Mindfulness is an effective tool for achieving serenity in any moment. At this hectic time of the year, honing our mindfulness skills is especially helpful. In this third annual Mindfulness Favorites episode, Valerie shares her favorite exercises of 2023. Pulled from one of the exercises that ends each episode of Mental Health: Hope and Recovery, the first exercise this year is The Power of 60 Mindful Seconds. Please tune in; your mindfulness minute — and more — awaits!
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Valerie's Mindfulness Favorites of 2023
Episode 37
Helen Sneed: Welcome to Mental Health Hope and Recovery. I'm Helen Sneed.
Valerie Milburn: And I'm Valerie Milburn. We both have fought and overcome severe chronic mental illnesses. Our podcast offers a unique approach to mental health conditions. We use practical skills and inspirational stories of recovery. Our knowledge is up close and personal. Helen and I are your peers. We're not doctors, therapists or social workers. We're not professionals, but we are experts. We are experts in our own lived experience with multiple mental health diagnoses and symptoms. Please join us on our journey. We live in recovery, so can you this podcast does not provide medical advice. The information presented is not intended to be a substitute for or relied upon as medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. The podcast is for informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any health related questions you may have.
Valerie: Welcome to Mental Health Hope and recovery episode 37, 2023 mindfulness favorites it's just me today, Valerie, bringing you our third annual End of the Year episode of Mindfulness Exercise Favorites. Helen sends her warmest wishes for the holiday season to you and your loved ones. She also wants to share her excitement about the episodes that we'll deliver in 2024 and the abundant possibilities for hope and recovery the new year holds for all of us. As you know, we end each episode with a mindfulness exercise and we choose our favorites to bundle at year end. This year I've chosen five favorites. I'm going to jump right in with our first exercise, the Power of 60 Mindful Seconds. Now for each of these five exercises. I'm going to give the full opening that includes the diaphragmatic breathing so that you can come back to any one of the exercises at any time and do each one as a standalone. Let's get started. What is mindfulness? I always begin with a definition. Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations without judgment. Our first mindfulness practice is about discovering the power of just 60 seconds of being truly and fully mindful. Just one full minute of mindfulness is a grounding, centering, calming investment in ourselves. Let's get mindful. We will begin, as always, with our diaphragmatic deep breathing. If you are driving or walking, please adapt this mindfulness exercise in such a way that it works in your current surroundings. If you can find a comfortable seated position, try closing your eyes. If it's safe to do so. Inhale through your nose, expanding an imaginary balloon in your stomach. Hold your breath. Exhale through your mouth, pulling your stomach in as you do so. Take another inhale through your nose, expanding
Valerie Milburn: that imaginary balloon. Hold your breath. Exhale through your mouth, pulling your stomach in. Drop your shoulders. Pull your stomach all the way in. Continue with this deep, regular breathing. Bring your awareness fully to this moment. You could think, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. Or you could think right here, right now, right here, right now. Or intently focus on something pleasant in your surroundings. I invite you to do whatever will bring you to full mindfulness of the next 60 seconds the universe has given us. Breathe into the next 60 seconds. If your eyes are closed, please open them and gently bring yourself back to the room. And that was your 60 seconds. Thank you for exploring the power of one minute of mindfulness with me. Our next mindfulness experience is called Breathing in the Positive Letting Go of the Negative. We're going to focus on our breathing, using our breath to bring in positive thoughts and emotions, and using our breath to let go of negative thoughts and emotions. I'll give you an example of how using this mindfulness technique helped me recently. We launched our new website this year, mental healthhopeandrecovery.com it was new and exciting and difficult. Our developer, Vanity Fire photo, did a fabulous job. And then I had to learn how to edit a website. Edit, embed, add links, move graphics. This was all new to me and a bit overwhelming. To help me face this task, I chose a few things I wanted to focus on during my morning mindfulness meditation practice. I wanted to focus on having love and patience with myself as I learned my new skills, and to let go of negativity and judgment of myself. I integrated these four words, love and patience and negativity and judgment, into my mindful breathing. Let's do it together. Lets get mindful. We will begin, as always, with our diaphragmatic breathing. If you're driving or walking, please adapt this mindfulness exercise in such a way that it works in your current surroundings. If you can find a comfortable seated position, try closing your eyes. If it's safe to do so. Inhale through your nose, expanding an imaginary balloon in your stomach. Hold your breath. Exhale through your mouth, pulling your stomach in as you do so. Take another inhale through your nose, expanding that imaginary balloon. Hold your breath. Exhale through your mouth, pulling your stomach in. Drop your shoulders. Pull your stomach all the way in. Continue with this deep, regular
Valerie Milburn: breathing. Let's practice with a couple rounds of breath using the words I chose. Then you'll choose your words with your slow, steady breathing going. Focus on the words love and patience. As you breathe in, breathe out. Focusing on the words judgment and negativity. Say to yourself, love and patience as you breathe in. Say to yourself, judgment and negativity as you breathe out. Breathe in. Love and patience. Breathe out judgment and negativity. Breathe in. Love and patience. Breathe out judgment and negativity. Now think of your two words that represent a thought, an emotion, or a principle that you would like to bring into or enhance your life. What are your two positive words? Now think of two words that represent a thought, emotion, or principle that you would like to eliminate or reduce in your life. What are your two negative words? Tell yourself your two positive words as you breathe in. Your two negative words as you breathe out. Take three slow, deep breaths. Breathe in your positive words. Breathe out your negative words. If your eyes are closed, please open them and gently bring yourself back to the room. When I do this exercise, I continue this practice, this breathing in the positive and breathing out the negative. I continue this practice until I find a deep sense of serenity. A deep sense of serenity. And it doesn't take long. Thank you for doing this mindfulness exercise with me. Our third mindfulness experience is called Right Here, Right Now. I have a tendency to worry, to let myself indulge in my fears of the future. Guess what my solution is? Every time mindfulness, I have to bring myself back to the present moment. And the phrase right here, right now is a quick fix to get back to the present. Let's try it together. Let's get mindful. We will begin, as always, with our diaphragmatic breathing. If you can find a comfortable seated position, try closing your eyes. If it's safe to do so, we'll take two diaphragmatic breaths together. I usually take about 10 to start my mindfulness and meditation practice. Inhale through your nose, expanding an imaginary balloon in your stomach. Hold your breath. Exhale through your mouth, pulling your stomach in as you do so. Take another inhale through your nose. Expand that imaginary balloon. Exhale through your mouth, pulling your stomach in. Drop your shoulders. Continue with this deep, regular breathing. Focus on your breath as it comes in and out, in and out. Feel your feet on the floor
Valerie Milburn: or each foot as it hits the ground. If you're walking, tell yourself Right now, I'm right here. Right here, right now. If your eyes are closed, please open them and scan your surroundings again. Tell yourself, right now I'm right here. Right here, right now. Bring yourself entirely into your surroundings. Into the present moment. Right here, right now. No thoughts of the past. No thoughts of the future. Right here, right now. All is well. Focus on one thing you can see that is pleasant right here, right now. What is pleasant about it? The color? The shape? The texture. The smell. Right here, right now. All is well. Now focus on something different in your surroundings that you are grateful for. Right here, right now. Why are you grateful for it? Right here, right now. All is well. In this one moment. All is well. There are many moments when all is well. Right here, right now. Breathe deeply. Expand your gaze to your wider surroundings. Gently bring yourself back to a wider perspective. Thank you for doing this mindfulness exercise with me. Go all in on fall with Abercrombie Kids. Their newest drop of on trend outfits are ready for everything from the bus stop to family bonfires. And it wouldn't be fall without football. Gear up the kids with officially licensed NFL tees and soccer sweatshirts. Shop Abercrombie Kids this season in the app, online and in store at Sierra. Discover top workout gear at incredible prices. Which might lead to another discovery. Your headphones haven't been connected this whole time. Awkward. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans. Send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom, 60th and never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end to end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp message privately with everyone. Learn more@WhatsApp.com Now I have a mindfulness exercise with a wonderful name, Non Problematic Joy. I love that concept. Sometimes finding joy is as simple as noticing what's not wrong. In the wild swings between pleasant and unpleasant, we often neglect the contentment of the neutral middle. While these experiences of things that are not problematic might not thrill us, paying attention to them encourages an appreciation and gratitude for all that's still right in the world. Let's try it. Let's get Mindful we will begin, as always, with our diaphragmatic breathing. If you're driving or walking, please adapt this mindfulness exercise in such a way that it works in your current surroundings.
Valerie Milburn: If you can find a comfortable seated position, try closing your eyes. If it's safe to do so, we will take two diaphragmatic breaths together. I usually take about 10 to start my mindfulness and meditation practice. Inhale through your nose, expanding an imaginary balloon in your stomach. Hold your breath. Exhale through your mouth, pulling your stomach in as you do so. Take another Inhale through your nose. Expand that imaginary balloon. Exhale through your mouth, pulling your stomach all the way in. Drop your shoulders. Continue with this deep, regular breathing. Imagine yourself as you are awakening in the morning. If the sun has already risen, acknowledge this as the first thing that has gone right for the day. If the sun has not yet risen, acknowledge that you have a sunrise to look forward to. Acknowledge one of your senses. Another thing is going right. Recall getting into your car yesterday. Did the engine start? If you rode your bike yesterday, did the tires stay inflated? More things are going right. Did you have the benefit of electricity today? Did you have food, water, air? Acknowledge these many things going right in the neutral middle. As Shad Mang Tan wrote, knowing you are not entirely at the mercy of agitation can bring some joy. If your eyes are closed, please open them and gently bring yourself back to the room. Thank you for doing this mindfulness exercise with me. And now, the fifth and final of our 2023 mindfulness favorites, this one about creativity. Creativity is a gift of well being. Join me now in a few moments of creative well being. We will begin, as always, with our diaphragmatic breath. If you can find a comfortable seated position, try closing your eyes. If it's safe to do so, we will take two diaphragmatic breaths together. I usually take about 10 to start my mindfulness and meditation practice. Let's breathe. Inhale through your nose, expanding an imaginary balloon in your stomach. Hold your breath. Exhale through your mouth Pulling your stomach in as you do so, take another inhale through your nose. Expand that imaginary balloon. Exhale through your mouth, pulling your stomach in. Drop your shoulders. Pull your stomach all the way in. Continue with this deep, regular breathing. Think of something you have created or want to create. Visualize your creation. Is it a meal? A painting? A handwritten thank you note to someone? Is it a journal entry to yourself or vegetables from your garden? Visualize your creation. Visualize yourself giving what you have created either to yourself, to someone else, or to a group of people.
Valerie Milburn: Visualize yourself saying, this is my gift of well being to you. This is my gift of well being to you. Visualize yourself that someone else, or that group of people receiving your gift of well being. Visualize the gift of your creation being received. What feelings emerge as you give this gift of well being, this gift of your creation? Do you feel serenity, accomplishment, pride, connection, community? Bask in these warm feelings. If your eyes are closed, please open them and gently bring yourself back to the room. Thank you for doing this mindfulness exercise with me. It was my gift of well being to you. Well, that's not only a wrap on this mindfulness episode, but it's a wrap for 2023, our third year of mental health, hope and recovery. Helen and I are so grateful for your support. This has been a big year for us. We launched our website, mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com we won two Signal Awards, the National Podcasting Industry Awards, and we have had huge growth in our listening audiences. Thank you for being a member of our community. Please help us continue to reach more listeners. For us, our chief goal is spreading our recovery stories and information to those who need inspiration and hope. You can help us achieve this by sharing links to our website mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com on your social media sites, or sharing them personally with friends, family, even co workers, anyone whom you think would be encouraged by our message. Thank you for doing this. And one final thing. As I told you in the last episode, Helen and I will be guests on the exciting podcast Two Lives. Every episode of Two Lives features the story of someone who faced darkness and how that moment transformed them. The title comes from the quote, we all have two lives. The second one begins the moment we realize we have only one. Find two Lives on your favorite podcast app. That's the numeral. Two Lives. Two Lives. We'll let you know when the episodes featuring Helen and me are released. And now I leave you with our favorite word. Onward.