Mindful Thursdays Practice
June 11, 2020:
The Mindful Education Workbook: Social Literacy
Questioning Assumption
"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." -Anais Nin
Our practice consisted of helping us open our world-view, understanding other perspectives and develop empathy by questioning our unconscious biases.
We started with learning and playing with assumptions we have about cash, broccoli, thai pepper, toothpaste, iphone and strawberry yogurt. We then worked towards listing 3 assumptions we have about our sibling and indicated an observation for each assumption. This idea of moving from assumption to observation can begin to diffuse conflict and limit judgment.
Take Away: The exercise demonstrated we carry assumptions and certain assumptions can create much conflict.
At Home: Notice unconscious assumptions that may arise with family members, food and as other opportunities present themselves.
How to Train a Wild Elephant:
8 - Gratitude at the End of the Day
At the end of the day, write a list of 5 things that happened during the day that you are grateful for. Some friends shared their entries. At times it was easy to come up with a list of 5 and at times challenging, though most could come up with at least one on a daily basis.
Take Away: "This exercise helps us bring to light the many positive and supportive occurrences of the day. It turns the mind-stream in a positive direction." With consistent practice we are able to see the upside of days events. pg. 48
Daily Mindfulness Practice:
7- Mindfulness of Posture
We reflected on the difficulty of maintaining upright posture during the week and how the reminders were helpful.
Take away: We can shift our mind and mood slump by adjusting our posture.
June 18, 2020:
The Mindful Education Workbook: Social Literacy
Mindful Engagement
"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." -Mahatma Gandhi
We explored the idea of a Mindfulness Service Project. A project that serves to benefit one's own wellness and that of our community. Some ideas were to be nicer to siblings, teaching mindfulness to parents or other adults around them, or any other simple commitment to make a positive impact.
Daily Mindfulness Practice:
9- Mindfulness of Sound
The challenge is to hear all the sounds as music being played just for you. Open our hearing 360 degrees and several times a day, stop and just listen.
Take away: Paying attention to all the sounds around us is another way to invite a mindful moment to shift the internal thought train or the stormy weather pattern.
June 25, 2020:
The Mindful Education Workbook: Global Literacy
Mindful Spaces
"You cannot step in the same river twice." -Heraclitus
We explored some question around mindfulness and when to use it. We realized being mindful and its invitation is during our ordinary everyday experiences. As we notice our internal weather pattern is in a state that needs shifting, we can invite our mind to relax through music or a change in space. If we are inside, we can move outside; or change the lighting inside to shift the mood.
We talked about practicing mindfulness is same as practicing an instrument or sport; the application of the practice is available anytime the opportunity presents itself.
Week Exercise:
Experience some meals this week in a slow pace appreciating full experience of your sensations, including noticing any judgments our mind may have towards or away from certain foods.
Week Exercise:
Notice the change in your internal weather pattern, pause, and choose a mindful shift by changing space or listening to surrounding sounds. Journal about the experience.
June 25, 2020:
The Mindful Education Workbook: Global Literacy
Mindful Eating
"To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heavens in the wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour." - William Blake
We explored full sensory experience around mindful eating. Experiencing the sense of touch, smell, sight, hearing and lastly taste. Recognizing all that has contributed to the food that we take in, we appreciated the soil, wind, rain sunshine, farmers, distributors and vehicles that are involved in nourishing our bodies.
July 29, 2020:
The Mindful Education Workbook: Integrative Practices
Awareness
Last week we covered the first of the Integrative Practices pulling together the mindful literacies, which involved focusing singularly and then collectively on the following components:
Sensations
Thoughts
Emotions
Relationships
Outer World
The idea is to exercise the muscle of awareness of these elements individually and then experience them all at once as if sitting in a surround sound movie theater. I was surprised to see the same elements show up the next day in Dan Siegel's book I'm currently reading on Adolescent Brain Science, "Brainstorm." He refers to this exercise as "Tuning-In" to our bodies with the inner and outer world.