saraeli said...
Anyway, I'd be happy to hear ideas for ways to integrate meditation (or something similar) into our days when we don't have much time.
First of all, a puppy is absolutely a ton of work and can be very stressful! Good on you for toughing it out and getting through the first few crazy months. Won't be much longer now til they're a bit calmer and more manageable. (:
As far as meditation ideas, I feel like what you have is a great start (doing the body scans at night). What I found myself doing is trying to take 1-2 minutes of just being mindful, whenever I think "oh shoot I haven't meditated" or the moment just feels right. For example, my cat came up and snuggled me and I remember feeling so happy and peaceful, I just took it a step further and put down my phone, paused the TV, and took in the emotions of petting him, the physical sensations in my hands, the sounds, the color and texture of his fur, etc. It was an average cat snuggle sesh but I just took advantage of the peace and added a bit of mindfulness. That was a big win for me personally!
Do you have any moments like that you may be able to apply that to? Like a beautiful drive to work, eating a delicious meal or even a small treat like a
cookie, petting the puppy, etc.? And really any moment will do...doesn't have to be planned or anything fancy! For me, it's also helpful for me to start/build the habit when things are good, not just try to meditate/be mindful only when I'm feeling deep in the depths of despair.
deep_sleep said...
HabitTracker & habit chaining...
Deep Sleep, I love your Habit Tracker idea. I'm not sure how to make my own and I haven't really investigated options for iPhone, though there is one meditation app already that can track for me. I personally think I need to post a physical calendar on my wall so I can see it in front of my face every day--with apps, I tend to commit for 1-2 weeks and then magically stop
opening the app. 😜 I've heard of habit chaining, though I've never quite been able to do it yet. See, I don't really have any routines to begin with--I'm bad about
waking up on time, bad about
personal hygiene, never go to bed at the same time, etc. I guess I need to get creative and find
something I can chain to. So far, the biggest win is just "right before bed." I do sleep every day, even if at different times, so that'll let me be flexible. I
think I would like to have a morning or evening routine, but I also just kinda prefer to be more lax--having plans tends to make me feel stressed and overwhelmed with the pressure to do stuff lol. The perfectionist in me struggles when I don't live up to my own expectations/plans/goals.
deep_sleep said...
mitchkay, how is it going for you?
Well, as you can see by my week-late post, not great LOL. I had a tough week with work and a bad physical herx and I just plain forgot (repeatedly) to come on here and post updates. I did get 2 separate meditations/mindfulness moments in though, so that actually was a win! 2 more moments than the week before! I also finally finished a book which was also a goal and kind of relates to this mindfulness stuff--I've set a goal to read one book per month, which I have never done in my life, and I started with a book that I didn't end up liking. But that was also an opportunity to notice my thoughts and emotions and push through anyway despite being uncomfortable for a while. In a way it sort of boosted my self efficacy a bit. Plus it was a nice change to read at night instead of being on my phone til all hours. Hoping this can start to become part of that routine I've been lacking. (:
It's a bit ironic that I started this thing and then I promptly disappeared. So sorry about
that!! Thank you both for participating anyway. This week I'm setting a goal to be mindful at least once per day and meditate for 10 minutes on any two days. Plus find a new book to start reading. 😄