The key to happiness is STILL here, in the prezent moment.
Your weekly dose of zen is here to get you by. Take as needed.
The only mindfulness email YOU will ever need has just arrived & it’s in your inbox. This is pretty cool! It means so much to have you apart of this experience so thank you for joining. Enjoy!
***before you read on—It would mean soooo much to me if you were to quickly take a moment to join the zen weekly (private) Facebook group. You can do that by clicking -> HERE so that we can engage & talk about things we care about or use it as a space when we need support. Hope to see you there.***
Forgetfulness Or Mindfulness?
Most ppl are forgetful; they are not really here nor there. Their minds are caught up in worries, fears, anger, & regrets, and because that’s so, they’re not mindful of being here in the present moment.
That state of being is called forgetfulness.
The opposite of forgetfulness is mindfulness. Mindfulness is when you’re truly present, together with your mind & body. It’s when you’re fully aware of everything that’s going on inside and outside of yourself. It’s the state of being, which sets conditions for us to find joy, peace, & satisfaction out of life. So let us be here, now.
Smile, breathe, & go slow.
-Thich Nhat Hanh
Here’s the LOC breakdown for you to preview what you’re getting in this email (at a glance):
Mindful Insights (As usual —You get the first look at the (1)Mindful Monday IG post before anybody else; (2)Awesome fb groups I’m apart of that may interest you. (3) a few TiKToks worth tuning into.
Mindful Weekly Challenge (A mindful challenge for the next time you watch a movie)
Mindful Approach ( journey towards the 8 pillars of mindfulness. This week we continue on with awareness & attn. And I created a body scan guided meditation for you to practice.
Mindful Reflection (reflecting on mindfulness in general)
Mindful Insights
1) See it FIRST 👀
Mindful Monday IG post
1) caption —
While meditating, we often (in most cases) close our eyes to what’s going on around us. From an outsiders perspective, that may seem like an act of self indulgence & selfishness. They may think that concentrating on yourself & forgetting about the existence of life outside of you is wrong. They may also feel that with so many problems, worries, & concerns existing all over, that sitting in silence doesn’t serve any good deeds to bettering the world.
Meditation is a practice where the goal is to help improve our ability to notice things within & outside of ourselves. It also helps us to become conscious regarding our thoughts, flowing in and out.
The first stage of meditation is to acknowledge that you are living in this moment. You are living life by making wise decisions to create a happier, healthier and more fulfilling life. You take lead by first making the most of your present life so you can spread happiness to those around you. Meditation in the early stage is to gain awareness of your body and let your senses guide you to peace and tranquility.
Meditation reconnects us to reality. It helps to center us, to find peace, so that we can then transcend peace to those around us. So I don’t think meditation is selfish, but rather selfless.
2) So ofcourse I’ve been pushing the zen weekly private group onto you because I really want you to be apart of this group with me lol. I created it for you and I think it’ll be super helpful to have us together in one space to just talk about the things we really care about. (SO please don’t hesitate to join). Join here
And Since on the topic of Facebook groups…there’s a couple of other really powerful groups I’m apart of that I thought you may be interested in. I’m not looking to flood you with so many different groups to join or be apart of, but I feel that I know when something has value and it would be unlike me to not share.
One of the Facebook groups I’m apart of is called: RESILIENCE which is a community that supports mental health by engaging with its members both online and irl to encourage positive group activity & communication. You can learn more about them by clicking on the word “resilience” above.
And another group that I feel you may find interest in is: Spirituality Mastermind which is a place to go to if you’re in touch with your spiritual self and looking to share your truth and connect with other like minded individuals who speak and think of the very things you may be thinking about. You can also learn more by clicking on the Blue link above.
3) Okay Okay so TIKTOK. If you aren’t on it, why not? While it may considerably be seen as a distraction, it can also serve as a useful tool. I see it almost as my great escape—A place I can turn too if I want to laugh, get in my feels, or simply learn. So Here I share with you just a few tiktokers I follow that serve a purpose for my life and may do the same for you. (:
https://vm.tiktok.com/J6EDrKM/ —clay sculptor
https://vm.tiktok.com/J6EB49W/ —self care comics
https://vm.tiktok.com/J6EdnMW/ —just a bunch of cool life hacks
https://vm.tiktok.com/J6Eduuu/ —fun acting duet videos
https://vm.tiktok.com/J6ESKQm/ —an amazing hip hop dancer
Mindful Challenge
Mindful Approach
So last week, I introduced the two most important building blocks of mindfulness: attention & the present moment (awareness). I also shared a 1 minute exercise for you to try with three questions to reflect on afterwards.
(Which if you didn’t get a chance to try it, you can find the exercise by clicking here)
The goal of that exercise was to allow you to see how much attention goes to thoughts. If you gave it a try, you may have noticed that the mind is all over the place. The mind may have said things like, “This is crazy, what’s the use of this?” OR it may have created thoughts or images of the past or future.
It’s interesting because the mind is so POWERFUL. It can be such a beneficial tool but it can also be something considerably difficult to keep under control. In most instances, thoughts are driving us, rather than the other way around. We just have to learn to work with the complexities because that’s how we can aim to getting close in being able to cultivate a sense of control over ourselves & our lives.
This week we’re finishing up with atn & present moment awareness. Below you will find a “body scan” guided meditation” as I mentioned last week I would do for you.
Before you participate in the practice, a couple of things I’d like to share with you first:
During this session, try at your very best to pay EXTRA atn to the tendency of the mind to wander & become occupied by thoughts of the past or the future. Notice but resist the urge to judge yourself.
You may notice that the simple instruction to stay focused on a certain body part in the present moment to be difficult because…thoughts take over ofcourse. This is natural and it just shows you how little control that so many of us have over our thoughts. Just when you notice your mind wandering, kindly bring it back to the present.
The body scan is a powerful tool to train both our ability to notice when our atn is wrapped up in our thoughts and the ability to bring our atn back to the present moment after this awareness.
Hope this practice is helpful & that it serves a sense of purpose for you. Try to lean into the practice with patience, self compassion, and acceptance of whatever arises during it. Be sure to add yourself to the private zen weekly group so that we can talk afterwards about the experience you had.
**NEXT WEEK — we’ll begin talking about the second pillar: automaticity— because most of the problems we tend to have when it comes to elevating ourselves is part due to the automatic patterns or habits we have.
Mindful Reflection
As I’ve come to understand, mindfulness is about being able to recognize what’s happening in this very moment & then allowing ourselves to experience whatever is present (whether it’s negative or positive), without judging it as a good or bad thing.
It’s NOT about striving.
Ppl think they have to be good at something in order to benefit off of it. But if you strive to be more mindful, (saying things like, “I should work harder,” OR “I want to/should be more mindful”) you’re introducing a future goal state. So essentially what you’re doing is continuously putting your focus & awareness onto the fact that you’re not there yet.
Mindfulness is about letting go & connecting to the present moment rather than striving so hard for the future. Create a goal, yes. And work towards your goals but srsly be mindful— it doesn’t have to be with such tunnel vision. Look around you. Slow it down. Breathe (3breathstoSelfRegulate)
So that’s it for this week. Thank you soo much for reading my friend. Hope you have a blessed week. Stay preZENt 😉
Namaste.
I’m Victor.
Or the mindfulness guy.
I aim to find calm & balance in my life through inspirations between alternative Eastern traditional Buddhism styles of meditation & mindfulness, as well as modern secular styles too.
I believe that we ALL have the capacity to create greatness for ourselves & I’m willing to show you how.
you can find me hanging out on:
Instagram —@2whomitmayconcrn_
Facebook — @iamzenrn
TikTok — @iamzenrn
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https://www.iamzenrn.com
~I’m here to hold space for you because you deserve it.~
Victor Padilla