Three Simple Mindfulness Techniques for the Busy Parent
Just be more mindful about things…
Stop stressing out so much…
Live more in the moment…
Who has time to do these things and what does it even mean?! If you tell me to stop stressing out…I will start stressing out about being stressed out! And even if you do start doing something new to improve your current situation, do you even finish it?
I have been there… with a full-time stressful and emotionally draining job, kids, husband, and I am naturally a sensitive, anxious person. I found myself with gastrointestinal problems, migraines, overweight, and no energy at the end of the day. Something had to change. And if you are in this same position and want to have a more fulfilling life, then keep reading.
- YOU WILL FAIL if you think you are going to meditate, do yoga, be more positive, and practice gratitude every day. Start small…start with one mindful strategy: try it out and re-evaluate. If it works, keep it going and add on another mindfulness technique. If it doesn’t, try something else, but keep going. Whatever you do, don’t quit. You will find out the sweet spot if you keep going. (write that on your mirror).
- Since you are already scheduling everything else in your life, establish a reminder system to be more mindful. Seriously. When you schedule your dentist appointment, kids soccer games, meal plan, go over your “to do list” add in your mindfulness task on your calendar with an alarm to remind you. What makes you think you will remember on your own to be mindful when you are already too busy? Schedule it.
- If you are too busy to add on an hour of something then add it on to an already established habit/routine/ritual. My favorite example of this is the bathroom mindfulness routine. Make it a part of your routine.
Here is an example:
- Decide you will practice being in the moment. Simple enough.
- Schedule it on your calendar: Shower mindfully with your alarm that already wakes you up. Write it on your bathroom mirror to remind you.
- Take a shower with the INTENTION of cleaning your body and mind. Visualize the water clearing your thoughts, negativity, and energizing you. Instead of going through your “to do list” feel the water, the soap, the warmth…ahhhhh. Much better. Makes you want to wake up and take that shower, Right?!
DONE! You are practicing being in the moment.
To get started make a list of things that you enjoy doing or want to try doing. Here is my list to help you.
- Shower Meditation
- Listen to a wake-up morning music playlist
- Take 3 deep breaths every time I go to the bathroom (let go while I let it go).
- Stretch at 10 and 2 when my brain goes numb
- Say a prayer or say something we are thankful for at dinner WITH MY KIDS
- Set a reminder on my phone every day to “Schedule my mindful task”
- Listen to a meditation when I go to bed INSTEAD of Facebook
Once you practice mindfulness with everyday things that are practical and meaningful… you will start to feel more successful. When you feel more successful… you feel more confident. When you feel more confident… you will start to practice more mindfulness in other areas of your life. It is like a ripple effect. And it is exactly what we do with our kids every day. We set them up for success and we need to do the same thing for ourselves. The other thing we do with kids to change their behaviors is replace the negative behavior with a positive behavior. This is called Positive Behavior Replacement. Despite us being adults, we are human and we need this just as much as our kids do.
And lastly, this is practice. You will never “achieve” this…you will PRACTICE this your whole life. Mindfulness isn’t a destination, it is a process.
About the Author:
Natalie, blogger behind Familiar Embrace, can be found on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Starting small is essential to creating any routine, but especially when it comes to increasing mindfulness! This is a very thoughtful post, because it’s so important to live a life without crazy stress
Absolutely! Starting small and creating little routines goes a long way!
This post has some great tips on how to be mindful. I definitely need to use these techniques to help eliminate some stress.
I hope it helps Brittany! Thanks for reading!
This is perfect and great. I try to follow all of this but sometimes life can get in the way. Thanks for the great reminder!
Yes, life will do that! Just have to keep moving. Progress is not linear…its a crazy up and down graph.
These are great! I have such a problem remembering to be mindful and I think its because I don’t schedule it
I know! Such a simple thing to do that is easily overlooked!
Thanks so much for these great tips! I can absolutely relate to the “being stressed about being stressed”. It’s so silly! I’ve always been a bit intimidated by this mindfulness approach – my brain always starts racing with to-do lists when I try to quiet it down. Your tip to start small is so important. I look forward to following your steps 🙂
Yes, I was the same as you. Didn’t realize how simple it was and that I was already doing it for years before I called it “mindfulness” Take something you like and do it with more purpose. Let me know how it goes!
I’ve been thinking about this for awhile. Thanks for the great, easy-to-incorporate tips!
Simple is my game. If it’s not simple, I struggle with it. If it’s complicated, I try to break it down and make it simple. Perception becomes your reality!
I am very interested in mindfulness and found the tips here really helpful! I like idea of shower mindfulness. I have listened to a meditation at bedtime and have found that very helpful — and it leads to much better sleep!
I am glad that you found this meaningful! What meditation do you do at bedtime?
This is so perfect. PRacticin mindfulness is something I try all the time. I always need to reduce stress!
Yes, stress is always lurking around the corner. Got to put that bad thing in time-out!
Starting small seems to be the key. I think it is harder to achieve if you try to dive into too much at once. I like the idea of practicing in the shower!
Two birds with one stone! Cleaning your mind and your body.
These are great tips. I am really focusing on mindfulness with my kids at school this year and many of these can be adapted for them. Thank you so much for sharing.
Good for you! And those kids will thank you! They should make that part of a school curriculum requirement!
Mindfulness is so important, and it is great advice to start out small! Shower meditation is one I keep hearing over and over, I might have to make that part of my routine.
It’s super easy to do. Once it’s a habit you will never do a “typical” shower again. If the only thing I did that day was take a mindful shower, then I am glad I did something!
This is really great advice, but I love especially the idea of “starting small.’ If we think about the bigger picture, we often get overwhelmed, but if we look at small pieces of the puzzle, it’s not nearly as bad. Thanks so much for sharing this, and hope you have a wonderful weekend, momma!!
You too! Thanks Charlotte! Baby steps!
Love all of these awesome tips and suggestions! Being mindful and taking time to savor the moment is a huge part of self care. As parents, we need to remember that caring for ourselves is important too.
100% agree. I have an email self care challenge for people getting started out. Self care was a major game changer for me!
I recommend ignoring the pressure to overschedule. Kids are perfectly happy playing around the house. No need to get stressed by running from activity to activity.
Yes pressure can be damaging if used in the wrong way for sure.
I’m always looking for new ways to help with my stress and anxiety and this was extremely helpful! Definitely saving this for future reference!
That is great Jessie! I hope you can make some progress! Feel free to reach out to me anytime!
I’m such a huge fan of mindfulness. It has absolutely changed my life in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Finding time to stick it into my day can be tough but I do try 🙂
I have to be sneaky about it myself. Any act of mindfulness is better than none at all.
These are wonderful tips. I have to schedule everything, or else I will forget or not make it a priority. So scheduling in mindfulness seems like the best thing for me. Thanks for sharing these tips!
Yes, my husband says I have a gold fish brain for a memory. Reminders, alarms, apps, and my calendar keep me on track.
These are great tips! I feel like I am always a ball of stress, and need to work on changing it, as I don’t want my kids to remember me like that.
I love the saying “you can’t pour from an empty cup!” Boy is that true for us busy parents. Plus when you take care of yourself you are a good role model for your kids.
YES! I need to slow life down a bit and be more mindful and intentional. Summer rowdiness has overcome my sweet chill boys and they too need to work on this. LOL Thank you for your reminder. I have slacked on waking up earlier to have some me time and I can feel the difference. Gotta get back into routine.
I love waking up before my kids to slowly enjoy my cup of coffee…but I equally like sleep. It is a fine balance 🙂 My intention this summer is to sllooooowwwww down.
I think scheduling the mindfulness practices in would help me a lot. I really do want to start living in the moment more!
Once you get started and your brain is trained in doing this, you won’t need as many reminders. But it is good for starting out. There are a few apps too that can notify you to “check in” with yourself too.
Great tips!! I love the idea of scheduling yourself quiet time. The bathroom mindfulness routine is genius and I will definitely have to try that.
Some days the bathroom is the only alone time I can get. So why not maximize that time! I also implement this when I am driving too.
This is great! Mindfulness is so important especially in such a fast pace world! Thanks for sharing these ideas!
Yes, fast paced is an understatement. I love the ocean and anywhere in nature, where I feel like time slows down. Since we can’t get away as often as we like, it is important to create that for ourselves.
Thanks for sharing! It’s always good to find time to be mindful during the hectic day.
yes! The more you practice the better you get, hectic day or not!
I definitely need to practice being more mindful. I like the idea of practicing in the shower. I will try that.
Showers should be relaxing!!! Especially if you pair it with good smelling soaps!
These are great ideas for sure! Thanks for the suggestions. I will have to try some.
Hope you find something good and meaningful!
I’m definitely the type of person who gets stressed out about being stressed out. I need to schedule time for reducing stress. I know I hold myself accountable if it’s written down, so I just need to commit time to it.
This post is so helpful to me! I am always planning to do mindfulness and self care every day but I get so caught up in my work that another day slips by and I forget to practice mindfulness. I love how you say that many of us can’t do yoga and meditate and say a gratitude prayer every day, so that reminds me to be realistic and to take small steps. Recommending that I schedule it and use notes and alarms is so smart too! Thank you.
Scheduling mindfulness is a good idea!
Absolutely agree on starting small. I’ve tried this so many times and it’s because I’ve started all or nothing and failed to continue with it. Great post!.
I think I need to start meditating before I go crazy. I am half listening all the time.
This is so interesting! I never thought about setting reminders for mindfulness or adding it to things I already do every day. Thanks so much for sharing!! I will definitely keep these in mind 😉
xo, Taylor (thesprinkle.tayloramead.com)
Great tips. I’m going to start back listening to my meditation podcasts. I’ve been slacking on being mindful lately.
I’ve had the same issues with anxiety, gastrointestinal issues, and extra weight during stressful periods of my life. Mindfulness is something that I’ve always known would help, but it’s felt kind of inaccessible – like “just be mindful all the time! Ready, go!” Not super helpful!
This post, on the other hand, is super accessible, and I really appreciate that. Visualizing clearing away all of the negativity in the shower as you’re literally cleansing your body makes a lot of sense to me… and if it helps me get out of bed on time in the morning, even better!
I practice mindfulness by just being in the moment. It is difficult to have so many different tasks in mind while doing something. I mean,when you are driving, just drive. Focusing is a difficult thing to do and it takes practice. Lots of practice. Thanks for the tips your provided. It will be a big help.