Mindful Monday - November 30th
Good morning and welcome to your regular Mindful Monday check-in.
With lockdown 2.0 set to ease shortly, the opportunity to meet and greet with friends and family is more likely for many of us. And while this may be really exciting and important, it can however present numerous challenges given the many highly-charged opinions and feelings floating around right now. The mindful team from the New York Times have put together this little piece to help us navigate potential emotional pitfalls during the festive season.
My tips:
Have a goal in mind.
How do you want to feel after the social occasion?
What can you do to help achieve this?
Is it likely you'll change the mind of someone with an alternative view? (Probably not.)
So the question is: how can you gracefully handle the conversation and enjoy the occasion?
Do not have another drink if you’re teetering on the edge of battle.
Set healthy boundaries and remove yourself from a conversation if you need a breather.
Breathing = Inspiration
This may seem a bit weird but to breathe is to be inspired, literally. Breathing is something we're able to take for granted (for the most part anyway), yet it's the cornerstone of most mindfulness practices, religions, sport and even music. The BBC's The Listening Service podcast explores the nature of Music and breathing in this interesting and thoughtful podcast episode.
Try this:
Sit up tall.
Breathe all the way out... out... out...
Don't slump forward.
When you feel your lungs are completely empty, relax and open your mouth and let the air naturally fill your lungs from the bottom. There's no need to suck in or to raise your shoulders.
Now you're breathing like an opera singer – bravo!
Cold water
Wild swimming is becoming de rigueur up here in Scotland with many people about to embark on the December challenge of swimming in the ocean every day for the month. But why has it taken off so wildly, especially with the older (and wiser) generations?
Well, perhaps it's down to the power of cold water finding favour in the field of mental health and dementia. Read more here or just go find an ocean, lake, tarn, pond, river, stream – safely.
Vitamin D
Colder, shorter and darker days = less time in the sun. This means it's not a bad time to consider adding vitamin D to your health programme (you have a health programme, right?)
The lovely folk over at Form Nutrition have put together this little article to explain the differences between the different Vitamin Ds – yep, there’s more than one – and why it's a good idea to take one even if you live in a warm, sunny climate. Warm and sunny... One day... (By the way, I take this one from The Naked Pharmacy.)
Tiny thought
“Imagine what you could accomplish if you weren't focused on being busy all the time.”
And breathe... Thanks, FS.
Have a great week, enjoy a breather, be kind and be sensible.
Big love,
Luke X