Mindfulness Incognito - Counting

Mindfulness is all about being in touch with the present world. This is so useful in testing situations, such as; those that are stressful, anger-inducing, anxiety-inducing, or situations in which you cannot describe how you are feeling. Mindfulness will not fix the situation but it will help you cope in the moment. I want to share with you a very special mindfulness technique; it's as simple as 1 2 3.

A little background for you; counting is used in many psychological therapies, namely, anger management. Allowing someone to take a minute and count allows them to think about their actions before actually committing to them. When practiced, this simple act can stop a situation from escalating and prevent violent outbursts. While it is very useful for anger management, programmes don't often call it mindfulness, because mindfulness is a fairly modern term. However, these techniques are now what is referred to as mindfulness.

The best part about mindfulness is that a lot of these techniques can be utilised without anyone actually being aware you are doing them, apart from you of course. Counting is fairly simple and, in general, most people can do it. I am going to share with you a few counting techniques which you can do through meditation and on-the-go:

Formal Meditation

Counting breaths is one of the very first meditative exercises learnt, and arguably the most basic. Simply inhale deeply and exhale, make every attempt to lengthen your "out" breath. This counts as one and when you inhale again, make sure you are consciously focusing on your breath entering your body and exhale any thoughts or distractions. This counts as your second breath. As with any meditation task, distractions are likely; if you do find yourself getting distracted, it's totally fine. Bring yourself back to your breathing and start counting again. I like to set myself goals such as: "I wonder if I can make it to ten?" Once I found myself counting to 25 and was so in shock that I got over 10, that I immediately got distracted and had to start again.

Counting Sheep

Sadly not everyone lives in the countryside and can physically count sheep, so luckily this is just the name given to a technique used to help you sleep. As someone who is a great lover of even numbers over odd numbers, I struggle with the concept of 7/11 (so I do 6/10), but this is just a coined term to enable you to lengthen your "out" breath. Inhale counting to 7 and exhale counting to 11—this does not mean 7 seconds and 11 seconds. Don’t try this at home, but if you were to breathe out for that long, you would probably pass out. So, with this method, it allows the individual to breathe at their own pace, by simply counting. Doing this allows you to focus on your breathing and less so on those troubling thoughts keeping you awake at night.

On-the-go Mindfulness

If you are lucky enough to be walking about when you start to feel stressed, walking and counting your footsteps is a fantastic way of focusing your mind, paying particular attention to how it feels for you feet to hit the ground. Sitting at a desk at work? Try counting your mouse clicks, making sure focus is on how it feels to press the mouse buttons at the tips of your fingers. Use a wheel chair? Count every time you have to place your hands on the wheels, or on your movements on the joystick. If you are electric, focus on the feel of it in your palms. These are just a few examples, but there are many out there in the world that you can use around you to focus your mind, keep in the present, and calm yourself.

Mindfulness quote for today: “Your mind is your instrument. Learn to be its master and not its slave."