As part of our Mindful Month, we’ve spoken to some of our favorite wellness gurus about how they incorporate mindfulness into their lives (we started with our own Nicole and her top tips for destressing your life). This week, Priscilla Tsai, the CEO and Founder of organic coconut-centric skincare company cocokind shares her own methods to stay calm, focused, and present during her busy days. Her business mantra is “Dream big. Act small and focused.” This is the perfect phrase to repeat to stay mindful and driven in our working life.
We’ll now hand you over to Priscilla for her to share her five tips to achieve mindfulness:
Practicing mindfulness is not always the most easy or natural thing. I find that between my busy schedule and what seems like never-ending travel, I have to be purposeful with how I bring more mindfulness into my life. Am I at the point where I am meditating every day? Hardly. However, my top five tips for living mindfully, are, for me, more realistic aims than daily meditation: it’s all about taking small steps!
Practice Mindful Eating
I don’t think you can have a clear mind unless you have a healthy body. My journey to achieving healthy skin has driven me to reflect on the foods I eat every day. By listening to my body and understanding how I react to various foods, I am able to make informed decisions on what I eat. Removing dairy from my diet was a huge change that helped my skin and body. I encourage everyone to practice mindful eating…Splendid Spoon is probably the best possible starting point!
Create a GOOD Playlist
Music helps me focus, and it also helps me release stress. Mindful music doesn’t have to be tranquil “meditation” type of beats either. You might be surprised about what you’d find on my playlists. Currently, I’m really into “Bounce Back” by Big Sean and all things Drake. Find your favorite playlist to keep you motivated throughout the day, whatever type of music that may be.
Keep A Journal
This is one of the best things that I do that I need to do more of! Keeping a journal allows me to reflect and be grateful for my never-ending personal growth. Sometimes, I’ll look back at journal entries from even just a month before, and I’ll be surprised at how much of an improvement I’ve made in my life because of one simple observation. It’s so easy for us all to be hard on ourselves, and a journal is such an amazing way to document, recognize, and feel proud of your spiritual growth. I also love jotting down little bursts of creativity and ideas!
Go Phone-Free Once A Week
Work emails, personal emails, texts, Instagram, Facebook…we’re all on overload. Since I personally run cocokind’s Instagram, it’s so easy for me to be on my phone into the wee hours of the night. I’m not even going to bring up emails, checking online orders, communicating with my team, or checking random celebrity gossip. It’s admittedly hard for me to unplug, so I’ve found that the most effective way to do this is to set hard phone-free time frames every week. I do it for at least a half day every week. You can do a half day, a full day, or even just a couple of hours! This practice of “being present” even for just a small period of time is so life changing.
Workout… For Your Mind!
I believe that any form of physical movement brings positivity into your life. Working out obviously keeps me healthy, but also, as friend my put it, “It’s a mental victory, it’s something that you can control and feel proud of every time you do it.” I’ll take it! Recently, I’ve been obsessed with a Hip Hop Class at Uforia Studio in San Francisco. I come out of that class in the best mood with such mental clarity. Plus, it’s such a good and fun physical workout.
—Priscilla
No matter how busy your schedule is, finding time to squeeze in a couple of mindful exercises, or to do an action with more mindful intention, will help make your life calmer, clearer, and happier. We hope you enjoy incorporating Priscilla’s tips in to your life. What are your favorite ways to practice mindfulness?