“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day – unless you’re too busy; then you should sit for an hour.”
Zen Proverb
How do you take care of yourself when you are so busy juggling your job and caring for other people at home? You can’t give 100% to others if you don’t have 100% to give. Knowing you need to take care of yourself before you can adequately take care of others is easier said than done.
How do you even remember to be mindful or make time to meditate when you’re just sooooo busy? How can mindfulness for busy people actually work?
KEY POINTS
- A few simple tips & tricks on how to take time out of your day to be mindful and remember who you are.
- Let go of the guilt, let yourself relax, and remind yourself that you deserve some quiet confidence!
Busy, or Actually Productive?
When you’re busy, it’s even more important to be mindful of your mental health. It’s so easy to get carried away with your day, good or bad, and be wholly immersed in it. Keeping busy can be a great way to feel a sense of achievement, right? Get a minor dopamine release and feel accomplished?
Are you productive or just busy?
Forgetting just how mentally exhausted you actually are. Failing to spend time with the kids at home. Neglecting your aging parents who wish you’d call more. These are just a few things that weigh us down and add to the stress we feel when we’re busy. Especially if we are more busy than productive.
Busyness = Mindlessness
Being busy is all the more reason busy people should adopt a meditative practice. Practicing mindful meditation allows you to get more in touch with your thoughts, emotions, and what truly matters. When you’re in constant “gett stuff done” mode and slogged with deadlines, it’s easy to think all that is the most important stuff at that moment.
Going through your busy day mindlessly, unaware, not present:
- You miss out on what is going on around us.
- You find it difficult to connect with others.
- You find it difficult to live and express your true nature.
- You become more influenced by your mind, ego, and external factors.
- You are hurried and “busy,” not actually getting much done.
- You’re fighting against the natural order of things instead of being in harmony.
- You’re unaware of what’s going on within you – emotions, stress, pain – and are consumed and controlled by those.
The good news? It’s not altogether hard to add some mindfulness and meditation to your busy day, even mindfulness for busy people!
3 steps to add mindfulness meditation to your day, even especially if you’re busy
1. Wake up early and meditate in the morning.
Now, this isn’t some other morning routine telling you to get up at 4 a.m. and conquer the world. This is merely suggesting that first thing in the morning can be an optimal time to meditate.
You want to pick a time when you’re most unlikely to be interrupted. You also want the space you choose to meditate to be quiet, calm, and soothing. Create an area that is peaceful and enables you to relax while you’re meditating.
Ideally, you don’t want to use this space for anything besides meditating. This way, when you sit down, your body will be notified that it is time to calm down and practice mindfulness. Of course, that isn’t always practical. I recommend, at the very least, using a meditation cushion or chair only for meditation purposes. That way, you at least have something dedicated to meditation that you identify with if a dedicated space isn’t an option.
All you need to do is sit down somewhere comfortable and preferably quiet. Sit upright on a cushion or chair and close your eyes. Doing this not long after you wake up gets your mental state in its most creative state. In doing so, you channel many thoughts that are meaningful, important, and deserving of your attention.
Breathe normally, and just focus on the breath. Follow it in and out. Feel the area of the body that is rising and falling with the breath. Let your thoughts run, and don’t let yourself be afraid of them. Make a conscious effort to focus on the present moment without judgment. If you really think about it, this present moment is the only moment in which you are really able to live. Don’t think about the future or the past, and fully accept yourself in the moment. Always come back to focusing on your breath and listening to the sounds around you. Allow yourself to do nothing and just be.
You don’t always have to be running around busy to get things accomplished. Your mind and body both need to recharge so that you can be productive when you do.
Starting a regular meditation practice, especially for busy guys, can seem impossible because it takes up time from your active lifestyle. It means you can’t reply to those emails while you’re eating breakfast. It prevents you from rushing out the door to get to work 30 minutes earlier. The truth is even just 10 minutes of mindfulness will do you wonders. 10 minutes. This is not long at all.
2. Have a journal to write about your meditation.
After a 10 minute sitting of meditation, it might be helpful to write down some of these critical concerns that you may need to address. Remember that we’re trying to make this into a habit, so you might feel clunky initially; you’re unsure what to write. Just write whatever comes to your mind. Don’t censor yourself, and don’t judge. Journaling doesn’t need a lot of structure. It should just be a reflection of your current mental and emotional states.
So if your mental state seems cloudy or noisy, that’s okay. Then your writing should reflect that. Naturally, you’ll find things slowly coming easier for you, and eventually, there will be greater clarity and structure in your writing – again, a reflection of your better mental state.
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3. Do this meditation exercise
This exercise is to help bring awareness of how busyness feels inside. This is a nonjudgmental exercise to elicit honest and open awareness of your feelings; there is no right or wrong response.
- To begin this exercise, think of a typical busy day. Where are you, at work or at home? What are you doing? What time of day is it? Who is with you?
- Now tune in to your body. What do you feel? Are you happy, sad, anxious, calm, energized, or tired? Do you have tension in your body, butterflies in your stomach, or do you feel relaxed?
- Don’t try to change the sensations that you feel. Just follow them wherever they lead you. Observe these feelings without judgment and just be aware of the emotions and their presence in the moment.
- Did you feel the reality of busyness in your body? Let this open your emotions to work on motivating you to focus on what is important to you.
- Sometimes guys stay busy as a distraction from loneliness or a feeling of emptiness. In this instance, it is best to take a healing approach and decide to deal with unpleasant emotions rather than avoid them.
- Whatever the reasoning behind your busyness, try to take some time for yourself during each day. Listen to your body and what it needs. A short period of meditation or a short walk could be just the thing to help you focus on yourself and reenergize.
- How will you take what you learned from this forward into your life?
Start with these steps, and you’ll be well on your way to being more mindful and making time to meditate. Even when you’re just sooooo busy.
“I have so much to accomplish today that I must meditate for two hours instead of one.”
Mahatma Gandhi
“Good questions outrank easy answers.” – Paul A. Samuelson (American economist)
- What are the three biggest things that hold you back from being able to focus on mindfulness?
- What practices do you already have in place that help with your mindfulness, but could be better?
- How much time each day would need to be devoted to various activities for you to feel fulfilled and happy?
Want more? Get “A Beginner’s Guide to Mindfulness: Basic Advice & Strategies”
This workbook will provide you with an introduction to mindfulness, including its uses and benefits in your everyday life. It will help improve your mindfulness skills to improve your mental and physical health and keep you grounded in the present.
