Mind and Soul

  • Lifestyle, Mind and Soul, Motherhood

    How Self-Awareness Helped Me Develop A New Self-Care Practice

    Growth requires some level of self-awareness, right? I feel like this year, I started to understand myself in a way I didn’t before. While I felt like I had grown a great deal a few years ago, I can now look back and see that I didn’t grow much in the last year or two. I was stagnant for a minute but I’m grateful 2018 was a year where I was challenged to become more conscious of who I am and to push my limits.

    Self-Awareness Helped Me Develop A New Self-Care Practice

    One of the things that I realized about myself is how important it is for me to get outside and live. I’ve said it here and on social media many times before. I am guilty of staying inside for days at a time, sometimes for as long as weeks during the cold months. I cringe thinking about how proud I was of that fact now because this year, I’ve been forcing myself to be outdoors more, to live, breathe and to be uncomfortable. The cold weather makes me very uncomfortable. But pushing through, getting uncomfortable and braving the cold has helped me to feel much better than staying locked up in the house for days at a time.

    Actually, it’s a really effective form of self-care and it’s so basic that I’m ashamed that it’s just becoming this clear to me that I need it. I’ve heard other people say that they need to get out every day, but I would usually smirk and let them know that I didn’t. The cold air on my face always feel incredible and the beautiful fall foliage isn’t something I should be missing because I want to hibernate.

    It’s not just the beauty and the refreshing feeling of the crisp fall air on my face though, it’s the stress release I experience when I spend time in nature. I’ve noticed that as I get older, I literally feel like I am carrying my stress in my body. It feels heavy so I do my best to shake it off of me. Some days a YouTube dance class does the trick and others I need a long walk through the forest.

    Self-Awareness Helped Me Develop A New Self-Care Practice

    Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Do you feel like you’re self-aware? Does your self-awareness help you determine the best self-care practices for you?

     

     

  • Happiness, Lifestyle, Mind and Soul, Motherhood, Positive Thinking, Self-Care

    Family Self-Care: Mindfulness Activities for Kids

    I’m on my 8thyear as a parent and I have to say that I’m learning that my kids need more than love, a good education, nutritious meals, socialization, weather appropriate clothing, extracurricular activities etc. Those things are necessary, but my kids also need tools to help them through life’s challenges, and stressors. I started introducing them to mindfulness activities over the past few years and it’s been great for them. I’ve been more deliberate this year about mindfulness and practicing self-care as a family.  This weekend, we took a meditation class together and it’s safe to say we’l be adding meditation to our daily routine. Here’s the thing, I only learned about mindfulness as an adult and it’s so important to my overall wellbeing that I’m teaching my children while they’re kids. I want it to be an integral part of their self-care routine by the time they become adults. I think as a woman of color, it’s especially important for me to teach my children self-care at a young age, it’s armor for them. Here are a few mindfulness activities for kids that you can add to your family’s routine too:

    Gratitude

    Back in the spring, I decided to ask my kids one night at bedtime to share one thing they’re happy for and one thing they thankful for that day. Since then it’s become part of our nightly routine before we say our prayers, if I forget they would remind me. I’ve listened to my children celebrate each on many nights as they up on each other’s list, I listened to them express gratitude for friendships, experiences, family and it fills my heart every night. This exercise is powerful, and I hope they continue doing it for the rest of their lives.

    Family Self-Care: Mindfulness Activities for Kids

    Meditation

    As I mentioned earlier, we attended a family mediation class together hosted by Tropicana Kids at MNDFL and it was exactly what we needed to feel centered. Personally, I started meditating around the time I was pregnant with my son (I had tried it a few times as a teenager, thanks to all the references to it in reggae music). I started with guided meditations. If you’re new to meditating, guided meditations are a great way to start if you can’t find a class in your area or don’t want to attend one, there are now apps like Calm, Headspace and Buddify. You can watch tons of YouTube videos and there are books like Dan Rather’s Meditation for Fiddety Skeptics. Meditation is a really good mindful activity for kids to practice, the earlier they’re introduced to it, the better.

    ps: NYC moms, MNDFL has an excellent school program, you can learn more about it or request they bring it to your kids school here.

    Family Self-Care: Mindfulness Activities for Kids
    My daughter making the mind jar.

    Mind Jar

    One of the things we did at our mediation class was to create a mind jar to explain to kids how our brain works and how we can calm it. We added water and glitter to the jar and shake it up. The glitter went all over which showed the kids how scattered our thoughts are when we aren’t mindful and then how it settles when we’re calm. This is a fantastic activity for kids as they’re very visual.

    Deep Breathing

    One thing I admire about my son is that, at only 5 years of age. He’s very aware of his needs. Whenever he needs to clear his brain, he practices deep breathing. Sometimes we do it together, and other times he does it alone.

    Family Self-Care: Mindfulness Activities for Kids

    Affirmations and Power Posing

    I shared before that every morning I do affirmations and power posing with my kids before they leave for school. I was inspired to start this when Amy Cuddy shared all about the power of power posing at Cosmopolitan Fearless Female conference a few years ago.

    Coloring and Art

    Family Self-Care: Mindfulness Activities for Kids

    Coloring is wonderful mindful activity! My daughter and I both have coloring books and she loves spending time coloring all of the

    Essential Oils

    This is an area where I would like to invest my time into learning more this year. I have an essential oil blend that helped me with my anxiety throughout my pregnancy and post-partum period. I use lavender in our home at night to get the kids calm before bed, but I would like to add more essential oils to our routine in the next few months.

     mindfulness activities for kids

    What mindfulness activities do you practice with your children?

     

    Mindfulness Activities for Kids

     

     

     

  • Fashion, Lifestyle, Mind and Soul, Motherhood, New Born, New Mom

    Self-Preservation and Motherhood

    What does self-preservation mean to you? Do you give it any thought? To me, self-preservation is protecting Adanna from depletion and loss of identity. Things that I am at risk for as a mother of 3 small children under 7. I’ve written a lot about self-care over the past year and my self-care journey. Alone time, journaling, spirituality, exercise, sleep, and therapy are some of my self-care practices and combined they serve self-preservation. They keep my cup filled, head leveled and feet planted firmly on the ground.

    So how do I maintain this? I started to view myself as another child and treat myself with the same gentle love that I treat my children. Just like I would find the time and energy to take good care of an additional child, I do that for myself. I try my best to turn the noise off to listen to myself and hear what my needs are from me and not from the world.

    self-preservation and motherhood
    Coat: Boohoo, Jeans: Zara, Sunglasses: Amazon Shoes: Target

    I’m also working on establishing boundaries, something admittedly I’ve been terrible at but is now necessary is for me. I’m an open book for the most part about my ups and my downs so when I feel the need to protect or keep something sacred. I need to be bold about that. It’s hard to establish new boundaries in old relationships but one thing that helps is recognizing that in many instances the people who I have no filter with or no boundaries have from day one established boundaries for me that I’ve always respected. I know that over time it might seem odd that I’m about to toss up those boundaries but I think they will eventually understand why this is important to me.

    I’ll keep you updated as I continue to feel my way through motherhood, self-care and meeting my goal of self-preservation.

    I would love to hear your thoughts on self-preservation and motherhood in the comment section below.