It is natural for all of us to go through a barrage of emotions in our daily lives. How we overcome or balance our emotions by engaging in different activities is the key to leading a happy life. If you feel sad, anxious or angry, you can try to channel those emotions into something that can benefit you both emotionally and physically. Indulging in mindful activities will help you realize the true potential of your mind and body. 

Mindfulness is a state of alertness, i.e. when you do everything with a clear mind and without any prejudice. Today, we are going to talk about 15 mindful activities that you can do at your home without much effort.  

1. Add new things to your gratitude list daily

To keep your mind in a happy state, it’s important to be grateful for the good things that exist in your life. Focusing on the negative things will only distract your mind. To avoid that, you can start writing down the things that you are grateful for in your gratitude list.

You can add new things to this list every day. For example, if you had a great conversation with an old friend or tried making a delicious recipe from Youtube, you can mention it in the gratitude list. Even small gestures count.

2. Eat mindfully

If you follow the same routine every day, you will eventually feel bored and irritated. The same goes for eating, as well. If you eat three times a day merely to feed energy to your body, you are missing something that is deeply connected with consuming food.

While eating, we use our nose to smell the food, our eyes to see how good or ordinary it looks and our tongue to experience its taste. So, it becomes a mindful exercise.

You can start by eating a bowl of raisins. Examine each raisin with your fingers before eating it, and experience its magical texture. Finally, eat it slowly till you start enjoying its presence in your taste buds. Similarly, you can try this exercise with other foods as well, like grapes, cucumber salad or any other dish that you love having. 

3. Meditate with music

Music can influence your mind and body. Just play a track that touches your soul. Use the headphones and listen to every word the singer has to say. Focus on how music changes with every sentence and try to be in sync with it. 

4. Dance for yourself

Dance in a closed room with or without music just to make yourself happy. Many researchers have explained the physiological benefits of dance. You don’t have to be a professional dancer to enjoy dancing. Dance ecstatically till you feel light and happy. If you have your best friends or cousins with you, just ask them to accompany you and enjoy the moment. Surrendering yourself to the rhythm or focusing on how your body moves will have a real impact on your emotional and physical well-being.

5. Walk on the lawn

Walking on the lawn might seem to be an ordinary exercise, but if done mindfully, it will change the way you perceive moving from one place to another. You can walk barefoot to focus on walking clearly. 

Initially, just place your bare feet on the grass and understand how your body feels. Breathe slowly and start counting from one to five and back. This is known as a grounding exercise. Now, start walking slowly and observe how the weight of your body shifts from one leg to another. Walking barefoot on grass is also good for sleep and maintaining blood pressure, and it also helps curb stress and anxiety.

6. Ring a temple bell

Have you ever rung a temple bell just to hear how the sound vibrates till the last second? If not, it is the best time to start this wonderful exercise. Just ring a bell loudly, close your eyes and wait patiently till the sound disappears completely. You can do this mindful routine with a group of friends or with your little ones as well.

Ask them to raise their hands when they stop hearing the sound of a bell. This activity can also be done with the help of a chime.

7. Gazing at candles

Gaze at candles, not to perform any activity that is related to the occult, but to focus your mind on a single object. Light your favourite candle and watch how its flame changes its shape and size slowly. It would be better if it is a scented candle as the aroma will help your mind to meditate deeply.

Sit in a comfortable position while gazing at the candle and observe as the flame flickers, dances and sways. Repeat this exercise for at least 10 to 15 minutes and try to go through the thoughts that are running in your mind while observing it.

Let the thoughts float freely and do not contemplate too much on what’s going on in your mind. It will reduce your stress and you will feel more focused and energetic after this exercise.

8. Indulge your senses

You can indulge all your five senses while doing any activity. For instance, if you are sitting in a garden, you can count the five things that make you happy. These things could be anything like birds sitting on trees, flowers swaying to the breeze, people walking around, a fruit or leaf falling on the ground and so on.

Once you are done with your visual sense, count the first four things that your nose smells. It could be the perfume worn by a lady or a gentleman who just passed by you or the smell of decomposing leaves. It could be the fragrance of flowers, a vendor selling tea or anything that manages to captivate your olfactory sense.

Similarly, you can observe the first three things you can hear, the first two things you taste and the first thing you can feel.