Mental fitness is all about maintaining equilibrium.  When difficulties arise, our body may show signs of stress and fatigue while our mind becomes cloudy and confused.  We cope by responding in one of two ways: consciously or unconsciously.  Conscious  responses involve mindful intention while unconscious responses involve habits without forethought.

Between every event and outcome is a window of choice.  Do habits prevail or mindful choices?  As we begin the new year, tips for mindfulness will be the focus of upcoming posts.  There will be a new tip each week that you can immediately apply to your every day life.  Simple and easy,  it just takes a moment of awareness and your commitment to the process.  Let us start afresh with plans to consciously incorporate more mindfulness into our daily life and override old habits for natural peace within.

Mindfulness Tip #1   The most basic habit of mindfulness comes from focusing on breath.  This conscious act brings you to the current moment, integrating mind and body.  Focus on the quality of each breath.  Is it fast or slow, shallow or normal?  Take a few slow deep breaths and allow any tension you may feel to leave your body with each exhale.  Give your mind a mental coffee break and allow thoughts to settle.  Practice mindful breathing throughout your day.  If necessary, post a note to remind yourself, set an alarm, or link this new habit to another routine activity.  Cultivate the habit of focused breathing for a powerfully refreshing start to the new year!

“All life is flowing, 

a continual process of becoming,

change and transformation.”

                                                                     ~ N. Mahathera

Mind Master is pleased to announce that this year’s recipient for annual charitable donations is the Alzheimer Society of B.C.  This non-profit organization provides free support groups and educational workshops for caregivers and individuals living with the disease.  Alzheimer’s is a common form of dementia which affects memory and normal cognitive functioning.  According to the Alzheimer Society, there are currently half a million Canadians living with some form of dementia.  Although no cure has yet been found, it has been proven that positive lifestyle choices can significantly slow progression.

Make mental fitness and wellness a priority today!  In closing, I would like to thank everyone who attended Mind Master sessions over the past year and contributed to the good karma of charitable giving.  All the best to you and your loved ones for a happy and healthy 2014!

As 2013 draws to an end, I hope you are feeling a growing sense of inner peace within, having read and hopefully practiced a few of the four preceding tips.  This final post for the year reveals the last tip which involves mindful creation.

Tip #5:   Reduce or eliminate negativity.  Negativity is derived from both internal and external sources.  Examples of external sources include negative marketing campaigns, toxic people and all forms of media news.  Each of these contribute negative energy to your environment  while negative self-talk and self-doubt keeps the pot simmering within.  Take action against negative energy by raising awareness of its presence and mindfully creating a positive environment for inner peace.

Take a vacation from external negative forces and resist watching the news for a while, especially before bedtime.  Abstain from television dramas, video games, and documentaries that showcase violence in any form, verbal or physical.  Be vigilant with every negative energy that enters your awareness.  Stop negativity within by practicing compassion for yourself and loving-kindness meditation.  There is a time for engaging in the world and a time for withdrawal.  Maintain healthy boundaries and mindfully create an environment conducive to inner peace.          

Inner peace is available when you surrender to the flow of life and trust the nature of evolution.

Tip #4  Embrace change.  Change is a natural force that moves continuously throughout our entire lifetime.  See change as a normal and necessary part of life.

Change is often difficult because it involves endings.  Consider a different perspective.  What if change were viewed as beginnings, opportunities to grow and explore new adventures?  How would you approach change differently?  Perhaps you might adopt a more positive outlook, fuelled by hope and optimism.

Change is basically a transitory state.  It is a place where you move from one situation to another, one perspective to another, or one behaviour to another.  Focus on excellent self-care during transitions and heed your intuitive voice within, the loving nurturing part of yourself that supports your best interests.  Allow space for compassion to arise and time to heal emotional pain.  Make self-care a priority during changes and a sense of inner peace will wash over you very naturally.

Inner peace may feel elusive at times.  This is especially true when we adhere to old belief systems.  The third tip for inner peace involves personal responsibilities.

Tip #3:  Take responsibility for your life and accept the current realities.  What is reality?   You can determine this by assessing the degree of truth in beliefs you hold.  Explore your feelings both with the belief and without it.  For example, if an old friend has not called you for a long time, you may believe that they no longer value your friendship.  To test this, ask yourself if you are 100% certain of this.  Most of the time, a margin of doubt exists.  Ask yourself how you feel believing they no longer value your friendship.  Maybe it is sad or angry.  Now ask yourself how you would feel without this belief.  Perhaps it might be joyful and relieved.  Take time to figure out the root of your beliefs.  You may discover they are rooted in old thinking habits.  In this example, you may discover a lack of confidence or self-love that requires attention.  Take responsibility for your own happiness in life.  It is essential work that we must each do for ourselves.  Inner peace awaits.

Inner peace involves a state of deep contentment.  Coming to terms with all parts of your life, past and present, is an important part of inner peace.  This second tip involves letting go and becoming fully present.

Tip #2:  Free yourself from past problems and worries about the future.  Know for certain what you can control and what you can’t.  Let go of what you cannot control.  Embrace what you can control and that is your choice of responses and emotions.  Choose a state of calm trust, believing that everything is unfolding in its own natural way.  Remind yourself how everything in nature unfolds in its own perfect time.  Trust that you and others are also evolving in the same natural way.  Then let go of cumbersome thoughts and immerse yourself in the present moment.  Engage your senses in your current task.  For example, if you are walking in nature, feel the ground beneath your feet, smell the air, notice the plants and wildlife around you, and the colours of the sky.  Immerse yourself in your experience and allow a sense of inner peace to wash over you.  Inner peace is available to all of us, whenever needed.  Open your mind to make space for inner peace.

Inner peace is the ultimate state of mind.  Inner peace is difficult to maintain since we humans are intricately tied to the outer world.  It takes a clear and open mind to consciously create and maintain peace within.  The good news is that we all have the capacity to cultivate it through mindful practices.  As 2013 draws to an end, inner peace will be the focus of the five remaining posts with hopes for a lighter and brighter new year for all!

Tip#1: Maintain healthy boundaries with your outer world.  Filter out what does not serve you well and incorporate more of what doe serve you well.  Practice unconditional love for yourself.  Free yourself from judgement and your inner critic.  Love yourself as you would a best friend and nurture your mind, body and spirit.  Remind yourself that the quality of your thoughts reflects the quality of your life.  Purify those thoughts to bring out the very best in you.

Your body is your vehicle in life.  Take care of your body and your body will help you to achieve all that you aspire for in life.  Make healthy food choices, exercise regularly and ensure adequate rest.  Embrace solitude whenever possible and connect with your higher self, that loving nurturing side of you that brings wisdom and insight.  Heed this intuitive voice within, for this voice is your very own personal guide to inner peace.  When you align yourself with your most authentic nature, inner peace comes as naturally as blossoms come to a tree!

Information overload leads to brain fog.  Too much information and too little processing time affects our ability to remember details.  How can we avoid brain fog when this happens?  Aside from ensuring adequate rest and downtime, making conscious effort to absorb new information is key.  Once it has been added to our long-term memory, recall is more likely and with even greater detail than we realize.

Take time to absorb new information on a deeper level.  Find answers to what you ponder, establish key points and consider a variety of ways for looking at these.  Examining key points from different angles is a highly revealing exercise that can also be quite amusing.  For instance, if I am learning strategies for increasing happiness, I would also consider ways for increasing misery in my life.  My list might include things like isolating myself, neglecting a healthy diet, regular exercise, and spiritual needs.  Each of these points highlight very clearly what I need to do to increase happiness in my life.  

Review this new information in as many different ways as possible.  Share it in conversation, write a story or poem about it, sing it, sketch it and even act it out, if possible.  The more ways you engage yourself in learning, the greater your retention.  Take a pro-active approach to maintaining clarity throughout life.  Be vigilant against brain fog and steer yourself towards clarity.  Happiness awaits you in the clearing!  

Brain fog is thick and heavy when we are energetically out of balance.  When we have tipped the scale too far towards depletion, brain fog arises with all of its drama.  Unable to receive any more information or methodically process what is currently going on, our mind signals to us loud and clear the need to pull back and practice self-care.

Adequate rest and downtime is vital to maintaining clarity.  Similar to a charging an electric vehicle, sleep provides our minds with the necessary time and space for restoring mental abilities.  Meditation and practices in mindfulness can also help to refuel mental reserves throughout your day.  Incorporate breathing and walking meditations for immediate relief and profoundly powerful benefits.

If you find yourself feeling tired throughout your day and performing below your expectations, this may be a signal for you to make sleep and downtime a priority in your life.  Ensuring this most basic need is met will help to keep brain fog at bay!

What do you do when your mind is consumed with worrisome thoughts?  How do you move beyond this to a place of peace and clarity?  Overwhelming negative thoughts can block our ability to see clearly.  Similar to anxiety, worry hinders natural our thought processes and keeps the mind in a state of foggy confusion.  Break through worry-induced fog by trying one of the following strategies.

Consciously give your mind a break and focus on the current task at hand.  Bring your full attention to the moment, using all your senses.  Feel the satisfaction you get from immersing yourself in the experience.  This mental break may be all you need to return to clarity.  If not, repeat as necessary with activities you enjoy, such as walking in nature or creating something with your hands.  Other alternatives include scheduling 20 minutes of worry time when it is conducive to your wellness, connecting with a support person, or journalling your stream of thoughts to flush out lingering concerns and brainstorm possible solutions.  Experiment with one or any combination of these.  The important thing is to take action and not allow worry to take over.  Move through mental fog with definitive action and just as blue skies eventually  return, so too will clarity!