Mindful Ideas to Achieve Balance, Fight Stress & Be Happy

Rebecca Lewis April 10, 2015

Balance, stress relief and happiness – these are things that are free, yet often, too precious to find. Many of us spend their whole life trying to find balance between their work and personal life, fighting stress, and chasing happiness. And even though they sounds so simple, these things are somehow the hardest to achieve.

Fortunately, there is a technique that allows us to achieve balance, stress relief and happiness easily, day after day. This technique has been practised for thousands of years, and has been scientifically proven to promote mental health and well-being. Experts call this technique mindfulness.

The Power of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is defined as the intentional, accepting and non-judgemental focus of one’s attention to their emotions, thoughts and bodily sensations. It involves observing your thoughts and feelings from afar, without judging them. This empowering and science-based approach has been found to benefit our physical and mental health in many different ways.

But the magic question is: how do you incorporate mindfulness into your daily life to find balance, fight stress and be happier? Below are some mindful ideas to try.

Be more observant.

Stress often impairs our focus, and makes favour negative thoughts and emotions. This impairs us from finding solutions to our problems. One mindfulness technique that you can make a habit is to be observant of what you feel, and of every experience you have. Let yourself see the entire experience from afar, so you can examine all its details. It’s like examining an artwork for the first time. Only when you allow yourself to see the entire picture will you know if it’s beautiful or not.

Practice watching your thoughts. Look at them like the words written in a book. Another option is to write them down.

Detach.

Another mindfulness technique that brings you positive results when it comes to finding balance, alleviating stress and achieving happiness is detaching yourself from each situation so you can have a better understanding of it. Sometimes, especially during stressful situations, we only see the other side of the coin. We only see what is wrong, and fail to acknowledge what is right. Detachment includes accepting what you’re experiencing in the moment.

Like a lizard on a wall, step back and create some kind of ‘space’ between yourself, your thoughts, emotions, memories and the bodily sensations you feel. To make this work, it is important to see yourself as separate from your mind.

Cultivate awareness.

Does your thoughts fly when at a meeting? Awareness is at the core of mindfulness. Awareness is simply being aware of what you are doing and when you are doing it. It is allowing yourself to enter a state of ‘flow’ and becoming truly engaged in the activity you’re in. Awareness is focusing your mind and body to the present moment.

Focus on the now. You can only live in the moment if you focus on the now. Pay attention to the things around you, even to the smallest things.

Love yourself.

Then last but not the least – love yourself more than you ever did. Treat yourself with compassion. Treat it like you would treat your best friend, your partner and those people who matter most to your life. Distress without feeling guilty, rest, pursue your hobbies and interests, exercise, travel, and pamper yourself with good and healthy things. Take good care of yourself, because no one can do it all for you.

Self-compassion also involves detaching yourself from your self-defeating thoughts. Take some time off to reflect on your life. Think about your goals and future plans. Uncover your strengths and work on your weaknesses.

While finding balance and happiness, and fighting stress can be downright challenging, there are simple things we can do to achieve them. These mindfulness ideas will not only help us get these precious things, they can also help us grow.