Ora Nadrich is one of the world’s most respected mindfulness authors and according to Book Authority, her book “Live True” is one of the top hundred mindfulness books of all time. I’ve known Ora for many years and can attest to her authenticity and practising what she preaches. She is a person filled with empathy, spirituality and is driven to make a difference.
In this article, Ora gives us a step by step guide on how to become more mindful. In these times of great stress, disparity and confusion, mindfulness is an important tool to calm the mind and stay centered.
We humans spend much of our lives giving our minds free rein
We let our thoughts roam randomly and fill our minds with constant chatter. Research shows that humans register 6,000 thoughts on average each day. Our obsessive planning, cataloguing and rehashing crowds out our ability to explore our deeper meaning and purpose.
Even when we try to bring our consciousness to the present moment, and to see with a broader awareness, we don’t usually come free of thoughts and concerns. We’re unaccustomed to traveling light. In fact, we pack more than we need no matter where we go, and I’m talking about mental baggage.
To show up with an open, uncluttered mind isn’t easy to do
This is because the “self,” the person that we truly are, isn’t fully known to us. How can we be fully present in the moment without knowing who we really are in it?
Yes, we know ourselves, but that knowing is mostly based on the identity we’ve created, or how we feel about ourselves in a given moment. When we can decipher and then shed the mental baggage we’re carrying we can begin to connect to a deeper reality as awake and aware as possible.
Practicing mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness not only keeps us awake but also keeps us aware of the impermanence of life. As a result, we gain a greater appreciation of it. We become more aware that our lives matter. The moments of our lives matter. We don’t want to waste them — not a single one.
With mindfulness, we’re able to rein in our busy minds and step into the present moment. We start to transcend limited thoughts and beliefs, and delve into the quietude to unveil a higher level of consciousness. Mindfulness opens our minds so that we can see with total awareness. In this pure state of mind, we can participate in life as more thoughtful, sensitive and attuned human beings.
Use these mindfulness practices to live more consciously and free yourself of the mental baggage:
1. Take “present-moment awareness breaks”
The more present you are, the more aware you are, and the more aware you are, the more present you are. It keeps evolving from there. When practiced consistently, Mindfulness will sharpen your awareness so that you can see beyond the surface.
2. Rein in your ego-driven thoughts
Learn to value slowing down and quieting the mind by refraining from trying to manipulate the world to feed your ego. Get out of your own way and out from under the drama you create. Don’t let your “small self” run the show. Aspire to heighten your awareness, raise your consciousness and continue on the path of spiritual development with the veils of falseness lifting one by one.
3. Strive to engage in more conscious knowing
Mindfulness is a mental state of being conscious and aware. It helps you find union in reality, free of illusion. Don’t you want to know what this life, this reality, truly is? It can’t possibly be just what’s on the surface. Remaining on the exterior is like living outside of a magnificent palace and never getting to go inside.
4. Tend to your spirit
When you feel a type of emptiness, or apathy, that’s your spirit telling you something extremely important. But, if instead of going deeper within to find what’s troubling your spirit, you choose a distraction or way to anesthetize yourself, you aren’t tending to your spirit. Feeding your spirit can mean meditating, practicing yoga, sitting in contemplation, taking a walk in nature, gardening, playing with a pet, making love, painting, cooking, serving someone in need or moving to music. Relish the occasions when your spirit can soar.
5. Open yourself to a sense of oneness
As you begin to explore life beyond the surface, you begin to know that there’s so much more to experience and know. You are part of the collective, the universe, the cosmos, the oneness and the supreme consciousness that breathes life into us all. Consciously align with it. Mindfulness will lead you down a mystical path. If you keep your mind open and your thoughts illumined, life’s hidden truths will become known to you.
Find out more about Ora and her work by going to her website:
