Mindfulness Monday

Regaining your balance

When we practice mindfulness, we might expect to feel centered, grounded, and balanced. We often, however, have events in our lives that can throw us off balance, including a pregnancy loss. Not only does a pregnancy loss force us to rethink about our future plans of bringing a baby into the world on a certain date, but it also requires us to engage potentially medical treatments we wouldn’t have otherwise needed, money that we otherwise would have saved, or share news with people we wouldn’t otherwise have to speak to.

It is certainly an experience that leaves us ungrounded, unbalanced, and uncentered. It feels completely outside of our control.

And yet, there are small ways we can start to feel re-balanced, or back in control of our day-to-day. For example, you take control back by deciding what you’re going to have for lunch day (for me, I was happy when I decided I could eat cottage cheese again, since I was staying dairy-free during my pregnancy). You decide when you need to take a nap, move your body (even just for a moment), or to whom you speak. You choose your television programs, the music you listen to, and the books you read.

If you are feeling unbalanced, you are in control of how you manage that. Do you take a walk outside? Get out in nature? Take five deep breaths and drink a big mug of tea?

These simple changes can help us stay centered.

With that, let’s settle in, and take a few moments to practice this.

Get in a comfortable position. Feel your feet on the ground, your bottom in your chair. And take a few, centering, breaths.

Take a breath that feels good to you – either a deep breath, or a regular breath.

As you feel yourself getting more centered, ask yourself, what is one thing I can do today to help myself feel grounded, and feel more in control? Typically, I find the first thing that comes to mind is the thing we need most. Trust your instinct, your inner wisdom.

Now, how can you make that thing a reality today? Do you need to carve out some time in your schedule? Or do you need to recruit someone to help you make this a reality? What do you need to make this happen?

Spend as much time in this space as you need to. And when you are ready, bring yourself back to this present moment, and open your eyes.

I hope this exercise brings you a bit of peace today, and helps you feel more centered.

Thank you for joining me, and I’ll see you all next week for another Mindfulness Monday.

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