The holidays can be draining. I’m talking emotionally, financially, and mentally. It’s easy to dive into your holiday to do list head first, only to find yourself a short while later exhausted from running all around town, stuck in standstill traffic on a frighteningly empty tank of gas. This is where practicing mindfulness can come in handy. We aren’t trying to change anything in our experience, but simply noticing and staying with whatever, it is. By taking time to savor even the tiny morsels of being fully present is calming and can bring awareness to things you would otherwise miss. The chirping of a bird, the rustle of leaves in the wind on a crisp fall day, the uniqueness of each snowflake falling. Bringing stillness and awareness often ends up in us taking a moment to be grateful. Mindfulness and expressing gratitude go hand in hand. Often the more you practice one, the more you will see the other.
So, what exactly is mindfulness and how can it help you not only through the holidays, but all year round? Well, let’s start with what it is. Mindfulness is defined as encompassing the state reached when one is fully focused on the present moment, while acknowledging and accepting everything in your human experience. This includes thoughts, feelings, emotions, and bodily sensations. The key to recognize here, is that these things will constantly change and evolve. You think a friend is mad at you because of something they said, you then feel upset and angry towards that person, you may notice your heart racing or your face turning red or hot. Instead of giving into this emotion identify it and remove yourself from it. Be an observer of the emotion. Maybe say to yourself anger, ah (as if experiencing it for the first time) this is what anger feels like. By observing our thought, feeling, emotion, and sensation; we remove ourselves directly from its path. This makes it much easier to be able to control our composure and actions in any situation life throws at us.
Now let’s talk about how it can help you, and some of the benefits of regular practice. Managing stress is a major key in dealing with chronic illness. The practice of mindful meditation, even if for just 10 minutes a day, will reduce blood pressure, help with symptoms of depression and anxiety, enhance one’s self-awareness, lengthen your attention span, fight age related memory loss, and most importantly reduce overall stress. You will find that mindfulness soon will permeate and improve other areas of your life as well.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. Simply find a quiet place to sit, sit with your spine upright but relaxed on a cushion or chair, and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths and see where you feel the breath most clearly. Focus on that area and its sensation while you breathe in and out. If your mind starts to wonder, stop and come back to the breath. Return with patient understanding, like that you would show a toddler, again and again until the session is over. Another popular way to practice mindful meditation is to do a body scan. This is where you slowly and deliberately start from the top of the head and scan all the way down observing any sensations or feeling. Remember it is natural for the mind to wonder, it’s the patience to calmly come back to the practice over and over again that is true mindfulness.
So, feeling overwhelmed with that holiday to do list? Sit down for 10 minutes and mindfully meditate. You’ll feel so much better and more at ease, I promise! I cannot emphasize enough how much mindfulness meditation has not only helped me let go of anger towards my chronic illness, but has opened my heart and mind to new experiences and freedoms to live each day one at a time. Let it do the same for you!
Happiest of holidays to you and yours!
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