Release of Judgement
Here is our final day of our mindfulness spring cleaning! If you haven't already, be sure to complete the daily exercises found here and here. We are spending three days doing a thorough spring cleaning of the mind to help ourselves reset for the season. Each day we follow a brief, less than 10 minutes, exercise in the morning and evening. The goal of this 3 day program is to give you a hard reset into the renewal for spring. Of course the more you try to force something, the harder it is to happen so we highly encourage not to spend more than 10 minutes on each of these exercises. As your day and night progresses, your subconscious will continue to work on what we focused on in each of these practices and allow you to continually find new insights and wisdom over the course of the week.
Morning - Releasing Your Judgment
It is easy to be judgy. Being judgy implies nothing is ever to your standards and you are above everyone around you. Having a critical way can be helpful in small doses, but too much of it can be indicative of a safety net. You never have to admit what you like and risk being wrong when you hate everything. It is a safe place but not a place that allows for human connection or growth. This morning we are going to tackle a bit of our own inner judgments. I for one know this is something I have to work on because I often find myself looking down on those around me. It is a problem that is a handmaiden to ambitious people. You want more, you strive to be your best, and therefore you judge those around you who can't seem to get it together and even yourself when you don't progress the way you expect yourself too. When you are ready, we are going to take a mini tour through our judgment.
Start with your mindful breathing and body scan. Work through your body from head to toe feeling and experiencing each part and relaxing them. Make note of the places that hurt or hold tension. Move from your eyes, your worry lines and forehead furrowing, release your jaw and allow your mouth to be lax instead of in a tight lipped expression. Let your head fall side to side and release the tension in your neck. Roll your shoulders forward and back and let them drop to your sides. Stretch your arms up overhead and stretch over your legs. Release your arms, back and hamstrings. Rotate your wrists and ankles and wiggle your fingers and toes. You should be completely relaxed and open now.
Once you have achieved this, bring your mind to something that you look down upon. Be it a person or an idea, from something light like noisy chewing to serious like political parties. Let yourself sit with these judgy thoughts for some time. If there are several things that start coming to your head, let them all come, feel your shift in your body and mood. Likely much of the work we just did to relax you is undone now. You are now back to feeling and perhaps looking tense. With this knowledge release your judgments. You don't have to understand or agree with everything in the world or within yourself in order to be happy in this life. You can find happiness and love without having every facet of everything agreeing with you. Breathe in deeply and exhale out the tension the judgment brought to you. Do this several times till you find yourself relaxed again.
Evening - Reward Yourself with Sleep
As you finish the last day of this spring cleaning, you may find yourself more exhausted than usual. Digging up different emotions and processing them in quick ways can bring out all sorts of emotions, reactions and feelings. If you find yourself a little more tired than usual, or conversely with more energy, either way you may have trouble sleeping tonight. So to prepare for bed tonight we will do a sensory exercise with some hot tea for bedtime. Take your favorite, stimulate free herbal tea before going to bed. Pour your water and watch it heat up slowly, listen for the signs that the water is getting hotter. The sudden commotion in the kettle that intensifies until it clicks off or makes a whistle. Pour your hot water over your tea and let the heat of the steam hit your face. Breathe in the smell of the herbs in your tea and relax in this space. Now gaze at your tea and watch the water slowly change color. See it go from beige to deep amber. Remove your bag and throw it away and again smell your tea. Shut your eyes and take your first sip, fully tasting the essence of the tea. Breathe in and out deeply and completely. We are not perfect but we are ourselves and no one can take that away from us. Over the past few days we have learned some things about ourselves, some earth shattering some just hum drum, but we are moving forward, we are getting better and stronger. Every day in every way we are getting better and better. Hold these thoughts while you finish your tea. If feelings of guilt, doubt or shame come to you, simply let the tea wash those feelings away and replace them with love, happiness and hope. After all, spring is all about renewal and new life. Feel your life growing and changing in positive ways as you finish your tea and drift to sleep.
We hope you found this 3 day mindfulness series insightful. Reach out to us with your thoughts and questions at info@bullionite.com.