Monday Mindfulness

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope that you all had a good weekend and are about to have a good week 🙂

I received a wonderful gift from one of my best friends for Christmas. It was a month of mindfulness tasks that I was to try and complete over the month of January. Of course, me being me, I haven’t stuck to my one a day. I also haven’t stuck to the basic five a day rule since I was a young boy. I’d say I’d be lucky to eat five pieces of fruit or vegetables a week! My next mindfulness trick might be to eat a banana or drink a glass of water!

I haven’t stuck religiously to the tasks and there have been one or two that I’ve half skipped due to forgetfulness or just laziness. However, I think that they have helped me immensely. I am someone who lets all my angers and stresses build up inside me like a boiling kettle. Yes, I am your typical man. Or I was, for I am now mindful of myself and my mental health. Sometimes.
But, seriously, over the last few years and with the help of this blog I have started being more kind to myself. This gift has kept me on that path and I want to share some things every week with you that might help.

So, Mindfulness Monday this week is all about breathing and resetting yourself. If at any point today you feel like you are overwhelmed or if you find yourself getting more stressed as the day goes on, try these two simple techniques. Over the last few weeks I have found these to be helpful in stressful job and personal situations.

Like Ice Cream in the Summer…

Imagine yourself melting into your surroundings. See all the colours arounfd you blend together in a cognitive kaleidoscope. You are swirling with them, sinking to the floor like condensation on a window. All your worries and stresses are gone, melted away with the world. Silence. Peace.

I tried this a few weeks ago. I was drinking a cup of lemon and manuka honey tea. Suddenly I was the teabag in the cup. My face was the little tag resting on the end of the string on the outside of the cup. I started to laugh at my own creation and my problems were forgotten for a while afterwards.

Try this a few times a day. I find starting my car is the perfect time as the hum of the engine and the air conditioning warming the car up provide the perfect backing track to my descent into colour.

All it Takes is One Minute…

Breathe in for six seconds. Hold for a beat. Breathe out for six seconds. Do this five times. That is one minute. Do this five times a day and guess how long you’ve spent regulating your breathing and focusing on something else other than your worries? Five minutes. It doesn’t sound like a lot but it is a massive amount of time for you to consciously spend focusing on something you can control rather than worry about things that are more than likely outside of your control. You got this.

Obviously things are very hard for everyone right now. But all I care about is making sure that if you are reading this that you are doing OK? People are going through breakups, job loss, tough situations at home and much more all while the Government is blaming us for spreading a virus while they are not clear on their regulations. It’s a lot to handle. So, please breathe and imagine yourself on the side of a Pukka packet of night time tea! If you’re as insane as me you’ll have a good ol’ chuckle to yourself!