The Happier Life Project

Day 23: Mindful Eating Pt 2

Mindful eating is a technique to help you slow down, increase your awareness of your food, and promote healthy eating behaviors, while building a healthy relationship with food. In the second part of 2 episodes in the month of mindfulness challenge Gabby shares some ways to turn mindless eating into mindful eating and then guides you through an exercise to put this into practice. You will need a small piece of food such as a raisin, a grape, a shell / string of cooked pasta, an orange slice, a piece of cheese, a square from a chocolate bar etc.The more mindful you become throughout your day, the more mindful you'll become when you eat. And you may find that you're better able to make decisions about the food you consume.

Day 22: Mindful Eating Pt 1

Mindful eating is all about being aware of how we feel when we eat.The benefits of being mindful of the food you eat can encourage better digestion, keep you full with less food, and influence wiser choices about what you eat in the future. It can also help you free yourself from unhealthy habits around food and eating.In todays challenge Gabby shares some simple, practical ways you can set yourself up for success when it comes to mindful eating with the invitation to choose a few to incorporate into your day.

Day 21: Practicing Non-Striving

Non-striving is one of the fundamental principles of mindfulness. It is a conscious decision to allow things in your life or in the world to be as they are, rather than always reacting to try to change things in the moment. With the mindfulness attitude, non-striving, there is no goal other than to be yourself. Non-striving is trying less and being more. So today's challenge is an invitation to sit and just be with yourself for a few minutes. Something we tend to avoid at all costs. Host Gabby will guide you in and out of the meditation. 

Day 20: Self Esteem Check In

The five C's of self-esteem are: Competence, Confidence, Character, Connection, and Caring. Day 20 in the month of mindfulness challenge give you the opportunity to check in and make note where you are and what you can do to improve your own scores for the five C's of self esteem. 
For this challenge you will need a pen and paper (or access to your laptop or notes on your device). 

Day 19: Practicing Trust

A basic part of learning to meditate is learning to trust yourself and your feelings. In mindfulness, we say that our bodies carry even more wisdom than our minds. In practicing the mindful attitude of trust, you are practicing taking responsibility for being yourself, learning to listen to and trust your own being.

Day 18: Welcoming In Positive Energy

Host Gabby guides you through a meditation to examine your mindset, boost your mood and create and welcome in positive energy. 

Day 17: A Beginner’s Mind For A Fresh Perspective

A Beginner's Mind is an aspect of mindfulness that is very important. To have the beginner's mind is to look at things as if you were seeing them for the first time. A Beginner's mind can help us to see things in a new light, rather than automatically respond to them with the same old patterns of behavior—this is because we are “letting go” of and not using our automatic, everyday interpretations of people, things, and events.

Day 16: Eye of the Hurricane Meditation

The Eye of the Hurricane meditation offers a way for you to disengage from the hectic world around you (the hurricane) and turn inward toward peace (the eye). The use of a hurricane as a metaphor guides you to explore inner peace by using your breath to become like the eye of the hurricane; the silent part of yourself that can become aware of challenges but not get caught up in them and get carried away.

Day 15: Restoring Confidence

Too many people suffer from low-self esteem and low confidence. Why? Because of negative thoughts.We can overcome negative thoughts by using meditation for self-confidence.Confidence means being clear-headed and feeling positive about your goals.Mindfulness can increase self-confidence as it allows you to become self-aware of your thoughts and how they impact your feelings and behavior. Consequently, this enables you to reduce your insecurity and negative thoughts. 

Day 14: Body Scan

The body scan is one of the most effective ways to begin a mindfulness meditation. The purpose is to tune in to your body—to reconnect to your physical self—and notice any sensations you're feeling without judgment. While many people find the body scan relaxing, done correctly, the body scan will build your ability to focus and be fully present in your life.