Well, as we are all in Crimbo Limbo I thought I would take the opportunity to write a well overdue blog. Yes it has been a good few months since I have managed to share anything and I can put it this time down to my job and other personal circumstances. Anyway, here I am and I have chosen to write about my core subject…Mindfulness.

I realised one of the purposes of my blog is to share my Mindfulness experiences but I have never actually explained what it is, so this is blog is about my interpretation of mindfulness .

I recently had a conversation with my mum and sister where we said that doing a jigsaw was being mindful, yes that would be true if you were really experiencing it. I mean noticing the feeling of satisfaction when you find a piece or noticing the feeling in your body when you are frustrated because you can’t find a piece, or even further, noticing how the pieces shine and catch the light or thinking about how the jigsaw was made and the journey the jigsaw had come on to get to your house. All these things are a way to just pause and think about how you go about your daily routine. This is known as informal Mindfulness practice and since I started practicing Mindfulness a couple of years ago it is amazing what I now notice throughout my daily life.

I have noticed how frustrated I get when I am impatient and how my body feels. This can be really trivial things like waiting to leave the house and getting everyone ready including the dog. Mindfulness has given me the opportunity to just stop and think, I can either get more annoyed and more wound up or I can wait patiently. Or more serious things like when my Dad is very ill and the heartache it brings in my body and knot I experience in my stomach to see my dad suffer and also my mum who cares for him. By acknowledging this feeling I can have a choice and this is where the formal practices comes in.

Formal Mindfulness practice doesn’t mean sitting in a room full of people holding hands and chanting “ohmmmmm”. Nor does it mean siting cross legged resting your arms on your knees with your hands facing upwards as a lot of media and photos portray. No, it’s about finding somewhere quiet to sit for 10 mins or more and practice just being present. Yes this means meditate, but don’t be scared by that word.

During a meditation practice usually you use an anchor to keep you present either your breath or by practising the body scan so you have something to focus on so that when your mind wonders off 100s of times (which it will) you can bring it back to either your breath or your body and focus on The Now. Finding a way to bring the mind back to the present moment and just be a witness to your thoughts (or think of them as clouds just passing you by) is the core of mindfulness and practicing this formally as often as you can will remind your brain how to do it in the informal moments.

By making formal practice a regular routine it helps you then deal with life’s events whether good or bad. For example when you experience joy you can notice it and truly experience it and when you feel sadness or worry you can use the breath to help bring you into the Now and I find can bring a bit of peace to my experiences. Now, I am by no means an expert in this and recently had some challenging experiences where Mindfulness didn’t help me as much as I would have liked, however it has changed my outlook on life dramatically and has given me a different perspective and also helped me see people differently and be much more compassionate, plus it has given me a new hobby and a chance to meet new people as there are so many mindfulness groups out there.

I have recently completed the 8 week Mindfulness based stress reduction course led by Gayle Creasey. See link here. Although I had already learnt the basics, the course clarified alot more. It taught me about acceptance and how to let go, although this is very very very hard to do. On week 5 of the course I distinctively remember being quiet angry about something but the meditation practice we did just made me let go and relax and I am trying to continue this today. I also learnt about what really nourishes me; sometimes I punish myself if things aren’t going right or I avoid things I don’t want to do but I leant again about choices and to stick by them and I try not to worry about the consequences.

I try to do formal practices 3/4 times per week but the 8 week course also provides a 3 minute daily practice that you can do throughout the day. I tend to do this just before I leave for work or in the car when I get to work and find it helps set me up for what lies ahead.

The 8 week course I did with a group of people and I met some really good people and listening to them was so interesting whether it be happy or sad, and also Gayle leads the course very well.

There is some great reading on mindfulness and meditation but one that has stuck my mind is The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh. You can buy it here. In His classic guide to mindfulness in the 1st chapter the chapter on washing the dishes (yes you read that right) I think captures mindfulness perfectly. It is definitely worth a read and is only a very short book, plus there are some mindfulness exercises in the back of the book to follow.

So that’s it….my blog about mindfulness. A friend introduced me to it 2 years ago and glad it is now part of my life and I would like to think I will continue with it as much as possible.

Keep being in the Now

Happy New Year to Everyone

Sarah

Ps: Feature photo for the blog was taken when we had a recent unexpected snowfall when we took Noodle for a walk. It was the 1st time Noodle had seen snow.