I struggled with the title of today’s Experience Moving Forward Daily. It was either “Habit of Mindset” or “Habit of Mindfulness”. In the end choosing the former in an effort to communicate you have control over your mindset regardless of what the day brings. 

Breaking from my usual writing style, I want to share with you a new ritual I’ve adopted to give me a Habit of Mindset. Every morning I put a timer on for 15 minutes and slip into mindful meditation. I’ve written my own poem to help me breathe deeply and settle into the present moment.

Then, I do a body scan: what am I hearing, what am I feeling (physically), what do I smell, what do I taste. Breathing in deeply through the nose (this is called “heart breathing”, it’s a real thing, look it up). Once I am feeling calm and present, I ask myself “Who am I?” letting my mind search for whatever answer I receive, usually coming through as a single word. Strong, curious, calm, grateful are some examples. 

Here comes the fun part, once I receive a word, I practice using it to describe myself in full sentences. Let’s take the word “grateful” for instance. I am grateful. I am grateful for the people in my life. I am grateful for the things I possess. I am grateful for the time I have. I am grateful for the lessons I’ve learned. You get the idea.

Next I talk directly to my subconscious giving it instructions for the day. I call this practice a “punch reframe” where I am punching in the code I want my subconscious to use so I don’t have to try too hard in showing up the way I want to throughout the day.  Maybe I need to be more patient today because of my schedule, more curious because of a conversation I will be having, or more compassionate with myself because of the to-do list.

The point here is that I am programming my mindset before the day begins, giving me a higher probability to reach the end of the day with less regret and more movement forward.