Mindfulness for busy moms
I’m often referred to as a “chaos coordinator” and even have some apparel & accessories featuring the paradoxical phrase.
Although I don’t believe it to be a strong suit of mine, I believe they’re noticing my creative problem solving skills, patience, and self-regulation. All of which are essential when you have a room full of energetic preschoolers you’re trying to corral onto yoga mats or a house full of kids trying to avoid bath night.
I wasn’t naturally blessed with the ability to be a chaos coordinator - I cultivated it. If you are tired of having the world spin around you, letting chaos rain and having to relinquish your sense of control, it’s time you cultivated the skill yourself.
To find inner calm, focus, motivation and creativity to be your most effective, you need to learn one crucial skill: Mindfulness.
Begin practicing mindfulness and you can tame overwhelm, reduce anxiety, combat depression, unravel negative self-talk, avoid reactivity, become more productive and calm the fuck down!
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness means being fully present and engaged in the moment. It’s awareness of what’s happening with your environment, thoughts, emotions, and sensations.
Mindfulness means living in the now… not rehashing the past or worrying about the future.
Mindfulness 101
Step 1: Observe
Notice what is happening, allow thoughts to come & go, use all your senses, focus.
Step 2: Describe
Put into words what is happening without judgement or interpretation.
Step 3: Experience/Participate
Throw yourself into your current experience completely, connect logic & emotion, get in the zone.
How to practice Mindfulness
While mindfulness can be practiced anywhere at any time, the best way to strengthen this “muscle” is through a calm, static exercise of focused attention. It really is not as complicated as you might imagine.
Begin with a simple observation of yourself - your breath, the weight of your body, your senses. It can be as short as 5-7 minutes to start. Then expand your practice to more complicated applications such as mindfully walking, exercising, eating or showering.
For a real challenge, try mindfully listening to a story from your child. Stay connected to their words, body language and emotions as they recount every second of their favorite cartoon episode, every mythic weapon that dropped in the latest update on Fortnite, every step to crafting the ultra-rare triple diamond sword in Minecraft. Honing the skill in this way will not only take your mindfulness practice to the next level and win you the parent of the year award!
Mindfulness vs Meditation
Many associate mindfulness with meditation, but that isn’t entirely accurate. Mindfulness is a skill used in meditation, but isn’t the practice itself. I like to think of mediation as the clearing of the mind to achieve a state of inner peace. It is a more formal practice of guiding the attention inward.
Mindfulness by contrast is a more informal practice of present-moment awareness that can be applied to any waking moment from a strategic body scan to savoring a meal. Mindfulness can clear the mental chatter but also allows you to get the most out of your experiences.
Moreover, mindfulness doesn’t have to be spiritual if you aren’t into that sort of thing, although it is magical. It not all woo-woo, it’s science!
Stop with the Multi-Tasking
Mindfulness allows you to be present to the activity you are doing (or supposed to be doing). A single-pointed focus of your attention.
Multitasking divides that attention, which may be nice when you are using a podcast to entertain you while doing dishes, but is less ideal when your smart phone is distracting you from your plate and causing you to overeat… or worse, distracting you from your child being stuffed into an unmarked van on the other side of the playground never to be seen again.
Did I get your attention with that gut-wrenching example? Sorry, but I wanted to prove how valuable mindfulness can be and the dangers of some types of multitasking.
Be aware of when your attention is diverted, and never multi-task when you care about the thing you are doing.
Emergency Mindfulness Reset!
When you thoughts our spinning out of control and your body is tensing with anxiety or dread, ask yourself these simple questions:
What am I experiencing? (thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations)
Can I let this be here? (breathe through it and give yourself compassion)
What should I be doing? Or What should I be focused on?
Mindfulness is a powerful tool in your happiness toolbox! Don’t neglect this practice if you’re looking for an authentically happy life!
Looking for support in your mindfulness practice?
Join my FREE Facebook Group for Moms/Womxn for guided practices!
