Tag Archives: self-care

Moments to be Mindful

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This week I would like to share a few examples of mindfulness. Goodness knows we can all use a few more.

Some of the these ideas are mine, and others come from friends, co-workers, and family members. One was contributed by our chocolate Labrador retriever (may her memory be a blessing), though it was honestly more of a demonstration.

Nourishing oneself comes in many different forms and flavors. Food is what I usually think of first when it comes to being nourished, but the truth is that we also nourish ourselves with peace and quiet, regrouping, putting away cellphones, taking our brains off the rail, being kind to ourselves, spending time alone and with people we love. Here are some of the examples I came up with, but please add your own below in the comments section. 

Being present.

Being in the moment without judgment.

Sitting on the banks of your life and watching the moments float by.

Stopping the chatter.

Clearing your mind of the detritus.

Thinking about your rib cage expanding and contracting.

Feeling cooler breath move through your nose when you inhale, and warmer breath move out on the exhale.

Being more reflective, and less reactive. 

Feeling your entire torso—front, back, and sides—grow and shrink with each breath.

Appreciating the power of stillness.

Taking the time to think before you act.

Noticing your thoughts and feelings and not identifying with or acting on them.

Being a dog.

Appreciating the rarefied air of nowhere.

Sitting in your space and taking in everything that’s going on.

Choosing to be mindful while standing in line at the grocery store.

In addition to meditative practices, you can practice mindfulness with: 

  • Massage.
  • Planting flowers.
  • Doing yoga.
  • Taking a hike in the woods. 
  • Going fishing.
  • Sitting by a fire.
  • Curling up with a good book.
  • Eating lunch outside.
  • Taking a pottery class.
  • Treating yourself to a pedicure or manicure.
  • Walking the dog.
  • Knitting or crocheting.
  • Joining a book club with friends.
  • Enjoying a cup of tea.
  • Doing a hands-on craft like woodworking or painting.
  • Going camping under the stars.
  • Writing in a journal.
  • Watching the sun rise or set.
  • Going for a swim.
  • Listening to folk music, classical music, or whatever floats your boat.
  • Sailing on the waters.

Discipline is Remembering What You Want

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Years ago, in the weeks prior to starting medical school, my brother-in-law gave me a small card with a message in calligraphy: “Discipline is remembering what you want.” I affixed it to the wall of my new study carrel where it remained for a long time until, years later, I passed it along to a friend who needed it more than I. Continue reading →

Your Health is in Your Heart

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Good morning, and happy Sunday. Today I am sharing a conversation I had with a patient once some years ago. She was someone I had never met before, and was, like many before her, completely flummoxed about what to try next. With a personal goal of weight loss, she had already done everything she could think of, and then some. I know you know this story. I myself have told it many times before. There is a good chance you may even have experienced it yourself. Maybe you have experimented with practically every diet, including the dreaded cabbage soup diet, denied yourself your favorite foods, carved out time you didn’t really have to get more exercise than was comfortable at the time. Of course none of this is sustainable. You can’t eat cabbage soup for breakfast forever. So what comes next?  Continue reading →

Old-Fashioned Gratitude

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Many years ago, when I was eleven years old, my parents bought a Corning Cooktop stove, a fancy new appliance whose coils remained white even when they were hot. You simply had to take it on faith — or not. No matter how long I stared at that new stovetop, I could not convince myself that the white coils were hot. And that is why I still remember so clearly, this many years later, the perfectly oval burn on the tip of my right index finger. I touched it only once, but that was enough. It was all it took. I couldn’t take anyone else’s word for it.  Continue reading →

Mindfulness

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Mindfulness is my own personal word-of-the-decade. Mindfulness is the polar opposite of multitasking, which is not at all what it sounds like. Despite popular opinion, multitasking does not enable you to get a whole bunch of different things done all at once. When you multitask, what you are actually doing is switching your attention incessantly from one focus to another, and giving none your full consideration. To multitask is to invest heavily in attention-switching at the expense of learning. A waste of your precious energy, multitasking frazzles your nerves and impairs your ability to focus. 

The antidote to multitasking is mindfulness. Continue reading →

Eating Well and Being Kind to Yourself (with recipe)

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I come from a family of knitters. Our family lore includes a story about my mother and maternal grandmother knitting at the movies, with my 10-year-old mom doing the “easy” parts, and passing it to her mother for the sleeves and shaping. And the fact that my grandmother volunteered to knit the less popular dark blue sweaters for the Navy instead of khaki sweaters for the Army. It didn’t matter to her because she could knit in the dark. 

So when I finally decided that it was time for me to learn to knit, it was a little overwhelming. I took some books out of the library, one of which said to make your projects with the best yarn you can afford because the results will be better, and you’ll be more pleased with the finished product. That resonated with me, because it’s exactly what I say about food. Continue reading →

Three Pillars of Wellness

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I’ve been writing a monthly column for the Cleveland Jewish News since last year, and today I’d like to share one of the posts I wrote early on.

Wellness is like a pyramid with three pillars: eating patterns, activity patterns, and rest & relaxation patterns.

There’s tremendous synergy among these three pillars. You go for a great walk; you sleep better that night. You get a lousy night’s sleep; you circle the vending machines (or the fridge) all day. You eat too much; you don’t feel like moving. Everything is connected, so we can make small changes feel like a million bucks.

You don’t need to train for the Olympics. You just need to move. How much? A little bit more than before. If that means a 5-minute walk after breakfast instead of hanging out on the couch, then 5 minutes it is. If it means adding 10 minutes of stretching before your daily 2-mile run, then give it a try. Small changes, beginning wherever you are today. Continue reading →

Words of Thich Nhat Hanh

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I have had a daily meditation practice for just over six years now. I started with one-minute meditation, which I have taught to many people over the years. I like to think of it as a good way to start. One minute is not very much time, and I have generally found that just about everyone is willing to dedicate a single minute to meditating. It’s really just a minute: you breathe in for 5 seconds, and then breathe out for 5 seconds. That’s your warmup; now do it 5 more times. That’s it. One minute. You’re done.

When I first started meditating, I did not really know the reason or the purpose. I just did it to see what would happen. I only knew that I liked listening to what people who meditated regularly said about their experience. So I thought I’d try it for myself. I don’t know what I expected. Next time I’ll talk more about how those first years went. This week I want to talk about the words of a man named Thich Nhat Hanh. Continue reading →

Remembering What You Want

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In the weeks prior to starting medical school, my brother-in-law gave me a small card with a calligraphied message: Discipline is remembering what you want. I soon affixed it to the wall of my new study carrel, where it remained for a long time until, years later, I passed it along to a friend who needed it more than I.

Continue reading →

Sometimes You’ve Gotta Go Slow

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A while back I learned that race car drivers have a saying: “Sometimes you’ve gotta go slow to go fast.” If you want to shave seconds off your time, in other words, you need to slow down as you head into the curve. If you want to keep up, sometimes you need to back off a little. It’s especially true right now. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re actually headed into the roughest part of the pandemic. I had no idea that this whole year was just a dress rehearsal for the real thing. Continue reading →