Hi,
It's Matthew with Mindfulness Minutes,
And I wanted to bring a practice today that you can do for as little as one minute or as long as you want.
It's really simple,
It's really easy,
And it's just something to help you get grounded,
Especially during stressful times.
It's really important to find a place where we can feel safe and return back to the things that are really important.
I call this practice Here,
There,
Now.
It's three simple words,
And here's how you can use them to find your mindful place.
By the way,
People always ask me,
What is mindfulness?
It's really just the practice of bringing attention to the present moment.
That means whatever is present in that moment is absolutely okay.
It's just noticing it and not having to go on a trip with it,
But just being with it.
So let's try the practice.
First of all,
Find a comfortable place to sit.
If you're comfortable sitting in a chair,
That's fine.
If you like on a cushion on the floor,
That's great too.
Whatever's comfortable for you.
I like to sit with my feet flat on the ground,
And sometimes I'll place my hands in my lap with my palms up or palms down.
Again,
Whatever works.
I want to remind you,
There's no way to do this wrong,
And whatever you do,
Just taking the time to do it is going to be beneficial.
So here's how the practice starts.
We'll just start with a simple inhale breath,
Whether you breathe at any pace or depth that you feel comfortable with.
I like to take a nice deep breath in through my nose.
Just let it out slowly.
Let's do that two or three times.
And as you settle in,
What I'd like you to do now is introduce this idea,
This idea of here.
What's here?
I'm in a place,
I'm sitting outside,
But there's cars here.
There's cars going by and the sound of cars.
There's also the warm sun on the back of my neck.
I feel a cool breeze.
I hear birds chirping in the distance.
It's all here with me.
My family is here with me.
Dogs are barking.
Children,
Sounds.
Just being here,
Noticing all that's here and noticing any feelings that come up about being here.
I feel safe.
I feel warm.
After a few moments of that,
What I want you to introduce is the idea of there.
The difference between here and there is there is what's away from us.
What's there might be out in your future.
It might be out in the world and physically in a different place or it might be just in a spatial place in time.
Just spend a moment and consider what's there.
There may be wonderful things planned.
There may be things that are in the moment scary or worrisome as we go through these difficult times.
So I want you to notice those things and feel the distinction between what's here and what's there.
Whatever comes up is okay.
Just let it float by like movies on a picture screen as you take that nice,
Easy breath in and out.
After you notice the difference between those two things,
The last word I want you to concentrate is now.
Now is a very powerful word because it's what's right in front of us.
Right in front of you,
Just like right in front of me,
There are tremendous opportunities for me to take action,
For me to notice what's in my current environment and what I can do about it.
Just take a few breaths in that space of now.
What I'd like you to do just before we end the practice is I want you to set one intention for this day.
One thing that whatever happens today,
This is why you're going to act.
This is the context.
This is the purpose that you're going to act with.
For me today,
It's going to be about being present with all that arises for me and allowing it to just pass by.
Then I'm going to notice whatever I can from that experience and take it with me.
I hope you set a positive intention for yourself that you can carry with you through this day.
Join me again for the mindfulness minutes.
Thank you.
