I enjoyed this speaker and the different take on slowing our anxious thoughts down. I’m glad I found it later at night, when I don’t have time to fall into a twelve-hour Ted Talk rabbit hole like I usually do when I come across one of these videos. Thanks for posting!

I’m so glad you tried it! Now you can take that skill with you on all your walks going forward.

It can be whatever you need it to be if it is soothing to you. If you let those worries come and acknowledge them instead of trying to hold them back, you care for yourself in the way you need to be cared for. Just keep breathing in an even way and examine the worry. Is it something that needs to be taken care of or no? Make note of it as a “for later me” thing and return to focusing on your breath and the task.

Thank you! I have been trying for years to stay on the path to mindfulness, but only recently has it really clicked that even when life is difficult or busy, it’s not a chore-it’s a relief to go back to my practice.

I was surprised at how many replies I’ve gotten. I am probably subscribed to both communities already. I should ]probably post there once in a while, too.

I’m sure it’s different for everyone. For me, it’s about recognizing that every day is a gift and I should do what I can to acknowledge the beauty that is around me. My body, my home that shelters me, my family and friends, my city and surrounding state… it’s all beautiful and all I have to do is take a few moments throughout each day to take it in while focusing on my breath.

I meditate while walking or cooking most days. I have a system for walking, where I know how many breaths I normally take while walking and breathing at a slow but steady pace. I start on the left foot and breath in, then switch to exhaling always on the right foot at the right amount of steps. It takes some practice but the whole point of it is to get some exercise and take in the scenery while breathing and focusing on your breath in the background of your mind. I live in a cold area, so when I first learned this I even used it as a method to walk around the house and pick things up that need to be put away since I oculdn['t get outside much.

When I’m cooking I enjoy the process and do it like the article I posted, letting my mind wander if it needs to for a few minutes and then bringing it back to my body and breath for a few seconds, and focusing on the food again. Cooking is something I love to do, so it’s easy to meditate while focusing on the aromas and the colors and just in the background of my brain making sure my breathing is even.

Personally, if I’m doing something that I find monotonous, I just focus on my breath and my body. You don’t have to find joy in the one thing you’re doing to meditate while doing it. You can shift the joy to just your breath and your body being a gift to you because you woke up today.

If I feel the need, I also allow my mind to do whatever it feels the need to for a little bit, which is usually planning for something that makes me anxious or thinking about something that happened earlier, then bring my thoughts back to just my breath and my body for a few seconds, and refocus on the thoughts that crept in. It’s okay to allow whatever thoughts want to creep up in, and then accept and acknowledge what you want to think about and why.

You can continue doing the dishes and meditate while allowing your mind to focus on the thoughts that wanted to creep in. You don’t have to block it all out. Just acknowledge it and make it part of the experience. Once you’ve acknowledged the other thoughts, you may find you can mix the two together–I’m anxious about this thing coming up, but I also appreciate the warm water running over my hands right now.

Unfortunately, this post as it is currently formatted breaks rules 1 and 2 in our sidebar so I will have to remove it. This type of post is more appropriate in a community like Today I Learned, which is not focused on tips and tricks to make your life easier.

Thanks! It’s no problem.

Hi there! Thanks for posting. Will you please format your post so the title begins with YSK? It’s rule 1. Have a great night!

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Sometimes you have to change your post sorting option once you click through to the community to see all the posts. I have mine set to “Top Twelve Hours” as the default because I like that for my front page, but once I get into the community I often have to change it to “New” and then I’ll see a lot more posts.

Looks great!!

I’ve been trying to make one for Rare Genetic Disease Support for a few days but it doesn’t seem to work. I’ve followed all the troubleshooting tips I’ve found and I’m pretty sure I’m doing it right but it just spins endlessly. I’ve tried searching for it and it doesn’t seem like it worked yet.