Practice Mindfulness With Children Part 2

Yes, it’s so instinctual to them, that children, do in fact teach us mindfulness, naturally. There is no effort by them, and the only effort is from the adults trying to focus on what we learn. Before we change them, let us learn the most valuable of lessons that they are here to teach us.

Now, pause and take few breaths, then read further to learn 10 ways kids can naturally and effortlessly teach adults mindfulness

Transcript

Hello everyone, This is Reem and Ju, Life is Magical podcast. So in this episode, I'm going to talk about mindfulness for children and how we can incorporate that with the children along with the family members for the adults as well. And here is the next set of the things that I would like to share. What we basically covered in the previous one is how we can teach children with the tools and techniques that are simple, Easy and that are tested with the children in the school that I have tried with my own kids and bringing it along with the family members is the best thing rather than asking them to do but being involved is the trick with them. So continuing with that, Here are some more sharing things I'll be going through in this podcast. If you haven't listened to the previous one, Go over it's episode 19 and have a listen to it anytime. So children naturally and effortlessly teach us mindfulness and my life has changed so much since I had children. They are my spiritual teachers even though I'm the parent to them. We can learn a lot of things from being around the children and this could be your own children or nieces, Nephews or if you're a teacher or if you're a caretaker or a nanny. Like you know just if you look around pay attention to children or infants you will notice that they are more involved in the silence or present moment than we are and they're completely engrossed in their act for that moment and play with the mindfulness all the while being totally present. As we grow up we slowly forget to use this gift of ours among the others. By the time we remember to use this gift if we decide to use it we struggle and must make quite an effort to bring it back right and yes it is so instinctual to them that children do in fact teach us mindfulness very much naturally. There is no effort by them and the only effort is from the adults. Trying to focus on what we learn before we change them let us learn the most valuable lessons that are here to teach us. Now pause and take a few deep breaths then read further. Now pause and take a few deep breaths and here I'm going to share 10 ways kids can naturally and effortlessly teach adults mindfulness. Take notice of surroundings the first one ask them the color of the car that an aunt or uncle drives including the color of the door handle they have. Kids are very much quicker in responding what that would be. As an adult you would have gone past that car many times but never being fully present to see it notice or acknowledge it. However kids do notice what's around them and I'm going to those present and I'm going to those present moments so here you can bring a game that you can play with your children and start practicing like you know just see like who is present just for fun of it they love that. The present moment the second one at the playground did you ever notice that when you mention it's time to wrap up children ask for more time or five more minutes. Mine always did definitely like they are great at negotiating and then when you promise we can come back again tomorrow they never listen to that tomorrow word as for them the point is now the present moment there is no past or future for them and isn't just amazing how they're living their life in this present moment they have and if you do bring them back the next day it's a bonus and they might have forgotten what we spoke about it yesterday if not it's no bother if they won't that even if they have won that even extra five minutes that was the deal for them for them every day is a new day just like a fresh sheet of paper we make plans are nice but they wake up and look forward to the delay like a gift and get the most out of it so here is into the present into the present moments be observant what's happening even just giving couple of breaks like you know maybe sometime in the morning sometime in the afternoon sometime in the evening sometime in the night just even spending five minutes of being present and observing and that will anchor you into the moment. The third one non-judgmental mindfulness is all about like being non-judgmental when you speak to them and share the experience of your day or situation per age appropriate of course all they do is listen and give you a warm hug that hug melts away your problems they didn't judge or criticize they accepted and heard what you share and they can of course some of the situation they may not resonate with it they don't understand it but they just show what you need that love the warmth that you have been heard and the same we can do back to them when they're sharing an important fact of the day or some experience they had in the school or somewhere else and you be there with them and you will notice the bonding gets so stronger as well. The fourth one single task have you ever noticed that when a child is building with lego blocks how they are totally 100% into the task they're not thinking of a break or a water or who is around they are just focusing on one thing at a time while being in the moment and not multitasking we can look back and learn from them how to concentrate on a single task at a time which helps us give 100% of our attention to the task we are performing so here you go so check out maybe do some puzzles with them or play a game like you know paint or build lego blocks together and see who is 100% into the moment and multitasking is not actually ideal so here if you're not a multitasker or if you have been shamed for not being a multitasker pat on your back you're doing great. The fifth one active with senses with all the five senses with all the five senses of course take notice of a child playing in a muddy puddle so much lighter and fun when they create and just are right if we can even observe that act it shifts an inner child fun part within us some of the things that my children do i don't do it but i love observing them i'm not comfortable in doing them but i love paying attention to them how much they're having fun definitely and they're totally present in the moment and may even try to taste mud even sometimes right and remember they're never usually very stable it's a natural way for them to run walk use their body with flexibility rather than judging on what they can and cannot do just be there observe them and learn from them how they're using the five senses and when we were young children we did that as well as growing up we have let go some of the habits and now we are trying to bring back that's it. Number six forgiveness children teach us how to forgive and forget too you will notice that when they sleep they sleep so peacefully with nothing on the heart or in the heart they often forget the facts of being upset the previous day they let go of the past so quickly and move on so forgiveness is so beautiful when you learn from a child's perspective and of course some of the simple things that we can easily release we can adapt from them and release if anything we are holding because these are only painful things they're making more heaviness in us and not letting us move forward easily. Number seven me time with mindfulness we learn on self-love time for us and with children it's a natural thing when tired you see them going to their comfort position on the couch at the bed and relax they don't wait for permission or think about what others will think and that's absolutely we don't do it right and if your legs are aching you will think 10 times before even you're going to sit down in case somebody's watching you thinking about you maybe you need to do some other things and you don't even stop and you go forward even though you're super tired but here me time learn from them and we all can always be looking into that. Number eight a better listener by being a better listener they can show empathy kindness to the people around them as i said like you know they do listen to us when we share our story how our day was and they don't judge us they don't criticize us and no matter who it is they can sense what's happening they do hear more than we realize and can remind us to be listeners too for example the things they heard grandma say will be remembered by them by forever sometimes right and it could be a good thing could be not a great thing so do watch out like you know how they are listening and how we can also improve our listening skills yeah definitely if you're going to listen you'll be very much in that moment if not we just can't be listening our mind is somewhere else we are not in that moment. Number nine creative they are so good with their creative center they quickly get immersed in the activity at hand and get so much out of it whether it be playing with water balloons or painting and that the best thing like creativity will come in different forms shapes sizes and everything like right but we would have stopped it and i got into my creative flow of letting myself lose by being around the children observing them how they are having fun with the colors that i would be very restrictive with myself and it was like giving me the freedom to explore new things as well so here the last one laughter lounge it's a pure bliss to be surrounded by them and difficult not to laugh at the silly jokes or things they do right they they giggle and make the whole house laugh over spilled milk even and when they are mischievous rather than upset they can make fun of the situation in their way and if we can take that into our adult life we can learn to relax rather than be paranoid in certain circumstances and if we are unable to handle we can't and won't be ready to ask for help we as adults always like to be children we couldn't wait to grow up and then later realized it was better to be a child how many of you thought about it right i thought about it i wanted to grow up so fast and then when i was in my 20s i realized oh my god being young is much easier we are learning so much from them the ideas about only some of the lessons they can teach us if you take a moment to focus on them from time to time and now look around at your own kids nieces nephews cousins whoever young children are there around you and see what they are teaching you before you teach them anything for once be the child learn from them and let them be the teachers yeah so in the next one i'm going to share about the bonding with our children how we can do with the mindfulness and have those special moments so watch out for the next episode thank you guys for listening in and hope this resonated and you can bring in some changes around and lots of love take care and namaste