How Mindfulness Can Save the Day in These 6 Common Situations

The concept of mindfulness can be considered a specific state of mind or a practice to apply to daily life. A critical aspect of Buddhism and meditation, mindfulness is regularly used to defeat daily stressors, relieve personal tensions and achieve greater success.
While mindfulness can be applied to just about any aspect of life, it can save the day in these six common situations.

1. Waking in the Morning

Your first chance at daily mindfulness is, coincidentally, as soon as you wake up to face the day. Instead of hitting the snooze button and falling back to sleep, take this time to clear your head, go over the day’s itinerary and make plans for later.
Proactive and highly motivated individuals might immediately wake up and take care of their necessary chores before proceeding with their daily routine — it’s an act of mindfulness that can manifest success from the very start of your day.

2. Interacting With Friends and Family

Some of us have a tendency of coming across as overly blunt, brief or even short-tempered in the absence of face-to-face communication. This is especially true when chatting with peers online, where we can’t rely on tone to discern mood.
Awareness of your wordage, your delivery and your specific comments can go a long way in quelling any perceived negativity and strengthening your personal relationships.
When sending brief emails, you can add exclamation points, add a nice sentiment, or even in a more pleasant sign-off. In person, thinking before speaking and being attentive of your tone and body language can make all the difference.

3. Enjoying the Outdoors

Mindfulness can also help when you’re in public. Whether you’re riding a bike or walking, paying attention to your surroundings, as well as the actions, intentions and feelings of others, can help to avoid any unnecessary confrontations.
Your exact actions, or inactions, depending on the case, are directly tied to your location at any given moment.
When placing an order at a restaurant, for example, try to end any cell phone conversations or interaction with other guests. That may fall under the category of common sense, but some people find it helps to maintain a certain level of awareness to make sure everyday courtesies happen naturally.

4. Driving Your Car

According to reports, 66 percent of traffic-related fatalities are a direct result of aggressive driving. Approximately half of those who fall victim to another aggressive driver respond with aggressiveness themselves. All of this anger and rage has made our nation’s roadways incredibly dangerous.
In this case, mindfulness can do more than save the day — it might save your life. The number of fatal accidents involving road rage or aggressive driving has been on a steady increase over the past few years.
If you’re driving, make sure to use your turn signals and obey all traffic laws. It’s safe to say we could all benefit from mindfulness when traversing the highways and side streets.

5. Working

If you’re pursuing any sort of career development, advancement or success will show a certain amount of mindfulness throughout your career. There are a number of different tricks and techniques you can use to strengthen your alertness and success on a day-to-day basis, such as:

• Reviewing and prioritizing your daily responsibilities
• Keeping track of your time
• Seeking out the opinions of co-workers

Sharpen your mental fortitude, and try to team up with a peer to keep each other motivated, successful and mindful.

6. Tackling and Overcoming Challenges

Everyone faces personal obstacles and challenges on a daily basis. Some are more difficult to overcome than others, but most of them can be conquered through dedication, perseverance and mindfulness.
Seeking the assistance or support of others, surrounding yourself with successful or positive-minded people and pay closer attention to your own body language and intuition. You can overcome challenges, achieve goals and exceed the expectations of others with mindfulness.
Maintaining Mindfulness Over a Long-Term Basis
Most of these tips focus on short-term mindfulness and awareness, but they can be applied and renewed every day. Gain the ability to cultivate personal and career success over a prolonged period of time with mindfulness — it can also lead to a stronger mind and a healthier lifestyle in the end.