1 Minute Mindfulness Exercises: Focus and Peace

We live in a world that is constantly tugging on us and pulling at us, calling “Me! Me! Pay attention to me!”
It can be difficult in this atmosphere to slow down, calm down, breathe, and focus our minds.
1 minute mindfulness exercises can help with that.
But wait, why should we?
Why should we slow down, calm down, breathe, and focus our minds?
We can sleep when we’re dead, right?
Let’s just go go go all the time and never stop!

1 Minute Mindfulness Exercises: ➡️ Why We Need to Slow Down

Believe it or not, there are still far too many people on earth, and particularly in western society, who still adhere to the hustle and grind mentality.
Hard work pays off.
Well, sure. But… not always.
Years ago, in my former life as an educator, I used to work with very privileged teenagers. I taught them history and government, and whenever the subject of economic disparity would come up, many of them would balk.
“All you have to do is work hard.” They told me year after year.
And each time I would point to the millions of single mothers living in poverty or homeless with their children.
“Did you know that the number one highest group of homeless people is single mothers?” I asked.
No. They did not know that.
Did you know she often works full time, and sometimes works two jobs?
No. They did not know that either.
They had been sold the same story that most of us were sold.
Pull yourself up from your bootstraps, work hard, and you will always be able to get ahead.
But the truth is, abundance, wealth, and prosperity are mental before they are physical.
Everything is a thought first.
If you don’t have time to think because you are in survival mode, or you are in a constant state of hustle, you are not creating the space you need to make a really truly happy, abundant life.
You can have all the money in the world, and you will be miserable.
You can have four jobs, and you will stay broke.
The key is to shift your mentality.
And the only way to do that is to slow down.
It seems counterintuitive, but we don’t need to work more; we need to “work” less.

1 Minute Mindfulness Exercises: Work 👷‍♂️

So now we move to the opposite extreme.
Whenever I say this to someone, “work less,” they inevitably come back with something about laziness, listlessness, and just sitting around waiting for something to happen.
Nope. That’s not what I’m talking about.
And sadly, I knew far too many people in my world, the spiritual, law of attraction world, who do subscribe to this interpretation of the law of attraction.
They legitimately think they just have to ask the Universe for something and then sit and wait with open hands.
No. You do actually have to work. It’s just not the kind of work we typically think of when we think of work.
My brother used to counter my advice to work less with the example of Dwayne Johnson.
The Rock is fond of saying he’s the “hardest worker in the room” He attributes all of his success to how hard he works.
And good for him.
But let’s get really clear. Johnson works very hard doing something he loves very much.
There is a distinct difference between showing up to a job you hate and plugging away at it all day, then going off to another job you would rather not have and putting in time over there.
Energy is not physical, you see. It is spiritual. It is mental.
When you are doing something you love, you have seemingly endless amounts of energy.
When you are doing something you don’t like, or worse, you hate, you get tired, frustrated, and burnt out fast.
And before The Rock became The Rock, he was at rock bottom (pun intended).

He was homeless, living in his car, with seven dollars in his pocket, which is why the name of his production company is Seven Bucks Productions.
He did not go out and get a job.
He sat in open misery and depression until he mentally moved himself out of that depression and into inspiration.
Divine inspiration.
From that place of divine inspiration, he followed in his father’s footsteps and went into professional wrestling.
He followed divine inspiration into acting in films.
He followed divine inspiration to social media, to film production, to his own tequila brand, to his lovely wife and children, and so on and so on.
He is one of the most mindful celebrities we have among us.
He is constantly expressing gratitude, and he is exceedingly generous.
So we can take a page out of his working book.
If you are working hard at something you love, you are on the right track.
If you are working hard but mindlessly, stuck in survival mode, or in hustle mode, it is time to take a step back.
Put in less “work,” and seek divine inspiration.
To do that, you will need a few 1-minute mindfulness exercises.

1 Minute Mindfulness Exercises: Scale Back and Do Less 🏖

Before you begin your 1 minute mindfulness exercises, take stock of your life.
You can try to be more mindful, but if you don’t address the very real issues that go you to the mindless place you are in now, mindfulness can only go so far.

Exercise

If you are not getting enough movement in your life, at least 30 minutes every day, preferably outside, preferably in the early morning, you are not giving your body and mind a fighting chance to be mindful.
You have got to get your heart pumping and your blood circulating to get your mind open.

Diet 🥗

Check in on your diet. If you are not eating healthy, you will feel sluggish, slow, and unable to think clearly. You will have brain fog when you are trying to be mindful.
Eat your greens, your fruits, and your lean proteins.
Cut out the processed foods, the refined sugars, and the excessive amounts of grease and saturated oils.
And stop eating when you are full. Overeating is a recipe for mental disaster.

Sleep 💤

Once you’ve integrated those first two elements, you can work on your sleep. Try to meditate on a lack of sleep and you’ll simply all asleep instead of being mindful.
You should be aiming for 8 hours a night, that way if you fall short, you’ll at least hit the strongly recommended 7.

Meditate for 1 Minute Mindfulness Exercises 🧘‍♀️

Now you’re eating well, moving your body, and sleeping well. Meditate!
Sit in the morning before you do anything else, and spend 20 minutes clearing your mind.

Relationships 💞

At this point you are well on your way to a healthy you. Now look around at your life.
Do you have people in your life that drag you down, make you feel ill, or spread toxic negativity?
It’s time to scale back on those people if not cut them out entirely.
Negativity is infectious, and you don’t want that disease.
And as you make space, more positive people will enter your life.

Finances 💰

Now take a look at your finances and decide if there are areas where you can cut back or cut down and make more space to work less at something you don’t love.
Become more mindful of how you spend your time and your money.

Create 🎨

Get creative!
Take time each day to create from a place of love; this will put you into a mindful space that allows you to open yourself up to divine inspiration.

Pursue Passions 🥰

And finally, take time to pursue the things you really love doing in life.
Doing more of what you love will make your more mindful in your daily life.

1 Minute Mindfulness Exercises 🤯

Throughout your day, check in with yourself.
If you notice that you are feeling scattered, anxious, depressed, or any other emotion that is keeping you out of the present, take a moment.
In a single minute, you can become grounded, lift your mood, calm down, and shift your energy toward the positive and the present.
Below are a few practices to integrate that will only take you one minute.

Hold Your Breath 😮‍💨

I came to this one accidentally, but it is my favorite. It seems counterintuitive, but it actually works to keep you present.
With a stopwatch on hand, take a deep breath in, start your stopwatch, and hold your breath for as long as you can.
When you release, push all the breath out of your lungs and steady your breathing to its normal rhythm.
Repeat a couple of times and notice that your heartbeat will instantly calm down, your mood will lift, and your panic will settle.

Earth 🌎

Yep, you read that right.
Earth is a verb.
Get barefoot. Get outside onto the bare earth – dirt, grass, sand, whatever – and walk around for a full minute.
The earth will literally pull the toxins and high electrical impulses from your body and ground you.
You cannot help but be present with your bare feet on bare earth. (Note: do not bring your phone with you!)

Cold Plunge ❄️

Another quick and easy fix to feeling scattered is to splash ice cold water on your face.
You can dunk your face or splash, but make sure the water is ice cold.
It brings you immediately into the present.

Happy Manifesting!