#monkeymind – Presence and Positivity

The Only Moment We Truly Have

“Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is the only moment.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

We move. We do. We ‘get it done’. There are days when you may not remember much about your day specifically and then other moments that it seems door frames, corners, and furniture jump right out into your way and BAM! Some days flow and some days simply do not.

We breathe and move. Does our breath lead our movement or does our movement lead our breath? Do we breathe in the shallows or into the deep? Science has proven that deep breathing massages the heart, pumping nutrients and fluid into the vascular system while pumping toxins out and away, leading to better cardiac health. When you have the choice…..breathe in the deep. Aim to find the beginning of an inhale down below your navel and the top near your shoulders.

“The men of old breathed clear down to their heels.” -Chuang Tzu

Try this when you find stress overcoming your body and mind.

Stair Step breath:

Exhale fully and let sips of air in with pauses so that your full inhale takes 8-10 sips and then slowly exhale to the count of about 6 seconds. Try this for 2 breaths.

Then stair step or sip your next inhale as well as your exhale for 2 breaths.

Now return to a stair stepping inhale with the long 6 second exhale.

If you find any discomfort or anxiety with this simply breathe as usual or come to an even 3 count breath.

Thank your body for doing as you ask and breathing in this moment, with purpose. Be thankful for your body and your breath.

The Process to Love

Shining Positivity into your life has many layers. One layer is the possibility of watching your own struggle and shifting your perceptive filter. Watching yourself live and make mistakes doesn’t have to lead to self loathing or chronic disappointment in your physical or emotional self. ‘Mistakes’ such as putting your foot in your mouth, living out hormonal imbalance, maybe even internal tantrums don’t have to lead to beating your Self up every day. You don’t have to judge or assume labels such as immature or unworthy. Practice having just enough detachment so that your fumbles are much like watching a 1 year old trying to eat with a fork. See your learning as sincere, adorable, and clumsy; though seemingly unproductive, it’s truly beautiful. Your living and learning is a perfect process.

The scene is so often full of, “would have, should have’s, could have’s and if I could only!”. Pat those thoughts on the back and let them go. Allow room for understanding that, “When you know better, you do better.” We are all in a learning process, not a performance for your own line of judges to critique.

Moments tied together in what may become an endless stream of shaming ourselves, hating our bodies, or in fearing our own potential are a waste of energy and focus. Next time you are disciplining yourself for an action, thought or judgement, picture yourself speaking to the 1 year old who is just trying to learn how to use a fork to eat their waffle! Smile, sigh, laugh, take a drink, breathe… and try again. Be kind to yourself.

We are an amazing PROCESS.

Purposeful Rise: a choice to feel better

“The thought manifests as the word; The word as the deed; the deed developes into habit; and the habit hardens into character … as the shadow follows the body – as we think, so we become. ” -Buddha

Post by: Tracy Weaver, Life Coach, EFT Practitioner

All of your emotions, from the best to the worst, are valuable to you. They let you know where you are, what’s going on with you. So, please be easy about them – and you. When you are feeling low, depressed, angry, unappreciated, at least you know what direction you want to head in: feeling better!

Your emotions follow your thoughts. Thoughts always bring in more thoughts of similar kind, feeding the current emotion, making it stronger. When you’re feeling really good, milk your mood! Enjoy it! When your emotional state could stand some improvement, what to do? I mean, just try not thinking about the thing that’s got your attention. Unless you are an accomplished ‘meditator’, your active brain just isn’t going to let you. So what we need is some way to distract that ol’ “monkey mind“.

That’s it! Distraction! Get your brain off one scent and on to another! So okay, you want to feel better, and you want to distract your brain away from its current track of thoughts. Here’s a way. Purposefully turn your attention to gentle, general things you already know make you feel good. Non-challenging things, soothing things. Anything will do for starters. “Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.” I’m not kidding. If you are free to, go out and treat your physical senses to something that makes you smile and lifts your mood. As you do, you’ll naturally think about it. The first thought will pull in the second thought, the second a third, and as the happier thoughts continue and build, your mood will rise. Milk it, get in the habit of playing the game and celebrate the improvements!

I’m sure it sounds way too simple. But I can tell you from practice and experience that it works, reliably. You won’t leap wildly from dejected apathy to passionate joy. But, you can train your thoughts to move gently upward, a step or two at a time. As your mind gets better at this new skill, you’ll have a great tool to move on that new path upward to where you really want to live. And your thoughts will change.

Our Thanks to Tracy for contributing!