Victories in Mindfulness!

• Yesterday, after resting my back for nearly two weeks, I woke up early to go for a walk and yet my back still felt too cranky. Instead of whining and going back to bed, I popped in a Bollywood bhangra dance DVD and shimmied for 35 minutes.

• Last night, when I felt perfectly justified in ordering pizza delivery, I took a deep breath and made a quinoa, sautéed rainbow chard, and steamed shrimp dinner instead. It was delicious and my stomach was very happy to avoid a fat-and-dairy gutbomb.

• Today, when I had a million deadlines screaming for attention around midday, I made myself go to Yoga class and take some time to be in my physical body and relax. For at least an hour, I let go of work and just concentrated on the breath, my body, and the calm dim room.

I’m feeling good about days like this, even it takes a judicious amount of soothing my cranky inner child in order to get through the day. Thich Naht Hanh, a Buddhist and Nobel peace prize winning author I’ve been reading lately, advocates soothing yourself like a crying infant when anger or frustration pops up. Instead of simply calming myself down, I try to extend love and caring thoughts toward the part of me that is feeling bad. It works better than simply trying to smooth over the difficult emotion! At least it does for me.