10 top tips to being mindful – Mental Health Awareness Week 2015

In support of Mental Health Awareness Week (11-17^th May), ID Medical, the UK’s leading medical recruiter, is sharing its top tips to being mindful.

Mindfulness is an integrative, mind-body based training that helps people to change the way they think and feel about their experiences, especially throughout stressful experiences. Follow the 10 simple steps below to help achieve this.

1. Do one thing at a time

Simplify your day by working through the day’s tasks one by one. Don’t try to multi-task too much, focus your energy into doing one thing at a time and you’ll soon find that you become more efficient, resulting in less stress for yourself.

2. Do it slowly and deliberately

You can often do one task at a time and still rush that task. Make your actions deliberate, not rushed and random. This way, you can focus on the task in hand better and benefit from the results.

3. Put space between things

Manage your schedule so you are able to complete the task to the standard you would like. These could be small daily tasks or a big work project that could affect your career. Organisation is key.

4. Spend time each day doing nothing – time for you

Sometimes you need to break away from everything to clear your head. Turn off all technology (your phone, your TV), breathe and simply let your thoughts gather. This will give you a fresh mind when you come to start a task again.

5. Eat a mindful meal

Your diet can have a big impact on the way you feel every day. In addition to eating healthy food, a mindfulness diet involves cultivating awareness as a way of life. Shining the light of awareness onto your body has a spontaneous, uncontrived need for healthy, moderate amounts of food and exercise. Though, it’s also important to treat yourself from time to time, in small doses!

[ID Medical’s cake sale raising funds for the Mental Health Foundation]

6. Use relaxation techniques to encourage mindfulness

Many of us think that relaxation involves lounging out in front of the TV at the end of a stressful day. However to effectively combat stress, you need to activate the body’s natural relaxation response which can be achieved by practicing relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, rhythmic exercise and yoga.

This week ID Medical invited students from MK College to its offices to hold a massage marathon, offering at-desk neck, shoulder, hand and arm massages to promote mindfulness.

7. Capture moments on camera

Reminisce those special moments that fill you with happiness. Remember the sights, the smells and the sounds. Mindfulness is about focusing on positive thoughts, sometimes you need to look back on previous memories to acknowledge how you’ve got to where you are today.

8. When you’re talking to someone, be present

Many of us find that our attention goes elsewhere when talking to someone. You either end up thinking about the million other things you have to do or something you heard the previous day. Focus on really listening to the person you’re talking to, you’ll notice you’ll spend a lot more time enjoying yourself and other people’s company.

9. Stop worrying about the future

Mindfulness is to be in the moment – where you are and what you are doing. If you focus all your energy on worrying about things, you’ll miss the good times. Spend more time appreciating and enjoying the present moment and leave your future to shape itself.

10. Appreciate life and all it brings

People often get caught up in their busy lifestyle that they don’t notice what’s right in front of them. Take time out to tune into the sights and sounds around you. Whether that’s taking a walk by the river or around the park or simply spending more time with family and friends. There’s always a silver lining!

Join ID Medical in supporting the Mental Health Foundation in Mental Health Awareness Week, whether that’s making a donation or simply raise awareness of mental health issues and ways of combatting this such as mindfulness.

ID Medical’s Mental Health division is recognised within the industry, supplying to over 75% of NHS Health Trusts in the UK. As a true advocate of corporate social responsibility, ID Medical supports a number of Mental Health charities and organisations which include The Mental Health Foundation, in addition to working with many of its psychiatrist candidates to promote their own fundraising initiatives.