But I love school and the program and I feel that I am in the right place at the right time. I am learning a lot from our curriculum and I feel that I can apply a lot of it to my own personal life. I will continue to share with you but right now I want to focus on a few things that have meant the most to me lately. Perhaps these could help you with your own self-care. Side note: "self-care" is a term I've seen so much in the program - can you tell I am in the field of social work?! I love it and will encourage it from here on out.
In my social work courses we have discussed a few concepts that have touched me at my core - the first concept I would like to discuss is mindfulness.
Mindfulness - what does that mean? Mindfulness means being in the present, being aware of your own thoughts, emotions and sensations. Mindfulness encourages us to focus on our thoughts, emotions, and sensations - and accepting them without judgment. How does one practice being mindful, you ask? Simple.
1) Breathe! Focus on breathing to help you relax and perceive this very moment.
2) Pay attention to what is around you - your surroundings, sights sounds, your own thoughts and emotions.
3) Focus on physical sensations - taste and touch.
4) Do one thing at a time - avoid multitasking! Hard to do, I know, especially in this fast paced world.
5) Eat slowly and enjoy your food.
Some key aspects of mindfulness:
1) The present is neutral; don't allow your judgments to distort reality.
2) Don't judge your thoughts and emotions.
3) THIS ONE IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT - Don't avoid uncomfortable feelings! Rather than avoiding them, identify what you're feeling. In mindfulness, you move towards uncomfortable feelings/experiences intentionally. Rather than avoiding them, you embrace them - even the uncomfortable feelings.
4) Through mindfulness, you learn to observe your thoughts as "thoughts" as opposed to "reality," which means that you're able to "respond" to situations as opposed to "react." Through responding, you are able to choose how you respond. By doing this, you are able to take the "high road" in life.
I tend to daydream - a lot. If I am bored or uncomfortable with something, my mind wanders. I think about the past and the future and the eternal - which aren't bad things in themselves. But my mind is always elsewhere which means that I am not living in the present! It has been difficult to focus on and identify my thoughts when I'm so accustomed to avoiding or altering them.
I think that a lot of people try to avoid, alter or numb their thoughts and feelings through alcohol and substance abuse. Or perhaps they are work-aholics or exercise-aholics or what-have-you. Here's the thing - those feelings that you're trying to avoid will still be there later. I've learned this lesson myself.
Truth is, there's beauty in confronting your emotions and embracing them, even the painful ones. It's human to feel and experience your emotions. Not only that, it is empowering when you realize that your emotions don't control you. As a person who was, more or less, governed by my emotions and feelings in the past, practicing mindfulness is helping me to become more of my authentic self.
"Authentic self" - I love that idea! Which brings me to my next post - vulnerability. This will have to wait, however, because I have some papers to write.
Peace out and practice self-care!
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