5 Activities That Get Better With Mindfulness, Including Going High

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

Mindfulness means being actively present and being aware of the current moment. When you meditate and close your eyes, inhale and exhale, mindfulness is the goal. It helps allay fear and a variety of emotional stresses.

Here are 5 activities that mindfulness can improve:

Important conversations

Photo by Christin Hume via Unsplash

Important conversations are usually emotionally stressful. Discussing important topics with people who are important to us can quickly lead to arguments and more. Having mindfulness in discussing these things is important, even if it’s incredibly difficult, because your emotions are involved. Dialogue with yourself in the middle of a conversation can help give you time to formulate your ideas and use every opportunity to ask yourself why this person thinks this way and how you can relate to them.

Helpful patterns to follow include asking yourself what you are feeling, whether that is sadness, happiness, or discomfort, and allowing your body to experience it. It also helps to ask yourself what the purpose of the conversation is so that you can stay on topic and avoid detours.

Create art

Photo by Daria Shevtsova via Unsplash

RELATED: Mindful Exercise Can Help Change Your Relationship With Fitness

Whether you are drawing or writing, mindfulness is key to your enjoyment and helps you focus on the fun part of the process about the bottom line. If you focus on the keystrokes of the laptop, your pen on the paper, or the feel of applying paint, you have an almost therapeutic experience where you don’t focus on your everyday life, but rather on writing a story and stringing words together , or a drawing and painting.

Working out

Photo by Bruce Mars via Unsplash

Exercising is usually best when we feel good about it, whether it’s lifting heavier in the gym, getting lost in our music, or running further than usual. When we apply mindfulness to training and focus on how our muscles and bodies feel, we often get better results. While not easy, the goal of mindfulness in training should be to focus on the moment without intrusive negative thoughts or memories getting in the way. As thoughts come, try to focus on letting go of them and focus on the movement of your body.

reading

Photo from thought catalog from Pexels

RELATED: Mind vs. Body High: 4 Ways to Tell the Difference

We read all the time, through text, social media, ads, and more. Reading fiction and non-fiction feels very different and therefore offers the perfect opening for mindfulness. Focus on the feel and smell of the page, the font and the way the words are put together. Noticing these little details can make you lose yourself in a story and really appreciate it instead of just reading it to pass the time.

Get high

Photo by Elsa Olofsson via Unsplash

After all, with a little mindfulness, you can get high. Focus on the ritual, such as rolling and lighting a joint, feeling the bong, and packing a pipe. Smell the weed you will be consuming and focus on the feel between your fingers. Once you have it ground and wrapped, smoke the joint and focus all your attention on it as if you were meditating. Taking a walk while smoking, preferably at a quiet time of the day or in the midst of nature, will help make the process more efficient because the movements of your body will distract you from your thoughts.