Mindful living can help you be happier and healthier overall, and connect more meaningfully with those around you.

Integrating mindful moments into your daily life doesn’t need to be challenging; here are a few easy strategies that can help.

1. Focus on your breath

Mindful living promises to help you break away from running through life on autopilot and rediscover what matters, yet starting a new habit may feel daunting. Luckily, mindfulness can be slowly integrated into daily activities; small moments here and there will eventually add up and make the transition smoother.

Begin by sitting comfortably and focusing on your breathing. Breathe deeply from your diaphragm, slowly inhaling and exhaling to notice coolness on the inhale and warmth on the exhale. When your thoughts wander off topic simply relax by saying soft words such as “thinking” or “wandering”. Once acknowledged redirect your attention back towards breathing sensations.

Repeat this practice of paying attention to your breathing for at least five minutes, sometimes staying focused for up to one minute and other times finding that thoughts drift after just one inhalation – that is perfectly natural and is part of any effective practice.

2. Breathe in and out

Mindfulness is the practice of staying present in each moment and can be done anytime during any activity. Meditation helps reduce stress and anxiety while simultaneously increasing concentration, awareness and decreasing negative emotions – helping you feel calmer overall.

Focusing on your breath during meditation will allow you to observe its in-breath and out-breath sensations: feeling cold air enter your nostrils as your belly, ribcage and lungs expand with each inhalation; feeling warm air exit your nostrils upon exhalation. What’s most important here is staying focused without interfering or controlling it – keeping attention light, gently bring it back onto breathing when the mind wanders!

Mindful breathing can help you become more self-aware about how your thoughts and emotions influence your body, so that you become less judgmental of others as well as yourself – leading to improved relationships as well as greater compassion towards self and others. If you need assistance focusing on breathing mindfully, try counting to four each time an inhale or exhale occurs.

3. Focus on your body

As part of your mindfulness practice, focusing on your body can help increase awareness and reduce stress. Do a body scan or simply focus on various parts of your body at different times – for instance noticing when walking hips move and then shifting focus onto shoulders/neck/feet as they shift with each step; you could even focus on feeling how heavy the ground beneath your feet becomes as you go along your journey.

Focusing on your body, try to notice any tension or relaxation within it. With practice comes ease: the more often you do this exercise, the easier it will become to keep focusing on yourself and on mindfulness living in general. Schedule this practice either every day, every other day or every few days; for maximum benefit incorporate mindful living into your routine at about the same time each day for approximately 10 minutes at the same time each day for best results.

4. Focus on your emotions

Mindfulness aims to foster warmth, kindness and curiosity towards emotions and thoughts. Instead of running from negative feelings we often ignore or avoid, try watching them with an objective yet nonjudgmental awareness so you can understand what they have to tell you.

As is true with interactions, being mindful can also apply when engaging with others. Instead of scrolling through your phone while someone speaks, give them your full attention and listen closely. Even if someone expresses an opinion you disagree with, focus on listening through their entire argument before formulating your rebuttal right away.

Maintaining mindfulness can be challenging if you’re always moving, without an opportunity to stop and reflect. But by scheduling little mindful moments into your schedule – starting with five-minute mindfulness exercises throughout the day – mindfulness may become part of your everyday experience.

5. Focus on your thoughts

While it can seem impossible to remain mindful in an often chaotic and busy world, mindfulness can be learned at any time and place. No need for specific meditation sessions where concentration must be forced on something other than your breath – mindfulness can be practiced at any moment!

Mindful living is an approach that helps you discover the happiness in every moment, rather than going through life on autopilot. Additionally, mindfulness helps us recognize that every action we take has an effect on those around us – from selecting beef over vegetables for dinner to driving your car – all have ripple effects which impact on those we share our world with.

JuanPa highlights frustration as an impediment to mindfulness, likening it to a wild horse ready to bolt at any sign of discomfort. JuanPa suggests the best solution is recognizing when attention wanders off course and returning it gently back onto what was originally the focus.