Mindfulness isn’t difficult. We just need to remember to do it.
—Sharon saltzberg

I relate to this quote so much. Who else does?

In this busy, fast-moving world, I find it challenging to even consider adding one more thing to my to-do list (anyone relate to this? Probably everyone.).

I have great news: mindfulness doesn’t take additional time.

I used to think that mindfulness needed to be a chunk of time dedicated to sitting still, feeling serene, and forcing the craziness of my life to calm down so that I could “just be.”

Now I know that mindfulness is simply noticing what is happening, as it happens, without trying to change the outcome.

Actual footage of me dying inside because I know where Cinnamon’s mouth has been….anyone else’s puppy like to eat poop? But at least I was mindful of it!

If we can change our expectations of how mindfulness “should” show up in our lives, then we are back to Saltzberg’s quote at the start of this post. How do we remember to be mindful?

I am so glad you asked. When I first started practicing mindfulness consistently, it was after my accident. I couldn’t exercise; I wasn’t working; I was in constant pain/dizziness/nausea from my injuries. I honestly didn’t WANT to be mindful of what was going on! I wanted to numb my fears, emotions, and the reality that I wasn’t in control of my body and brain.

As you may have guessed, that approach didn’t work well.

I started slow with mindfulness. I had a lot of memory issues, so I found reminders to be extremely helpful. Sticky notes, alarms, reminders, and checklists were essential. As I got in the habit of practicing mindfulness, I attached mindful practices to other routines (waking and going to sleep, when I noticed moments of stress, when my pain was unbearable).

My mindful minute prompt is inspired by a practice I used throughout my recovery.

I still do it today, but now I don’t have to make a huge effort to do it. It’s part of my routine now.

I’ve added the simple graph below — feel free to screenshot it.

I’m going to do a chat on mindfulness today on instagram, so feel free to follow me to learn more.

another great reminder to practice mindfulness? receiving a daily meditation from love your brain.

Sunday morning I woke up in a funk, opened my email (which I try not to do right when I wake up), and was greeted with this important message:

open to presence

What a welcome reminder to start my day with a short meditation on presence.

If you haven’t already, you can join the mindful march meditation challenge through the Love Your Brain Foundation.

as always, I am grateful that you stopped by the blog to infuse a little mindfulness into your day. please drop me a comment or a Dm on what you love, what you didn’t love, or any feedback you have for me. see you wednesday!!