Mindful Monday Week 1 - A New Beginning

in #steemit5 years ago

Hello Steemians!!

Before I start, I just wanted to let you know of some good news and minor changes. I was approached by @riverflows from @naturalmedicine to help add a Mindful Life community to @naturalmedicine's Discord channel. I'll put details below for those of you that are interested in that path and meditation. It is in the works to hold regular meditations though this community. So besides our normal covering being mindful, we're going to feature someone in the community who complements what we're trying to accomplish. After a few conversations, with @riverflows we're going to change the name to Mindful Monday. It's more encompassing. Mindfulness is the practice, being mindful is a way of living. In addition, there will be a few other curations during the week using #mindfulmonday tag. It's a work in progress so any feedback is appreciated.

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As I mentioned, in last week's post, we're going to start back at the basics and reacquaint ourselves what what mindfulness is and what being mindful means.

Just to remind everyone I am by no means an expert. This is purely me presenting what I have learned. Yes, I say this A LOT. I also repeat myself a lot on several points as you will come to find. My goals when I originally started this series and even now is to

  • Try to help prevent anyone from suffering the way I have over the
    years.
  • To help teach coping skills that are practical in a work environment
    or public situation.
  • To learn from our past but live in the NOW, the present.
  • How to find your way back when the past pulls you back.
  • To find the positive when things are dark.
  • Most importantly work towards removing the stigma of mental health diseases and concerns.

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What is mindfulness?
Wikipedia - is the psychological process of bringing one's attention to experiences occurring in the present moment, which can be developed through the practice of meditation and other training.

The Great Good Magazine (UC Berkley) Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.

Simply put, it is the practice of living for now. It is the practice of using techniques to cope when anxiety, depression, PTSD, stress or any number of other things that come up in day to day life. To live a mindful life means to accept our feelings and ourselves and not beat ourselves up over it.

An angry thought passes through your mind. What do you do? Do you lash out to whoever is around you? Do you let it ruin the rest of your day? Are you able to pass it off as nothing? or Can you acknowledge the thought take a deep then let the thought move on? If you can let it pass WONDERFUL!! That is ideally how things work or should I say that's what we all have been lead to believe is the 'normal' response. There are many of us that would simply enjoy for that to happen. Some of us dwell on the thought. Overthink, over analyze and drive ourselves crazy, get mad at ourselves for having that kind of thought. We get mad at ourselves for our overthinking minds. We have basically two choices, we can continue on this path or we can learn to accept the thought and move ok, not allowing ourselves to be victims of our own minds.

So the 'rules' I have

  • No negative self talk. You are not dumb, stupid or incapable. You are a beautiful human being and you need to start being nice to yourself.
  • Baby steps. Change does not happen overnight. With those of us who have been through trauma, it takes even longer to relearn behaviors. Each day is new, so is each moment. The ONLY person that can take control of this is you. We can support and I hope that you do have a support system at home.
  • No beating yourself up for a step back or tumble. We pick up and continue on.
  • The thoughts you have are NORMAL. No one ever tells us that, but they are. It's what you do or how you deal with those thoughts. When this happens refer to rule 1.

I hope this is enough to give you all an idea of what you're instore for. I HIGHLY encourage open communication. I have my Discord name in my banner please feel free to DM any time. I don't ever want anyone to feel so alone that they don't have anywhere to turn to. I will message you back as soon as I can.

The next step is consider joining our Mindful Life Community. As I mentioned we're still working on getting a few things off the ground, but it helps to be around like minded people.

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Now for my 'feature.'

@noraflora

Featured Posting

This is a wonderful and beautifully written article about dealing with trauma, setting intentions and working on renewing oneself. I absolutely enjoyed this posting. She includes a breathing exercise with intent. It is a wonderful practice. In away, it's a start to meditation if you have not taken the time to meditate. Please check our this article. From my other half from @pifc PayItForward give her some support. A comment if you can or a simple upvote.

Thank you so much for sitting with me today.
We're refreshed
Energy anew
Ready to start a new path
With you!

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Beautiful kickoff to the changes and new beginnings for opening the Mindful Life discord channel under @naturalmedicine!
Love how it is directing people to live a more peaceful, happy live and that we can come together to support each other!
Thanks so much for being a part of this initiative and I'm looking forward to meet with you and other like minded people in the Mindful Life channel!

Thank you @porters. I'm glad you liked it. I am looking forward to meeting like minded people and really get this going :)

I’d love to join you. I do some meditation myself, but I need to learn more. 🥰

Wonderful. We are definitely going to look at ways to support each other grow stronger in our practices!!

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See that's the best part. You don't need to learn more 😊 We're going to teach you. We will have a variety of skill levels. We're going to try to arrange a sort of schedule to so there isn't any missing out. Plus, you kind of do meditate already. When you paint, are you in your own space? You mind focused on what you're doing and not on everything else around you?

If anyone has not seen @starjewel's WIP on her multimedia Gaia painting... PLEASE take a look. I absolutely love it and it's almost done.

Thank you for the shoutout, Gaia is done. I got an estimate from a gallery $3500. They will display her in the upcoming exhibit. 💕
https://steemit.com/art/@starjewel/mixed-media-canvas-art-final-result

That is awesome!!! I am so excited for you @starjewel

A post like this reminds me EXACTLY why Natural Medicine reached out for you to do this. I'm so excited you will be one of our community leaders and I know we will go from strength to strength.

Here is the 'introduce yourself' post for anyone reading this - if you're a meditator, please spread the word!

https://steempeak.com/mindfulness/@naturalmedicine/introducing-mindful-life-uniting-meditators-across-steem-all-welcome-plus-steem-bounty


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Discord 🧘About

Thank you so much. I am very happy and excited to be part of the community.

We are NOT alone in our suffering... so true. That's sometimes the hardest lesson. It's a universal human experience. And when we come together and share? That's downright EMPOWERING. Love your post selection... it's a good one!! Xx Exciting times x

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Glad I didn't disappoint 😊 I am excited too.

I wouldn't have asked you otherwise.. knew you had the groove, the vibe, the pizzazz! And the know how.. and passion xxx

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So glad to see you started again. Couldn't have picked a better time.

As you probably know - I know you read my last post - my mind is always working overtime. (I had this awesome conversation with Quill in the comments section of that last post, that enlightened me a lot)

I never thought about things like meditation. No, not true.. I thought about it, but considered I would never be able to stop my mind long enough to be able to do it.

But then, only a week ago, I was sitting in a doctor's waiting room, and for the first time in my life I felt like: maybe I should give it a try. Because, you know, telling yourself you can't do it is just a lame excuse if you've never tried.

And now here you are with your posts again.....
Since coincidence doesn't exist, I decided to try to stay away from the lame excuses I often use to not do the things that might be good for me.

I guess that's a step in the right direction, lol

I definitely was the right time to start this back up. Mediation to a lot of people seems weird. The fact that there are soooooo many different methods, you can fry your brain trying to find what works. You have guidance now 😊 on all levels. Since your brain does like mine does. I think starting with basic breathing. The one in @noraflora's post is actually really good. I have one that is my fall back when the anxiety kicks in, it's more an exercise. I'll DM that one to you so you don't have to wait on it.

Indeed a touching post with some simple yet very effective technique, Thank You 🙏🏼 @tryskele. And Thank You @riverflows & @naturalmedicine for setting up “Mindful Life”. Would love @starjewel @simplymike & others to join “Mindful Life.”
@simplymike - have you ever wondered who is that who says “you can’t do it”? This was exactly a question that occurred to Eckhart Toole, one of the great spiritual teacher of our time & author of best-selling book “The Power of Now”, before his awakening. Mindfully questioning the questioner can create a liberating insight. Let’s grow together in wisdom through meditative practice🧘🏼‍♂️🧘🏼‍♀️

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Thank you @bewithbreath. Oh most definitely would love to have both @starjewel and @simplymike join the channel.

I have heard very good things about that book. It's on my too read list. I have to prioritize it again LOL.

The rules that you practice will be helpful to a lot of people. Part of your first rule "Be nice to yourself" is a great start. It would be hard to be nice to others if we cannot be nice to ourselves.

So very true. Just like you can't expect someone to like you, if you don't like yourself. Thanks for the visit @watersnake101

I didn’t know you were in NM wow! Must’ve happened after I left? Coming by to give you some love.

Just invited actually :D Things just sort of fell into place. I always appreciate your

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