Mindfulness is hard

For me, committing to, following through and remaining focused on mindfulness is tough. I’m on day five and while I have only missed one evening practice (because I did it in bed and fell asleep…), I’ll have to admit that three minutes often feels long. I start out listening only to my breathing. I try to find the cadence soothing and clearing. I notice the ambient sounds in the room or in the house or on the street. And then I start to think about what I’ll write. Or how I’d like to serve a particular client that day. Or what I’m going to have for lunch….
At the same time, some great moments have spilled into my day. I noticed I was more present with my niece and goddaughter on July 4th. Molecules of inspiration have popped.

I’m fascinated to experience what comes next.

A blip…

Or that’s what the past..cough…2 years has seemed like.   Sure, I got married and became the stepmom to two wonderful girls, moved households and built my practice, but TWO YEARS??????  Sigh…
And now I’m back.  My latest experiment feels like the perfect re entry point to blogging.  Along with some of my fabulous Next Step Partners colleagues, I am experimenting with a new mindfulness practice–at the beginning and end of each day for 3 minutes each I am doing the following (straight from Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Wherever You Go, There You Are):

Start with your breathing, feeling it as it moves in and out.  Ultimately, you can expand your awareness to observe all the comings and goings, the gyrations and machinations of your own thoughts and feelings, perceptions and impulses, body and mind.  But it may take some time for concentration and mindfulness to become strong enough to hold such a wide range of objects in awareness without getting lost in them or attached to particular ones, or simple overwhelmed.

At the beginning, stay with your breath, or use it as an anchor to bring you back when you are carried away.

My version may be slightly different than my colleagues–the 3 minutes, twice a day piece is what we are all trying.  I’m on Day 2.  I did yesterday’s mindfulness moments both on Amtrak. Stay tuned…