How to use mindfulness every day: Part 1

We have written about mindfulness before, but how can you practice it everyday?

You’ve just applied for a summer job at a small independent toy store. They called you yesterday and asked if you can come in for a short interview today with the manager. You were excited they called. Now you’re standing in front of the manager’s office door and about to knock. You are SO nervous. Wow. Really, what is the big deal? What is with you? You are breathing fast, sweating, and your stomach feels like its tight and in knots. How are you going to get through this?

Every day we experience emotions and sometimes they take our bodies and minds into directions we hadn’t planned to go. But they are part of being a human. So what can we do? Luckily there are some tools you can learn to use to help regulate these emotions.

One of them is mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what is going on at that moment – and importantly, being nonjudgmental about whatever that is. There are many resources that you can use to learn about mindfulness.

Here are a few resources we highly recommend:

Dr. Dzung Vo’s website about mindfulness for teens

Mindfulness explanation and audio recordings for youth

Ohio State University’s mindfulness audio recordings

How could you use mindfulness in the above situation? In a later post, we’ll give some ideas of how.