Mindful Moments To Cultivate Well-Being
Mindful Awareness is the resource I have used for the last couple of decades to cultivate the skills necessary to surf when the water is calm, choppy, and turbulent.
Jon Kabat Zinn’s description of mindfulness, first offered some 40 years ago, continues as the description referred to by thousands of people, leaders and organizations across the globe:
Mindful Awareness arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally. And he sometimes adds, “In the service of self-understanding and wisdom.”
Mindful Awareness has cultivated my ability to be present with those moments of grounded attention when I will respond, and those moments of distraction or rigidity or even a bit of chaos when I will react. To pay attention with non-judgment does not mean we will not have judgments. The intention of non-judgment is to not judge ourselves for the judgements that will arise. To notice them as thoughts or feelings that are real but not necessarily true. Thoughts and feelings are like the clouds in the sky. They will pass and float away. Your presence is the sky.
In life, we experience small, large and catastrophic moments, which can overwhelm our nervous system with waves of strong feelings. Mindful awareness practice offers expanded inner spaciousness to softly turn towards and be with the waves. They are a part of us and have information and wisdom to tell us.
There are many different practices and paths to nourish our ability to mindfully be awake in our lives. How do we begin? As the poet, Rumi said, what is important is to visit with yourself every day. We can use this idea to create mindful moments. A mindful moment by definition is a 1-minute mindful pause, but in practice it can be anywhere from a few seconds to a couple of minutes. A mindful moment practice is pausing briefly throughout your day to cultivate mindful awareness.
The core purpose is to accomplish three things:
· To act with greater mindful awareness
· To keep stress from building throughout the day
· To cultivate and nourish your well-being
Make each Mindful Moment work well for you by feeling free to make changes to them.
Morning ritual: Welcome the day. Begin your day with something as simple as standing in front of a bedroom window for a brief moment to greet whatever kind of day nature has provided.
Mindful moments throughout the day:
Take a 20-30 second pause by breathing out twice the amount you breathe in. This calms the nervous system. Maybe breathe in for 3 and out for 6. If it is comfortable, in through the nose, out through the nose. Repeat
Count backwards from 100 by sevens (100,93, 86…), or 2’s or 3’s. This distraction helps interrupt feelings of frustration and irritability (i.e., helps you to soften to the feelings, which often can create a shift or change, so you can more easily be with whatever is there.)
Evening rituals: Appreciate what you accomplished. Compile an “I did it list” instead of the usual “to do” list, think of 2 or 3 things you are grateful for.
Reference: A Daily Dose of Mindful Moments Applying the Science of Mindfulness and Happiness, Barbara Larrivee