You Are AMAZING!

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amazing!BK
“I questioned what I believed about you… and you transformed immediately. You are AMAZING!”

Remember when you were a child and every place and everything seemed magical? You could spend hours playing with toys and creating stories about their lives. In the wonderful world of our imaginations with no rules to define things, every place we went was somehow new to us. We’d live in wonder and awe of everything. Things like flowers, rocks, or coins absolutely enthralled us. And feelings just flowed. We’d fall, cry, get up and move on. We laugh and move on. There’s no dwelling, dwelling, dwelling.

And people were so fascinating! We were curious little beings – without a story of what things or people “mean”.To a child, life is completely uncomplicated. Their entire being is simply about the moment. They don’t hang on to conversations or worry about what so-and-so meant by that.

Then we became used to everything. We started to take people, places and things for granted and they appeared to lose their magic.

But what if?

As adults, we spend a great deal of time letting our brains determine our supposed “reality”. We project meaning on everything based on prior conclusions. But what if those prior conclusions aren’t true? Our brain is hastily moving along, “this is that… that is this…”. And it’s not personal – it’s what the brain is designed to do.

But have you asked? Is it true?

Here’s the thing – all we can know is what’s inside our heads. So everything – absolutely everything that we conclude is a projection. Some of those conclusions work just fine for us and others cause a great deal of unnecessary heartache.

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Lets say you meet a friend for lunch, and s/he is so loud, everyone is looking. S/he cries and blows her nose at the table.

“S/he makes me uncomfortable.”   Really? How can another person’s actions make you uncomfortable? Well, because people aren’t supposed to 1) be loud, 2) blow their nose at the table, 3) or cry in public. And now I’M uncomfortable because people aren’t supposed to 4) be with someone who does those things!  :)

Now imagine a 4-year-old at the table with the friend. I imagine the 4-year-old is curious, listening with every fiber of their little being, maybe even wanting to comfort the person who is clearly hurt.

Without my story, it makes sense that someone may be loud when they are so upset, and since crying makes your sinuses run, it may be a good idea to clear them out! This person before me transformed into someone AMAZING!

If we start to look at the world from new eyes, just like the eyes of a child we will find that the world really never lost its magic. It’s fascinating, unpredictable, and interesting! Without my story of “…same…same ol’…more of the same...”, I can become fascinated again!

 

A Mindful Minute: 3 Fun Mindfulness Exercises

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Take Your Child from “What If” to “What Is”

Inspired by questions from my last article How Mindful Children React Different to Challenges, I’m putting out a new weekly post with FUN mindfulness exercises for the family. After all, who said mindfulness had to be a drag?!

Remember, mindfulness takes training. The goal is to train your mind to observe your thoughts and feelings without judgement or criticism. In this, you can cut out habitual, negative thought patterns and prevent downward spirals of negativity. You further carve a path to access expansive inner resources of peace, contentment, meaning, and well-being.

If you want to go deeper with your learning, there are many good on and offline materials available. In fact, one of the best books I’ve read on the subject is Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World.

This post (and the ones to follow) will primarily deliver fun and simple exercises you can practice with the family. One goal of these exercises is to train the mind to purposefully focus attention on a present experience. Try them in the morning, before bed, or at my favorite place/time: the dinner table right before you eat.

1. Breathe like a bee.

Mindfulness GoZen Exercise

Mindfulness Exercise Bee Breathing GoZen2. Create magnetic hands.

mindfulness_37_phil_hands_061714

GoZen Mindfulness Cards Exercise3. Dissolve a thought.

Mindfulness to help anxious thoughts - GoZen

You are not your thoughts GoZen Mindfulness exercise

This mindful breathing technique is simple, yet powerful. The best part is it can be done anywhere and requires no equipment whatsoever. Breathing exercises can help shift the nervous system away from fight-or-flight mode (causing racing hearts, sweaty palms, shallow breathing etc.) into rest-and-digest mode (where the body heals and regenerates by performing tasks such as digestion, detoxification, elimination, and bolstering immunity.)

This breathing exercise is a wonderful way to calm anxious states of mind and body. Remember, any exercise should be done to one’s own comfort level.

To try it, watch the video above or follow these instructions:

4-7-8 Breathing

1. Sit upright on the ground or in a chair.
2. Take a deep breath in through your nose to the count of 4.
3. Hold your breath to the count of 7.
4. Exhale through your mouth to the count of 8.

For more animated mindfulness and anxiety relief exercises for kids, visit us atwww.gozen.com

Want the cards for your house or school? Get a pack of GoZen! mindful minute cards here.

Article Link: A Mindful Minute: 3 Fun Mindfulness Exercises For Kids (Illustrated) | Stress Better.