Anthony’s Note: This is a guest post from Karl Staib, author of Bring Gratitude.

Last summer I was at lunch with a friend. I fell back into an old habit.

My friend went to the bathroom and I did what I always do. I pulled out my phone.

I already had Amazon open and I was flipping through some of the books I was interested in buying. Then I saw the book I wanted was $2 cheaper than last week. Tap and it was on its way. I got my little dopamine rush just before my friend came back to the table.

He sat down and I put my phone down. Just like that, I was $12.76 lighter and a proud owner of a new book. It was a book I wanted, but I have a queue of 6 books waiting for me: 2 on my phone and 4 on my nightstand.

Have you done this before?

It’s so easy to buy something now. We don’t take the time to really make sure we truly want it. I’m guilty of doing this way too often. I realized that I wasn’t enjoying what I had in my life. I had been distracting myself instead of appreciating the things I did have.

I decided to make some changes.

Gratitude

The key to eliminating this bad habit for me was learning to appreciate what I did have instead of wanting more. The ability to tap into gratitude when you notice yourself going to your phone for a pick-me-up is so important. You are making time to pause and not be reactive.

When you pause and feel grateful before you act, you will create positive emotions that will help you make smarter choices.

Internal Stories

How you manage your feelings directly affects how successful you are at dealing with your life. You can start by understanding the stories that are going on in your head. Do you say to yourself, “I need to hop on my phone real quick to check my email?”

You don’t need to hop on your phone. You “want” to hop on your phone. You have options.

Instead of hopping on my phone while my friend went to the bathroom, I could have enjoyed the moment around me. The nice interaction between the man who ordered a sandwich and the woman who complimented him on his choice and the dark brown jacket he was wearing. I think she was flirting with him. I was only halfway paying attention. I took multiple sips of my drink and I couldn’t really remember a single one.

Each choice we make in a situation helps us build habits. Good and bad. It’s up to us to build habits that support our health and happiness.

Small Bites

We can start by doing little things to help us improve our habits.

It’s OK to pick up your phone and play a game or jot down a note, but absent-mindedly making these choices will not help you in the long run. In my case, it led to the purchase of a book that I didn’t have time to read. We need to be aware of our personal goals and values and build habits that help support our growth.

That’s why I lean on my gratitude journal. I am far from perfect, but my gratitude journal always brings me back to center. This routine has helped me reduce the need to purchase things that I don’t want.

When I work with a client, I suggest that they keep a gratitude journal to help build a more resilient and happier mindset. Go ahead – start your own gratitude journal and see how it can help you.

Just write what you are grateful for and why you are grateful for it every day for 30 days. I suggest something like this:

• I’m grateful for my bed because I slept well last night.
• I’m grateful for a delicious burger because it truly hit the spot and made me feel satisfied.
• I’m grateful that my dog encourages me to take a walk each night because it helps me process my day.

The “why” is important because it helps deepen the gratitude journal experience. Within a few days, you will begin to see improvement in your outlook.

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If you are interested, join our free 30-Day Bring Gratitude Challenge running March 1st thru 30th. It’ll help strengthen your mindset. Come join us and you’ll get email updates and a private Facebook group. If you have any questions, I’ll be available 7 days a week during this time. My goal is to get the smartest and most caring people together to create an amazing community, so we can help each other learn from our mistakes and build a life that we love.

Karl Staib is the author of Bring Gratitude and the Creator of the 30-Day Bring Gratitude Challenge.

The post Bring Gratitude – A 30 Day Challenge first appeared on Break the Twitch.

The post Bring Gratitude – A 30 Day Challenge appeared first on Break the Twitch.

Anthony’s Note: This is a guest post by Taylor, the creator of the CeMental Break movement. Enjoy the read, and let’s help grow this excellent initiative.

CeMental Break (Cement + Mental Break) is a movement to encourage mindful moments using sidewalk chalk. A CeMental Break creates a space for a passerby to pause, then guides them through a mini-meditation. These meditations can focus on being in the moment, feeling gratitude, or showing some self-love.

The idea for CeMental Break came to me all at once while reading an angsty young adult novel, with a cat in my lap, while spring sprung in Minnesota (which means it snowed in April). I’ve never had an experience like it. The only thing I can compare it to is walking on the sidewalk in the winter and having a neighbor accidentally shovel a heap of snow into your face (which also happened that day).

Like, “BAM! Here’s an idea for you! You can furiously brush it off, or you can make a snowman. Your choice.” I’m trying to make a snowman.

I’ve been meditating regularly for about three years, and I’m currently in graduate school for Holistic Health with a focus on mindfulness and meditation. I’ve had conversations with dozens of friends, family, and strangers about how awesome meditation is. The responses tend to sound like, “Yes, I should do that, but I don’t have the time.” Or, “I’m no good at meditating.” Or, “I can’t sit still for that long.”

What I’m learning is, formal meditation is not the only way to become more mindful throughout your day and your life. It is one great way, but there are many others.

CeMental Break is mindfulness for everyone.

The mission: To promote mindfulness joyfully, colorfully, and publicly. To eliminate barriers to more mindful living by making it fun and accessible. To create judgment-free opportunities for self-care in public space.

I hope, one day, taking to the sidewalks to create mindful moments for our communities is a normal thing. I can’t chalk-up all the sidewalks of Minneapolis alone, and I definitely can’t spread the movement further without the help of others. I would love to see the CeMental Breaks that you create; here is how you make one:

1 / Draw an open circle on some pavement that is open to the sky.

• The open circle is meant to represent our awesome imperfection; it also feels welcoming, like an open door.
• People tend to stop noticing signs (and chalk) after a while. Create your moment in a place where the rain will wash it away so you can create something new.

2 / Write out your mini-mindful-moment instructions.

• Do your best to keep it positive. For example, instead of, “stop looking at your phone,” you might write, “take two deep breaths, find your favorite tree.”
• Need more ideas for mindful moments? Visit the CeMental Break Instagram or website!

3 / Decorate outside the circle however you’d like.

• Leave the middle empty for the CeMental Breaker’s feet or wheels.
• This part is your meditation moment! Get creative and spend some quality time with your chalk. No rules, just colors and shapes, and joy.

4 / Participate in your CeMental Break.

• Stand in the open circle and participate in the moment you just created.
• Feel proud of the mindful moment you created for your community.

I can’t wait to see what you create, make sure to tag @CeMentalBreak if you post photos to Facebook or Instagram. If you would like to send pictures to me directly, I would love to see them! You can email me at CeMentalBreak@gmail.com

I’ll leave you with a favorite quote that always inspires me to go out and create CeMental Breaks: “Color is the place where our brain and the universe meet.” – Paul Klee

The post Create Mindful Moments In The World With A CeMental Break first appeared on Break the Twitch.

The post Create Mindful Moments In The World With A CeMental Break appeared first on Break the Twitch.

Anthony’s Note: Thanks to Bridget Baker for this guest post! For more from Bridget, you can check out MinimalistMojo.com and her Pinterest.

Everything just feels like it’s falling into place. You’re focused, you’ve got clarity, and your relationships are working. You’re feeling it. You’re in the flow. Oh, look at you; you’ve got your mojo on! 

Then, something happens. These shiny new opportunities that are growing in your life start to turn into you being busier, having less time for creative pursuits, and feeling utterly overwhelmed. Your to-do-lists have to-do lists, and what seemed like a good idea has now become a source of stress and frustration. How’d you get here again? 

Clutter and chaos do not usually happen overnight. Piece of paper by piece of paper, your desktop papers turn into a mountain of documents. A closet of clothes that fit you and that you love becomes shoved to the gills with things you bought, thinking they’d make you feel better or that you just had to have to get that perfect work-from-home loungewear look dialed in. 

If you’re feeling like you can’t get your confidence back, it may be time for a lifestyle shift. If everything becomes important, then it’s hard to tell what really matters from what’s in the way. It ALL feels like a priority, and somewhere along the way, you lost your sense of self, your sense of joy, and your purpose. 

It may be time to embrace a minimalist lifestyle.

I bet you’re thinking: “What? How could only having 33 items of clothing or stark white walls get me feeling fabulous again?” Well, it’s not just about the “stuff.” 

Let’s start with what I mean by the term minimalism, first. While minimalism started out as a design movement in the 1920s, it became known as a lifestyle after the recession of 2008 forced many people to downsize and reevaluate their lives. Minimalism is not a religion, nor a cult, and does NOT mean you have to live like a monk with a fancy backpack and a digital nomad life. It IS a way to look at decluttering, organizing, simplifying, and living a more fulfilling life with less. This means less stress, less clutter, less overwhelm, or less of what you don’t want, so you can focus on and be available for more of what you DO want. 

You can embark on a minimalist lifestyle in several ways, but making the shift involves a letting go—from the physical to the mental—and strategies for staying conscious and aware of what you let into your life. I recommend starting with what you want first. If you’ve got lots of clutter in your way, it may be difficult to see what is important. 

When you’re feeling overwhelmed, the last thing you may want to do is to take the time to clean out your email inbox or declutter your closet. Take a breath, put it on your calendar, and make the time. Taking the time for you makes you more available to the people you care about. Living simply and being organized can increase your productivity, your well-being, and your joy. It may even make you more fun to be around!

Start small. Pick one area of your house, set a timer for an hour, and go for it. You may feel resistant at first or ashamed of how cluttered things may have gotten. Keep reminding yourself that step by step, it will get done. If you don’t have an entire weekend to devote to decluttering, don’t haul every single item of clothing out of your closets and purge all at once. It may be best for you to play a game like the mins game, or try some other popular decluttering methods, so you can take the slow and steady approach to get it done. 

What works for one person may not work for you, and there is no one set rule book for minimalism. If it’s in your way, you don’t love it, or you don’t need it, let it go. It really is that simple. It may help to crank up some music, enlist the help of a friend, and to celebrate the wins as you go, reminding yourself it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Also, you’ll want to create strategies to keep your space decluttered so that you don’t find yourself right back where you started. I left myself no out by moving into a travel trailer and selling all our furniture, rather than storing it, but that may be a little too extreme for you.

Again, find what works for YOU and stick with it.

When you move what doesn’t work, what doesn’t inspire you, or what doesn’t have room in your life out of the way, you can get your mojo back. Your confidence increases, and you can shine, free of the pile of clutter—physical, or proverbial—that’s been standing in your way. The world needs that special magic that you’ve got to offer, and when you simplify your life, you can take better care of yourself and do more of what you love. And, let’s face it, we all need each other these days more than ever.

The post Embrace Minimalism and Get Your Mojo Back first appeared on Break the Twitch.

The post Embrace Minimalism and Get Your Mojo Back appeared first on Break the Twitch.