A Mindfulness Technique for Beginners

We have some flower beds around the yard. To save some money, I thought I would do something I know nothing about and that I never do - gardening. Specifically, I planned to tackle the fall clean-up, especially because some plants and flowers were going to bed for the winter or they were already dying. 

I pulled back my hair and put on my gloves and got to work! I took out all the dead and dying weeds and made that flower bed soooo tidy. I was ready for the spring!

I then discovered that a gardener’s job is never done!

Once I was done, I had clean, pretty beds, but what to do with the weeds and debris? My solution was to bring them to the property line and throw them over the stone wall into the woods. Welcome to New England!

I was so proud of myself that everything looked nice and neat around the yard. Fall came and went. Then winter came and went. And spring had finally sprung!

Mindfulness Techniques

One spring day I was sitting on the porch relaxing and then I noticed right over the wall, creeping out of the woods, all these beautiful flowers.

Huh? 

Then it hit me. I had dug up the flowers and not the weeds!  The previous fall, I went out there and just started pulling plants up. Anything that looked dead or dying or like a “weed”!

I wasn’t paying attention.

I was mindlessly going about it. Talk about the importance of mindfulness!

Yes. Imagine if I would have taken a pause or maybe asked for help.

Just like a garden, we must tend to our thoughts.

We water and nurture the ones that are beautiful and helpful.

We weed or cut back the thoughts that are harmful to our beautiful ones or that are dead and no longer serve us. 

We can foster and grow transformative thoughts by getting to the root of the negative/fear-based/judgmental or worried thoughts!

But before that – you guessed it – we must use techniques to get mindful. A great place to start if you’re new to mindfulness is to simply mindfully pause and observe.

Mindset

For a moment, imagine you have a plot of land aka your brain.

And in that land, you have some gravel rocky areas, you have some lush green areas, and you might have some vegetables in an area or some plants and some flowering trees in an area.

All those areas require different attention and maintenance. But no matter which area you’re tending to, if you see a weed or something that's undesirable, something you do not want there, you need to address it before it takes over. 

To solve the problem, I could take a weed whacker and just whack it back. It’ll look pretty until it grows back. I could pull that tenacious intruder up and throw it away.

Or I could aggressively pour weed killer on it, probably destroying the precious soil around it.  Within a day, maybe a week, maybe a few weeks, (whenever), inevitably that darn weed just comes back - no matter WHAT!  

What do gardeners do? How do they nurture their land and ensure beautiful growth? 

I’m not exactly sure about the garden (as you know) but I do know about tending to your thoughts and thought habits. I believe the simple technique of pausing and getting mindful is the key. 

Awareness and knowledge! To successfully maintain and nurture anything, you must first be aware you want to make a shift and then learn how to do so.

Practicing mindfulness is a mindset.

Mood

Because it’s fun, I’m going to stick with this analogy. 

Thoughts just like roots have a system to them.

A good plan would be to look at and address the soil around weedy thoughts, and gently remove them. Put some clean fresh soil in its place and tend to your garden daily!  

You will try your best, but some days you’ll miss the little sprouting weed or even mistake it for a flower. Eventually you will pause and observe it.

See the weed for what it is - a suffocating intruder! This unwanted guest will effect all the plants and flowers around it.

You are now practicing the mindfulness technique of awareness.

When that happens, reach into your tool bag, use the knowledge you have learnt, and clean up that land!   

When I assist women, our goal is to put on our metaphorical gardening gloves and get to the work!

Unlike my gardening supplies, I have a stocked tool bag of techniques that I share with you.

The first technique we always use is mindfulness.

Getting mindful allows you to look at (and adjust) your mindset.

Applying mindset tools to replace and reframe your thoughts and thought habits will usher in better moods.

Those shifted moods will have positive effects on your internal and external life.

Being mindful fully aware, having knowledge of mindset strategies, and cultivating good moods is how you create your beautiful Second Spring!

Share with us how do you tend to your thoughts in the comments below.