8 Mindfulness Activities for the Weekend 

Ready to bring some mindful moments into your life? How about starting this weekend? Here are eight activities to get you started.

1. Take a walk in the park. Turn off your phone. Take out your earbuds. Just enjoy the sights and sounds around you.

2. Go to the library. Walk up and down the stacks and peruse the books. Visit sections you don’t normally go to. Maybe even pull a few picture-heavy books off the shelves to flip through and admire the pages. Travel guides, photo journals, or cookbooks would be great for this!

3. Sort through old photos. Reminisce about fun times. Bring to mind the things you love most about the people in the pictures. Maybe even set some aside for a gallery wall or photo book that you can easily return to in the future.

4. Go for a hike. Similar to the walk in the park but try challenging yourself a bit so you can really be in the moment.

5. Bake or cook something. Turn off the tv or the radio so you can hear your knife on the cutting board or the spoon stirring something in a bowl. Take time to smell each ingredient before adding it and notice how the different smells come together in the finished product. And then, can you taste those ingredients?

6. Go to the beach. Instead of lying there with your earbuds and a book, watch how the waves roll onto the beach. Try to track them from the point they form to the final edge soaking into the sand. Lie back on your towel and listen to the waves and the birds, and maybe even little children playing nearby.

7. Go window shopping. Leave the money and credit cards at home (or at least in the trunk) and just look at the objects in the stores. Pick them up, smell them, feel the fabric. You can even make a mental note of the things that really inspired you and made you happy so that you can return to purchase them (eliminates impulse buying!).

8. Do a DIY project. First of all, give yourself some time and grace – NO JUDGEMENT! Notice the supplies and materials you’ll be using. Think about how you’re feeling as you get started. Step back and admire your work after each step. When you’re done, recall how you felt at the beginning and how you feel now. What did you love about the project? What was challenging? Now LOVE the finished product because you made it!