Mindfulness – Page 2 – Mindful Frontiers LLC

How Anyone Can Build Habits For Optimal Wellness, Performance, & Focus

Published in Authority Magazine by Parveen Panwar Nov 17

Image for post — Creative director and teacher, Anne-Marie Emanuelli, brings over two decades of meditation experience to welcome a mindful future. Mindful Frontiers is an educational center located in Taos, NM, USA that offers mindful meditation guidance and instruction to families with children; as well as parents, adults and teachers who are seeking self-care options during this time of pandemic restrictions and new world paradigm.

Emotional well-being: without daily exercise and meditation my emotional well-being would not be as strong as it is now. Meditation is a practice that helps me accept and respond to emotional triggers. Dealing with PTSD, my emotional well-being is crucial to keeping my mental health in check. Mindful meditation is a daily discipline that brings emotional balance to my life.

Mental wellness and Spiritual connection: The practice that blends these two together in my life is mindful meditation. With over 20 years of meditation experience, the practice really took hold in 2016 when the school from which I recently retired experienced three student suicides in the span of about a year; two were just before the start of school. Needless to say, it was a very shaky start that year. Meditation came back to mind, as a way to deal with grief and it seemed my students might need this calming practice as well. For a number of years after this experience, mindful meditation became a cornerstone of my teaching practice. Students of many ages and backgrounds have shared mindful meditation together and have expressed the benefits they felt from a moment of calm body and peaceful mind.

Self-care: Daily meditation practice and physical exercise routines are the main ways I focus on self-care. Self-compassion and non-judgment are skills a person learns from mindful meditation practice. There are many types of meditation techniques and all have a self-care component that encourages being kind to oneself and finding joy or contentment in life. Bringing awareness to the body in the present moment through meditation anchors such as breath and sound or sensations allow me to take care of my emotional needs while physical exercise allows me to engage in movement, which is a vital daily need. When the weather or time of day does not permit outdoor exercise safely, yoga supplements my daily need for physical exercise.

Physical exercise/sport: I have been exercising daily or several times a week for over 45 years. Over this time I have participated in competitive sports in college as well as triathlons and road races as an individual. At almost 60 years of age, my daily exercise session is still a mainstay. Walking, easy jogging, mountain biking, yoga and swimming are the types of exercise that I participate in. Without physical exercise, I can get pretty grumpy. For example, when I exercise outdoors, it is an active reflection time to work out personal and work-related issues as well as tuning in to my body and mind. I often literally talk to myself while exercising outdoors. There have been many imaginary conversations between others and myself in my life, be it a family member or work colleague. Luckily, I live in the country and don’t encounter many other humans on my walks and jogs! Usually, by the time I get back home, issues have been worked out and of course I feel much better.

Read the full article at Authority Magazine

Being Grateful Is A Much Deeper Emotion

When comparing concepts it is helpful to have definitions in order to start from a common foundation of understanding.

In the Oxford Online Dictionary, Gratitude is defined as the “readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.” Thankful is defined as “pleased and relieved.”

One can right away see a difference emerging between these terms that can aid in making comparisons.

Being grateful is showing appreciation with kindness, whereas being thankful is simply to be pleased and relieved.

Interesting, isn’t it, that to be thankful has a side effect of being “relieved”? Relieved from what one might ask? Thanking seems to be something we do to be because of a sense of obligation.

Remember “the magic word” that we were reminded of growing up? It’s expected that we give thanks for something that has been given to us or an action that someone does for us. Once we say, “thank you”, we’re off the hook, so to speak.

Gratitude seems a deeper response as it contains kindness and appreciation for what we’ve been offered without prior expectation.

“Gratitude is an emotion expressing an appreciation for what one has as opposed to what one wants”, according to Psychology Today.

Furthermore, Harvard Medical School offers that gratitude is a “thankful appreciation for what one receives – tangible or intangible – as they acknowledge the goodness in their lives…”

Apparently being grateful is a much deeper emotion or response to receiving something than being thankful because there is an inherent kindness needed in gratitude.

The response comes from the heart and from being mindful of what was generously offered so the feeling lasts longer.

So, it seems that we get more personal benefit from being grateful and it would be something one would like to cultivate.

Mindful meditation is a practice that helps us be more aware of thoughts, sensations and even to feel gratitude for all that we have in our lives, at least in the present moment, anyway.

The more one integrates gratitude, the more comfortable it will become. With practice one may well notice a change in oneself by feeling grateful as it fills the heart with kindness.

Grateful vs Thankful – What’s The Difference? (8 Experts Explain)

Published in Human Window By Martin Caparrotta
Updated on 30 October 2020

Mindful Communications

Notes from the online course through MindfulSchools.org in Aug-Sept 2018.

The process takes its inspiration from Non Violent Communication techniques introduced by Marshall Rosenberg. The teacher of this course, Oren Jay Sofer, has written the book “Say What You Mean” which goes into more details with the precepts of mindful communication.

First step: lead with presence. Observe self, others, situation.

Second step: come from curiosity and care. Share feelings.

Third step: focus on what matters. What are the needs.

First Foundation: Presence: Effective communication requires presence. Stay aware of your presence in the conversation; maintain focus; honesty with self about what’s happening. The more aware we are, the more choice we have. Accept the unknown of what is going to happen and new possibilities of the dialogue.

Second Foundation: Intention: Intention determines direction. Intentions shape experience; Be aware of habitual conflict styles in order to transform underlying beliefs. Avoid thoughts of blame and criticism. Everything we do, we do to meet a need. People are more likely to listen when they feel heard. Reflect before responding.

Third Foundation: Attention: Attention shapes experience. Differentiate between “strategies” and “needs” to have more choice and clarity. The more we understand one another, the easier it is to find mutually beneficial solutions. Establish mutual understanding before problem-solving. Awareness of emotions supports ability to choose how we participate in conversation. Take responsibility of our feelings, connecting them to our needs makes it easier to be heard. Hear others’ feelings as a reflection of their needs which helps us understand the other person without blame, the need to agree or feeling responsible for their emotions. Having empathy for ourselves makes it easier to listen to others. Stating clearly what happened without judgment or evaluation aids in being heard. Observations rather than judgement or evaluation. Check in with other for understanding; use fewer words and more sincerity; speak in short chunks makes understanding easier. Be clear about what is wanted and why to get more creative about solution. Awareness of our reactivity to help make wiser choices of what to say. When in conflict, listen more closely to the other person first; increases chance of their willingness to listen to us.