

Mindful Habits for a Healthy Life

Mindfulness is a state of awareness, much like a form of meditation, where you focus on 
the present moment. When you are mindful, you are fully aware of the current moment, 
including your thoughts, feelings, sounds, tastes, and more. 

It is a style of meditation that allows you to always stay present in a non-judgmental 
way. People use mindfulness for many different things, but it often helps to relieve 
stress, reduce anxiety, help with healthy lifestyle changes, give you a reason to unplug, 
and so much more. 

With a healthy lifestyle, mindfulness has so many amazing advantages. It can help you 
focus more on your meals and how foods make you feel, you get more quiet meditative 
time to destress, you are able to have more thoughtful and purposeful exercise habits, 
and you are in a constant state of gratitude.

Keep reading to learn more about mindful habits that can help you live a healthy 
lifestyle.


Early Morning Quiet Time

The first mindful habit you can add to your lifestyle for healthy living is with a short 
morning quiet time session. This is so beneficial for your mind and body, and will be the 
perfect way to wake up. 

All you have to do is spend a few minutes in the morning in complete silence, with no 
other distractions. Choose an early morning time where the household is peaceful. It 
might be before your spouse and kids wake up, before you take the dog out, or out on 
your patio or balcony where you won’t be disturbed.

Preferably, this is the first few minutes after you wake up before you do anything else, 
but that isn’t possible for everyone. At the very least, choose a time of the morning when 
you have a few minutes to sit in a mindful state. 












Unplug During Meal Times

A super easy mindful habit is to stay unplugged whenever you are eating a meal. If you 
are like most people, you probably have distractions while you are eating, unless you 
are out with friends. You have the TV on, are watching Netflix on your device, or 
scrolling social media on your phone. 

But with mindfulness, you want to shut out all the noise, sit in silence, and focus on the 
present moment. The first thing you need to do for a mindful meal is to make sure 
nothing is turned on or going to distract you. Sit in silence if at all possible.

The next thing you want to do is focus on your food as much as possible. Your thoughts 
might eventually go to other things, but try to bring your focus back to your food. Focus 
on how it looks, including colors and textures. Focus your mind on the texture of the 
food on your tongue, how it tastes, the flavors, if it’s salty or spicy, and how it makes 
your body feel. 

Mindful meals are not just about being in a mindful state in general, but really focusing 
on the food itself. This will eventually help decrease emotional eating and make it to 
where you can follow your cravings and know when you are hungry or just bored. You 
will also notice that you stop eating when you are full, as opposed to not even paying 
attention and then feeling sick because you ate too much.


Mindful Exercise

If you are already adding exercise and moving your body to your new healthy living 
routine, then why not combine it with a mindfulness practice? While you might not be 
able to do this for every form of exercise, many of them actually make it very easy to 
stay mindful.

When thinking about mindful exercise, consider forms of movement where you first 
don’t need to listen to anyone else, watch a movie, or get instruction. So, group fitness 
classes are not going to be suitable for most people. This also includes YouTube videos 
and Instagram workouts. If you are watching or listening to someone else during the 
workout, you won’t be able to stay in a mindful state. 








Instead, think about exercise where you can be on your own, where you are able to 
control the noise and stay quiet and peaceful, with very minimal distractions. This often 
includes:

*	Tai-chi
*	Walking or running
*	Hiking
*	Fishing
*	Yoga and Pilates
*	Stretching
*	Weight training (at home)



Practice Gratitude

A gratitude practice combines both expressing gratitude, which is amazing for stress, 
anxiety, and your mindset, as well as mindfulness all in one. You have probably seen 
the recommendation of adding a daily gratitude practice to your life, where you write 
down what you are grateful for that day. But you are also already in the state of being 
mindful at the same time, so you now have two reasons for this daily habit.


How to Start a Gratitude Mindful Practice

This is so easy to do! All you need is a journal or notebook, but you can use any piece 
of paper. You can also use your computer or mobile device, but it is not recommended 
simply because that might encourage other distractions. You really want to do this while 
in a peaceful, quiet, mindful state. 

Write down 5-10 things you are currently grateful for. They can be anything you want, 
from enjoying a beverage you made for this mindful practice, to thinking how happy you 
are for completing a big work project. You can be grateful for having shelter and food, 
for a skill or talent you have, for something nice someone did for you, for the people in 
your life, for your career. 

Try to turn this into a daily practice, where you sit quietly, think about all the blessings in 
your life, and write them down.








Write in Your Journal

Another activity that can be turned into a mindful habit is writing in your journal. The 
practice of writing in a journal is when you become more introspective, focusing in on 
your thoughts and how you are feeling, considering what you want to write about in that 
moment. Does this not sound like just mindfulness? 


Mindful Journaling Tips

If you want to combine journaling and a mindful practice, then what you want to do is 
carefully choose the type of journaling you do. Since you want to be in a mindful state 
where you are focused more on the present moment, that is the type of journaling you 
should do. 

Styles of journaling where you reflect on the past, plan for the future, or write down your 
goals, are not ideal for mindful journaling. With mindfulness, you only want to stay in the 
present. 

For that reason, you should stick to styles like reflecting on how you feel right now, 
stream of consciousness journaling where you write down whatever is on your mind at 
the moment, and simply writing what you are experiencing in that present moment. 

You still gain a lot of clarity just like you would other forms of journaling, but you get the 
added benefit of turning it into a mindful practice.


Mindful Journal Prompts

Here are some journal prompts that can help when you are doing mindful journaling:

How are you feeling right now?
What are you thinking about?
What is nagging at you?
What is currently making you happy?
How does your body feel?
How much energy do you have?
What are you worried about?
Are you experiencing any new sensations?
What are you accepting in this moment?






Spend More Time Outdoors

If you want to be more mindful, but aren’t sure what activities would be best, consider 
just about anything you can do outdoors! Whenever you spend time outside, it is much 
more likely that you will also be unplugged. This makes it a lot easier to reduce 
distractions, where you can just enjoy nature, get some vitamin D, and focus more 
internally on the moment. 

Some activities to consider for outdoor mindfulness include:

Going for a walk
Taking a hike
Going to a local beach, park, or river
Going fishing
Doing backyard yoga
Gardening
Watering your plants
Spending mornings on your patio
Watching the sunrise or sunrise
Going for a scenic drive

There are so many different activities that help you be more mindful when you are 
outside. Definitely give this one a try!

