How mindful are you?
Calvin Yan
![Calvin Yan]()
Calvin Yan
Director Finance & Real Property | Certified Coach | 25+ years managing: budgets up to $500M, 5M square feet of office space, team of 50 | Empowering staff, interns and leaders.
Mindfulness is a form of mediation in which you focus on being aware of your senses, emotions and energy in the moment, without judgement with:
?? yourself
?? others
?? circumstances
You can practice mindfulness when walking, working or during any activity.?Meditation is generally practiced while seated. Both focus on your breathing and awareness of your body and mind incorporating visualization. Through that awareness, you:
?? communicate more effectively
?? build stronger relationships
?? feel more confident
?? allow new and different ideas
?? catch triggers and negativity and reframe quicker
Here is how I practice mindfulness using my five senses in my daily activities.
Sight ??
When I wake up every morning, I see either the brightness of the bedroom from the sun or the darkness from rain, and my partner next to me.?I take a deep breath, grateful, and ready to start the day.?
Logging onto my laptop, looking out the window, I see the mountains, trees and water, take a deep breath, visualize the day: meetings, deadlines, interactions both work and after work, meals, etc.?
All meetings or interactions, I anticipate my judges, visualize steps to reach a positive outcome, including compromise and identify what is truly important.?
Throughout the day, I may take a walk to clear my mind, observe people, scenery and colours around me.?Focus on a specific scene or object, notice every colour, pattern, texture, take a deep breath each time.?
I find after a walk, taking my mind off the current situation, I’m refreshed and can develop clear solutions.?
Sound ??
I listen to sounds around me, focusing on the loudest sound, my alarm clock in the morning, to the lightest sound, the breathing of my partner.?
When I focus at work, I take a deep breath, close my eyes, listen to the humming of the vent, visualize the email or task, block out all other interferences, start typing, hearing gentle click of the keyboard.
The sweet voice of my partner when he wakes up saying good morning to me or thank you when I drop off his fruit plate in the morning and afternoon.?Being thankful and present, taking a deep breath after each activity.
When I go for a walk, listening to my surroundings:
?? rustling of the leaves against the wind
?? washing of the waves against the rocks
?? singing or chirping of the birds
Especially in the evening, I reflect on the day, what went well, what can I do better, what am I grateful for.
Smell ??
When we have fresh cut flowers, I smell the sweet fragrance every morning and throughout the day.?Reflecting on when I bought it or the cuttings from my mom’s garden.?Thankful for their teachings, and aware I am my own person and can say no.?
Freshness of the fruits when I core and cut it, fragrant aromas of meals, a favourite is hearing the sizzling of garlic in hot oil, adding whatever your cooking to the oil giving it extra flavour.
For each activity, taking a deep breath, reflecting on each scent, the activity leading to the scent, reflecting on learning opportunities and visualizing the day ahead so it’s less of a grind.
Taste ??
Intently chewing my food, savouring the flavours, noticing ingredients: garlic, ginger and onions as a base, char of the steak or chicken from the BBQ or hot pan, butter or herbs adding more flavour.
Instead of chewing quickly, chewing slowly, enjoying the food being present, appreciating the cook preparing it, taking a break after each bite or before I swallow, looking at the food or company around me, being thankful and aware of my surroundings.
Taking time to reflect between each bite, on the day: lunch, how was my morning, dinner, how was my day, were there challenges, what led to the challenges, did I catch myself avoiding an uncomfortable situation and how did I handle the situation, scoring myself.?
Touch ??
This starts in the morning, from stretching before I get out of bed, brushing my teeth sensing the vibrations of my electric toothbrush, feeling circular motion of my fingertips on my face when washing and applying moisturizer.?Softness of the fabric of my clothes when I change out of my pyjamas.
In meetings, I always have my hands together, feeling the fingers of one hand between the fingers of the other hand under my Zoom camera.?I gage my emotions, when stressed or annoyed, I feel tightness and sometimes twist my hands, feeling the pressure.
That is my sign, pause, understand my stress, is it within my control, breath, convert to positivity because when I’m negative, it will fuel negativity with others in the meeting. By reframing to positivity, being curious by asking open ended questions, acknowledging other participants, I can lead to a successful outcome ensuring everyone is heard.
In summary
I apply my five senses daily from my morning, afternoon to evening, constantly reflecting between each activity from:
?? views of my condo
?? voice of my partner
?? smell of the flowers
?? taste of my meals
?? vibration of my electric toothbrush
Visualizing and assessing the day, pausing, breathing, being present and aware of my emotions: cause, impact, importance and reframe.?
Goal is to catch and reframe earlier each time to avoid uncomfortable situations.?
Director Finance & Real Property | Certified Coach | 25+ years managing: budgets up to $500M, 5M square feet of office space, team of 50 | Empowering staff, interns and leaders.
2 年I tend to over analyze and complicate things, five senses is an easy way to incorporate mindfulness.
Financial Analyst
2 年Thanks for sharing Calvin. I am trying to be more mindful and your post is an easy guide on how to incorporate it into one's day.