Mindfulness is awareness of the present experience with acceptance. Just as an exercise routine is designed to improve your body, a mindfulness practice improves your mind. As it develops, a habit of mindfulness yields a myriad of downstream benefits that extend well beyond the period of focused practice.
Category: Blog Posts
Racial Microaggressions
Microaggressions are an insidious form of racism (or any -ism) because they are frequently unconscious and often perpetuated by people who think of themselves as progressive and inclusive. The lesson we all need to internalize is that racism is systemic and ever-present, and one doesn’t need to be actively or aggressively racist to cause lasting damage.
When will it be OK?
When will it be OK again? What will OK feel like? What am I putting off while I wait for OK? Is the limbo of not knowing the worst part? Or is it worse to think I must commit to the way things are right now? How would I change the way I am living if I could foresee an endpoint? What if that endpoint was two years out? How is limbo affecting my mental health?
Navigating Negative Emotions
Negative emotions are just as common if not more common than positive emotions. Despite this fact, they are often deemed socially unacceptable. This means we spend a considerable amount of energy internalizing negative emotions or masking them. Before we can express our negative emotions authentically, we often need to relearn how to recognize and differentiate between separate emotional states.
Salvaging Self-Care
We discuss self-care as if it had a straight-forward definition. Yet we each have a very different idea of what constitutes self-care and how much of it we are allowed. Without considering the internal rules our self-care strategies conform to, we limit our ability to optimize our response in the face of novel stressors (i.e. COVID-19).
Revising your Routines
Routines, habits, and rituals offer us mental space and security. They also have a significant impact on our mood and energy levels. Current events mean most, if not all, of our routines have been altered or lost entirely. As a result we are spending tremendous amounts of energy simply accomplishing the daily tasks of living and working. To conserve energy and refocus our ability to care for ourselves and others, attention should be given to reconstructing needed routines and reevaluating existing routines.