How can I experience mindfulness as a teen?

To experience mindfulness, sit for a few minutes without doing anything at all -- not listening to music or texting or answering the phone if it rings. Just try to  notice your surroundings and yourself in this time.

Mindfulness is about paying attention to everything in your life. The first step toward becoming mindful is learning to just notice what you are thinking and feeling about a given situation. Instead of responding to these thoughts and feelings immediately, you can begin to sit with them, to observe them, before you decide what they mean and how you want to respond. You might still choose to respond the same way, but taking time will allow you to figure out how you want to react to a situation, to assess how big or small it is and how stressful it is for you.

Say to yourself, “Oh, this is what I am thinking and feeling right now. I don’t have to do anything about these thoughts and feelings. I can just sit with them before I react.”