Awareness of things that pass you by may give you more than you expect. Focusing on something that may be important is sometimes difficult because we are more concerned with trivial things than those essential things in our life. For example, we tend to just stay at home and send a birthday greeting to a best friend instead of attending her/his birthday party because we are glued to an intense video game that we do not want to miss.

This I think is what’s happening today. Everyone is so busy that even at the dinner table we come to join our family members in savoring the tasty food prepared for the meal, however, we give more time to focus on the smartphone than enjoy conversations with our loved ones. Quality time with our loved ones is fleeting because we pay less attention to them.

The pleasure we seek seems to be found on devices and gadgets and not on people or events around us. We like to be with people however, we lack closer interaction with them as we just find happiness in inanimate things which give us joy for a short period of time. And then when family relationships fall apart, we are the first ones to be victims of suffering emotionally or otherwise.

I think it is time to reconsider how we live with people around us.

We have all the time to be aware of our priorities in life and focus more on them. One priority is to be able to communicate effectively by personally talking to a best friend that you have not seen in ages or finding time to visit your grandma or grandpa that will surely be happy seeing you after years of not having seen them.

These instances will not only give those people joy and happiness but it will give you that happiness that is worth your time and effort in doing those deeds. It is mutually advantageous for both of you and your loved ones as we know, we need people naturally as we are humans, too.

So, I think you will find true happiness by doing those things that you used to do. Caring and finding time to interact with people who are close to you and find your priorities in life that are worth your time and effort for a successful life’s journey.

Being mindful of being aware of what is going on around may give you more joy and self-fulfillment than giving more time to some trivialities such as gaming and social media that will only take your precious time and may also cause stress when the information you got from the social media does not meet your expectations.

For example, you might lose in the video or online game that you find unexpected or find out that your biggest enemy at work is backstabbing you on social media. That is frustrating and stressful!

Mindfulness may not be easy to practice at first, but the more you give yourself a chance to do it, the more you will be successful in learning and applying it in your life. As being mindful is also being aware of what is going on, there are several steps or ways to mindfulness https://www.mayoclinic.org/) such as:

• Pay attention - slow down a bit even sometimes and take time to savor an experience with your senses. For example, when you go to a certain location and find a friend who wants to talk to you, listen for a few minutes and focus on the things he/she said. Who knows? Maybe it is the last time you will see them.
• Live in the moment. Try to intentionally bring an open, accepting, and discerning attention to everything you do. Find joy in simple pleasures. For example, find happiness in the part where you can smell the flowers. Being busy is not an excuse to live at the present time realistically.
• Accept yourself. Treat yourself the way you would treat a good friend. Shun guilty feelings that you had before 
• Focus on your breathing. When you have negative thoughts, try to sit down, take a deep breath and close your eyes. Focus on your breath as it moves in and out of your body. Sitting and breathing for even just a minute can help.

Mindfulness as being meditative, you can also focus some some other exercises https://counsellingcaboodle.co.nz/ such as:

1. Mindful breathing - recognize your in-breath and out-breath and that is focusing your mind only on your breathing exercises and not thinking of the past
2. Concentration - focusing intensely on your breathing exercises so that eventually it will come naturally 
3. Be aware of your body - that is recognizing that you are breathing in harmony with your body. Sometimes we are present physically but our mind is busy with excursions.
4. Release tensions - “In a sitting, lying, or standing position, it’s always possible to release the tension. You can practice total relaxation, deep relaxation, in a sitting or lying position.

      5. Walking Meditation - “You are there, body and mind together. You are fully alive, fully present in the here and the now. With every step, you touch the wonders of life that are in you and around you. When you walk like that, every step brings healing. Every step brings peace and joy because every step is a miracle.  

While you practice mindfulness every day, it will become a new habit and you will be able to be mindful or aware in no time that will give more joy and happiness while you hurdle some obstacles in life. Negative thoughts will go away and you will be able to live at the present moment and manage your life successfully. One good thing to add while you practice mindfulness is to engage in physical exercise with Flexispot’s Under Desk Bike V9U -- Best Standing Desk Mate  which is a bike that is seat height-adjustable and movable with its smooth-rolling casters that you can place this desk bike under your standing desk or table. It also has an LCD display that allows you to track time, distance, calories burned, etc. Check on this wonderful product now!