Mindfulness Minute: Mindfulness Happens When...

Each day after our Mindfulness10 practice, we sit together and reflect. Often we will share what we noticed happening with our attention as we practiced. We might talk together about how the coloring we were doing was not that productive an anchor for our focus, as we continued to look around to see what others were doing. We might discuss how the reading we did really kept our focus in one place, so much so that we didn't even hear someone beside us get up to get more paper. Our Mindfulness10 practice is a place that we can try out ways to support our focus in staying on one aim for a long period of time. Our reflection on that practice, then gives us a way to name what worked and what didn't, what was useful and what wasn't, and what got us closer to our goals and what might have pulled us further away.

Recently, as we were reflecting, I decided to ask our class to complete the sentence "Mindfulness happens when..." We had a fascinating discussion, I'd like to share with you. I won't be identifying any speakers, but I'd love for you to read some of the wisdom your children are developing. Many of the comments were in the context of sports outside of school, which may be one of the most applicable places for us to try out and see direct results of our practices. Enjoy learning more about how we use mindfulness in our daily lives.

Mindfulness happens when...

I'm playing baseball and I panic or make a mistake, I can practice mindfulness to help me not panic when a play matters.

I get frustrated with people,  I can go away from them and practice so that I can come back and try again.

In baseball when I'm next up to bat and the other team changes up the pitcher.

The other team brags and we have to calm down.

I'm pitching. I can focus only on the target and just throw the ball.

When I'm catching, I have to laser my focus on the ball no matter where the pitcher throws it.

In soccer, when I'm goalie, and they score on me, I get frustrated. I have to remember that every save is a new save. So I reset.

When someone around me is talking during baseball, I focus only on one thing and anchor my attention to it.

When I do something bad during my soccer game, I get mad at myself. I know that then, I need to pay attention to the good parts of the game, what I like about it. I remind myself of my goals too. Last year, when I played rec ball, I got to score a lot. Now I play travel ball so I have had to change my goal from scoring to getting more assists per game.