We start with a mindfulness practice during the daytime. You may wonder how doing mindfulness exercises during the daytime affects your sleep. A good night’s sleep is a culmination of experiences during the daytime. You are more relaxed at night when you have a peaceful day with fewer negative thoughts and worries. Hence, we train our minds with this mindful intention exercise that we start every morning for the next week.
For the next week, however tired or sleepless you are, wake up, stretch your body three times, and tense and relax the first thing in the morning. Your mind might scream, “I feel knackered”, “I feel so tired”, “I haven’t slept”, or “I can’t get through the day”. Notice these thoughts and imagine they are washing through your mind, leaving calmness behind. Tell yourself, “I have thoughts that I feel exhausted. However, this is not a permanent state. It is a changeable state”. Have a routine that you follow in the morning, however tired you feel. This might be brushing your teeth, washing your face, lighting the stove and having your first cup of coffee. As you go through this particular sequence daily, set an intention for that day.
It can be “Compassion towards yourself”, “Peace”, “Gratitude”, “Acceptance”, and so forth. As you sit to have your coffee, do this intention mindfulness. Choose the intention for the day, and close your eyes for a few moments. Bring your attention to your breath; imagine that you are breathing in the day’s intention, and say, for example, it is peace. With every in-breath, peace fills your body and will come true in all activities of the day.
The focus of the exercise of the cup of coffee every morning must be on setting the intention for the day. When you have coffee or tea, set aside your mobile phones and do not turn on the television; relax in a space where you are alone. Take in the coffee or tea smell and enjoy the smell first with your eyes closed. Next, observe the colour of the cup and the coffee. As you sip and taste it, listen to the sounds outside, the birds or the sound of traffic. With every sip of your coffee or tea, imagine that your intention for the day is setting in and that you are filled with peace.
Stay as long as you can and do this exercise daily. Setting the same intention for the entire week or month so that tuning into that intention and finding peace in what you do daily becomes habitual. As you finish your coffee, repeat the intention of the day/ month to affirm it in your subconscious. If you have unhelpful thoughts that take you back to the past or the future, gently bring them back to your breath and focus on the day’s intention. Imagine that as you are breathing in, you are breathing in that intention.
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