Back in the days when I had a wired phone I had put a sticky to it just showing “B!”. It reminded me to take a deep mindful breath before using it. I was inspired by John Kabat-Zinn’s teachings and hacks to install reminders or anchors for practicing mindfulness during the day. And it worked well for me.
Nowadays I don’t have a wired phone any more but a smartphone instead. I experienced how availability of sticky social media and communication apps can work against mindfulness or even lead to some level of addiction and constant distraction. You might have watched Netflix documentary “the social dilemma” or have read books like “Hooked” from Nir Eyal which point out that the social media industry invests lots of efforts to influence our habits to keep us longer in their apps and let us return to them more often. In my opinion this all works against the liberation of our minds.
So I wondered with which means I could mitigate that? Could my smartphone become an anchor for practicing mindfulness? Would experience of mindful practice have the power to change my habits for good?
That is why I developed the small app “Make Me Mindful” (currently only on Android) to find it out. On each unlock of my smartphone it brings up a reminder for practicing mindfulness. It is almost like the sticky note I once had on my wired phone. And I am glad that it works well form me :-). So in case you also give it a try, I would very much appreciate your feedback if this also works for you or if you have other ideas or experiences.
May all of you stay mindful,
Michael
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