Being Mindful 7 Questions to ask when you are feeling overwhelmed

When you think of mindfulness do you picture a women in yoga pants with her legs crossed, back straight and arms on her legs with her fingers touching? A typical meditation image like this comes to mind, however being mindful is so much more then this. It’s everyday moments of awareness. Being aware of your thoughts, feelings, sensations in your body and being present in the moment.

When I first started learning about human behavior in the life coaching course I was enrolled in. I was also in the season of just started primary school ages and stages era of parenting. It was a challenging transition and I was quickly becoming aware of parenting being more about me managing me more then me trying to control or manage my child’s behavior. Because lets face it, we can only help guide our little ones We can’t make them stop their tantrum, or ignore their big feelings. Instead we need to be the calm to their chaos not meet their big feelings with our own.

With my new knowledge of being mindful of what was going on within me I was starting to realise that if I was feeling angry or frustrated how I responded to it influenced what happened next. For example if I was to say “I’m getting angry” I would end up feeling more anger. On the day’s I was practicing being aware of how I was feeling when I started to feel angry or frustrated instead of saying I was feeling it, I would get curious and ask my little one what was going on? “Hey buddy you are meant to be putting your shoes on so we can get to school on time. Why are you reading a book instead? You know this is going to make you late!” Here was when I got to learn what was behind the behavior. But it works both ways. I was also asking myself what was going on?

1. What am I thinking in this moment?
2. How is that making me feel?
3. Where do I feel this in my body?
4. What triggered this?
5. Do I have an unmet need that contributed to this?
6. What do I need to help me through this moment
7. How can I overcome this

Much love

When we are feeling overwhelmed it’s really important to take a breath and check in with yourself. Remember we are all human and we all make mistakes. Nobody is perfect, we are all flawed. We just need to try our best and forgive ourselves for our mistakes.

Donna x