Mindfulness is helpful for sticking to the present, discouraging anxiety and stress. Here are some activities that mindfulness can heighten.

Mindfulness is a word that gets thrown around a lot, especially nowadays, when meditation is in vogue. But it’s a helpful tool, not only for relaxation but for leading a more present and fulfilling life.

Mindfulness means actively being present and aware of the current moment. When you meditate and close your eyes, breathing in and out, mindfulness is the goal. It helps disperse anxiety and a wide variety of emotional stress.

Here are 5 activities made better with mindfulness:

Important conversations

Important conversations are usually emotionally taxing. When we discuss important topics with people we care about, they can quickly devolve into arguments and more. Having mindfulness when discussing these things is important, even though incredibly hard, since your emotions are involved. Having a dialogue with yourself in the midst of your conversation can help, giving you time to formulate your ideas and taking every opportunity you can in asking yourself why this person thinks this way and how you can relate to them.

Helpful patterns to follow include asking yourself what you’re feeling, whether that’s sadness, happiness or unease, and allowing your body to experience that. It also helps to ask yourself what is the purpose of the conversation, that way you can stick to that topic and prevent yourself from taking any detours.

Creating art

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Whether you’re drawing or writing, mindfulness is key for your enjoyment, helping you focus on the fun part of the process over the end result. Focusing on the laptop’s keystrokes, on your pen on the paper, or on the feel of applying paint, will help you have an almost therapeutic experience, one where you’re not focusing on your everyday life but on making a story, stringing words together, or a drawing and painting.

Working out

Working out is usually best when we feel good about doing it, whether we’re lifting heavier at the gym, getting lost in our music, or running further than usual. Often, when applying mindfulness to workouts and focusing on the way our muscles and body feels, we obtain better results. While it isn’t easy, the goal of mindfulness when working out should be to focus on the moment, with no intrusive negative thoughts or recollections getting in the way. While thoughts will come, try to focus on letting them go and focusing on your body’s movement.

Reading

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We read all the time, via texts, social media, ads, and more. Reading fiction and non-fiction feels very different, so it provides the perfect opening for mindfulness. Focus on the feel and smell of the page, on the font type and the way the words are strung together. Noticing these little details can help you get lost in a story and really appreciate it instead of simply reading it to pass the time.

Getting High

Lastly, getting high can be done with some mindfulness. Focus on the ritual of it, such as the rolling and lighting of a joint, the feel of the bong, and the act of packing a pipe. Smell the weed you’ll be consuming and focus on the feel of it between your fingers. Once you grind it and pack it, smoke the joint and give all of your attention to it, as if you were meditating. Going on a walk while you smoke, preferably during a quiet moment of the day or surrounded by nature, might help make the process more efficient, with your body’s movement distracting you from your thoughts.