Benefits of Being Mindful

A lot can happen through the course of a day. Most days you follow a similar routine but the outcome is usually never the same.

What does it mean to call a day "typical"? If you figure it out let me know.... Absolutely nothing in our world is typical. One minute I'm outside catching a new frog for my son's turtle tank, the next I'm cleaning up the craft glitter my daughter threw down the, carpeted, basement stairs.

Life is messy, but it should be; that's what's fun. Every day is different! Some days are predictable, some are unexpected. There are good days and bad days, too.

Lately I've opened myself up to learning what it means to be more mindful. I've been on a personal development journey for some time. I've learned a lot about myself, nutrition, mental and physical well being. But, day in and day out it felt like no matter how hard I was trying or what effort I was making I was not making progress to actually feel healthier. I was frustrated. After ruling out any medical deficiencies; I knew it had to all be mental and due to the extreme amount of stress I had been juggling for some time!

I've sought advice from multiple sources over the past few months; but the one that stuck was most recently, a challenge to incorporate 10 minutes of mindful behavior daily. But what exactly did that mean? Sit and be quite, that didn't feel right? Try to balance in some crazy yoga pose, nope; still wrong for me. Stay off social media, take it or leave it, that wasn't the problem. I realized, thanks to a dash of adhd, I don't exactly know how to turn off my brain? How to relax? STRESS was definitely the problem.

It wasn't until a coach recommended insight timer; That I've started to unravel from some of my stress. It's a FREE app that combines all levels of meditation with podcast style mindfulness journeys and lessons!

I cannot recommend this app enough. There is advice on thousands of topics with hundreds of thousands of recordings to listen to. I am intrigued by the wealth of knowledge lingering in this app.

A couple things I have learned; that have really resonated with me:

• Breathing, you literally can't live without it, it's the first thing you do in life and the very last. A lot of the stress I've held onto has been by simply holding my breath and I never realized it. Try unclenching your jaw, remove your tongue from the roof of your mouth, breath in through your noise, relax your shoulders and gently release your breath from your mouth.

• When life feels messy, try a Body Scan! It's a guided way to refocus your priorities and pinpoint your stress. We have started incorporating this when my son needs help to reset from a challenging situation. We inventory our whole body checking in on ourself head to toe and relaxing our minds and remembering to smile.

To me, Mindfulness is intentionally paying attention to the present moment while reserving all opinions. It might b a dedicated time during guided practice but it also might be sprinkled throughout the day; either way, it is specifically, being more intentional to recognize the emotions of the moment.

Oh and guess what else, I can honestly say this was the missing link! After only two weeks, I can feel and see a difference for all of the hard work I've put in by eating better and exercising, for the last year!