Identify a piece of jewellery you wear - it may be a ring, a necklace or a bracelet - to which you can attribute mindfulness. As you go through the day, when you see it or feel it or touch it, let it be the trigger for you to bring yourself into the moment.
A mindfulness trigger is simple and powerful and acts to help you to break out of the “auto pilot” mode that so many of us find ourselves in during the day. They are reminders for us to come back to awareness so that daily activities can become more meditative and maybe eventually your whole daily life can become a meditation practice.
Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh, suggests posting little notes in your nearby surroundings that will remind you to smile and relax. You can post these notes in places so you will see them first thing in the morning, helping to set the tone for the day. Or maybe stick a note to your computer screen or your work bay, to remind yourself to detach from the endless flow of habitual thoughts and emotions, for a few deep breaths.
Mindfulness triggers can also be everyday objects in your environment, like your favourite piece of jewellery. When used as a trigger, you learn to associate those objects with being mindful, so that they act as reminders to be present.
These triggers serve as powerful “wake up calls”. That small gap or buffer of time reminds us that we have choices. We can choose to calm ourselves by consciously taking a few deep breaths, and then proceed in a friendly state of mind, by smiling.
By stepping into the present, we let go of thoughts of past and future, and we become more fully alive in the present moment.
Kimberley is a Vedic Meditation teacher who lived a former life as a high-flying corporate lawyer – about as far removed from meditation as could be imagined! After experiencing burnout, she spent a year dabbling in different meditation styles after no traditional medicine seemed to help her. Finally, she discovered Vedic Meditation, a practice which uses a mantra to quieten the mind.
Fast-forward to 2017, and Kimberley has found Vedic Meditation so effective that she completed teacher training in 2015 and now has her own practice and studio in Sydney’s leafy Balmain, Kimberley Chan Meditation.
