Mindfulness is all the rage. But mindfulness in isolation, whilst better than normal mindlessness, is potentially dangerous - it's akin to unleashing extraordinary enegry in a totally undirected manner.

So, assuming you've started today with a few minutes of mindfulness or meditation (a tip all in itself!) and assuming that you continue to be reasonably focused (by engrossing yourself in what you're doing - another tip!), you need to continually remind yourself as to why you're doing what you're doing. This will ensure that you're doing the right thing and doing it well.

We are all uncomfortable with change - and our discomfort obstructs our ability to create the kind of happiness and success that we can all create. But, change need not be uncomfortable - it can be pretty effortless yet life-changing - a spot-on description of Change Your Life Online Workshop.

I suggested to a group recently, in the course of a workshop, that, in endeavouring to further develop their focus and effectiveness, they should adopt a physically uncomfortable position whilst meditating. Whilst It should be borne in mind that I have been working with these individuals for some time, the approach ensures that we continually challenge ourselves as we take the first and most important of daily steps - the one of starting the day as we would wish to continue it - mindfully.

There's an old saying that "hanging concentrates the mind" - I am not suggesting anything so extreme! I am suggesting that we constantly and consistently need to drive ourselves towards the ongoing improvement of our state of mind - for everything else flows from it. Regardless of how appropriate our actions might be, once they become practiced or comfortable, we are prone to pay them less attention and the law of deminishing returns comes into play. We arrive at a point where even something that is designed to develop our mindfulness becomes mindless. Bear in mind the psychological proof of this - anything, having lost its novelty value, requires none of our attention.

Having written the last sentence and reread it, I have realized just how challenging our task is. Everything loses it's novelty value - novel literally means 'new'. In order to develop mindfulness we need to meet each moment of each day with a fresh set of eyes and an alert set of senses. In doing so we see reality and act appropriately - something that bears almost no resemblance to our base state of mind where we see our version of reality and react, often inappropriately.

To ensure that your mind retains its cutting edge, your mental exercising needs to have an edge to it. Drive yourself, challenge yourself in the sure and certain knowledge that a few minutes well spent in the morning will transform the rest of the day.