Today we are revisiting an old, yet very relevant, blog post from one of our Master’s level interns, Hannah Wise, about mindfulness during a busy season. Hannah shares three helpful practices.
Hannah feels a drive to help others reconnect with themselves and their bodies through mutual empathy, authenticity, and vulnerability.
She values the therapeutic relationship and sees it as a vehicle to deliver connection and healing. By creating a collaborative environment with clients, Hannah establishes a safe space for recovery and realignment.
Hannah believes that all bodies are beautiful and worthy. By reconnecting and honoring their bodies, clients can pull from internal strengths and skills to tackle the challenges and trials of everyday life. Hannah is honored and excited to walk along this journey of healing with her clients.
Mindfulness During a Busy Season
Since the holidays and end of year are so (beautifully) busy, it can be a wonderful opportunity to practice and hone some mindfulness skills.
By being mindful, we can be more present in the moments that seem to pass by too quickly while also being more in tune to ourselves and our needs. Sounds great, right? So, how can you lean into being more present and mindful during this time?
Here are three different ways to support you in cultivating moments of stillness and peace.
1. Pause and Notice the External
Have you ever driven home after a long day at work and realized when you pulled into your driveway that you don’t even remember the ride?
This happens because when we are tired, overwhelmed, overstimulated, stressed, or anxious, our brains are good at checking out to protect us from an emotional rush.
A first step in pulling ourselves back into the moment is noticing what is happening around us or what we can physically see. It may feel silly, but I would even encourage you to speak out loud what you are seeing or touch those things. The more senses that we engage, the easier it is to be mindful.
To go back to the ride home example, start getting curious about the streets you drive down during your typical commute. Notice the street signs and the pedestrians. What color are the other cars that are passing? Maybe roll your windows down to feel the fresh air.
Use this as a guide to start grounding into what is going on around you.
2. Notice the Internal
Taking time to connect to what is going on around us is a great first step in practicing mindfulness, especially because it’s more objective and tangible.
Turning that same attention inward is a skill that may require more practice because we are so excellent at ignoring or avoiding many of our own internal cues. It may also be emotionally painful to internally monitor ourselves.
However, emotions, bodily sensations, and urges are important to listen to because they give us information about our needs. These needs as well as any internal thoughts, feelings, emotions, and urges are not to be judged as good, bad, or otherwise. They’re simply cues that provide you with information.
Some great questions to ask yourself when practicing this skill are: What are some thoughts, feelings, and urges I am noticing, what may have triggered these sensations, and do I physically feel these sensations in any specific part of my body?
3. Apply the Information
Once you have identified some of your thoughts, feelings, emotions, urges, and needs, utilize that information to ground yourself in the present moment and set yourself up for future success.
For example, you may have an upcoming weekend full of social events and activities. Leading up to the weekend, take a moment to examine the fullness (or emptiness) of your social battery, which is the capacity you have to engage and share with others.
Maybe you had a relatively low-key week and are excited and fulfilled by the idea of spending the weekend with friends and family. Or maybe your week was highly demanding and tiring. If that’s the case, ask yourself what feelings are coming up for you when you anticipate the upcoming weekend.
If social time sounds draining rather than fulfilling, maybe that means your needs have shifted, and you may need to pull back on plans. Notice those internal cues and honor your needs.
Mindfulness is such a useful skill and coping mechanism that I encourage you to practice often.
If you would like to learn more about mindfulness, how to practice it, and when to use it, I recommend following @headspace on Instagram and downloading the headspace app. Their app has excellent guided meditations, podcasts, peaceful sleep noises, and mindful movement guides to aid you in practicing everyday mindfulness.
I’ll leave you with this affirmation: “The sense of presence leads to enjoying life at a deeper level.”
You got this!
Hannah
We hope you found Hannah’s insights on mindfulness helpful. If her message resonated with you, this could be the perfect time to take meaningful steps towards your healing and peace. To initiate your work with Hannah, please feel free to call our office at 615.510.3797 or click here to learn more.
