Tag Archives: Self Care

FEAR is INTELLIGENT!

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Today’s #MindfulnessMonday Tip: No one likes to feel afraid, so when you do listen to your subconscious and act accordingly. Don’t judge… don’t doubt… don’t brush it off. Your fear is your subconscious telling you something and you should listen.   

Mindfulness of fear, what is it?

Emotional Mindfulness is staying in touch with your emotions. Therefore, Mindfulness of Fear is staying in touch with your fear and what triggers your fear. Staying present in the moment-to-moment embodied experience of feeling afraid. It means experiencing the sensation of fear, without judging it or trying to push it away. At the same time, mindfulness of these emotions means you don’t have to justify the feelings. Just feel them and act accordingly.

Today’s Mindfulness Exercise:

Emotional Mindfulness

For the next 24 hours, I want you to be open and accepting of all your emotions. Don’t stifle them, don’t ignore them, and don’t judge! Accept your emotions for what they are, your subconscious talking to you and sending you messages about how you feel about certain situations. Allow yourself to feel… everything… This act of emotional mindfulness will help you better understand yourself and keep you grounded in in who you are.

Mindfulness Journaling:

Throughout the day, as your moving through the emotional mindfulness exercise, I want you to take time to jot down what emotions you’re experiencing. Don’t judge them as right or wrong, don’t try to justify them. Simply write down the emotion and a quick note as to what you believe triggered the emotion. You’ll be able to go back to this journal time and time again to see if there is a pattern to your emotional reactions to situations either at work, at home, or among friends and family.

This exercise and journaling are designed to help you accept your emotions and better understand what events and who might trigger certain emotional spikes.

Mindfulness journaling can be very private. However, I would love to invite you to comment below and share your experiences with the ‘Clean a Room Mindfully’ exercise.

Check out my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode!

Fear is Intelligent

10 Mindfulness Tips for Everyday Practice!

7 Tips for Bringing Mindfulness into Your Life!

Would you like to take the 52-week challenge and experience a more mindful existence? Check out The Invisible You ~ 52 Weeks of Meditations, Activities, and Writing Prompts to Help you Discover You!

I’m certified in Holistic Stress Management and Mind/Body Fitness. I’ve been practicing Mindfulness for 10+ years and am passionate about helping others in their pursuit of a more mindful existence.

Photo by: Mikel Healy

Unplug and Recharge! #MindfulnessMonday

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  #MindfulnessMonday 9/9/19

Would you prefer to watch the video tips rather than reading them? CLICK HERE

#MindfulnessMonday Tip: Anne Lamott said it best when she said, “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”  

Why should we unplug?

Our lives have never been more automated than they are right now. We have instant access to information, which fifteen or twenty years ago would have been unheard of. Yet, with all these advances which are designed to make our lives easier and more efficient, we still spend less time resting then we ever did before. Hence the need to unplug and recharge!

Unplugging doesn’t necessarily mean sleep… it means rest. Rest from the constant overload of technology. It means to take a break, both physically and mentally. Step away from the screens, from 24/7 connection, and allow yourself to find calm, peace, and stillness.

The loss of truly recharging sleep, that so many of us experience, is a huge and sadly common factor in daily unhappiness and increased stress.

Our brains and bodies are resilient, but the more we add to our to do list, the more screen time we allow ourselves, the more stress we add to our daily lives the less rest we get when we actually lay down at night. A lack of restful sleep can lead to not only increased stress, depression, and a feeling over overall fatigue throughout the day – it can lead to severe medical conditions.

I encourage you to see your doctor for advice if you feel that your lack of restful sleep is getting worse or has been chronically poor over a long period of time.

Today’s Mindfulness Exercise:

24 Hour Unplug and Recharge Exercise

This one might be hard for some of you, but the benefits are worth it… I want you to pick a day, 24 hours minimum, where you are going to completely unplug. I recommend a non-work day. Turn off your phone, unplug your computer, television, gaming system, and any other electronic devise that might tempt you.
Spend time outside, reading, playing cards or board games with your friends and family, cooking, whatever activities that make you happy as long as there is no technology involved.

Mindfulness Journaling:

After you’ve completed your 24 Hour Unplug and Recharge Exercise, spend five to ten minutes journaling how the exercise made you feel. Its completely normal to have experiences a little anxiety about not being socially connected. Its even normal to experience the fear of missing out. Record everything you felt, good and bad, that way when you complete the exercise the next time you can see if and how these emotions have changed. The more often you complete the exercise, the easy you will find it gets.

Mindfulness journaling can be very private. However, I would love to invite you to comment below and share your experiences with the ‘Clean a Room Mindfully’ exercise.

Check out my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode!

Unplug and Recharge!

The Power of Napping!

10 Mindfulness Tips for Everyday Practice!

Mindfulness in the Workplace

7 Tips for Bringing Mindfulness into Your Life!

Would you like to take the 52-week challenge and experience a more mindful existence? Check out The Invisible You ~ 52 Weeks of Meditations, Activities, and Writing Prompts to Help you Discover You!

Photo by: Mikel Healy

I’m certified in Holistic Stress Management and Mind/Body Fitness. I’ve been practicing Mindfulness for 10+ years and am passionate about helping others in their pursuit of a more mindful existence.

The Power of Napping #MindfulnessMonday 8/26/19

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Today’s #MindfulnessMonday Tip: Feeling exhausted or just not yourself? Take a nap!

The Power of Napping:

  1. Napping can boost your immune system.
  2. Napping can improve both your daytime and your nighttime alertness.
  3. Napping plus a little caffeine boost are a one-two punch against sleepiness.
  4. Napping can help you learn new skills and improve your memory.
  5. Napping can improve your physical stamina.
  6. Napping for as little as 90-minutes is as good as a full night’s sleep for perceptual learning.

Today’s Mindfulness Exercise: ENERGY BOOSTING NAP!

Studies show that taking a 10 to 20-minute nap in the middle of the day can help boost your energy and get you right back in the swing of thigs immediately after you wake up. Need a little memory jogger or are you focusing on a big project with quickly approaching deadlines? A 60-minute nap is a great way to increase focus and an excellent memory booster.

With that in mind, what type of nap do you need today?

I want you to allow yourself a little time, even if its just 10-20 minutes in your car on your lunch break, to close your eyes and take a nap. Napping gives your brain a reboot. When you wake up, you’re refreshed and ready to get back at it. *Note: Make sure you set an alarm on your phone or other devise to ensure you wake up on time.

Mindfulness Journaling:

Today’s mindfulness journal is a two-part journaling exercise.

PART 1 – Prior to your energy boosting nap, write down how you’re feeling. What is your energy level on a scale of 1 to 10? Do you feel like you got enough sleep last night? How many cups of coffee have you had today and do you think you’ll have another?

PART 2 – After your energy boosting nap, write down how you’re feeling. Did you fall asleep quickly? Was it easy to wake up? Do you feel more or less productive after your nap?

Mindfulness journaling can be very private. However, I would love to invite you to comment below and share your experiences with the ‘Clean a Room Mindfully’ exercise.

Check out my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode!

The Power of Napping

Mindfulness Isn’t MAGIC

10 Mindfulness Tips for Everyday Practice!

Mindfulness in the Workplace

7 Tips for Bringing Mindfulness into Your Life!

Would you like to take the 52-week challenge and experience a more mindful existence? Check out The Invisible You ~ 52 Weeks of Meditations, Activities, and Writing Prompts to Help you Discover You!

I’m certified in Holistic Stress Management and Mind/Body Fitness. I’ve been practicing Mindfulness for 10+ years and am passionate about helping others in their pursuit of a more mindful existence.

Photo by: Mikel Healy

10 Mindfulness Tips for Everyday Practice! #MindfulnessMonday 8/12/19

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Today’s #MindfulnessMonday Tip: If you’re listening, listen!

Would you prefer to watch the video tips rather than reading them? CLICK HERE

Today’s Mindfulness Exercise:

If you’re cleaning, CLEAN! Clean a Room Mindfully!

What does it mean to clean a room mindfully? It means to go slow, to appreciate each and every item in the room. As you clean, ask yourself how you feel about each item and what each item means to you. What emotions do you associate with each item as you pick it up, dust it, polish it, etc. Explore feelings of self-appreciation. Appreciate your physical ability to clean: the ability to bend, stretch, lift, and carry. How does the room feel when you’re finished cleaning? How do you feel?

Mindfulness Journaling:

After completing the ‘Clean a Room Mindfully’ activity, describe how both you and the room have changed. How do you feel now that the chore has been completed? How does the newly cleaned room make you feel?

Mindfulness journaling can be very private. However, I would love to invite you to comment below and share your experiences with the ‘Clean a Room Mindfully’ exercise.

Check out my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode!

10 Mindfulness Tips for Everyday Practice!

Bringing Mindfulness into Your WORK Life

7 Tips for Bringing Mindfulness into Your Life!

Would you like to take the 52-week challenge and experience a more mindful existence? Check out The Invisible You ~ 52 Weeks of Meditations, Activities, and Writing Prompts to Help you Discover You!

I’m certified in Holistic Stress Management and Mind/Body Fitness. I’ve been practicing Mindfulness for 10+ years and am passionate about helping others in their pursuit of a more mindful existence.

Bringing Mindfulness into Your WORK Life! #MindfulnessMonday

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Today’s #MindfulnessMonday Tip: We can’t all meditate at work, and that’s ok, but you can still take advantage of the benefits mindfulness has to offer, like stress reduction and increased focus.

5 tips for bringing mindfulness into your WORK life:

  1. Be Consciously Present – being consciously present means that you are aware not only of what is going on around you, but also what’s going on within you. Mindfulness can help you be consciously present in what you’re doing, while you’re doing it, as well as managing your mental and emotional state.
  2. Use Short Mindful Exercises at Work – Finding time for a 30-minute mindfulness exercise such as mediation can be hard a work, if not impossible. Does that mean you can’t be mindful at work? Not at all. Mindfulness exercises can be as short as just one minute, you don’t even need to close your eyes or be sitting down. Be creative about finding time throughout your day to connect with your senses. This process helps to tone down the fight-or-flight response we can feel when stressed, engages your brain, and helps us focus on individual tasks to increase productivity and reduce stress.
  3. Be a Single-Tasker – Multi-tasking is known to increase stress and reduce productivity leaving us feeling more overwhelmed than necessary. Try focusing on just one task at a time and keep a ‘to do’ list, adding items throughout the day instead of moving from one task to another, so that you stay on track.
  4. Use Reminders to Stay Mindful – Until mindfulness becomes a habit in your daily life, it might be helpful to set an alarm on your phone – even a vibrating alarm that doesn’t disturb others while working – to remind you to take time to practice mindfulness. One mindful reminder I really enjoy is the Breathe app on my smart watch. It reminds me once every hour to take a minute and just breathe.
  5. Accept What You Can’t Change – This one isn’t always easy at first. However, acceptance lies at the heart of mindfulness. To be mindful means to accept this present moment as it is. Once you are able to accept your current moment… your current situation… you will be able to move past it and try and deal with the situation. If there has been a mistake at work, accept that it happened… it can’t be changed… Once you can accept the situation you can learn from the mistake and move on. Acceptance leads to change where a lack of acceptance can lead to avoidance and even aggression.

Today’s Mindfulness Exercise:

30 Minute Single-Tasking Exercise

For the next thirty (30) minutes I want you to pick one task – ONLY ONE TASK – and focus solely on that one task. When you find your mind wandering to other things, jot down a quick note so you don’t forget then move back to the original task.

Practicing single-tasking can help increase productivity, improve focus, and reduce stress. You just might find this becomes your new preferred working style.

Mindfulness Journaling:

How did you feel completing your 30 minutes of single-tasking? Did you complete the task? How many times did you find yourself becoming distracted with other tasks?

I’d love for you to complete both the 30-minute single-tasking exercise and the mindfulness journaling reflection once a day for two weeks. Studies show that with consistent practice, your results will improve increasing your productivity and improving your mental focus.

Check out my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode!

Bringing Mindfulness into Your WORK Life

7 Tips for Bringing Mindfulness into Your Life!

Dealing with Grief

Stress is a 6 Letter Word!

Mindfulness Isn’t MAGIC

Would you like to take the 52-week challenge and experience a more mindful existence? Check out The Invisible You ~ 52 Weeks of Meditations, Activities, and Writing Prompts to Help you Discover You!

I’m certified in Holistic Stress Management and Mind/Body Fitness. I’ve been practicing Mindfulness for 10+ years and am passionate about helping others in their pursuit of a more mindful existence.

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How to Regain Focus and Concentration #MindfulnessMonday

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Today’s #MindfulnessMonday Tip: Regaining focus and concentration can help reduce stress and overload while increasing joy in your life.

In today’s society where everyone is practically ruled by our devices, multi-tasking has turned into a major stress inducer for most people. Mindfulness can help to strengthen your ability to stay focused on one task at a time, allowing you to be more efficient and effective than multi-tasking ever could.

So the real question is how to pull ourselves away from our smart phones and gain a deeper focus and concentration on the really important things in life.

Three things you can do to help regain focus and concentration:

  1. Try meditation – Just by learning a simple, one-minute, breathing exercise you can start to take control of your wondering mind. Whenever you start to feel your focus drifting away, take 60 seconds (just one minute) to pull that focus back to where you need it to be with a quick breathing exercise.
  2. Practice simplicity – By reducing the clutter in your life, you will also reduce the distractions. Try donating or recycling unneeded possessions, adding your phone number and address to Do Not Call and Do Not Mail lists, stop checking those social media accounts that are no longer providing you joy and happiness.
  3. Focus on the people around you – Don’t allow distractions to pull you away from conversations with loved ones. One way to do this is putting your phone away whenever eating, or better yet put them on the table when eating out, whoever picks up their phone first gets to pay the bill.

Today’s Mindfulness Exercise:

60-Second Breathing Meditation

Your breath is a great took to help train your mind to focus your thoughts and increase concentration. Whenever you start to feel your mind wander or become overloaded use this two-step meditation to bring you back to the present.

Step 1 – Notice your breathing. Pay attention to the sensation of the air around you; how it feels as it enters your nose then travels down into your lungs. Pay attention to the rise and fall of your chest and abdomen as the air moves in and out of your body. Don’t change the way you breathe, let the air move in and out as it normally would, just be aware of the sensations involved with the act of breathing.

Step 2 – Count your breaths. The first breath in and out is 1, the next breath in and out is 2, continue until you reach a full ten to fifteen breaths. As you relax, your breaths will get longer and ten to fifteen relaxed breaths should take you close to a minute.

Mindfulness Journaling Prompt: How did the 60-Second Breathing Meditation make you feel? Did your mind wander during your breathing? If so, what were you thinking about? How many times did it wander? Were you easily able to return your focus to your breathing once you realized your mind had wandered?

Mindfulness journaling can be very private. However, I would love to invite you to comment below and share your experiences with this short 60-Second Breathing Mediation.

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Check out my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode!

EPISODE 23 ~ Stress Is a 6 Letter Word

EPISODE 22 ~ Mindfulness Myths

EPISODE 21 ~ Mindfulness Isn’t MAGIC

EPISODE 20 ~ Eat Cake

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The Invisible You by Nina Soden

Would you like to take the 52-week challenge and experience a more mindful existence? Check out The Invisible You ~ 52 Weeks of Meditations, Activities, and Writing Prompts to Help you Discover You!
Photo by: Mikel Healy

I’m certified in Holistic Stress Management and Mind/Body Fitness. I’ve been practicing Mindfulness for 10+ years and am passionate about helping others in their pursuit of a more mindful existence.

#MindfulnessMonday 5/6/19 – Self-Worth!

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Today’s #MindfulnessMonday Tip: Your value… your self-worth… does not decrease because of the experiences you’ve had or the hurdles you’ve had to overcome.

Check out today’s #MindfulnessMonday video for a quick lesson on self-worth. You can check out the video by clicking HERE!

With that little piece of advice, I give you today’s Mindfulness Exercise:

Mindfulness Meditation – Self-Worth Affirmations!

Take a moment to connect with your breath. Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Then, repeat the following:

‘I am worthy of all that the world has to offer, just as much as anyone else. I am deserving of love, hope, peace, friendship, and all that is good in this world, simply because I am human. I release any need to prove myself to others. I release any need to seek and gain acceptance from others. Others cannot define my value or dictate my worth any more than I can theirs. I am unique and special. I am strong and gentle. I surrender myself, allowing the universe to guide me so that my unique gifts can surface and provide value in my life and my relationships. I let go and accept my worthiness as the amazing unique me that I am.’

Notice how these words feel in your body and mind. Then repeat them again, three or four times during your meditation, until the words become comfortable and you begin to feel the weight of their truth.

Mindfulness Journaling Prompt: After you’ve completed the Self-Worth Affirmations meditation, take five to ten minutes of quiet time to journal about the experience and answer one (or more) of the following questions:
What makes you unique?
What strengths do you see in yourself?

Mindfulness journaling can be very private. However, if you are willing to share your thoughts with me and my readers, I would love to invite you to comment below and let me know how today’s exercise made you feel.

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Check out my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode!

EPISODE 18 ~ Self-Worth DOES NOT Decrease!

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Invisible

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Photo by: Mikel Healy

Would you like to take the 52-week challenge and experience a more mindful existence? Check out The Invisible You ~ 52 Weeks of Meditations, Activities, and Writing Prompts to Help you Discover You!
GET IT HERE!
I’m certified in Holistic Stress Management and Mind/Body Fitness. I’ve been practicing Mindfulness for 10+ years and am passionate about helping others in their pursuit of a more mindful existence.

#MindfulnessMonday 4/29/19

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Today’s #MindfulnessMonday Tip: It’s important to recognize your strengths so that you don’t allow yourself to be defined by your weaknesses.

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Check out today’s #MindfulnessMonday video to learn how to choose self-love and stop negative self talk. You can check out the video by clicking HERE!

With that little piece of advice, I give you today’s Mindfulness Exercise:

Talk About Your Strengths!

With a close friend or loved one, start a conversation by explaining that you want their true and honest opinion, then ask the question, ‘What do you think are my key strengths?’ Listen, without interrupting. Then, think about their answer, ask clarifying questions if you need to, try engaging in an open dialogue so you can see yourself the way they see you. Don’t judge their opinion, take it in – and be willing to take a complement when given.

Mindfulness Journaling Prompt: After you’ve completed the ‘Talk About Your Strength’ exercise, take five to ten minutes of quiet time and create a list of your strengths. These should be the strengths you see in yourself as well as the strengths your loved ones and friends say that they see in you – Even if you don’t believe them just yet. Then, once a day, I want you to pull out your list of strengths and read over the. This shouldn’t take long, but over time it will help you to change the way you see yourself so that how you define yourself shifts from focusing on weaknesses to focusing on strengths.

Mindfulness journaling can be very private. However, if you are willing to share your thoughts with me and my readers, I would love to invite you to comment below and let me know how today’s exercise made you feel and what strengths you found others see in you that you maybe didn’t see in yourself.

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Check out my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode!

EPISODE 17 ~ Choosing Self-Love!

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Invisible

Would you like to take the 52-week challenge and experience a more mindful existence? Check out The Invisible You ~ 52 Weeks of Meditations, Activities, and Writing Prompts to Help you Discover You!

I’m certified in Holistic Stress Management and Mind/Body Fitness. I’ve been practicing Mindfulness for 10+ years and am passionate about helping others in their pursuit of a more mindful existence.

#MindfulnessMonday 4/22/19

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Today’s #MindfulnessMonday Tip: Savor the positive experiences in your daily life through joy!

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Check out today’s #MindfulnessMonday video to learn 4 easy to ways to savor the positive experiences in your daily life through joy. You can check out the video by clicking HERE!

With that little piece of advice, I give you today’s Mindfulness Exercise:
Talk About Your Joy!

With a close friend or loved one, start a conversation by asking the question, ‘what makes you really happy?’ Take the time to listen to their answer and engage in open dialogue. Make sure you are sharing the experiences you’ve had and the memories you hold onto that bring you true joy as well. Often times, when we first start to talk about what brings us joy, the conversations can be constricted… make sure you open yourself up and don’t hold back –make sure you pick someone you feel very comfortable with.

Mindfulness Journaling Prompt:

It’s time to start your own Joy Journal!!! This can be electronic – in your computer, phone, or tablet – or do it the old-fashioned way with pen and notebook. Take fifteen minutes of quiet time and see how many different things you can come up with (events, memories, people, etc.) that truly bring you joy when you think about them. If you update this journal once a week, you’ll have plenty of things to turn to the next time you’re feeling down and need a little joy boost.

Mindfulness journaling can be very private. However, if you are willing to share your thoughts with me and my readers, I would love to invite you to comment below and let me know a few of the things you’ve added to your new Joy Journal.

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Check out my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode!

EPISODE 16 ~ Savor the Positive Experiences in your Daily Life!

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InvisibleWould you like to take the 52-week challenge and experience a more mindful existence? Check out The Invisible You ~ 52 Weeks of Meditations, Activities, and Writing Prompts to Help you Discover You!

I’m certified in Holistic Stress Management and Mind/Body Fitness. I’ve been practicing Mindfulness for 10+ years and am passionate about helping others in their pursuit of a more mindful existence.

#MindfulnessMonday 4/15/19

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Today’s #MindfulnessMonday Tip: Be aware of the choices you’re making in order to avoid SELF-SABOTAGE!

Mindfulness monday Template Image

Check out today’s #MindfulnessMonday video to learn about 6 steps you can take today to help you recognize and avoid SELF-SABOTAGING habits. You can check out the video by clicking HERE!

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With that little piece of advice, I give you today’s Mindfulness Exercise:
Positive Self-Talk Meditation

Sit or lie somewhere you feel comfortable. Close your eyes, slowly breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Allow your body to fully relax into the position. Focus on your thoughts. How are you feeling? What is your emotional state? What do you think of your body? Your hair? Your job? Your house? Your family? Etc. Listen to the way your thoughts respond to these questions and the way you instinctively talk to and about yourself. Each time a negative comment or thought comes up, push it back and say something positive about yourself. The goal is to push out the negative thoughts and replace them, over time, with healthy, positive self-talk.

Mindfulness Journaling Prompt: Now that you’ve completed the Positive Self-Talk Meditation, take a few minutes to write down how it made you feel. What emotions were you feeling when you started? How did you feel when you were done? Did your mood change throughout the process? What negative self-talk did you discover you do? Was it hard to find positive things to say to yourself? Etc.

Mindfulness journaling can be very private. However, if you are willing to share your thoughts with me and my readers, I would love to invite you to comment below and let me know how this exercise affected you and what you learned about yourself through the Positive Self-Talk Meditation.

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Check out my #MindfulnessMonday YouTube Series and don’t forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode!

EPISODE 15 ~ How to Recognize and Avoid Self-Sabotage!

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51Pe04-x+wL._SX398_BO1,204,203,200_Would you like to take the 52-week challenge and experience a more mindful existence? Check out The Invisible You ~ 52 Weeks of Meditations, Activities, and Writing Prompts to Help you Discover You!

I’m certified in Holistic Stress Management and Mind/Body Fitness. I’ve been practicing Mindfulness for 10+ years and am passionate about helping others in their pursuit of a more mindful existence.