The first week of life with full attention focuses on day-to-day mindfulness, on becoming aware of all the small things that make up a large share of our day.
It often involves remembering things; remembering to turn of the lights in the bathroom, to hang up our coat when we get home, to check our to-do list and agenda for tomorrow.
The first step in day-to-day mindfulness is to realise that all our actions—no matter how small—have consequences. While these actions may seem insignificant on their own, their cumulative effect can make the difference between a good day and a bad one. The effect is especially pronounced when they involve other people: showing up on time, replying to a message, saying good-morning when they arrive at work…
Day-to-day mindfulness is challenging because there are so many of these little things that demand our attention. Consequently, we need to be patient with ourselves and approach our practice with self-compassion. Sure, we’ll forget and mess up here and there, but when that happens should simply acknowledge our blunder—own it—and commit to doing better next time. Not paying attention to the fact that we failed to pay attention would be adding insult to injury. 🤕
Cultivating day-to-day mindfulness
This week of a life with full attention is therefore all about sorting out the small things. It’s about order and structure, so we create an environment for mindfulness to arise.
Think about the upcoming week. What are one or two positive habits that you want to (re)start doing? Perhaps you want to journal at least one sentence before you go to bed, or maybe you want to be sure you don’t eat an unhealthy meal more than one day a week. Pick something that is realistic, and write it down. ✍️
In a similar light: what are some routines you could start to implement into your day? Perhaps you want to end your workday writing a to-do list before you go home, or, when you get home, you want to put your keys and coat where they belong, and take a moment to say hi to your partner.
In this more micro-context, it’s good to pay attention to how you start things and how you finish. Doing so helps you draw a clearer line between your day’s activities, and make it easier to be mindful when doing them.
For example, we can make our life a lot easier when we are mindful that when we are finished with something, we put it back in the place where we found it. But also; that we make our bed after we get up, that we clear the table after we’ve eaten and our desk when we finished our work.
Think about motivation, too. In my article about the generative drive, I show how finishing something generative—something that feels productive—at the beginning of your day will give you a sense of agency and fulfillment that puts you in a more active (generative) state-of-mind. 🙌 Think about this with your routines as well, and recognise (be mindful of) when you did something generative.
All this becomes easier when we learn ourselves to do one thing at a time—to finish something before we start something new. An important aspect of this is to reduce our susceptibility to distractions by removing them from our direct awareness. This includes the WhatsApp icon in your taskbar or the music you have playing in the background. Again, we draw clearer lines between the things we do and experience, which makes being mindful of them a lot easier to do. We need to set up the conditions that allow us to get absorbed in things (again).
When you find it hard to remember certain things, such as turning off the light, it can help to extend your awareness to the consequences of (not) doing so. By making something trivial a little more important to you, it’s more likely that you’ll be aware of it next time the situation presents itself.
Furthermore, try to note down whenever you feel rushed, irritated, annoyed, demotivated, etc., and try to figure out what caused it. You’ll see that often, they are the consequence of a neglected habit or routine. This realisation too can help you to act differently the following day. ✍️
First practice week
For this week, I’d like to invite you to:
- Think of at least two habits you want to start cultivating this week.
- Think of at least two routines you want to start implementing this week.
- Whenever you experience a negative feeling—e.g. feeling rushed, irritated, annoyed, demotivated—take a moment to think about what caused it. You get double points for writing it down!
These are my habit and routine commitments for the rest of the remainder of the course: 👇
Habits
- Journal at least one sentence every day, before going to bed.
- Read at least one section or chapter from a book before starting my day.
- When I notice I started to feel some form of displeasure, recall what caused it and write it down in my pocket-book.
Routines
- Clean up dishes from the drying rack while cooking, and do the dishes directly after eating dinner.
- When I get home, put the keys in the door, put my coat on the hanger, put my shoes away, and clean up the contents of my work and sports bag.
- Before starting a new task at work, make sure there are no unnecessary programmes opened on my PC.
- Make my bed after waking up.
- Clear my desk/table after having done something there.
- Write a to-do list for tomorrow at the end of my day (already doing this).
- After using something (like my scissors) put it back where I got it from.
What will be (or should be) on your list? 🌻
2 Responses
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and this exercise. It inspired me to think about some habits and routines I’d like to (re)start this coming week:
Habits:
– Read at least one page every morning.
– Wake up at the first alarm (not the second or third snooze :’)).
Routine:
– Make my bed after waking up.
– Start waking up at 6:00AM on weekdays. (kind of required for my new work :’))
Best of luck with your goals as well! 🙂
Thank you! Life-changing events are a good time to start some new routines 🙂
Curious to hear how you are doing at the next check-in!