Mindfulness Strengthening Exercise
Your mind, like any other muscle in your body, can be weaker or stronger depending on your exercise routine. Exercising your mind a little bit everyday can strengthen your ability to tune out or into stressful thoughts based on your preference and perform better under pressure as desired. Your mental strength is equal to your ability to relax muscles as you think about your non-life threatening stressors, simultaneously.** Sit in a comfortable place and begin relaxing your shoulders, jawline and ribs a little and exhale completely. Pay attention to how your muscles feel as you start relaxing them. Choose one of your stressors to think about for the next few minutes as you relax a little more. Suspend judgment of yourself & your stressor right now. Relax and lower your shoulders as close to the floor as you can, so that your neck is longer and your shoulders heavier. Sinking further into the furniture, exhale completely. Gently press the back of your head into the furniture to further relax the muscles in the front of your neck, too. These are your necklace muscles. Relax your necklace muscles. Imagine your thoughts passing through your mind effortlessly just like the clouds pass across the sky. Just sit with each stressful thought or emotion, large or small, like they are with you on a park bench in a beautiful park, be aware and nonjudgmental as you relax a little more. Fully imagine your favorite scene or place as you relax fully and exhale completely. **Continue just noticing your thoughts effortlessly passing & moving on across your mind as you relax your shoulders, neck, jawline and ribcage muscles for another minute or two and exhale fully. Now, name a main emotion your thought content on this topic has evoked or triggered inside you. For example, choose a main emotion to name your thought content on this problem like fear, sadness, anger, grief, guilt, shame, anxiety, concern, worry, exhaustion, peace, gratitude or something else. Continue the exercise without judgment as you relax your shoulders, ribs and solar plexus muscles a little more as you exhale fully. ** At this point a few minutes has elapsed during which you have resisted the tendency to judge, blame or doom yourself or your thoughts and resisted the tendency to respond to your thoughts with urgency or tense muscles. Instead, you have quietly and peacefully noticed what is happening in your mind as you mindfully & deliberately relax your muscle tension and refuse to judge or doom yourself or your thoughts. Continue the exercise now by recovering your mental awareness of your long-term personal preferences on the topic you have been thinking about. Persist in letting go of judgment, blame, doom, muscle tension & breath by exhaling fully. Just become aware of what you want to see happen overall on this problem. We are only as upset as we are far away from what we are really wanting for ourselves. So, what is it you want to see happen on this important matter? Remember, knowing what you want is more important & empowering than getting what you want, & stress proves you are a normal human experiencing your life normally, nothing more & nothing less. Use this technique 2-3 times daily for the best outcome on your topic or problem. You have completed the Mindfulness Strengthening Exercise. ©Pamela Whitworth, Ph.D. All rights reserved.
