Healthy Intentions Community

MINDFULNESS MONDAY

Today we are going to look at wholeheartedly acknowledging our successes as a way to enhance our sense of well-being. We often stop to honor the successes of others, yet pausing to even witness let alone acknowledge our own success is something that many people don’t do.

Acknowledging success is a change to truly embrace who we are and what we have accomplished and an invitation to revel in the experience of it. We can practice acknowledging and feeling into the success we have experienced in the past, those we are currently experiencing as well as those we anticipate will happen in the future.

A suggestion for the week: Today I will walk you through how to honor your past. Whether large or small, our past successes are worth cherishing.

· Call to mind a time that made you feel proud. This could possibly be a s…

MINDFULNESS MONDAY

This week our Mindfulness activity is intended to be performed with your kids. You can apply the same activity to yourself, of course, but today we are shifting the focus to help others.

We are looking at showing kids how to build on the attention and love that you already give to them. This is a self-compassion exercise that takes them on a journey to care for themselves. They practice treating everyday experiences in the moment (like body sensations or feelings) with curiosity and friendliness.

This is a step-by-step script that can be modified to suit your child or the situation. Leave short pauses of a few seconds after each bullet.

· Let’s do an exercise together called ‘Be Your Best Buddy’. The first thing to do is get really comfy. You can sit on the floor with your legs crossed, or in a chair or …

MINDFULNESS MONDAY

It’s the end of January, the holidays are long past and we still have a bit to go until winter turns into spring- the season of rebirth. This week I wanted to share an activity that is intended to increase happiness and a sense of well-being. It is the ‘Three Good Things’ exercise.

We, as human beings, tend to spend more time thinking about negative experiences than positive ones. Whether it is focusing on what went wrong and how to fix it or what to do differently next time- the fact is that this is a source of anxiety, depression and a general lack of well-being.

A suggestion for the week: Lets redirect our thoughts towards positive events to correct this negative bias. This activity is to be performed at bedtime.

· Think of three good things that happened to you today.

· Write them down.

MINDFULNESS MONDAY

This week I am going to share an activity that is centered around your health with ‘Humor Therapy’. Laughter may be the best medicine after all. Laughing is found to lower blood pressure, reduce stress, boost function in the immune system, it triggers the release if endorphins, increases pain tolerance and promotes general well-being.

A suggestion for this week: Ensuring a healthy amount of laughter every day is a great way to increase your quality of life. Simply search out whatever makes you laugh- a joke, a funny anecdote, a comedy movie or sit-com, etc.

However, if you find yourself in a stressful situation where you are unable to see the humor in the situation and you really need the benefit of laughing you can actually ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ with this meditation on humor.

· Stretch generally to loosen up any physical tension that…