In the midst of all the activity at the moment with the clinic start up, it is easy to feel overwhelmed at times so I’m trying to practice regular mindfulness. For me that means taking a moment to step outside the “smog” of thoughts and feelings which can surround us when our brain goes into stress or anxiety mode.
When we are in “smog zone” it is easy to get caught up in our headspace. Mindfulness is simply learning ways to gain a different vantage point – that wise little part of your mind that can step outside the smog and look “at” it rather than being in the middle of it. That is part of the reason why talking things through with someone can be so beneficial – it can give you clarity and it can help to activate a different part of the brain, moving us from “fight or flight (or freeze) mode into soothe and calm mode. A quick and easy way to do this is to use one of the many apps freely available. My favourite mindfulness app of all time is one called Insight Timer (free!). You can search on meditations from 5 minutes or more on topics such as stress, anxiety, depression, motivation etc. Always a good “go to” when feeling overwhelmed as we all can do at times.
This week I was doing a short mindfulness meditation and was accompanied by my chocolate labrador Evie who was very intrigued and proceeded to tap on my knee determinedly with her paw throughout the entire meditation! Here is the paw tapper herself….
It reminded me that we don’t need the perfect conditions for mindfulness – when I first learned about mindfulness in depth at a seminar years ago, I remember the seminar instructor battling through a jack hammer in the background of the hotel conference room the entire time! It must have been every mindfulness presenter’s worst nightmare but he just bravely went with the flow and incorporated noticing the sense of sound into the exercise.
A great place to practice mindfulness is a busy supermarket queue. Instead of getting fused by the smog of “I am going to be late! I don’t have time for this! I want to get out of here!!” which makes you cranky and stressed, try widening your senses beyond thinking and feeling by doing a quick sensory check in.
Ask yourself:
What is 5 things I can see?
5 things I can hear?
5 things I can feel?
What can I smell?
What can I taste?
For most people, this results in an increased sense of calm and clarity because you are activating a different part of your mind (the part outside the stress smog!).