I’ve always been a speed racer. I’m not talking about NASCAR. (Although, I’ll admit sometimes I pretend to be a race car driver on the open freeway!) I’m talking about everyday life—rushing to get through tasks as quickly as possible, eager to move on to the next thing.
Gratitude in Times of Struggle: A Thanksgiving Reflection
And if all else fails, nature is always there to remind me of life’s beauty. The trees, flowers, oceans, mountains, and quiet moments in nature all fill me with a deep sense of peace. I’ve become particularly to birds’ songs, reminding me that as long as they are singing, we’re okay in this moment.
How to Be Mindful of Emotions
So if emotions are SO useful, why have they gotten such a bad rap?
Well... to begin with they feel pretty freakin’ uncomfortable. As humans, we do whatever we can to avoid pain, which can be useful to our health and safety. It keeps us alive. But avoiding all discomfort can cause other problems.
We need the information that our emotions are communicating to us to have clarity, make useful decisions, and lead fulfilling lives.
How to Be Mindful When Being Interrupted (by Construction)
How to Deal With a Jerk
Something I didn’t address in my mindfulness of others post is how to be mindful when someone is being a real a-hole.
Now I know we’ve all had those moments.
When people aren’t willing to be mindful of us.
How to Be Mindful of Others
If we want healthy relationships with people, we have to practice mindfulness in our interactions with them, just as we would in all other areas of life. Deep down, we all just want to be loved and understood, and being mindful of others is how we’re able to both give and receive that love and understanding.
Feelings vs Emotions: What's the Difference?
Walking Can Be a Meditation
When most people hear the word mindfulness, they automatically think of meditation, which is one form of mindfulness. They also think that meditation is sitting incredibly still and incredibly silent. While that is a traditional seated meditation practice, meditation can be practiced in other ways too.
The Dark Side of Mindfulness
Mindfulness will definitely lead to all kinds of “good” stuff, but (And you knew there was going to be a but.) being mindful also means that you’re fully aware of and present for EVERYTHING that’s going on in our life. And life isn’t always rainbows and butterflies. Sometimes it’s painful, frustrating, and downright uncomfortable.
How Mindfulness Helps
Now you’re at the part of your mindfulness journey where you get that it means being fully in the present moment (If you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, check this article out first before continuing.). But now you might be wondering, well, that sounds all fine and dandy, but why spend the time trying to do that?
A Reminder of What Mindfulness Is
Introducing Mindfulness IRL
On Things to Talk About Other Than the Coronavirus
On Fun Things to Do When Stuck at Home
On Life and Death
In the last week a lot of people have given some extra thought to death. And to life. Neither of which the average person thinks much about on the regular. We all logically know that we’re alive and that someday we’ll die, but part of us also believes in immortality. It can’t happen to us. It can’t happen to our loved ones. Not now anyway.
On Service to Others
Every single year, the third Monday in January is a day to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy. Most often, I hear people talk about how excited they are to have this day off work or school. While you can’t hate on that, the day is actually the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service. This means that the MLK Day of Service is intended to be a "day on, not a day off." According to the Corporation for National & Community Service, the day is meant to “empower individuals, strengthen communities, bridge barriers, create solutions to social problems, and move us closer to Dr. King's vision of a ‘Beloved Community.’”
Mindful Monday: How to Reflect
We often think of mindfulness as only focusing on exactly what’s happening in the present moment. However, the definition that’s used in mindfulness research is “the self-regulation of attention with an attitude of curiosity, openness, and acceptance.” This is helpful because at times it’s necessary for our attention to be focused on the past and/or preparing for the future. If we never reflect on our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and experiences, we’d never learn from them. And if we never thought about our hopes, dreams, and plans for the future we’d have nothing to live for.
Mindful Monday: How to Accept Things
Last week I talked more about what acceptance actually is. Which is all great and dandy. But how the heck do we do it?
There was a point in my life, before I became an acceptance master. Who am I kidding?! I’m a hard core work in progress on this one.
But there was a point when I didn’t understand this concept in the slightest. So what did I do? What any modern day human does; I googled “how to accept things.” And every other form of that phrase I could think of. I’m nothing if not thorough in my research. But it didn’t help at all. Google failed me! I was no closer to knowing how to accept anything.
On Dirty Laundry: Mental And Emotional Cleansing
So as I washed this laundry - by hand- I felt a little more free with every clean item. And with that freedom came thoughts and inspiration. I thought about how physical dirty laundry is a metaphor for mental and emotional dirty laundry. The thoughts, beliefs, emotions, regrets, resentment, fears that we carry around in the backs of our minds at all times, not dealing with them, not cleaning them out.
Mindful Monday: Acceptance Doesn't Mean Letting Bad Things Happen
Acceptance has been on my mind more than usual lately as I’ve struggled to accept certain things in my life and the world as a whole. I’ve also noticed people around me and society as a whole struggle to accept what is. Through these observations, I realized that even though I’ve mentioned acceptance in many of my writings, I’ve never actually defined it or gone into much depth as to what I mean when I say acceptance.