Serenity Wellness Podcast E44: Mindful Presence

Hello,

Welcome to Serenity Wellness Podcast.

My name is Nicole White and I'll be your host.

This podcast is dedicated to helping you tap into your full potential of how you can heal and balance your mental,

Emotional,

And physical well-being.

Together,

Let's explore inner self,

Connect with our strength,

And manifest your true nature,

One full of love,

Purpose,

And passion.

Welcome to episode 44,

Mindful presence.

I am still not on track with getting these out on Wednesdays.

With my conference and then Christmas Day and now New Year's Day all falling on Wednesdays,

I had to readjust some things.

That as well as some synchronicities happen that have aligned and led to me now working on my yoga certification.

I love yoga,

It's been a part of my life for many years and I really appreciate the physical and mental and emotional benefits it brings us,

But it is not something I was looking to get certified in just because of all the other things I'm working on,

But things just kind of aligned and I sat with it for a bit and decided to move forward.

But with that,

The program was already in place so I have for the past two weeks been getting caught up on three months worth of homework.

So I'm almost wrapped up there and caught up and with that as well as the holidays wrapping up,

I will be back on track with Wednesday episodes next week.

As you know,

I'm not really familiar with all these things associated with podcasting,

I just kind of do it.

But one thing I've come to understand is that it's important to be consistent for those who listen to podcasts.

So I am trying to be mindful of that and am working hard to get back on track there.

With that,

If you have been listening to these episodes,

You have probably come to an understanding that I am often working on many things.

One of the key elements in my life that allows me to do this without getting stressed out,

Worried or frustrated is being mindfully present in whatever I'm doing.

Mindful presence involves being fully connected to the current experience you're in,

Connected to self,

The environment,

And others around you.

You're all in.

Being the observer and gaining an understanding,

Growing a deeper connection,

Staying out of the storytelling and worry mind that we can so easily get pulled into.

And remembering that with that mindfulness,

That's that one mindful connection.

So not multitasking and just being one mindful,

Doing one thing at a time,

With non-judgment.

That non-judgment includes not judging the situation,

The emotions,

Or also judging yourself if you find that you're wrapped up in your mind.

You notice at that moment,

Become the observer and allow it to float away.

Mindful presence,

Being one mindful with non-judgment.

By practicing mindful presence,

It assists in alleviating stress,

Anxiety,

Depression,

And frustration.

I've been discussing in several episodes about the positive impact it has on our physical health by practicing mindful connection,

Helping with our inflammation,

Adrenals,

Cortisol,

Circadian rhythm,

Digestive tract,

And ability to digest and absorb minerals and vitamins.

Our amygdala and that emotion control center in our brain,

Those neuro network pathways,

Those highways of communication that help us to further connect to the frontal cortex area that holds that little pocket of mindfulness among many other things.

But this integration of emotion,

Mental,

And physical wellbeing that mindful presence brings to our life.

Each experience brings its own uniqueness to the gift of mindful presence.

For example,

If I'm giving a presentation to my friend,

The areas I'm connecting with around me and within me are different experiences than when I'm creating a piece of art.

And even then,

They are all unique experiences.

During a presentation,

I initially spend time connecting with the people as they arrive,

Getting an understanding of the flow of the room,

Which then creates a flow of how I'll present and connect with the audience.

For me personally,

If I'm giving a presentation,

I don't do a whole lot of preparation beforehand.

Typically,

If I'm presenting on something,

It's something I'm pretty well versed in and have been researching and studying for an extended period of time.

So I feel pretty comfortable being able to do this.

And I know this does not certainly apply to all situations when someone's giving a presentation.

But for me,

I will just be mindfully present,

Initially allowing me to connect.

And then that will help me to know how I want to present and what information to bring forward.

So I recently presented on mindfulness and energy therapy to a group of engineers,

And they were very interested in the same information.

But I presented it in a different way to help reach the audience and where they were at in terms of what would be helpful for them to understand the information and connect.

If I am creating a piece of art,

Then my mindful presence is going to be a little bit more within and express itself in a different way.

And even then,

It will vary depending on how I'm showing up at the easel or the area where I am creating.

This will maybe depend on how I'm feeling,

The emotions or energy I'm having that day,

The purpose of the project,

Whether it be something specific or more of a general creative flow.

If I have music playing or not playing,

And even the type of music I might be listening to,

As well as some other experiences I might include at times when I'm in a creating or artistic flow.

Remembering that mindful presence in terms of when we are engaging in nature,

And how our experience will be completely different when we are mindfully present in nature than when we are in nature and our mind is somewhere else,

And we're on our phones or doing other things to keep ourselves away from the now and experiencing all that is around us through our senses.

Being mindfully present in our experiences,

Again,

Can reduce stress,

Decrease anxiety,

Depression,

And increase our awareness of our anxiety,

Depression,

And increase our connection to gratitude.

Another area this applies to is our connection with others.

I've talked some in other episodes about this,

Such as the gift of presence and communicate to listen,

But this mindful presence in others means connecting without an agenda,

Expectations,

Control,

Or judgment.

This can take place when we're experiencing something together,

Embracing silence together,

And in communication.

Being mindfully present,

Not on our phones,

Not up in our minds thinking about something else,

Or thinking about what we want to say.

This presence in communication,

Not interrupting,

Not going right to a fix it,

And actively listening,

Connecting to the other person's experience,

Their emotions and perceptions,

Appreciating the information they are sharing with us as they are giving us a window into understanding them greater,

To learning about how they perceive and feel.

And in this,

Being mindfully aware of your own stuff.

If you're one that tends to interrupt,

You might connect to a mindful awareness of how your body is reacting,

That slight bit of adrenaline that you get in terms of wanting to interrupt and speak over.

And being mindfully aware of that physical reaction,

Practicing the pause and connection back to the person talking will help you to break that cycle.

Or if you're one who goes right to fix it,

Looking within and being mindfully aware of what that part is about.

Maybe there's a discomfort in emotion,

Or a tendency to want to control situations,

For example.

So this mindful presence and awareness of what creates our own patterns to take us away from connecting with the experience in communication.

If we have something helpful to offer the individual,

We can also ask them if they would like some advice or to hear about a resource that we know is available.

But we don't just want to assume that that's why they're talking with us about the situation or emotion they're experiencing.

Oftentimes,

People just want someone to listen.

This mindful presence of ourself involves all of our experiences.

Being aware of our emotions,

Perceptions,

And connections allows us to go deeper into the experience.

Feeling our emotions to better understand and work through them.

Asking our mind and body what it needs in the moment,

And listening so we can properly respond.

Allowing that silence and stillness to connect to our subconscious and higher elements of awareness.

Being present with our physical body and asking what it needs.

Checking in with mindful presence on how we're breathing.

Are you chest breathing,

That short,

Shallow breath?

Or are you deep breathing into that rejuvenating,

Balancing breath cycle?

Being mindfully present and aware of our physical body.

Where are we holding tension?

Is our neck tight?

Are our shoulders up or maybe folding into our selves?

Clinching our jaw or the tongue at the roof of our mouth?

Feeling tension and tightness in our lower back.

Being mindfully present and connected to our full self,

Our physical body,

And maybe taking this awareness and connection into consideration with food.

And being mindfully present as you eat.

This is what allows and guides us into food as medicine.

Paying attention to how you feel when you eat certain foods.

Being mindfully aware of why you're eating.

Are you eating because you're hungry?

Or are you eating to fill an emotion or to distract yourself from doing something else?

But also being mindfully aware of how you're eating and how it impacts you.

So are you rushing through your food and the experience,

Barely chewing or tasting your food,

And then rushing to your body?

Not even allowing time and space to see how the food impacts you or makes you feel.

Being mindfully present of how you're actually feeling when you're eating.

Are you feeling anxious,

Angry,

Feelings of guilt?

Remembering that as you're eating,

If you're experiencing high anxiety,

You're eating that as well.

So this mindful presence of eating,

What we are eating,

The speed and flow of eating,

Trying to slow down and actually be mindfully present with our food,

The taste,

Smell and texture,

And allowing time to also connect with how we feel after we eat certain food so that we're aware if it's really what our body is wanting for us at that time.

And any emotions we may also be bringing to the table with us.

Pay attention to yourself.

You know more than you think you do.

Mindful presence includes having non-judgment,

No expectation,

Non-attachment,

And the awareness of it.

Non-judgment,

No expectation,

Non-attachment,

And the awareness of impermanence.

Each moment is a new moment.

Being mindfully present in each moment allows for a fuller experience,

More connection,

Emotion regulation,

Increased gratitude,

Compassion,

And empathy for all.

It brings a broader understanding of the human condition and the uniqueness and oneness of each of us.

As with any gift,

When someone else is offering us the gift of presence,

We want to graciously and gratefully accept this gift,

Fully embracing mindful presence,

And offering it back.

If someone else is not mindfully present,

We still want to offer them this gift with loving kindness.

Thank you,

Everyone,

For spending this time and space with me,

And I hope this is something you'll give consideration to,

Because as we practice mindful presence in all we are doing,

The flow back and what it brings into our own mental,

Emotional,

And physical wellness,

As well as that connection it will bring in the experience and in the experience itself.

If you practice this,

You may find it very valuable in and of itself,

Which will then motivate you to continue.

You can always check us out online to see what else we have going on at the Wellness Center.

So thank you so much,

And I look forward to talking with you again soon.

Have a good one.