When you've finished here, check out the free audios and resources on www.padraigomorain.com

Monday 19 August 2013

A mindful space doesn't have to be quiet or secluded - the kitchen works fine


Choosing a mindful space in your environment is a really good way to remember to stay aware. What's a space you are in every day? Kitchen? Bathroom? Bedroom? The great thing about a mindful space is that it doesn't have to be secluded and it doesn't matter if you can't light candles or burn incense in there. For most of us, for instance, the kitchen is none of these things but because we are in and out of the kitchen many times a day - including first thing in the morning - it makes a really good mindful place.

How does it work? You simply decide that whenever you're in the kitchen you'll be mindful. You will not be a million miles away in your head. Whatever you are doing, you will do in awareness. Even if you have to work fast to prepare food or to wash up afterwards, you won't work so fast that you cannot be mindful. You will work at a speed that allows you to be aware of what you're doing.

Apart from providing a frequent reminder to be mindful, any space you designate as a mindful place might just end up being tidier and more user friendly. But the main benefit is that the kitchen, in this case, will become the room in which you get relief from the endless spinning of your mind. And if you don't have a separate kitchen maybe you have a kitchen space in your apartment.

But the mindful space doesn't have to be the kitchen. It could be the bathroom. It could be the bedroom. It could be your garden or even your window box.

Whatever your circumstances, just designate an everyday physical space as your mindful place and see how that works for you.