A Short Mindfulness Moment

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Being Mindful By Engaging Your Senses

being in the moment

Please read the following script through until you feel familiar with it, then follow the instructions on your own.

Start this exercise by finding a comfortable position sitting or lying down. Take a few deep breaths—relax.

Now bring your awareness to your fingers. Rub them together and notice their texture, temperature, and the sensations as they move. Can you feel the indentations of your fingerprints? Take your time noticing all of this.

Now rest your fingers where they were before. What are they touching? What does that feel like? Is it soft? hard? What are its features and textures? Really notice what you feel.

Now bring attention to your hands and arms. What do they feel like? Relaxed? Heavy? Tense? Painful? Try to observe these sensations, including uncomfortable ones, without judgment.

Notice your toes now. Wiggle them and feel whatever is around and under them. How does it feel? Can you tell what it is just by feeling?

Next, notice how your head is positioned. Is it upright? drooping? Is your neck turned in a particular direction? Simply notice this without trying to change it. Also note the sensations in your head and neck, including temperature, pain, and relaxation. Take your time noticing.

What about your face? Is your brow smooth or wrinkled up? How does it feel? …  Now notice your nose. Can you breathe freely? As you breathe, notice the sensations in your nose and lungs— expansion, tickling, warmth, or coolness. Then notice how your mouth is positioned.  Is it pursed? Open? Closed? Is the inside of your mouth wet or dry? Just notice. Also, notice how your skin feels. Is it dry? Itchy, tingling, hot or cool? Is there no sensation?

Now notice your chest and belly. Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly. Can you feel your body breathing? What is that like? Are you breathing fast or slow? Is your breath going more into your belly or your chest? Just notice all these sensations.

Next expand your attention to include your whole body. Where are you sitting or lying? Can you feel the back side of your body touching the chair or bed in places? Without moving, just observe your body’s position… Notice that you are being supported completely in this moment.

When you are ready, look around the room and notice your surroundings, without judgment. When you are ready, stop this exercise and continue with your day.

Ahh!

Self Criticism? How to Overcome Your Inner “I’m Not Good Enough” Voice

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Worth Reading – from off the Web!

Instead of going down the beaten path of self-blame and self-punishment for not being “good enough”, we can rewire our brains to think and behave differently.

We live in a world where the theme of unworthiness shows up in all areas in life. As kids, we proudly show off our high marks and perfect behaviors knowing they will earn us praises and approval from adults, and as adults, we constantly judge and punish ourselves for our lack of wealth, success, relationships and others’ good opinions of us. In my healing and coaching practice, the most common story that is told over and over is the one of “I’m not good enough.”

That was the story of my life as well, for over 3 decades. Having grown up in an Asian culture in the 80’s where being an overachiever was encouraged, the accepted, even celebrated method to motivate children was to subject them to harsh criticism and belittling (ie. “who do you think you are”, “you are nothing until you prove your worth so you can be something”, etc.) As a result, I not only internalized the disempowering belief that “I am not good enough” but I also made sure it dominated and manifested in every area of my life — without fail.

As powerful as this or any belief can be, it is only a belief, and we can choose to liberate ourselves from it – simply because it isn’t who we are. If you are constantly battling with a similar story, I invite you to read and practice the following steps to take your power back from that self-limiting belief.

Signs, Signs Everywhere

The first sign is always what we call a negative feeling. Our feelings are intelligent communications from our bodies to indicate to us whether a belief is in or out of alignment with who we are. How we feel at any moment is filtered by our thoughts and our thoughts derive from our existing beliefs. When our beliefs are no longer serving us, our feelings – being the language of the soul in a very literal fashion will give us a little (or large) kick to raise an alert. When I am in a coaching session, whenever a story comes up that is out of alignment, I always ask my clients how it makes them feel. The answer is always along the line of “it makes me feel crappy.”

The signs can range from physical ailments such as lack of energy or tension in various parts of the body to mental and emotional symptoms such as procrastination, depression and anxiety; or they can be a combination of conditions from all levels including feeling a tight knot of anxiety in the stomach that is often accompanied by digestive issues.

Our beliefs also have clever ways to disguise themselves as positive as well as socially approved motivations and behaviors.

Perfectionism is one of them. For the longest time I unconsciously chose to tell the story of “I am a perfectionist” which allowed me to get away from the harsh voice of “I am not good enough.” Yet time and time again when I ruthlessly put myself down for every little perceived failure, I finally realized my perfectionism was only a sugar coated version of “I suck.”

Another common disguise is altruism, or people pleasing behavior. We convince ourselves it is noble of us to place others’ needs before ours as well as compromise our own happiness because it earns us praises such as compassionate, kind and selfless.

Some of us have the tendency to give ourselves up or lose ourselves completely in relationships. Our society has a very powerful reinforcement system when it comes to encouraging selfless behavior without addressing the fundamental notion that our first relationship is always the relationship with ourselves. Without loving, cherishing and respecting ourselves, there is no relationship with others. When we do not know how to value ourselves and make the highest choices for ourselves, how can we honor others as loving, deserving and worthy?

There is certainly nothing wrong with giving our best in circumstances and relationships. However, it is helpful to always do a little honest self-inquiry and ask ourselves how each decision makes us feel. And if it does not feel uplifting, what belief is underneath that decision?

When we practice consciously acknowledging our old patterns every by listening to what our bodies are trying to tell us, we are stepping out of the unconscious and reactive way of living so we can compose a response that allows us to freely create based on who we want to be rather than recreate past scenarios of who we were told to be.

Instead of going down that old beaten path that leads to nothing but a stinking swamp, aka the self-blame and self-punishment for not being worthy, we can choose again and create a new path. The more we can catch ourselves on auto pilot, the more we can rewire our brains to think and behave differently.

Decisions, Decisions

Read more here: Self Criticism? How to Overcome Your Inner “I’m Not Good Enough” Voice