Mindfulness: calming the storm in your mind.

Mindfulness, meditation, and intentionality have changed my life in extraordinary ways. Most notable amongst the changes is my ability to recognize when I'm reacting versus responding. Notice how the change is an ability to recognize?  I'm not open, or expanded, or enlightened enough to claim that I can do anything else.  

My mindfulness journey arose out of a need to help me deal with my ongoing PTSD symptoms. Over the course of time, meditation combined with breathwork combined with body work sprinkled with a Midland/Antara retreat and 22 ish years into my journey I can now say that I have an ability to recognize. (I've also recently come into a gift of healing, more on that in a separate post.)

The ability to recognize that you're thinking is part of meditation. The ability to recognize that you're judging is part of meditation. The ability to recognize your thoughts and note them and gently guide your mind back to focusing on your body and your breath is essential in the practice of meditation. There are so many people that will tell me I can't meditate I'm doing it wrong and go into explaining how their mind is racing the whole time. I always point out to those people that non-judgmentally noting that their mind is racing and gently directing their attention back to their breath and their body is essential in meditation practice. I want people to set themselves up for success especially when they're trying to dedicate more time to mindfulness. I find easy teachings in the Headspace and Ten Percent Happier apps and I like recommending them to other people because I want to set them up for success. I'm at a different point in my mindfulness journey now than when I began and I no longer heavily rely on guided meditation apps. I'm into exploring different healing mantras and casting different healing vibrations. I've come up with my own little ritual practices for sage smudging and Palo Santo smudging. I do what feels right for me in the moment when I've dropped in and I'm in tune with my body. I find myself generally calling in love, kindness, compassion, gratitude, and forgiveness and allowing the smoke to take away anger, frustration, negativity, and judgment.

The fountain in the photo is calming to me. The water swirling, lapping, dancing are all comforting images for me. I love the stark contrast of the natural order of the water versus the nature and constructed order of the walls. The colors evoke happy memories. The fountain reminds me of how my thoughts drift and wander and also reminds me of the practice to direct myself back to my breath and my body.

If you're looking at the fountain in the photo and you're thinking it looks chaotic there's a technique that you may enjoy called tapping. There are people trained in the technique but the long and short of it is that you picture your quote-unquote happy place and then tap yourself bilaterally stimulating both sides of your brain to get your nervous system to a calm state. When I was taught tapping I would cross my arms across my chest and alternate tapping my biceps or upper shoulders while picturing myself on a beach with my toes in the sand and the sun on my back. If the picture of the fountain seems chaotic to you another technique that you may enjoy is breathwork. There are also many people dedicated to teaching breathwork and again the long and short of it is that when your exhale is longer than your inhale you trigger your parasympathetic nervous system into thinking that you are safe.

The more time and energy I dedicate to learning how to calm my nervous system and how to be present and mindful and intentional in every aspect of my life the more peaceful I feel on a daily basis. I wish all of you good luck on your mindfulness journey and I'm here to serve you.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post. Until next time.

With warmth, love, and kindness, 

Raquel