Now

This post was written for inclusion in the Mindful Mama Blog Carnival hosted by hosted by Kelly of Becoming Crunchy and Zoie of TouchstoneZ. Participants are writing posts about what mindfulness mean to them. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

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Given that I am in the midst of my own mindfulness challenge right now, one would think this month’s carnival topic would be easy for me. I should certainly know and understand what mindfulness means to me because if I didn’t, I would not be able to hone my mindful practices. Yet in this moment, I find it difficult to really pinpoint what mindfulness actually means to me and therein is my answer.

I am in this moment, writing, typing and listening to Foster the People on YouTube. In this moment, I’m peeking at the Emmy’s because Hugh Laurie is presenting an award and he is worth looking at. Now, I’m thirsty and I’ll reach for my glass of water, take a sip and feel the cool liquid slide down my throat, my esophagus and into my stomach. A few of my fingers are wet from the condensation. In this moment.

This is mindfulness. It means that I am not worrying about what tomorrow will bring, what food I will make or whether or not an apparent blockage in my kitchen piping will be fixed. I’m not thinking about how late I was to church this morning, how it would have been better for me to get up earlier or how I could have spent a lot more of my time searching for jobs.

It was an effort for me to think of each of those things because I had to reach out of the present moment where I’m listening to the typing of my fingers and the smooth talking of some British guy on TV. I don’t like to do that because it causes all sorts of unfortunate feelings of “regret” and worry that I do not wish to have in my life. Instead, I look intently at my screen, as it stands right now. I glance down at my hands when I don’t know what to say next. I look over at the TV when it distracts me. I switch windows when I need to break up my thoughts.

This is mindfulness and what it looks like moment to moment.

It means that I live now. Not yesterday or tomorrow, ten minutes ago or ten seconds from now; just now. Mindfulness is this moment and nothing else. Live it.

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Visit the Mindful Mama Blog Carnival Homepage to find out how you can participate in the next Mindful Mama Blog Carnival!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• An Alternative Approach to Parenting Mindfully Through Present Moment Awareness Amy at Peace 4 Parents offers an experience of present moment awareness as a pathway to mindful parenting.
• Define: Mindful Alicia C. at McCrenshaw describes the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings for Engaged Buddhism and attempts to describe how she can apply them to her non-Buddhist life on her new journey toward mindfulness.
• This is what mindfulness looks like in my life Charise @ I Thought I Knew Mama describes what mindfulness looks like in her life in the form of poetry.
• Practice, Practice, Practice: Becoming a Mindful Mother Erin at it's OK shares her definition of mindfulness, and her struggle to develop a regular practice.
• How Meditation Makes Me a More Mindful Mother Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares her methods for sneaking meditation into each and every day in an effort to dig deep and be the most mindful mother possible.
• A Simple Practice Kat at My Mental Oddities outlines a simple practice with children
• Our Family Mission Statement Patti @ Jazzy Mama writes about how living mindfully means living intentionally. She created her Family Mission Statement to help her family stay focused on their goals and values.
• I REALLY Miss Being Mindful! Tracie of Purposeful Practices shares what it’s like to find and then lose your mindfulness practice.
• My Job Made Me a Mindful Mother Amy at Anktangle tells a story about how a mindfulness practice she used to utilize in her job as a nurse still impacts the way she mothers her son today.
• Now Amanda at Let's Take the Metro shows how mindfulness is all about living in the moment.
• Stepping into the Unknown To Rachael at The Variegated Life, mindfulness is a way of stepping into the unknown.
• Derailed Kelly of Becoming Crunchy explores what mindfulness looks like in her new, somewhat more hectic life.
• Mindful Mama Zoie at TouchstoneZ learns to stop struggling by being present with uncomfortable realizations.

My Mindfulness Challenge

Welcome to the First Mindful Mama Carnival
This post was written for inclusion in the Mindful Mama Blog Carnival hosted by Zoie at TouchstoneZ. Participants are writing posts about what mindful practices mean to them, how they parent mindfully, obstacles to mindful practice and experiences along the way. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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For a long time, I have considered myself to be a mindful person or at the very least, significantly more mindful than the general population. Even so, I feel as though I've been less mindful about my mindfulness in recent years and I intend to change that.

The wonderful and amazing Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama has been working through a mindful mothering challenge for a while now and I think it is fantastic. However, I have not felt called to participate in this challenge (originally set forth by another blogger) even though I feel I should. Instead, it recently occurred to me to create my own challenge based on what I feel is most important for me to be mindful of (such as not ending a sentence with a preposition...).Thus, I have created the following list of challenges that I will work on over the coming weeks and post my progress as I feel able to. 

Challenge #1 - Gratitutde. I have already started working on this, but I plan to dive further into it until I literally live and exude thankfulness.

Challenge #2 - Words. I am someone who is already very careful about what she says, but I still have a long way to go to become someone who always speaks with love and respect towards everyone, including myself.

Challenge #3 - Eating. I've always been pretty good about this, but marriage has created some bad habits for me and I intend to change them.

Challenge #4 - Change. I love change, I embrace it and I welcome it. However, part of the art of mindfulness is changing ever so tiny things in our lives to keep our brains working and force us to live in the present moment by paying attention.

Challenge #5 - Prayer/Meditation - I have always believed in prayer and meditation, yet have never made it a regular practice. I think it's time I start a ritual of meditating daily.

Challenge #6 - Letting Go. Otherwise known as being mindful of my thoughts, I, um... will be more mindful of my thoughts.

Challenge #7 - Focus. Am I focusing on the right thing? Am I focusing at all? This challenge is designed to force me to live and focus on every moment.

Some of these challenges already seem incredibly daunting to me and I admit I am afraid of them. Nevertheless, I am always working to be the best me I can be and taking on challenges I am personally afraid of will set a positive example for my children and likely make me into a better mother for them. Here I go.

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Visit TouchstoneZ to find out how you can participate in the next Mindful Mama Blog Carnival!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• The Lost Art of Chill One Rich Mother explains how she overcame her habit of screaming through mindfulness
• Mindful Running Jenn @ Monkey Butt Junction shares how running has become her meditation.
• Mindful Mama...Who, Me? Kelly at Becoming Crunchy talks about why it's difficult for her to be a Mindful Mama.
• Ritual of Affirmations Patti @ Jazzy Mama finds out that a simple evening ritual can take on new importance when it is done with thoughtfulness and intent.
• My Mindfulness Challenge Amanda at Let's Take the Metro has set forth a mindfulness challenge for herself in an effort to become a better person.
• Keeping My Sanity by Losing My Mind CJ at Imperfect Happiness describes how she connects with reality by disconnecting from her mind.
• On Becoming an Aspiring Mindful Mama Melissa at The New Mommy Files has found that motherhood demands mindfulness, so she's working toward becoming a more mindful mama.
• Perfect and Complete, Lacking Nothing Rachael at The Variegated Life finds more time in the practice of being now.
• On Mindfulness and Multitasking Terri at Child of the Nature Isle reflects on how her mindful practices have changed since having children and how multitasking has been the key to maintaining a balanced life.
• I’ll Have What She’s Having Zoie at TouchstoneZ shares how she learned to trust in the “YES!”