Mindful Moments
The best way to increase your capacity for mindfulness is to meditate. Ten minutes a day can make a huge difference. But you can bring mindfulness and its benefits into your life without setting a special time for it, just by increasing your awareness and integrating it into your daily life.
Here are some suggestions:
Breathe
Close your eyes and take a series of slow, deep breaths. Identify any parts of your body that feel tight or tense and breathe into those areas.
Ground
Plant your feet firmly on the ground. As you breathe slowly and deeply feel yourself getting support from the earth and from the seat and back of the chair you are sitting in. You can imagine your breath coming from the earth, through your body and out the top of your head.
When you are doing something, just do that thing.
Choose one daily chore: washing dishes, showering, making your bed drinking your coffee, and bring your full attention to that thing using all of your senses. As your attention wanders, gently bring it back to that task.
Notice the weather each day.
Notice the temperature, the color of the sky, the wind, the smell, how it feel in your body to be outside.
Practice compassion toward yourself.
Close your eyes and breathe slowly and deeply. Think about something you are struggling with and practice saying only compassionate and supportive things to yourself about it. Notice how this calms your internal experience.
Practice compassion toward your child or family member.
Think about something they did that upset you. Close your eyes, take a few long deep breaths and hold them in your mind’s eye with compassion and understanding. Begin to focus more on your compassionate feelings toward them and let your anger/hurt/frustration fade into the background.
Stay with your emotions.
When you have a strong reaction to something take a quiet moment to notice your full experience; thoughts, feelings, body sensations. How are your thoughts fueling your feelings? Are there different thoughts that would change how you feel? Are there other, deeper emotions you are feeling as well? Notice your impulse to react in a particular way. As you give yourself the opportunity to slow down, is there another way you would like to respond? Give yourself lots of praise for going through this process.
Experience gratitude.
When something makes you happy, proud, grateful or peaceful, take a moment to notice it, experience the feeling in your body and commit it to memory. Take time daily to think about and feel something you are grateful for.
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280 Madison Ave,
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New York, NY 10016
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