My Mindful Practices
Fran, also known as Hey Fran Hey of The Friend Zone Podcast, once told me to get at least 15 minutes of sun each day. My therapist told me the same thing, but when I tell other people, I let them know I heard it from Fran first.
At lunch each day, I walk to the front of the building and find an area where I can hear the wind in the trees and feel the warmth on of the sun of my skin.
This is my daily mindfulness practice.
It’s taking a moment of my day to completely appreciate the time I’ve been given and reminisce on my time so far. Being grateful for each hour so far and thankful in advance for the hours to come.
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On the days that feel the hardest to get up out of bed and get started are the times where it is the most imperative to continue to put these practices into motion. Some days, it needs to be changed up to accommodate my state of mind, how my body feels, and what the day brings. Below, are a few of my personal practices in addition to others that have been shared with me that prove to be effective and allow us to be the best versions of ourselves each and every day.
Journal: Quite possibly the most obvious to someone like me who makes it a point to write for a living, journaling has proven to be one of the most effective forms of mindfulness. While the way I journal has changed as I’ve grown, I have been able to consistently jot down my immediate feelings in a notes app, in a diary, or on my blog. (The Squarespace app really makes my job a lot easier.)
Being able to journal a difficult feeling that I can’t seem to work through in the moment makes it easier to work through after reading it back. Why was I feeling that way after work? What happened? How can I manage those feelings in the future? How do I go about avoiding certain triggers? And if I can’t, how do I cope? Journaling helps with recalling all of these events.
Relax Your Tongue: My therapist said this to me once and I have not been able to stop doing it ever since. The times where I feel my muscles tensing up and can’t seem to shake the anxiety living as butterflies in my belly, I focus all of my energy into relaxing my tongue.
When you relax your tongue, naturally you mouth fills with saliva. That’s a good sign, as you’re relaxing it correctly.
Most times, being able to relax the tongue allows for the rest of the body to dissipate some tension. It also forces you to focus on your breathing. Try to breath in for 4 seconds, hold you breath for 2 seconds, and breath out for 5 seconds. Now, you’re really sending the “calm down” signals to your body.
Finally, and this is still difficult for me to achieve, close your eyes. Clear your mind, and see only a white space spanning farther than your theoretical eye can see. Any thoughts that may pop into your brain, put them in rain clouds. Now imagine those rain cloud thoughts passing by until they pass all the way out of your mind.
Meditation: Countless forms of meditation continue to be shared. It can be overwhelming finding the type of meditation that works best for you. I’ve found walking meditation to be quickly effective during my anxiety attack or depressive episodes.
Guided meditation, also called guided imagery, is a method in which you form mental pictures or situations that you find relaxing. For example, if your happy place is at the beach, you imagine being there to calm yourself down and bring you back to peace of mind.
Not every form of meditation consists of a Buddha statue and a butterfly stance while you chant “ohm.” Meditation comes in many shapes and sizes. The beauty is finding what works best for you.
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Exercise: While inclined to a good morning stretch and afternoon bike ride, there are many physical and mental exercises that allow us to practice mindfulness.
Activities like listening to music or washing the dishes can be a sensory exercise that draw focus from internal distress to the activity at hand.
Although Yoga is a catagory on its own, it can be either a rigorous physical endeavor or a relaxing elongating of the body and mind. Both are great opportunities to practice mindfulness. The key to excersize being an active and effective mindfulness technique is consistency.
Stay in the moment: The whole point of mindfullness practices is to be mindful of the moment. Stay calm and be rational of things happening right now. Extract the worry from your mind of extensential entities. Journaling, excersizing, meditation, and relaxing your tongue all help to stay in the moment. Keeping these practices in mind while during crisis all aid in keeping life on track, allowing negative thoughts to stay at bay, and create a sustainable and thriving mental environment for ourselves.
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