Mindful Moments for Busy Moms

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The On-Demand Mom

As moms, we rarely get much of a break. It seems our children instinctively know when we get on the phone or finally sit down in the bathroom and that’s when the cries of “Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!” begin.

Even when we’re not home, they manage to find ways to pepper us with questions.

Exhibit A

a screenshot of my son’s texts to me while I was traveling for work and apparently not responding quickly enough to his inquiries

This is why I wrote my book Mindful Moments for Busy Moms: Daily Meditations and Mantras for Greater Calm, Balance, and Joy. As a busy mother myself, I know that you may only have a few moments for formal mindfulness and meditation during your day — not hours!

Each meditation and mantra in the book is short (like 65-100 words short!), and is intended to be a simple practice that you can do formally (sitting on the couch, or in the car in the parking lot), or informally (during the two deep breaths you take when your child throws his cereal on the floor for the fifth time). You can read one meditation a day (there are, conveniently, 365 of them!). Or you can use the index to find the meditation that you need right now (there are entries for “tantrums”, “teenagers”, “tension”, and “triggers”, just to name a few entries from the T section).

To give you a taste of these practices, I’m including five of the meditations from the book below.

AND, to make things SUPER exciting, I’m giving away THREE copies of the book!!! Just enter the giveaway at the bottom of this post. The giveaway is open now through August 5, 2018!*

 

*Open to US mailing addresses only, please.

Mindful Moments for Busy Moms

Relax Your Face

This simple exercise will help you to become mindful of any tension you hold in your face and help you relax. Take a deep breath, and bring your awareness to your face. Unclench your teeth, and allow your jaw to relax or even drop open. Release any holding in your cheeks. Unfurrow your brow. Feel your breath gently entering your nose, and then gliding over your lips as you exhale. Allow your entire face to be soft and at rest.

Listen Mindfully

Close your eyes, and just listen. You don’t have to “work hard” at hearing — just allow the sounds to come to you. Can you hear any sounds from within your body? Do you hear your breath? What can you hear in this room? Outside this room? If you don’t really notice any sounds, just note that. Any time we bring our attention to the present moment, we cultivate focus and stillness. And sometimes, silence.

Meditation Interruptus

As a mother, the chances that your quiet meditation session will be interrupted are approximately 100 percent. But when your peaceful silence is broken by a young person needing your attention, the meditation doesn’t need to end. You can simply shift your awareness from your breath to your child. Mindfulness is about paying attention to whatever is happening right now. During formal practice, breathing is happening, and when your child arrives, parenting is happening. You can bring your kind and careful attention to this moment with your child.

Keep Your Sense of Humor

You know the phrase, “Some day you’ll look back on all this and laugh?” Given what we know about our ability to sustain attention and remember things, we probably won’t et around to laughing at it “some day,” so why not today? Can you be so present with what’s happening that you see not only the difficult, but the hilarious? Yes, it’s annoying when you need to leave the house and your five-year-old is running around in his underwear humming the “Star Wars” theme while pretending to wield a light saber, but that’s also really funny. So go ahead and laugh.

All the Terrible Things

Mark Twain supposedly once quipped, “I’ve been through a lot of terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.” Can you notice the times when you allow yourself to get completely caught up in the drama and trauma of an event that is not actually happening? When you catch yourself doing this, see if you can remember Twain’s mocking words, and remind yourself to focus on what is actually happening.

Enter the Giveaway!

Enter to win one of three copies of Mindful Moments for Busy Moms. This giveaway will close at 12AM Sunday, August 5th, and winners will be notified within 48 hours.

Entries are limited to US mailing addresses only.

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