Mindfulness & Gratitude
The pace and demands of life continually ask us to split our attention and energy. It can be difficult to really know how we’re feeling when we don’t spend time checking in with ourselves. Mindfulness and gratitude are practices that can help you slow down and take notice.
What Is Mindfulness?
The quality or state of being conscious or aware of something is known as mindfulness. By focusing attention on the present moment while calmly acknowledging and accepting thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, we learn things about ourselves and surroundings, including other people.
Mindfulness is a state of being present in the moment. It allows us to experience our thoughts and feelings without attaching a “right” or a “wrong” to them, and is an ongoing practice with a variety of exercises and meditations.
The insights we gain from regularly practicing mindfulness help us learn more about ourselves and others and make it possible for us to live healthier, more conscious lives.
There are many ways to be mindful and a variety of exercises to use in building your mindfulness practice. There are several apps that offer a wide variety mindfulness activities including meditations, breathing exercises, body scans, progressive muscle relaxations, visualizations, positive affirmations, guided imagery and more.
Mindfulness also includes focusing on our senses while doing anything like taking a walk, eating, even brushing your teeth.
Expressive activities like writing, music and art can be mindful. Journaling, coloring, and word searches can be easy-to-access opportunities for mindfulness.
How to establish a practice:
Create a dedicated space. Set up a quiet and comfortable zone for meditation.
Try just a few minutes each day. Consistency is the key, even if it’s just for a bit. Start small and increase sessions as you become more comfortable.
Try different techniques. There are all kinds of mindfulness activities. Be open to new experiences! Here are some apps you can try…
Calm.com
What Is
Gratitude?
Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and showing appreciation for kindness. Everyone can benefit from practicing gratitude every day. Practicing gratitude means taking time to notice and reflect on things you’re thankful for in order to experience more positive emotions, feel better and more alive, express more compassion and kindness, and even boost your immune system.
Creating a gratitude routine will make it more likely that you’ll develop healthy coping habits and get the benefits of practicing gratitude.
The scientifically proven benefits of gratitude include:
Opens the door to more relationships
Improves physical health
Enhances empathy and reduces aggression
Improves physiological health
Better sleep
Improves self-esteem
Increases mental health
Gratitude doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s simple yet hard to make space for in busy days. Gratitude is taking the time to notice and reflect on the positives in our lives. Creating habits of gratitude can help us thrive.
Gratitude can take the form of something physical, like saying thank you, giving a hug or sharing a note of appreciation. It can also be good for us to pay kindness forward and encourage gratitude in others.
There are things you can do to help cultivate an attitude of gratitude.
Here are some to try:
Pick a time, anytime. Consider setting aside a few minutes the same time each day for reflecting on life’s positives.
Say it out loud. Express your gratitude regularly, no matter how small the gesture.
Think on the flip side. Try to find the silver lining in challenging situations.
Use tech reminders to prompt moments to stop and reflect on positive experiences.
Step Up. Volunteer and find other ways to pay forward/give back. You make a difference!