I struggle often with living in the moment. It takes WORK for me most days! Practice does make perfect, however, and I have found 3 steps to help me turn around an anxiety-provoking moment to being mindful in the present...
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what can you think of in the very same moment that you're standing there being stressed out? What can you be thankful for? What can you be grateful for? That you have the opportunity to be anxious about something, that maybe you have something overwhelming in your life, but maybe you once prayed for this one.
welcome back to another episode of Hurts Like a Mother. I'm gonna keep this short and sweet tonight because in about 12 hours I'm going to be boarding an airplane with my husband and three, almost seven year olds to go to Disneyland. So, I got some sleep to be getting to, but before then I wanna talk about something I have been having a difficult time with and I figured if I'm struggling with something, surely someone out there is struggling as well.
So I wanna talk to you about being mindful about being in the present and I think especially. With living busy lives and having to juggle motherhood, being a wife, working on the career, business stuff, there's always stuff going on with the kids. It's always go, go, go, and very hard to be in the present.
and I'm sure there are many times in your life that you felt the same way. . So it's actually in a Marco Polo conversation with a friend and she was, , remarking how like exciting it is to take your kids to Disneyland and how fun it must be and just like, oh wonderful. And I paused in my head and I'm like, I actually dunno if I feel that way.
because my brain is jumping ahead 10 steps and it's thinking about the what could be like the what ifs. Well, what if all three of 'em are in garbage moods? And what if all three of them are having tantrums in the middle of Disneyland, and what if it rains like it's supposed to when we're there? And all of the what ifs that I wasn't even thinking about.
The absolute joys that could be when we get there. And yes, in this very moment, how amazing it is that we have the opportunity to get on an airplane in 12 hours and how grateful I am that my children are sleeping right now, and all of these wonderful things that sometimes I don't allow myself to appreci.
and I was listening to my friend, you know, remark about how wonderful it is. And what's funny is my husband came into the room at that time and he was listening. He happened to catch her talking about, , what a fun trip it must be coming up. And he pauses and he looks at me and he says, is she talking about a different friend who's going on a trip?
Because , and that's why we're married. ,
but I find myself like white knuckling it sometimes. Thinking about two scenarios. So I mentioned the Disneyland trip and how, , I think of the what ifs and maybe not the joys that are gonna be coming with traveling with my children, but the hardship and the stress and all of those things that haven't even happened yet, but my brain goes there and the same thing goes.
Upcoming summer breaks when my kids are out of school, and the what ifs around that. Like, Hey, what am I gonna do with having the kids home many hours during the day? And what that could possibly do to my sanity instead of maybe the possibility that it would be enjoyable to have their. and to have time with my children.
And I think part of the reason why my brain goes there is because I don't spend enough time in the present and being truly grateful in the present moment. So I thought of three things that have helped me be in the present, and I wanna share those things with you today. So step number one to living the present is mindfulness.
And this is. Catching yourself when you're in that go, go, go frantic, energetic state and you're catastrophizing everything. Is that a word? Catastrophizing? I'm gonna make it a word when you're making everything this big catastrophe. So the first step is just to be mindful of where you are in that moment and to catch yourself.
The second step is to pause in that moment. and I want you to take note of where your body is in space. If you need to close your eyes and just feel where your feet are underneath you. Feel any tension in your body. Are your shoulders tight? Are you scrunching? Your eyebrows are your forehead? Are your hands clenched together?
How are you breathing? , and you can do this right now if you're driving. How are your hands gripping the steering wheel? Are you relaxed? And just kind of taking a moment to see where your body is in space can help bring yourself back to the present and back to being centered. And the third thing that you can do at this time is to be mindful of showing gratitude in the current moment.
So say you are going through something stressful or anxiety provoking, what can you do or what can you think of in the very same moment that you're standing there being stressed out? What can you be thankful for? What can you be grateful for? That you have the opportunity to be anxious about something, that maybe you have something overwhelming in your life, but maybe you once prayed for this one.
And you know what? If it's that bad, you could just be grateful that you have air in your lungs and you're alive. Sometimes that's all you can do is take it one step at a time and think of things on the macro level. So I'm gonna do my best to do these things this week when my children are running around Disneyland and.
As they celebrate their seventh birthday in Disneyland, I'm gonna be super grateful that we have the opportunity to do so. Travel there. My husband and I will have a week off essentially of work, and I'm gonna try to be present with them and enjoy the week. And thank you for giving me , the opportunity right now to talk about this and practice my mindfulness.
So I hope you guys can do the same this week. Practice your mindfulness of being in the present moment and I can't wait to tell you all about Disneyland. On that note, have a great week, guys. Catch you on the next one.
