Meditation:

All clients are encouraged to meditate for 1-10 minutes per day. Building a pathway in your brain that reinforces the connection between deep breathing, calmness and clarity can be life changing work. Building a strong meditation practice takes time, discipline, and perseverance (like anything worth achieving in life), but I believe it is one of the most important and valuable aspects of mental health. Apps like Calm or Headspace are an awesome addition to your practice at times, but I believe being able to cultivate this experience for yourself is crucially important.

When you have time for it:

Pick a time throughout your day that works for you and try to be consistent. Perhaps it’s before you start your work day, on your lunch break, or after you finish work for the day (Maybe it’s all 3?). Set a timer on your phone for 3 minutes and set it across the room. Use a box breathing tempo of your choosing (5 seconds in, hold for 5, exhale 5, hold 5, repeat - is my preference) until the timer goes off. Next, spend a “mindful minute” reflecting. Helpful topics could be: how your body feels, what came up during the meditation session, critical VS compassionate narrator, validating VS invalidating interpersonal interactions.

When you don’t have time for it:

Finding 3-5 quiet minutes can be tough some days, but these are also the days we need meditation most! Excusing yourself to the bathroom or back to your desk for 60 seconds of box breathing can do a lot for your state of mind. Allowing yourself a minute to let your mind rest and your emotions to simmer down can prevent them from boiling over. Taking a moment to step back from the challenges or problems of your day can help you to see them more clearly and come up with new strategies. Mindfulness is the goal, autopilot is the trap.

Conceptualization Exercise

Often during the beginning of our work together a client needs to identify what they truly want out of life. One of the best ways to do this is through a conceptualization/writing exercise centered around the idea of a “perfect life”.

Writing Prompt: It is one year from now and things are exactly how you’ve always wanted them to be…. What are your relationships like? How do you feel in them? What are your doing for work or to make money? Why did you chose this? What’s your work/life balance like? How do you feel when working? Where do you live, what’s your home like? How does it feel to spend your free time and what are you doing with it? These are just some questions to get you started, what you imagine is up to you…. Bring your notes/findings on this to our next session.