one of those grumpy days recently when I’d woken up in a bad mood and was really struggling to think and act positively. I went to the supermarket and as I was queuing up, the person in front of me gestured for me to go before them. I only had a few items and they had a big shop, so this saved me having to wait around. Their kind gesture and friendly, smiley manner really lifted my mood and put a smile back on my face. In fact, it made me want to go and do something nice for someone else.

This encounter reminded me of the concept of “paying it forward,” which is a topic I’ve been meaning to write about for a while.

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