So you wake up to find the coffee pot is broken, then the toast burns, kids wake up extra crabby, and then to top it all off… The power goes out before you have a chance to get a shower and get dressed. Oh boy, sounds like a typical morning right? Frustration personified, anger, as well as short fuses with everyone in the house. How could it get any better or worse? Maybe more yelling will fix this mess?
Wouldn’t it be nice to know a better way to deal with such an ugly morning such as that? Crazy, but it is true, there can be a more enlightening way to get through a disaster, such as that example, and still salvage your day.
What if you could apply mindfulness to that situation. It still isn’t a pleasant situation to deal with, but, instead of stressing out to the max, kids yelling, and you ready to tear your hair out… Why not try a less dramatic approach. Hey, life isn’t perfect, and it never will be, but, lets look at an improved way to deal with unpleasant situations.
Lets start with some insight into what Mindfulness is, shall we? It is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us. The goal of mindfulness is to wake up to the inner workings of our mental, emotional, and physical processes. Mindfulness is available to us in every moment, or mindful moment practices like taking time to pause and breathe when the phone rings instead of rushing to answer it.
In our series on Mindfulness, we are going to explore the many facets, twists and turns of this subject to help you in time learn to be more mindful of your inner workings, not only mentally, emotionally and of course physically. I realize at this point you have more questions than this article has answers, but hang on, help is coming in order to learn to overcome some of life’s more challenging moments. To be able to wake up to a completely disastrous morning, such as the example in this article, and stay calm, cool and collected. By being able to grasp the mess, know this happens sometimes, it is not the end of the world, but, it is the beginning to another day, and give thanks.
It is this nonjudgmental state of awareness of your thoughts, feeling, sensations and the environment around you – at any given time that can set you free from stress, anger, victim mentality, like why me? Why me? That can indeed set you free. Focusing on the present moment and learning to see things in a more positive manner, can reduce frustration, improve well-being and enhance many aspects of your being. It is learning how to get to this point, that, patients and understanding becomes the virtue.
So for now, next time the day goes south, and I don’t mean palm trees, beaches and sunsets… but, things that keep you up at night in worry, anger in broken things, and of course mornings that got off to a rocky start, do not need to invoke negative thoughts, such as boy, it’s going to be one cruddy day…Instead learn to think positive, why not? If the saying is true, you are what you eat, think, etc., why not be positive, slow down, give thanks, ask for strength and guidance to maneuver that morning mess…Look outside and see those sunny beaches, even on a cloudy, rainy day!
You can do it!
Until next time… more on mindfulness in different ways…
