Mindfulness. 

"It's being present...being here." says Tracy Morgan.

Tracy's been teaching Mindfulness for many years now and has been practicing it even longer.

She joined us on the Morning Show today and had some great advice, especially if you're stuck in traffic or are anxious while driving on the snow packed, icy streets and highways.

One tip Tracy has is the 'Stoplight Breath'.

"When you're sitting at a stoplight take a nice deep breath in, hold for 5 and then breathe out."

I gotta tell ya, this has definitely worked for me.  Really relaxes me and allows me to stay focused on getting to where I need to go without my brain pinballing with random thoughts.

Great advice on a day like today.

And just a reminder that the Health and Wellness Fair is this Saturday at the Bob Snodgrass Rec-Plex and the Cargill Field House from noon-3:00pm.

Here are 5 Daily Mindful Exercises:

1.Mindful Breathing

This exercise can be done seated on a chair. All you have to do is be still and focus on your breath for just two minutes.

  1. Start by breathing in and out slowly.
  2. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, mentally following your breath as it comes in and out.
  3. Let go of any thoughts. There’s nothing to do and nowhere to go. Simply focus on your breath as it comes in and out.
  4. Then watch with awareness as it works its way up and out of your mouth and its energy dissipates into the world.

If you thought you’d be someone who couldn’t meditate – guess what – you just practiced meditation! If you enjoyed two minutes of this mind-calming exercise, next time try longer.

2.Mindful Reflection

This exercise will help you begin noticing things around you in a different way; old will become new and new will be even better. We typically rush around our lives and rarely take moments to slow down and notice the beauty that surrounds us daily.

  1. Choose an item in nature to focus on; a flower, a bug, an animal, a tree.
  2. Just sit and relax and enjoy watching the nature. If your mind begins to wander, bring it back to focusing on the object as if looking through a child’s eyes, and seeing the object for the first time.

3. Mindful Moments

This exercise is designed to keep yourself in the moment instead of aimlessly going through life.

Think of something you do without thought, for instance driving to a familiar place. From the moment you get into your car, stay very aware of and in tune with what is happening; every movement of your hand, the motion of stepping on the pedals, the places you are looking at.

This exercise helps you stay aware and teaches you to read your thoughts carefully. This enables you to become more focused on the thoughts that are happening inside your head. You are able to then recognize negative thoughts and catch yourself. You are able to stay focused on the task you are trying to complete, rather than drifting off (i.e. like when we put our toothbrush in the fridge because we aren’t paying attention to what we are doing).

4. Mindful Listening

This exercise is designed to open your ears to sound in an isolated way.

For this exercise you need to be outside in a forest or park. Sit down and begin to focus on one thing at a time. Listen to a bird chirping, a brook running, or a child talking. Choose just one, and focus solely on that one sound for 30 seconds, then move onto another sound.

The idea behind this exercise is to listen, to focus intently on sounds so that when you have conversations with people, you become more focused on them, their voice intonations, and their body language.

5.  Mindful Appreciation

In this last exercise, all you have to do is write down 5 things that you are grateful for at the end of your day. It doesn’t matter whether you list small things like seeing the sunrise in the morning, or a friend bringing you a cup of coffee, or larger things. These things can be objects or people – it’s up to you.

The point of this exercise is to simply give thanks and appreciation for even the insignificant things in our lives, things that maybe you might have forgotten about by the end of the day. When we do this exercise we realize that we shouldn’t be grateful just for the larger blessings, but also the small things in life, too. It will give you a more positive outlook on your life and you will start to see more positivity coming to you.

Why Mindful Exercises?

The development of “being in the moment” awareness of everything around us is a practice that helps us better deal with the difficult thoughts and feelings that cause us stress, anxiety and unhappiness in everyday life.

With regular practice of mindfulness exercises, the development of “being in the moment” awareness of everything around us is a practice that helps us better deal with the difficult thoughts and feelings that cause us stress, anxiety and unhappiness in everyday life. Regular practice of mindfulness exercises (rather than being on auto-pilot) allows us to be calmer and make rational life decisions. It enables us to be fully present with our loved ones, which cultivates better relationships, and our positive emotions increase compassion and understanding of ourselves and others.

Tracy Morgan joins us the 3rd Thusday of the month and if you have any questions or topics you'd like to bring up with her in advance just email me and we'll make sure she gets them....kwallace@goldenwestradio.com

- Kevin