Big Little Practice #3: 7 “Big Little Practices” That Will Transform Your Health
In case you’re just joining me on this 7-part series, I’m sharing 7 Big Little Practices that will transform your health.
This series is inspired by something my mentor told me more than once: “The little things are the big things.”
So then, when we think about health and wellness, the same rings true – it’s the little healthy practices that you cultivate over time that lead to the big transformations.
If you missed the first two “Big Little Practices,” be sure to catch up on them.
Today, I’m going to share with you Big Little Practice #3.
Big Little Practice #3: Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a hot word these days.
So is meditation, but let’s make sure not to confuse the two.
Meditation is something you do to develop mindfulness.
Mindfulness is simply the ability to pay attention to what’s going on inside of you in the present moment.
Let’s also not mistake simple with easy.
Mindfulness is simple, but it’s not easy – that’s why many use meditation to develop mindfulness.
Confused?
Here’s what you need to know.
I’m sure you’ve heard of being “mindful” maybe when it comes to your food choices – mindful of what you eat or mindful of when you’re full.
Again, it’s about paying attention, being in the here and now, so you can make the right decisions for yourself.
Otherwise, it’s so easy to let yourself go down a path and not realize how you got there.
So yes, mindfulness is great for your nutrition goals, but I want to talk about developing this Big Little Practice of mindfulness for our self-talk.
You see, something I get asked a lot is, “Kim, how can I get rid of my negative self-talk?”
Different people might have different answers to this, but here’s mine: You can’t. You just have to (here we go) “be mindful” of when it’s happening and decide what to do with it.
The problem is not having negative self-talk – we all do at times.
These might be negative thoughts about ourselves or beating ourselves up about something we did or didn’t do, or something we are or are not.
We can’t control our thoughts – they come and go as they please, but when you develop this Big Little Practice of mindfulness, you are able to more quickly notice what’s going on and then shift your mindset.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to tell you what thoughts are okay to dwell on and which ones are not.
If beating yourself up works for you for some reason, then who am I to tell you to stop doing that.
However, in my experience, we women tend to punish ourselves over and over again and it usually doesn’t lead to positive things.
Instead, it can lead to unhealthy, self-destructive activities and too much of this negative self-talk quickly leads to low self-esteem and self-worth.
That leads to more unhealthy choices and so on.
So, we can’t control our thoughts, but we can control our response to them.
But again, this is easier said than done because if you haven’t practiced being mindful, then it’s hard to notice when you’re having these thoughts – instead, you just have them and let them sit there.
Like I mentioned earlier, one of the ways to develop mindfulness is through meditation.
If you’re not into that, that’s okay – there’s another method that I use instead called a Take 5.
I’ve talked about this before, but if you missed it, it’s a mindfulness practice that only takes a few minutes.
You can do it once a day or multiple times a day.
It’s really helped me return to the present moment if I’ve found my mind lingering in the past or projecting into the future.
To do a Take 5, you simply bring your mind into the present moment by noticing something you see or hear, or by thinking about something that’s going right for you right now.
Then, you press your feet into the ground and straighten your spine as you take five breaths – inhaling for a count of 5 and exhaling with a count of 5.
The aim is to stay focused on the breath throughout those five breaths.
So I guess you can call this a “mini-meditation.”
What I love about this is that you don’t need a special meditation cushion on which you sit cross-legged with your index finger and thumb touching and eyes closed.
No, you can do this while standing in line at the grocery store or while driving (and yes, you can keep your eyes open for this, especially if you’re driving!).
I do this frequently throughout the day and it has really helped me be aware of when my mind goes places I’d prefer it not to.
This practice helps bring me back to the here and now and allows me to take charge of my negative thoughts and shift my mind in the direction I want it to go.
Your call-to-action this week is to consider developing a mindfulness practice.
It can be starting that meditation practice you’ve been putting off or it can be something even simpler like my Take 5 practice.
Regardless, practice being mindful of your thoughts because your thoughts lead to actions – unhealthy thoughts often lead to unhealthy actions, while healthy thoughts often lead to healthy actions.
For this reason, developing a mindfulness practice is Big Little Practice #3.
I’ll see you next week for Big Little Practice #4!
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It’s Your Turn to Take Care of You!
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