Tag: gratitude

How to Cultivate Gratitude Every Day

Posted on by Allan Johnson in gratitude, habits

As the nights begin to grow longer and we move into our second national lockdown in the UK there is a fair amount of uncertainty, gloom, and worry hovering about our lives.  But now more than ever is an important time to reflect on all of the things that we are grateful for. Gratitude is a practice and an attitude that we can consciously cultivate every day of our lives through a series of simple, mindful exercises: 

Start a Gratitude Journal 

Keeping track of things that that we feel grateful for can have an amazingly positive impact on our wellbeing.  If you already have a regular journaling practice, you can begin list three things that you are grateful for in each entry.  If you do not already have a regular journaling practice, begin a gratitude journal simply by starting each day by writing down three things that you are grateful for.  Spending a brief moment to reflect on what you are grateful for is a fantastic way to start the day.

Notice the Simple Pleasures 

One of the best ways cultivate more gratitude in your life is to begin to pay attention to the small things that bring you pleasure: a beautiful flower, a perfect cup of coffee, a conversation with your partner.  In those moments, take just a brief second to reflect on the pleasure that you receive from the simple things in life.  

Look for the Positive in a Negative Situation

When you find yourself in a challenging situation reflect on what positive angle you might be able to find.  The worry of having to stay at home during lockdown, for instance, may seem negative, but it could likewise be an opportunity to catch up on books you’ve been meaning to read, complete some DIY, or try to recipes that you don’t usually have time for. 

One-Day No Complaints Challenge

For just one day, set a challenge to yourself to not complain.  This includes both complaints that you say aloud to others as well as complaints that are only in your head.  The one-day no complaints challenge can seem difficult at first, but has the amazing ability to shift your perceptions very quickly.  When you find yourself about to complain about something, pause long enough to reflect on how you might transform that complaint into a positive action. 

Give an Authentic Compliment

In our society we are often bad at both giving and receiving compliments, and we often worry about how others will receive the compliments that we give to them.  However, giving authentic, genuine compliments to those around you is not only a powerful way to acknowledge what you are grateful for but helps to make the world a happier and kinder place.  

15 Minutes for Meditation Before Bed

Posted on by Allan Johnson in meditation, mindfulness

A lot of people who recognise the many benefits of mediation wish that they had enough time in their day to sit down to meditate.  For many, the demands of work and family mean that there really isn’t enough time in the day for an hour of guided meditation or even the two 20-minute blocks that I recommend.  But the time right before we fall asleep, when we’re tucked into bed and winding down from the day, can be a really powerful and convenient opportunity for meditation.  Not only will using the 10 to 20 minutes before we fall asleep help to carve out a dedicated time for meditation each day, but it can also help to improve the quality and quantity of our sleep—great news for anyone who suffers from insomnia, restless sleep, or oversleeping.

Preparation

Meditation in bed requires somewhat different preparation than other forms of meditation.  Preparation begins an hour before you get into bed as you begin gradually slowing down, relaxing, and quieting your mind.   During this hour, do your best to avoid screens of any sort as you transition your body and mind away from the digital information world that shapes much of our experience.  Even though I love my MacBook and iPad as much as the next millennial, I keep a print book on my bedside table for nighttime reading (some people recommend choosing fiction over nonfiction for bedtime reading). If reading isn’t your thing, another gentle, enjoyably hobby in the hour before you get into bed can be really useful.  Use the time to knead your sourdough before its overnight bulk rise, get back to that unfinished puzzle, or begin a new painting.  Don’t be tempted to snack late into the evening, but a relaxing tea or turmeric in warm milk can assist your body in preparing for meditation and, eventually, for sleep. 

Meditation in Bed

While we often try to avoid falling asleep during meditation, a gentle, gradual movement into sleep is exactly what we are aiming for in bed meditation.  There are several techniques that we can use once we are in bed:

  1. Body scan: This traditional mindfulness technique is often performed lying down, so is the perfect tool to use for bed meditation.  Begin by drawing your focus and attention to your feet, gentling guiding your centre of consciousness to your feet and allowing it to rest there for 2-3 minutes.  Slowly move your centre of consciousness up to your legs, then your abdomen, chest, throat, and forehead, staying with each for 2-3 minutes. Be gentle and allow your emotions to express themselves in the ways they need to you as move through all parts of the body.  When you notice that your mind has begun to drift, gentle invite it to return to the body.
  2. Guided meditation: bed meditation is the perfect opportunity to listen to guided meditations.  Headspace and Insight Timer are two of the apps that I regularly use and love, but there are also countless free guided meditations and visualizations available online. The wide variety of recordings available mean that you can hone in on any particular issues that you faced during the day and select a meditation specifically suited to your needs in that particular moment.  If, for instance, you’re particularly stressed from work, dealing with disappointment, or hoping to expand your creativity, there will be guided meditations perfectly suited to your needs.
  3. Simple mantra: one of the simplest techniques for bed meditation is a simple breath-focused mantra that will regulate your breathing, relax your mind, and lead you gently into a deep sleep.  On the in-breath silently say the mantra ‘as I breathe in, I breathe in’ and on the out-breath silently say ‘as I breath out, I breathe out.’  As your mind begins to drift, you can graciously return its attention to the mantra and breath. 
  4. Yoga nidra: something of a combination of guided visualization, mindfulness, and gentle hypnosis, yoga nidra (or ‘yogic sleep’) is another outstanding technique for bed yoga.  This is something that you will almost certainly need an online recording to guide you through, but, with advanced training, yoga nidra practitioners are able to lead themselves through this deeply relaxing and restorative practice. 
  5. Gratitude: often overlooked as a form of mindfulness meditation, expression of gratitude can be a powerful way to calm and centre our mind in the moments before we fall asleep.  To practice this transformative form of meditation, we should situate ourselves comfortably in bed and then invite our mind to gradually move backwards through our day, pausing to reflect on each small moment that we are grateful for.  How many moments during our day have led to gratitude and joy?  By the time that we get all the way backward to reflect on the moment we woke up that morning, we will likely have already fallen asleep.    

Using the 10-20 minutes before we fall asleep as a time for meditation can help you to develop your daily meditation practice, even if our work and family life means that we never have much time for ourselves.