Re: Winter 2016 | Page 59

Have yourself a very mindful Christmas

that they are just thoughts . So if your mind is shouting that you simply must have the latest Heston Blumenthal Chrissy pud , you know that that ’ s just a thought and another pudding will do just as well . You don ’ t have to be a slave to your thoughts ! By practicing mindfulness you get some perspective on thoughts and emotions , and a lot of freedom to boot .
So how can you bring this calmness and perspective into a hectic Christmas ? You might be thinking , ‘ I can ’ t go off and meditate with my in-laws here , three kids and food to prepare !’ – but you can bring mindfulness to what you are doing – if you are chopping vegetables , can you really notice what the vegetables look like , feel like , smell like , sound like as you cut them – the whole sensory experience ? Stay there with your attention , and there is less space in the mind for invasive thoughts . Stir the sauce , keeping your mind on the sauce – how it looks , smells , feels , again not giving space for thoughts to set up home in your mind . It can also help to feel your feet on the ground as you sit or stand – simple but effective . If you can ’ t feel them , wiggle your toes until you can . When you ’ re talking to someone , see if you can really listen to what they ’ re saying rather than thinking about something else . They ’ ll appreciate being listened to , for sure .
Picture the scene – it ’ s Christmas Eve , and although you have been looking forward to Christmas , having some time off work and spending time with your family , chilling out and having some fun ; in reality you are completely stressed out with all the things you need to get done in time and worried about it all going horribly wrong . Sound familiar ?
You ’ ve probably heard about mindfulness , you may even have tried it yourself and found it helped reduce stress – but how can it help in the midst of a zillion things to do ? Don ’ t you need lots of time to do mindfulness ? And don ’ t you need to have a totally clear mind ? Hard to comprehend when yours is all over the place .
The good news is that you don ’ t need lots of time ( though the more time you give it , the more it will give you ) and you don ’ t need to have a clear mind either – all of us have thoughts in our minds ; it ’ s whether we allow them to control us , that ’ s the heart of the issue .
There are several ways that you can find some peace in this busy time using mindfulness .
The first is to regularly take some time out to do some meditation – even just a simple practice of following the breath – and then most likely you will find that when things do get hectic , you are calmer in the middle of it rather than feeling pulled in all directions . In other words , it gives you an ability to cope with difficult situations with less stress than before . You can ’ t magic this out of a hat , like exercise or any skill , it needs practice . Even ten minutes a day can help , though twenty or thirty minutes a day ( if you can ) will bring you more benefits . Many people benefit from coming to a group or doing a course .
When you practice regularly , you will find that the number of thoughts in your mind reduces , and they feel less important , which allows for some clarity
Of course thoughts will keep coming in all the time , you can always direct your attention back to what you ’ re actually doing , rather than worrying what might happen , or dwelling on what has happened in the past . Not to say that you shouldn ’ t plan – we all need to do that – but that ’ s a very different thing to worrying . We can plan , and then return the mind to the reality of each moment . That practice of bringing the mind back is one that we all do again , and again , and again in mindfulness .
If you can , find some time to meditate – it may seem that you have no time at all , but if you look carefully there are often short gaps in the day where you can take yourself away and practice . After a few drinks is not a good time , so try to make it before that , if you know you ’ ll be drinking – perhaps get up a little earlier , fit it into the morning . You won ’ t regret time spent practicing as it reduces time spent worrying and makes the pleasant things in life better because you ’ re really there to experience them . When it ’ s such an important time , why would you not want to be fully there ?
By Jiva Masheder mindfulnessbrighton . co . uk
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