Practicing Gratitude and Mindfulness

One habit/mindset I’ve been trying to get better at is being more grateful and present in the moment.

I saw/heard on TedTalk that we spend 47% of our time with wandering minds. But that we’re less happy when our minds are wandering. 

"When people were mind-wandering, they reported feeling happy only 56% of the time. Meanwhile, when they were focused on the present moment, they reported feeling happy 66% of the time." 

Even if it’s driving to work. You’re going to be happier if you are present rather than letting your mind wander to other things.  

While I’ll always be a daydreamer I want to put a conscious effort into not distracting myself and not letting my mind wander too much. 

So, in the realm of staying present and grateful I wanted to share a list of some simple things I’m doing at the moment: 

+ Time and time again I have heard the benefits of keeping a gratitude journal. Currently this is my "Sparkly Bits” page in my bullet journal. Each day I’ll think back to those little moments I was thankful for. The more consistent I am with this the more present I am during the day. Something will happen and I will have the where with all to recognize it, step back, and enjoy it in the moment. 

+ I’ve been running lately. And I find that the first two miles are the hardest of my run so I’ve started a new thing. I now spend the first mile of my runs saying all the things I’m grateful for. 

+ Sometimes you’ll catch yourself letting your mind just wander and for me I have a new phrase that helps me come back to center. “Be Here.” It’s what I will say to myself to remind myself to be present, to quit thinking about a million other things, and to notice what’s happening around me and within my own body. 

+ Most of us set goals for ourselves. But I find that a lot of the time they are either unreachable, far off, 5 - 10 years down the road sort of goals. And while it’s great to set those long term goals, I think it’s even more important to set goals that have a short timeline. Then after you’ve found something you want to work towards take the time to list the tangible steps you can take day to day to reach that goal. 

+ Meditate. There are countless benefits surrounding being present in the moment and grateful when it comes to meditating regularly. Not to mention it just helps with stress and anxiety. Do it. 

+ When I get those moments of gratitude I stop and soak in all the senses. The other weekend I went camping with some of my girlfriends and while waiting on another friend to go to the bathroom I just remember looking up into the sky, closing my eyes, breathing in the smells and listening to the sounds. 

+ Limiting myself on social media. While I love Instagram it can be a black hole of "oh let me just look really quick" and then 30 minutes later you come to. While I'm not going to give it up I want to be more conscious with how I'm using it rather than letting it use me. 

Now, what are some of the positive effects I’ve noticed from doing these different things?

+ I just feel overall happier and thankful for what I have rather than spending so much time worrying about what I don’t have. And would you guess it, like attracts like, ad with that positive attitude I’ve attracted more of what I want in life. 

+ I feel calmer, more steady. I don’t really get stressed out, but do get anxious here and there. But I feel like I have a better grasp on it and am able to calm myself. 

+ I enjoy the things I’m doing more. Whether that’s something fun like being with friends or something like running or cleaning. I had a moment of gratitude stirring a bowl of dough last night, seriously.

It can be so easy to just allow our lives to be frantic, hectic and stressful. And while I’m not saying this is going to fix bigger problems in our lives, it can’t hurt to have control over our perspective of situations.

What do you do day to day to practice gratitude and stay mindful?  

My Current Meditation Practice

I am far from perfect and consistent when it comes to meditation, but never-the-less I wanted to talk about mediation today, and share why I love it so much. 

I went to this talk/presentation about meditation while in college, and ever since then I’ve known that meditation was something I wanted to add to my days. 

But I struggled for so long because I didn’t understand how to do it. 

My solution came with a guided meditation app. 

And this might end up sounding like a sponsored ad, but it’s not. If anyone from Headspace is watching, hit me up. I’d love to work together. 

But yeah, Headspace is my meditation app of choice. (You get the first ten guided meditation practices free). 

I’ve found that the most beneficial time to meditate for me is early in the day. 

It’s just one of those things that sets you up for a good day. 

+ makes me a calmer, more balanced person. turns out it lowers your cortisol levels. 

+ helps me with focus, motivation and creativity. 

+ helps me sleep better, not laying there with 20 million things running through my head.

+ I better handle confrontation or stressful situations

+ feel so much brighter, lighter and positive overall

It’s one of my go-to’s if I’m ever feeling flustered, frustrated, distracted, upset. 

If I’m meditating for whatever reason I’m more likely to want to work out, eat fresh foods, which all in turn make me want to just take better care of myself. 

I try to do 10-15 minutes, which when you think about it, who doesn’t have 10-15 minutes? 

And you can do it anywhere. At home, outside, on the train to work, on a plane, in the car. 

But I can’t do it at the end of the day. I’ve tried to do it before bed, and I just end up failing asleep. 

It’s something I really would recommend everyone tries. 

I also think it’s cool that there’s even simple meditation practices for kids. I’ll definitely be doing that when I have kids. 

And as this process has gone along I have realized that I have found a similar meditative quality in other activities, whether that I journaling, listening to music, going on a walk, or being out in nature. And I am very grateful for this new awareness I have in my days. 

How I Started Meditating Regularly

I’ve cracked the code!

Well, I’ve cracked my own personal code to making meditation a daily practice. It’s something I’ve wanted to do consistently for years now, but could never make it a habit. 

I just couldn’t get into it. And do you know why? 

I was approaching it all the wrong way. 

Last month I shared a story after I had meditated for 10 days in a row. But I knew I wanted to write about it more after I had done it consistently for a longer period of time, and share some thoughts on it. 

These are things that have helped me, and just a disclaimer — they may help you, but they may not. 

+ Don’t waste the time setting up the perfect “meditation” setting. I would spend fifteen minutes, setting up candles, incense, finding the perfect music playlist, cushions, blankets, etc. And as you can imagine, this became such the production that I didn’t want to take the time to do it. Meditation seemed like such a big task because I thought that was what it had to be. 

+ You don’t have to meditate for an hour. I’ve been doing ten minutes, you could choose only to do it for five. Then if you want to do twenty minutes, thirty minutes — go for it. But don’t think you have to do it for a big chunk of time. 

+ I thought I needed to sit in perfect silence, not a thought in my mind for the entire time, and that if I started thinking about stuff that I had failed. But what I’ve learned is to let the thoughts come in when they do, don’t judge them, just acknowledge that they came to the surface, and then let them float away. 

+ Meditating in the morning works better for me. If I try to do it before bed (I’ve done multiple times) I will fall asleep. I mean, it works really nicely to apply those techniques of breathing and such to your bedtime routine, but to actually get from meditation what I want (setting myself up for the day) I have to do it in the morning. 

+ I never thought  I would like a guided meditation. I thought it would be too distracting. But I discovered the app Headspace, and it has completely changed how I meditate. In fact it’s the only reason I’ve been able to do it consistently every day. This isn’t a sponsored post (I wish), but you can get the first 10 day pack for free. But after that I paid for the yearly subscription because I could see the benefits even after a few days. 

It has been an amazing addition to my morning routine. I love allowing myself enough time in the morning to write my morning pages, meditate, do a quick tidy, and make breakfast before starting in on my work for the day. 

I encourage you to give meditation a go if, like me, it’s something you’ve been wanting to try for awhile.  

I Meditated For 10 Days In A Row + What I Realized

One of my first days back from France, I was home alone working away on FemmeHead. I had cooped myself up all day so I decided to go outside on my long board since it was such a nice day out (and we’re creeping ever closer to the awful months of winter). 

It was a nice ride, but I remember coming back with this real sense of anxiety and stress in my chest, and I just remember thinking "I need to meditate". 

I had heard of an app called Headspace (no this is not a sponsored post, I wish). I decided to download it and give it a go. 

Ten minutes, I thought. I can do this.

I felt light years better afterwords. The anxiety had lifted from my chest and and felt a renewed sense of calm. So, I challenged myself to do the 10 free days of meditation in a row. 

I mean, honestly, who doesn’t have ten minutes out of their day to spare?

So, I began fitting it into my morning routine. 

+ wake up

+ write my morning pages

+ tidy for 15 - 30 minutes

+ meditate for 10

+ make a coffee/tea

+ make my to-do list

+ get started on work

On the morning of the tenth day I was sitting at my computer writing my Monday email for FemmeHead, and I could feel myself being pulled towards the red chair, pulled towards those ten minutes of calm.

Before these ten days I would meditate sporadically, never consistently. I thought I had to set up this sacred space (candles, intense, calm music, cushions, blankets and darkness) before I could begin meditating. And I thought I needed to do it for a long period of time.

As you can probably guess, because of this meditation always seemed like such a time consuming hassle that I rarely did it, which is a shame. 

What I’ve learned from these ten days is that I don’t need a sacred, pristine space. I can simply just sit down in the chair or lie down on the couch. 

There are no rules, I let my preconceived notions of meditation float out the window. 

It counts even if it’s just ten minutes, hell, even just one minute. 

I never thought I would like guided meditations. I thought I just had to sit there and keep my mind blank for 20 - 30 minutes, and that would work for me. 

At the end of my tenth meditation I went online and subscribed to a year long subscription, realizing that having someone guide me along is what I need at this point in my life, and there’s nothing wrong with that. 

I was having a rough day last week, and I found the calm I needed in that moment, in my breath. Yes, in simply just counting my breaths, 1 through 10 and starting over at 1 when I had reached 10. 

For at least a year now I’ve been drawn towards meditation, just knowing that it was something that would be really, really good for me. But I could never stick with it. Thankfully, I’ve found my solution for now. 

And my biggest take away — there is no right or wrong way to meditate. Let go of your preconceived notions of what it is supposed to do and find what works for you.