{"id":54970,"date":"2022-05-11T08:25:30","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T13:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/?p=54970"},"modified":"2024-04-06T06:27:53","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T06:27:53","slug":"mindfulness-in-the-family","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/mindfulness-in-the-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Mindfulness in the Family"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jbpartners.com\/about\/\">By Jen Butler<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mindfulness guides, counselors, and coaches are all too familiar with the feeling of \u201cnot quite good enough.\u201d As spouses, parents, children, and members of the community, the team at JBPartners encounters all the same reasons to blame ourselves\u2014and others\u2014for being not quite good enough. And like everyone else, we often don\u2019t recognize our missteps or misjudgments until too late.<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-54971 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tyler-nix-V3dHmb1MOXM-unsplash-scaled-landscape-300x210.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tyler-nix-V3dHmb1MOXM-unsplash-scaled-landscape-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tyler-nix-V3dHmb1MOXM-unsplash-scaled-landscape-1024x716.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tyler-nix-V3dHmb1MOXM-unsplash-scaled-landscape-768x537.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tyler-nix-V3dHmb1MOXM-unsplash-scaled-landscape-1536x1074.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tyler-nix-V3dHmb1MOXM-unsplash-scaled-landscape-2048x1432.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tyler-nix-V3dHmb1MOXM-unsplash-scaled-landscape-600x420.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you want to be perfect, mindfulness won\u2019t help. If you want to be kinder, more forgiving of yourself and others, more tolerant and resilient, more appreciative and grateful, better able to enjoy good times and overcome challenging ones, more willing to speak up and to listen, and a whole lot less stressed by your multiple roles\u2014then mindfulness will help you and your family.<\/p>\n<p>In a mindful family, each member recognizes that the others do what all human beings do: the best they can. Each member helps the others to that recognition and gives them the support and skills they need to find their way.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few mindful practices that help inspire kinds, forgiveness, tolerance, resilience, gratitude, enjoyment, and communication in families:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Wake up slowly.<\/b>\u00a0Stay in bed for a moment after you wake to appreciate the morning smells, sounds, and shifts of light. Do a body scan. Sit by your partner\u2019s or child\u2019s bed and talk about morning smells, sounds, sights, and feelings.<\/li>\n<li><b>Create a positive experience around eating.\u00a0<\/b>Positive mealtime experiences are a factor in improving the health and well-being of children and adults. Instead of rushing through a meal, savor the different temperatures and flavors.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1002\/j.2379-3988.2008.tb00057.x\">Researchers<\/a>\u00a0concur that \u201cresponsive, well-organized, and well-regulated meals are related to more optimal child outcomes,\u201d while admitting that this goal is sometimes difficult and that they do not know the optimum number of shared meals a week.<\/li>\n<li><b>Develop a habit of giving.\u00a0<\/b>Families have different ways of incorporating giving into their lives, donating time, money, or expertise. Involve children in generating ideas for being helpful and giving. Even a little bit of giving wakes you up to the world around you and the people affected by your actions.<\/li>\n<li><b>Express appreciation.<\/b>\u00a0Kind acts and kind words should spark appreciation. Be open about the things you are grateful for and look for opportunities to say \u201cthank you.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><b>Let the past go.<\/b>\u00a0Forgive family members when they fall short\u2014because we all fall short sometimes. Forgive yourself for falling short\u2014because we all fall short sometimes. Forgiving is not the same as ignoring. Listen to a loved one to understand their behavior, attitude, or expectations; communicate your own needs and expectations clearly; and come to an understanding. Then let the past go.<\/li>\n<li><b>Enjoy each other.\u00a0<\/b>Mindfulness includes enjoying the pleasures of the moment: laugh and play together. Build a snowman, play a game of \u201cI spy with my little eye,\u201d take a walk, dance, feed the birds\u2014appreciate the opportunities for joy that are all around you. You might make a feeling peaceful mandala together.<\/li>\n<li><b>Go outside.<\/b>\u00a0A University of Michigan study determined that just 20 minutes outside reduces stress\u2014and time of day or amount of physical exercise didn\u2019t matter. Just being around growing plants (and leaving electronic devices behind) decreased the stress hormone cortisol.<\/li>\n<li><b>Take care of yourself.<\/b>\u00a0A stressed partner or parent is no fun to be around. Even one minute of peace and mindful meditation can restore you. Breathe mindfully for one minute. Hug someone and breathe with them. Close your eyes and think, \u201ccalm, peace.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Many families have challenges that make mindfulness difficult. Perhaps a family member has emotional problems or addictive behaviors, divorce or remarriage have upended your concept of family, you are caregiving for both children and parents, and so on. You may need professional support and guidance to introduce mindfulness into your family.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jbpartners.com\/mindfulness-in-the-family\/\">Original post by Jen Butler<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"fl-module fl-module-rich-text fl-node-600719a9ef893\" data-node=\"600719a9ef893\">\n<div class=\"fl-module-content fl-node-content\">\n<div class=\"fl-rich-text\">\n<p><strong>Rest from Stress<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fl-module fl-module-rich-text fl-node-600719a9ef894\" data-node=\"600719a9ef894\">\n<div class=\"fl-module-content fl-node-content\">\n<div class=\"fl-rich-text\">\n<p>Rest from Stress is dedicated to Stress Management and Resilience Training (this is what we refer to as SMaRT). Stress impacts each of us in physical and psychological ways. It&#8217;s imperative that we learn how to identify our stressors and develop healthy coping mechanisms to live our lives with as much harmony as possible. Our goal, as an organization, is to improve the mental health and wellbeing of our customers with each and every one of our services and resources.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jen Butler Mindfulness guides, counselors, and coaches are all too familiar with the feeling of \u201cnot quite good enough.\u201d As spouses, parents, children, and members of the community, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":54972,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"pmpro_default_level":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false},"categories":[139],"tags":[136,137,267,141,143,147,165],"class_list":["post-54970","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-life-blog","tag-ais","tag-american-institute-of-stress","tag-contentment","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-stress-management","tag-stress-relief","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - 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