Daily mindfulness
Continue with 4 guided steps.
Passive Muscle Relaxation
Listen to this audio to practice passive body relaxation.
A daily mindfulness habit
Last time, we introduced the idea of being mindful in your everyday activities, like brushing your teeth, eating, waiting in line, or driving. This gives your mind and body a rest from the busyness of life. It provides moments to slow down. The mind is often quite busy producing thoughts, and sometimes it gets stuck on them. It can also get stuck on sensations in the body, emotions, and urges to act or to avoid what we don’t like. Let’s look at how the mind can get stuck -- and how you can let go of thoughts.
Mindfulness Journal
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What we covered
Our minds are naturally busy, and our bodies frequently carry extra tension. This added stress can lead to more fatigue and more pain. It can be distracting and overwhelming to live with chronic pain. We may end up living on automatic pilot, going through the motions of daily life but missing out on the small joys along the way. Mindfulness can provide a pause button, giving us a break from the busyness of life. Each moment we take to slow down and breathe deeply is time well spent. This chapter showed you how to bring more present-moment awareness to the tasks and activities you already do every day. By practicing mindfulness regularly, you’ll have more opportunities to see how you’re getting stuck and to respond to challenges by listening to your values.