I wish it were not so…there is just no easy way to begin practicing Mindfulness. When our triggers have been activated, the emotional thought cycle in our bodies spins up and literally takes over our better judgment. Taking on an intention to practice Mindfulness will not be easy, at first. However, if can get over the hump of how difficult it is at the beginning, the improvements to your life will be unimaginable.
The best way to begin a Mindfulness practice is to identify your “triggers.” These are events and situations that you know will get you angry or make you sad. Starting with our anger triggers are usually the best ones to start with because those feelings are so forceful.
Sit down at your kitchen table or your kitchen island or your desk and make sure that it will be quiet for about 10 minutes. Write down situations over the last month or so that triggered your anger or triggered any other strong emotion (fear, sadness, disgust, hate). It would be helpful to identify encounters that resulted in a less than optimal outcome.
This simple exercise is probably going to feel (very!) uncomfortable. Fair warning: when we first start to be honest with ourselves, it will feel uncomfortable. Those feelings fade, though. Wouldn’t it be nice to address our challenges head on with honesty and commitment, feel slightly uncomfortable, and then press on and make improvements? And that’s all for now!
Tune in next week for Part II of Mindfulness Practice. We are going to take this slowly…
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