Mindfulness – your thoughts as leaves on a stream

I’ve practiced the leaves on a stream guided mindfulness exercise today to keep up my new year’s resolution.

Even though I’m far from getting completely into a mindful and focused state of mind, I found the exercise very interesting. The goal of the exercise was to actually look at my thoughts, instead of looking from my thoughts. Again, I was trying to become the observer of myself, as I already learned from a previous exercise. 

When following the exercise, I could imagine the scene the guide was describing. But when I was supposed to walk to the tree, the scene became scattered. It is as if my mind is currently able to hold only a picture, and not a video. That’s definitely a point to improve, and it should improve my ability to focus as well.

Apart from the fact that in the middle of the exercise I opened my eyes because I wasn’t hearing the guide’s voice anymore, I was also a bit disturbed because my cat decided to come and walk over me. That also made the scene in my mind’s eye shattered and much darker.

After the exercise, I felt very relaxed. My breathing is still calm and deep, and my thoughts are very clear. I can write all this without the need to rephrase much and with the overall idea in mind. I can understand why according to some, it is preferable to practice mindfulness in the morning before going to work. If you can start the day with such a clear head as I have now, you probably will have a very focused and productive day.