Mindfulness –

Mindfulness is a strategy for overall health that can have many benefits for both children and adults. Children and adults can find themselves on automatic pilot, lacking awareness.  A child may walk to school or to the bus stop without awareness, just as an adult may drive to work and experience a lack of remembering their commute.  Eating is another activity we can all do mindlessly.  Have you gotten to the bottom of a bag or box of something and not remembered eating the whole thing?  Have you found yourself thinking primarily about things in the past, with feelings of guilt or second guessing yourself?  Have you found yourself primarily thinking about the future and having anxiety?

Mindfulness involves awareness and focus on the present.  It is observing our internal and external environments carefully, without judgment.  The potential benefits of mindfulness are plenty.  One of the benefits is taking our focus away from worry and guilt by bringing our focus to the present.  Much research on mindfulness has demonstrated benefits with regard to various disorders, pain management and cognitive change.  Self-management and improved memory are additional potential benefits.

There are a number of exercises that can help children practice mindfulness.  When teaching children about mindfulness, we want to start with brief sessions and be sure that we are comfortable with the subject matter.  If an adult has not attempted practice with mindfulness, they are less likely to be successful in helping children learn about it.

Mindfulness can be practiced in a number of ways.  Below are a few ideas for allowing children to practice mindfulness.

Awareness of a sound – Have children listen to a bell and raise their hand when they no longer hear the bell.

Awareness of an object – Have children look at and draw a still life and reflect on the experience.

Activities of living – Have a child write or tell about what they do in the morning to get ready for school.  Have them expand upon the steps each day and reflect on their senses as they go through the experience.

Mindfulness meditation is certainly another strategy that could be used, however, should be discussed in detail in advance. Truths and myths regarding meditation should be discussed as well and practice for children should be brief.

Supportive Self-Talk –

We all talk to ourselves.  The dialogue that is going on inside our heads is called “self-talk”.  For some people, self-talk is mostly positive, for some it’s mostly negative.  How we “frame” things is very important to our health and well-being.  Do you find yourself saying things (to yourself or out loud) such as, “I’m such an idiot”, “What a loser”, or “I can’t believe I did it again”?  This is negative self-talk and is NOT helpful to our health.  It can make us more vulnerable to stress. Obviously, we don’t want to go all the way to the other extreme and let our ego take over by saying that we are perfect in every single way, but there can be a healthy balance.

Our minds are programmed, somewhat like computers, beginning in our youth.  Think of the messages that you have had programmed in your mind since you were born…. by caretakers, peers, even the media.  When we were young we didn’t have a choice as to what we were exposed to.  So, for example, if we were exposed to hours of television and other media without anyone telling us that we ARE good enough without the products and services marketed to us, we could end up thinking that we aren’t good enough without those things.  And if our parents or guardians were negative people, we may very well have some of this “programming”.  We may have the tendency to be pessimistic and the negative thoughts can get overwhelming.

Reframing – Changing the Way See Something

Reframing is a critical strategy for keeping stress levels in check.  Students have found this topic to be extremely helpful in making their daily lives less stressful!  Reframing involves changing our thinking/attitude/viewpoint.

How do you “frame” the following?  Your boyfriend or girlfriend just broke up with you.  You can frame it as either, a) my life is ruined or b) now my life is opened up for someone who will really appreciate me.

Stressors are everywhere, all around us, and in our daily lives.  As we have discussed previously, the way we perceive, or interpret, a given circumstance or event can cause stress.  When our perception, or interpretation is negative, we have the power to exaggerate and magnify it until it is totally out of proportion with reality.

We can look back and realize that we’ve wasted much time and toll on our bodies with worry.  Think back on something that you worried about that never happened.  We can utilize awareness and our self-talk to manage our worries and keep our stress levels in check.

Practicing the habit of looking for the positives and having gratitude can be extremely beneficial for both children and adults.  Some days, it can seem like there is little positive to focus on.  If we make a particular effort to seek out the positive behaviors and aspects of a child and in life, it will make a significant difference.

Thinking about what we are grateful for is also a good way to help our day.  An example of a healthy practice could be to ask the child each night at bedtime, “What was your best?”  This could also be in the form of or accompany prayer. If children are asked to think of what they are grateful for each night before they go to sleep, it is likely that they will form a habit of a positive thought process even when you are not there to prompt. Another similar practice involves writing down the top three things you are grateful for before bed each night. These types of practices can have very positive benefits.