This photo was taken on my bus journey from work to home, at Kwun Tong Bypass. Life sometimes feels like a mess, but if you know how to calm down and come back to the moment, you can feel the sunshine from your inner-peace, even in the commute time after work.

As a journalist in Hong Kong in this chaotic time, stress is something I must find ways to be with. In such a suffocating environment, taking a breath is more important than ever, the practice of Mindful Breathing helps me a lot. It stops me from mind-wandering, and encourages me to “breathe with” my strugglings. Though life is still challenging, with the inner-peace it brings, is easier to go through.

The basic step of Mindful Breathing is simple — to focus on your breath, the inhale and exhale. It sounds easy, but if you try, you would find that your mind would easily wander into rumination, planning, worrying, etc. At least that is my case. If you can focus on your breath continuously for more than one minute, I can say you are already an expert.

Mind wandering is our common habit, a bad one. A Harvard study found that people spend 46.9% of their waking hours thinking about something other than what they are doing, and this mind-wandering typically makes them unhappy.

I know such mind wandering indeed makes me unhappy, maybe because my mind likely wanders into worries, especially in times of chaos. My experience is, devoting my mind to something is better, at least better than letting my mind wander. I got heart palpitations after a job promotion struggle years ago. At that time, my friends believed the problem was, I focused on my career too much. They asked me to chat through whatsapp at work, “let the mind wander then you feel more relaxed”. But I found myself more unhappy and busy, and gave me a sense of getting lost. By contrast, when I focus on my articles, there is no room for unpleasant feelings. Moreover, I can feel a sense of satisfaction when I get the job done. It may not let you be super-happy, but is good enough.

The Harvard study also reminded me of a rich resource of time — Stop mind-wandering then I can have 46.9% more time! Now when my mind is wandering in daily life, I will stop it when I notice it. This noticing ability can be developed in Mindful Breathing practice, as one of its core involves catching your wandering mind and bringing it back to the moment(to your breath). To be more precise, when I notice myself indulging in some worries or thoughts, just stop it, and shift my focus on the problems just at the moment. For those I cannot solve yet, leave it alone. By adopting this approach, though my work is still demanding, I am no longer that stressed.

To take over the habit of mind wandering with mindfulness, you have to practice a lot. My teacher always compares it with building muscles through exercise, only practice matters. I spend at least 40 minutes per day practicing, I will go directly to the mat when I wake up to do the morning session, forming a routine. Though my concentration is still poor, practice has strengthened me to notice my mind. It is important. Only with noticing it, you can choose to stop it.

Such ability to “Stop” allows me to address my own feelings timely. When I feel sad, I practice with a meditation timer app to “fulfill” the time and “fulfill” my mind. It can “stop and replace” my habit of ruminating with meditation, preventing me from falling into the emotional swirl. I was going through a stressful time last year, there are so many big changes, but it seems easier to go through than ever, emotionally. I do think my practice plays a role in it.

“Stop” needs practice too, it reinforces your mind to let go. I found that, when I am worried, I always refuse to stop, for example, reluctant to open the meditation app. Simply because I am convinced that I am solving something. But to be realistic, in most cases the timing is so bad, nothing can be solved. Back to focus on your breath, and live in the moment, at least free you from over worried.

I would like to cite Matt Killingsworth’s research to end with, he found that people don’t really like commuting to work very much, and yet they are substantially happier when they’re focused only on their commute than when their mind is going off to something else. So next time when you are stuck with the traffic, let’s focus on your breath and have a try!

(Ophelie Cheung is a journalist, she started her mindfulness journey in 2014 and survived an emotional storm with it. Since then, she loves to share her experience around, and has been a volunteer tutor for Loving-kindness and compassion meditation（LKCM）classes.)

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