Mindful March: Day 13 to 15

Day 13

Breathing space meditation
This meditation invites you to check-in to what’s going on for you. You are invited to notice any bodily sensations, how you feel emotionally and notice what sorts of thoughts are around. You then are invited to focus on your breath to see if you can keep the attention on the movement of breath through the body.

Here is the guided audio. It takes about five minutes or you could follow this video if you prefer.

Reflection
What did you notice during the breathing space?
● How do you feel now compared to before?
● Are there times of the day when you think the breathing space might be useful?

Day 14

Don’t do anything at all!
Sometimes we go through the whole day without really even stopping once! Here’s an opportunity to just do nothing at all! No focus, no need to be extra mindful. Just notice what it’s like to stop!

Do nothing for two minutes!
Relax and listen to the waves.

Day 15

Taking in the good
Human beings are really good at noticing negative things. We have evolved to have negative bias – which means we pay more attention to, and find it easier to remember, negative events. There are ways to balance this out though, and today’s activity is inviting you to spend a bit longer with a pleasant feeling in order to help the mind store it as a memory.

How to do it
Next time something pleasant happens today, spend a few extra moments drinking in that experience. Notice what you can hear, see, smell and feel. Notice what you can feel in your physical body. Spend a few extra moments enjoying and absorbing the experience. It doesn’t have to be a major life event – there hopefully will be plenty of minor pleasurable things happen during your every day that usually you don’t even notice or you brush away as unimportant. Paying attention to these small positive moments can help rebalance the mind’s negativity bias. These micro-moments can start to add up and increase our overall sense of wellbeing.

If you’d like some guidance the first time you do this, try this short (5 minute) guided audio practice or this shorter video.

Reflection
● What difference did it make to spend extra time being mindful to the experience?

Find out more about Mindful March.