MINDFULNESS STRATEGIES

Part 2

Mindfulness

INTRODUCTION

Last week we talked about strategies to pause, notice, and reflect, comparing our emotions and sensations to either weather or traffic. How’d that work out for you? Discuss with a partner.

In Summary

Pausing, Noticing, Resetting

Weather in Your Head

Traffic Patterns in Your Mind

These are the strategies we discussed last week.

It’s a mindful strategy to pause, notice how you are feeling, and then re-set, or begin again.

You can do this by stopping to notice how you are feeling and compare it to a weather pattern.

You could also do this by comparing your thoughts and feelings to different types of traffic patterns.

Why?

Debrief

Today, we are going to learn about two strategies that might help put some of these emotions and sensations into perspective: Thoughts in My Mind and Emotions of My Day

Thoughts in My Mind

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Synthesis

For one minute, do nothing but think.

After a minute is up, jot down everything you were thinking of during that minute.

Now, give each one of those thoughts a label. Label them either P (pleasant), U (unpleasant) or N (neutral)

Look at your labels. Do you notice any patterns? What category did you have the most of? Did certain thoughts keep coming up for you? If you feel comfortable, share with a partner.

​

This exercise is another version of “Name it to Tame It”. It makes you aware of the thoughts that you are having and helps you put them in perspective. Remember that simply checking in with your thoughts and feelings is a mindful practice.

WHAT SHOULD I DO IF MY THOUGHTS TEND TO BE MORE NEGATIVE?

Here are 11 ideas to stop negative thought patterns and move on.

​

Which three ideas make the most sense to you?

Emotions of My Day

On a sheet of paper, use emotion words to describe the way you feel during each of these points in your day. Feel free to add other parts of your day.

Here are some emotion words to use:

​

anger envy

joy comfort

surprise happiness

disgust guilt

sadness excitement

fear dread

anxiety nervousness

love frustration

peacefulness sorrow

satisfaction regret

depression boredom

pride curiosity

shame accomplishment

embarrassment shyness

hope optimism

nervousness confusion

thankfulness trust

relief contentment

​

​

​

​

​

THOUGHTS IN MY MIND

Take a look at your emotions at different parts of the day. Do you feel more negative or positive emotions during specific times? Does anticipation of a certain event trigger a certain emotion? What might you do to prevent the negative triggers? For example, if getting ready for school always makes you feel frustrated, what might you be able to do to lessen that frustration (have clothes laid out, have lunch packed the night before, set your alarm for ten minutes earlier….) Share some ideas to prevent some common negative triggers.

In Summary

Thoughts in My Mind

Emotions of My Day

Two Strategies

Think for a minute, write down your thoughts, label.

Identify how you feel at different points of the day. What can you do to make negative parts of your day better?