— You don’t have to DO anything, just be in the moment.
Sit in a tall position, and ask your kids...When you feel angry or upset what do you do? What would happen if you stopped doing that? Get out of automatic pilot. It can be challenging to be more mindful. But it gets easier with time. It is a like a muscle you want to build, you have to practice. 1. What's your weather like today?1. The weather exercise: We are like the weather. Some days we are sunny, warm with a light breeze. Others we are like a storm brewing… cold, dark, rainy. Describe your internal weather station right now. How about your parents this morning? How about your friends today? Brothers, sisters, teachers? What is the weather going to be like in a week? Tonight? Can you change it? Is one better then the other? Moods change, they blow over. You don’t need to do anything about it. What a relief! You can notice, and you can feel safe in knowing that accepting the weather inside your body is just like accepting it outside. And know that it really never stays the same. *Draw a picture of your weather right now and check in with it later today to see if it changed. | 2. Change your stationWhen you listen to music and you like it how do you feel? What if it is a station that you don’t like? How do you feel? What do you do about it? Sometimes the thoughts in our head need to be changed. They are in our heads, can’t we do anything with them we’d like? If a station in your head is playing the same old song, and you want to change it, you can. Ask yourself the questions: Is this thought really true? Do you know 100% for sure that it is true? Is this thought good for me? Is there a different thought that would make me feel better? *Think about a thought that doesn't make you feel very good. Ask yourself the questions. See if you can create a NEW thought that you would like to listen to instead. Change your station! 3. Breathe Away Your WorriesShift attention from your head and distance yourself from your thoughts when worried. Lower your attention from your head like a raindrop sliding down the window. Lower it more until it reaches your belly. There are no thoughts in the belly. There are no fights, troubles or worries. Just your peace and quiet. Take your breath into the belly and breathe. If you are ever worried, just do two things: 1. Notice the worrying. It’s ok. 2. Move out of the head and the thought intros the belly and breath in and out. *Make a worry box to put the worries in. A shoe box is great! |