Staying Grounded: Mindfulness Techniques for Any Time

I know I didn't do anything for it and that's my bad , but I was kind of busy , honestly . Anyways , the podcast turned four years old on December 22nd , which means that this year is going to be turning five years old and I have a bunch of exciting things that are going to come , but I'm not saying anything about it because I don't want to jinx anything .

If there's one thing that I learned this past year is that you work on your goals . You don't necessarily tell everybody about them because if not , you might get sidetracked . Okay , so just letting you know there's a lot of fun stuff coming , there's a lot of amazing stuff coming , and you need to stay tuned because it involves you .

My dear passenger , the last two episodes have been about struggles and just pushing through and basically trying to figure out how to continue living and making yourself stay focused and thriving right , but today's episode is going to be a bit different , because I'm going to tell you something 2024 was a lot of lessons . 2024 was a lot of back and forth .

2024 was a lot of time spent working and working , and working and working . But 2025 , at least for me and the journey that I'm going to be taking you in it's going to be a bit slower . We're going to focus on ourselves , we're going to focus on our growth , but we're not going to be putting all this pressure behind this . No , we're not doing that .

We're taking things a little bit different this year , and you know what ? I hope you enjoy it as much as you have been enjoying it over the past four years , but right now , I need to take a different tone with the podcast . I need this to be about you and I , and I need this to be at a slower pace . Why ?

Because one of the things that 2024 taught me is that you can try to speed up the process , but it's not going to do anything . You have to go through each one of the steps . You have to go through each one of the things that need to happen .

Well , my dear passengers , the time has come for us to buckle up our seatbelts as we head into the first stop of the day . That is the topic of the day , and today's topic is mindfulness . Mindfulness is defined by the American Psychological Association as the awareness of one's internal state and surroundings .

Now , I don't know about you , my dear passenger , but I have struggled with being mindful or using my mindfulness , especially because I'm the type of person that likes to live in the future or sometimes reminisce too much of the past to enjoy the present . Now , if that's you , welcome to the club . For today's episode .

I will be using my own personal experience with different techniques that have worked in order to help me be more mindful , but also I will be using an article by the Mayo Clinic titled Mindfulness Exercises . Why ? Because I think it's good to have some medical backup , especially when it comes to a subject that it's very important for us to work on .

So sit back , relax and let me take you down this stop on how to become more mindful . First things first , even though mindfulness and meditation go hand in hand together , it doesn't mean that you need to meditate in order to be mindful . It just means that meditation is one of the many ways that you are able to get to that mindful mentality .

However , if you struggle with being mindful , or you struggle with meditation as a whole , I'm going to let you know right now meditation is a great way to get through mindfulness , because it teaches you to be patient , it teaches you to be in the moment and it teaches you to be with yourself , which is such a beautiful encounter if you really take the time to

give yourself that moment , to be with yourself and int une with everything that is going on inside of you and around you , right ? So we're going to try this . I've never done this in the podcast . We're going to try this . Okay , one minute . I'm going to put the timer in here for one minute .

We are just going to close our eyes and we're not going to think about anything . And if that's hard for you to do , don't worry . It happens to literally everyone , especially if it's their first time meditating . But again , we're just going to do one minute and we're just going to be quiet with our thoughts .

I don't want you to think about anything , but if any thoughts come your way , let them come . Okay , you're going to let them come and you're just going to be aware of them . You're not going to try to solve them .

You're not going to try to fight them , you're not going to try to like cry about them or be happy about them , just let them come as they do . Okay , so here we go . Here's one minute starting in three , two , one , one . Here's one minute starting in three , two , one , one , one . Thank you all . Right , stop . How did that feel ?

Because I can tell you right now , that felt amazing for me . I feel so relaxed , I feel so calm , like I felt like I needed that . Actually , now that I think about it , I really really needed that . Oh , wow , wow , hold up . This is great . That was a good moment . Okay , that was a good moment .

Take a step back and clap your hands for yourself , because I needed that and you probably did too . You probably needed that moment to just be with yourself and not do anything , not think anything , just be present . I don't know about y'all , but I needed that minute . Okay , I needed that minute and I hope you enjoyed that minute .

I hope that , even if you thought it was boring , even if you thought , what the hell are we doing ? Like she's never done this in the podcast , I hope that you actually did it and I hope that you reap in the rewards of just having that present moment with yourself for one minute , like we had a moment . Do you know that we had a moment ?

We shared a present moment in meditation and I'm just telling you right now it was a good one . It was a good one and you better have enjoyed it , because I did anyways , that was really fun , but let's keep moving , all right . So how else can we get through mindfulness if not by meditation ? Well , we can get through mindfulness by using our breathing .

Yep , that's right . Something as simple as taking three deep breaths can really make you feel present and aware of what's going on inside you and around you . So , again , like I did earlier , we're going to try this . We're going to take three deep breaths and you're going to do it with me .

So here we go , ready and through your nose Out the mouth , through your nose out the mouth , through your nose out the mouth . And I don't know about you , but I'm feeling so good . I'm feeling so calm , so peaceful and so present . How are you feeling ?

Because , like , honestly , like I wish this was a moment where I could talk to you guys and just be like how are you feeling ? Because I'm feeling so good , so good , okay .

Moving on to the next thing , okay , now we're going to get into the Mayo Clinic article , and the first thing that they tell you , as a mindful exercise , is to pay attention , live in the moment by paying attention , right ? So , actually , my therapist used to do this thing with me .

I don't know the actual name of it , so I'm just going to call it using your senses . I guess I have no idea , but basically , when I needed to be grounded or I needed to be in the present because I would get anxiety attacks , right she would tell me to ground myself through my senses . And it's very simple . So I touch five things .

Okay , now you're going to see four things . So if I look in the camera , I can see the headboard , I can see the door , I can see the frame and I can see the bed . Okay , so now number three . Number three we're going to do hearing . Let's see , what can you hear in here ? Okay , I can hear the fan , I can hear a snapping and I can hear a whistle .

All right , so three things , right ? Then the second thing , I mean not the second thing , the fourth thing you're gonna do is smell . So let's see , I have perfume on , so I smell delicious . I smell really good . Good , um , trying to see if there's anything else that I can smell in here .

Okay , um , this is a fake flower , but let's just imagine that it's a real flower . What ? Wow , it actually has a smell . It's really nice . Okay , I would have never known that . And the last one , obviously , is taste . Now , usually I have gum with me .

I don't have any right now because I'm doing this , um , or I'll do some chapstick , because sometimes I like to lick my chapstick . I know that's not natural , but it happens , okay , um , or something as simple as like taking a mint . So , yeah , that is one way to pay attention to what's happening around you .

The second thing that Mayo clinic tells us to do is to live in the moment . I've only been saying that literally every couple of minutes , but , hey , live in the moment , find joy in the simple pleasures , like , for example , with me .

I'm not a chef , I'm not a cook , I'm not a baker , but you know , sometimes I dream that one day I'm going to be pretty okay at this stuff Not mediocre , not amazing , but okay and that is what pushes me forward to put on my little apron and cook like I did tonight . I made ravioli tonight .

I did burn the sauce , but it's okay , it got saved because it tastes good . So did you say I have an interesting palate ? I have an interesting palate , but more than that , I know how to live in the moment and make the most out of it , and maybe you should learn how to do the same too . Listen , the last thing that Mayo Clinic is telling us to do .

It's not simple at all and it's something that I still struggle with . But hey , here we go , that is , accepting yourself for who you are . I mean , I wish I had a wand that I could just make myself accept myself for who I am and make you accept yourself for who you are . But it's not that easy .

I mean and you know it's not that easy because however old you are , you have struggled with this Like there's no way You've never struggled with accepting yourself for who you currently are or who you were Right . So all this to say therapists say different things .

Like some therapists are like treat yourself like you are your friend , and other therapists are like treat yourself like you are a younger version of yourself , maybe a child version of yourself . But see , those never worked with me , and if they worked with you , that's amazing .

But for me , the thing that has worked very , very well for me to start accepting myself and again , I don't accept myself all the time , but this past year this specific technique has helped me accept myself more than ever is just treating myself with unconditional grace .

Unconditional love can be hard sometimes because I don't know about you , but I am a very resentful person , so my love I wouldn't call it unconditional . However , when it comes to grace , I'm way more lenient because I do believe that people can change and people can become better , because if I didn't believe that then I wouldn't have this podcast right .

So what I've started to do is I treat myself with unconditional grace . I tell myself you could have done better , but now you know and now you're going to do better .

And just having that type of conversation with myself has helped me love and accept myself way more than telling myself you have to love yourself - you have to love yourself like your little child I mean , not a little child , your version of a child is crying for you to love them and it's like that doesn't really work with me , or like your friend , and like

with friends , like there's times that I'm like I don't like you . That's just everyone , right ? So treat yourself with unconditional grace . Unconditional grace , and you will see the difference . I'm telling you you're going to type it down here because you're going to see the difference .

Well , my dear passenger , the time has come for the last step of the day , that is , recap time . Today's episode discussed mindfulness , which is the awareness of our internal state and surroundings .

We now know that we can become mindful through meditation , also through breathing , also through using our five senses and , last but not least , living in the moment and accepting ourselves . Remember , self-growth is an endless journey towards self-improvement . However , you don't ever have to do it alone .

As your tour guide , my goal is to guide you with the best intentions and the best research available . Make sure to follow me on Instagram , Facebook and TikTok at the Self-Growth Train Podcast , and to also follow my new website , theselfgrowthtrainpodcast . com . As always , all the resources used today have been added to the episode's description .

Well , until the next stop , dear passengers , safe travels , bye !