“When we are mindful, deeply in touch with the present moment, our understanding of what is going on deepens, and we begin to be filled with acceptance, joy, peace and love.”
~Thich Nhat Hahn
In this world with so much change, suffering and uncertainty, I am profoundly grateful for my mindfulness practice. Many years ago, I nurtured my meditation practice through Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction taught by my beloved teachers Tom and Julie Chippendale. This eight week course was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn almost forty years ago at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and has been taught all over the world since then.
Mindfulness is defined as simply paying attention on purpose and intentionally cultivating awareness. According to Kabat-Zinn the attitudinal pillars of mindfulness include: non-judging, patience, beginner’s mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance and letting go.
Over the eight weeks we practiced mindfulness in many forms that included yoga, the body scan, eating mindfully, and walking, sitting and guided meditations. We were encouraged to bring mindfulness into our every day lives and remain committed to and supported by the attitudinal foundations. We also participated in a day of mindfulness where we spent the day in silence meditating together in community.
I felt so empowered and enlightened by this experience as I committed to being present for more moments of my day and nurturing myself with mindfulness. When I connected intentionally with myself each day in meditation, I began to recognize how often I judged myself, was impatient, strove to be perfect and wanted things to be different than they were. I also noticed when I would take a step back from what I was experiencing rather than leaning into the discomfort.
I was shocked to find that I was actually afraid that if I connected to the profound grief I often felt because of my daughter’s chronic health challenges, that I would not be able to function. As a result I had insulated myself from the intensity of my feelings to prevent the overwhelm and helplessness I feared. By coping this way, I had not honored how I truly felt, nor had I been able to affirm, acknowledge or support myself as a result.
It was so helpful to be reminded throughout the course that suffering is caused not by what happens in our lives, but by what we say about it. Therefore suffering is optional, even if the pain is not.
Through cultivating more depth in my mindfulness practice, I developed more awareness and greater compassion for myself. I have learned to befriend my mind, body and heart through setting aside time every day for this intentional process.
Mindfulness has been woven into my daily self-nurturing practice and has transformed my life. I feel so grateful for my life and for all I have learned from the challenges I have faced. This process of cultivating a mindfulness practice has been so deeply nurturing that I have come to believe that mindfulness is an essential foundation of self-nurturing.
I encourage you to find ways to nurture yourself with mindfulness:
- Start by pausing and connecting with your breath throughout the day.
- To begin developing more body awareness, check in with your body when you have a strong emotional reaction and identify where you are holding that emotion.
- Choose to eat a meal mindfully and enrich your experience by noticing all you can about your food.
- Take a walk in nature and notice the beauty around you.
- Bring a spirit of curiosity and non-judgement to how you are feeling and what you are thinking.
Through small acts of mindfulness, you will find that you have begun to befriend yourself, developed more self-compassion and expanded your self nurturing practice.
“Mindfulness is a radical act of love, sanity, and kindness… and becomes our north star.” Jon Kabat-Zinn,
May you embrace this radical act of love and nurture yourself with mindfulness so that you can nurture peace in the world from the inside out!
Sending you so much peace, love and gratitude,
Kelley Grimes, M.S.W.
Counselor, Author & Speaker
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The first step in developing a sense of deep presence and awareness is mindfulness. It deepens our relationship with ourselves, others and our world. It’s spiritual practice I teach my clients for reducing anxiety and depression. Thank you Kelley for such beautiful post!
I love how in alignment we so often are Debra! I totally agree that mindfulness deepens our relationship with ourselves and others. I also teach these beautiful mindfulness practices to clients to empower them to live with more peace and joy. Thank you so much for your lovely comment!
Very beautiful and endearing post! Thanks for sharing your journey. Xoxo
Thank you so much Natasha! It is always empowering to look back and notice how much we have learned from our journey. I am deeply grateful for the lessons and for my powerful practice of mindfulness!
For me my daily commune with nature at the beach and in the sea is always a mindfulness time. how wonderful to have had that expereince xxx
I also feel deeply nurtured at the beach Suzie and feel totally present when walking there. I feel so blessed to live on the coast and have the opportunity to connect with nature each day. Thank you so much for sharing your experience!
I like mindfulness practice and have been fortunate to have been exposed to it in a variety of settings. “Noticing” is powerful. Thanks for the reminder.
You are so right Andrea – noticing is powerful and can transform our experience at any moment. Thank you so much for your comment!
That orchid gave me as much joy and inner peace as the rest of the article. I will follow your advice with the rest of the mindful things to do to nurture my soul. 🙂 Pictures will follow on Facebook.
Thank you so much Mihaela! That beautiful orchid sits across from me now and pausing to notice and appreciate its beauty is a powerful opportunity to nurture my mindfulness practice this morning. I so look forward to you sharing your mindful acts of nurturing in pictures on Facebook. I love the idea and will invite people to leave pictures on my Facebook page too! Have a beautiful day!
Thank you for sharing this. I have really connected with the statement “Therefore suffering is optional, even if the pain is not.” This has really helped to be more intimate with myself as spirit, with my mind, and my physical body. I see even more so how a lack of mindfulness contributes to the chaos and lack of balance we can encounter in the day.
So beautifully said Liza – when we are not mindful we can more easily get drawn into the chaos and storyline of the suffering and actually increase it. I love that being more connected to yourself gives you the power of choice. Thank you so much for your comment!
I especially love the end of your blog “find ways to nurture yourself through mindfulness” thank you for sharing reminders for us all
Thank you so much Heather! I believe that being mindful is one of the most nurturing things we can do for ourselves and a gift that keeps giving!
When i wake up I take a few minutes in bed to notice my breathing, scan my body and feel grateful. it brings such a sense of mindfulness to my day.
What a beautiful morning mindfulness practice Rachel! I can only imagine that connecting so intentionally with yourself in the morning positively impacts your entire day. Thank you so much for your comment!
What a lovely post, and what a wonderful account of your journey into mindfulness. There is much here for all of us to learn. Blessings.
Thank you so much Barb! There is so much to learn when we reflect on our own journey and I am grateful you also found it meaningful!
Lovely post, Kelley! Thank you for extending your pearls of wisdom to all of us. Many blessings to you and all you serve.
Thank you so much Cindy! I am deeply grateful! I hope you have a beautiful nurturing day!