Remember to Be Mindful with These 5 Mental Triggers

Creating Mental Triggers Can Help Your Mindfulness Practice

We all have set routines throughout the day that we mostly do without thinking about them – getting ready in the morning, driving a familiar route to work, and getting ready for bed are just a few examples. While creating a daily mindfulness practice can help you make more time for yourself and better prepare you for your day, it can also be challenging to break from that “automatic pilot” state and remember to be mindful.

Creating mental triggers can help interrupt your brain’s autopilot and remember to make time for mindfulness. Here are a few suggestions of ways you can subtly remind yourself to be mindful throughout the day.

1. A Rock on Your Bookshelf

Sometimes, the trick to breaking out of autopilot is to place an object in a location where it doesn’t belong – such as keeping a rock on your bookshelf or a location that you’ll easily notice. Walking by that bookshelf and seeing that rock, you may think, “why did I put that there?” and then remember it’s there to remind you to take a few mindful breaths.

2. A Soothing Tone or Song

Practicing mindfulness doesn’t always have to be after you get out of bed. Waking up 30 minutes early, sitting up in bed, and focusing your energy on waking up while watching the morning outside of your window is also a great way to start your day mindfully. Rather than waking up to your usual alarm, switch it up to a soothing tone or song that’ll help you remember to be mindful before you jump out of bed and start your typical morning routine.

3. An Alarm to Stand Up or Walk During Work

Staying focused while you’re at work is important, but so is taking short breaks to stand, stretch, or go for short walks. It’s easy to get caught up in the priorities of the day and forget to take these small moments of self-care, but setting an alarm on your phone or watch can be another way to help you remember mindfulness.

Whether you can dedicate 30 minutes of your lunch hour or 10 minutes mid-morning or late afternoon, bringing mindful awareness to your thoughts and feelings while stretching by your desk or taking a mindful walk can make a big difference in the rest of your work day.

4. A Tea Cup on Your Side Table

Unwinding at bedtime is another great opportunity for mindfulness, and for many people that means a hot cup of peppermint tea. Leaving a tea cup on the table next to your bed can signal that it’s time to decompress from the stress and activity of the day with a live or on-demand mindfulness program.

Even if you don’t actually drink tea, keeping this next to your bed as a symbol of self-care can improve your quality of sleep and help you wake up feeling recharged.

5. Creating a Mental Trigger with a Transitional Event

There are multiple ways to create a mental trigger out of an ordinary object, but you can also turn an ordinary event – such as walking through a doorway or sitting down in your office chair – into a way to remember to be mindful.

For example, when the telephone rings at work or you hear the chime of a new work email, you can develop the habit of bringing awareness to your breath before answering. Taking a few mindful breaths before engaging in a phone or email conversation can help you feel more present and give you more opportunities to practice mindfulness.

Building a Mindfulness Foundation

Developing a new habit takes time, but using mental triggers and giving yourself grace during your mindfulness journey are key elements to building a strong foundation. No matter what part of your day you devote to mindfulness practice, our full schedule of Mindful Dailies plus live and on-demand programs are here throughout the day to help you where and when you need them the most.

Written by Becky Greiner