You Can Be Mindful In A Busy City… Right?

Mindfulness, as you’ll know, is the art of focusing your mental state on the present moment. This allows you to accept your feelings, your thoughts, and your physical sensations while remaining conscious of the people around you and how they are impacted.

Mindfulness is a therapeutic technique that is used in religion, spirituality, and self-awareness exercises. When people think of mindfulness and practising mindfulness, images comes to mind of tiered Balinese rice paddies or Indian ashrams. These locations are tied to a natural sense of serenity and quiet that helps us to achieve a mindful state.

But not everybody has easy access to this type of environment. Some people who want to benefit from practising mindfulness live in busy cities – where life moves quickly and these serene locations aren’t easily accessible.

Take It Slow

Cities – large ones in particular – are busy places. You’ll find that everybody has somewhere to be and they want to be there yesterday. If you’re not used to it, this can be overwhelming. It’s rare that people have the time to take it slow, and, as a result of this, almost everybody seems to follow the same (somewhat erratic) pace.

This can make city-based mindfulness a tricky task. You might find yourself wondering how you can be mindful when nobody else is being mindful around you. The pace of the city will challenge your resolve when it comes to mindfulness, but it’s all about focusing on the self and developing self-awareness, so it’s key to approach life at your own pace. Don’t feel like you have to keep up with everybody else if their goals aren’t aligned with yours – taking it slow will make mindfulness that little bit easier.

Learn to Forgive

Cities are generally places where people have their own agendas and their own things to do, and this results in a one-track mindset – or, rather, thousands of simultaneous one-track mindsets. When people have this mindset, they can become inconsiderate of those around them. If a person is inconsiderate towards you, it can prompt questions in your mind and thereby make mindfulness a difficult thing to practise.

This is a just a symptom of a busy city, and being able to mentally separate yourself from this – and to forgive people who are inconsiderate towards you – will enable you to continue to lead a more mindful life.

Stay Focused

When you’re in a serene location with few distractions, it’s easy to focus on being mindful. When you’re in the opposite sort of scenario (as many city-dwellers are!), and you’re in a hyper-busy environment, you will face many distractions.

The reason why cities are so fast-paced is because there are so many people doing so many different things. This can make it difficult to focus on yourself, and can urge you to focus on one of the many distractions that you might face in the city. If you focus your efforts on one thing at a time and you use your time to achieve that goal, you are less likely to become distracted by the city. If you use an iPhone, there are many apps (such as Headspace) available that help you to meditate, especially when you need to work your way through the busy city.

Find Your Sanctuary

You might not be living in the most serene place in the world, but you will be able to find your own personal sanctuary – a little space where you can focus on yourself. This place doesn’t have to be close to nature, nor does it have to be conventionally serene. It’s all about finding a location where you – as an individual – can focus on being mindful.

Your sanctuary might be a library, a park, or a space inside your home. As long as you can put yourself into the right state of mind, this location will be the place where you can go to practise mindfulness in the busy city.

Wherever your sanctuary may be, make sure that you take 10 minutes out of your day for yourself. Some people choose to unwind with a relaxing tea or coffee, others find different means of relaxation – how you choose to find your sanctuary is up to you.

Mindfulness Is in Reach

If you’re living in a busy environment, making a few small changes to your way of thinking can make you a more mindful person and can help you to practise mindfulness when you’re in a more suitable location. Once you’ve found your sanctuary and you’ve learned how to stay in control of your thoughts, you’ll be able to achieve mindfulness wherever you are.