Guest Blog Post - The Unusual Buddha

I'm so pleased that I got to write about some of my favorite passions in a guest post for The Unusual Buddha!  Here's a link if you'd like to read (just a few of my many) thoughts on the intersection of technology and spirituality!

Mindful Snacking

Working from home has a lot of benefits.  One of the challenges I hear from a lot of people is the constant access and ability to easily snack non-stop.  This is a way in which mindfulness can be so basic yet so incredibly helpful.  Once you have even the most basic mindfulness practice - Just enough to pause before doing something and check in to the body - you can use that to really help in a lot of ways.

You can set the intention to pause before you get up from your desk or, if - like me - you prefer to stand regularly, you can take a pause before you walk.  For me I set a few mindfulness rules that cover a lot of situations.  

1. Whenever I walk during the workday, I walk mindfully.
2. Before I walk, I set the intention of where I'm going and what I will do.
3. If I eat, I check in with my body to see if I'm actually hungry.

With my Apple Watch reminding me to stand every hour, I have everything I need to keep me from eating too much during the day. 

At 10 minutes to the hour, each hour, my watch tells me I need to stand.  I treat it like a mindfulness bell and I push back from the desk, take a deep in and out breath, and stand up. Not only does this serve my health as intended but it's also an opportunity to practice a couple of minutes of mindfulness routinely which is great for rewiring the brain to do so naturally. 

Before I move I decide what I am going to do.  Bathroom? Kitchen? Step outside for fresh air?  A Combo? And once I've decided, I walk as mindfully as possible not thinking about the thing I'm headed to do, only about the steps to get me there. I don't do full zombie-walk, but I walk with deliberate intention and my mindfulness on my steps and body.

If I'm going for a snack, I do two things that help tremendously.  When I arrive in the kitchen I check in with my stomach/body and see if I'm truly hungry or just eating because I can.  If I'm truly hungry, then I check in with my mind on what snacks it wants, and then I choose an alternative that's healthier unless I really really want that first thought. I do these things because so often my body is not actually craving food but my mind is.  When we are not mindful, these two things can seem like they come from the same place. And I "test" the idea of a healthier snack because so often I actually find that I prefer the healthier option if I bother to truly ask myself what I want.  

Am I really hungry right now?
"Yes."
For what?
"Chips and dip."
How about red grapes instead?

"Ooh, that sounds even better!"

More often than not, I'm either not hungry or I am perfectly happy - if not happier! - with the outcome and I've integrated mindfulness several times in a short period into my day! I do have one other little trick, however.  If my body really does want food and it really does want the less healthy choice, I go for it.  I don't deny myself that choice if it was made with wisdom and discernment.  But my last little trick to help myself out is I take the smallest amount of whatever snack it is and will simply come back if I need more. This discourages eating more than I need and also what you'll find is that most often one last of something (especially when snacking) is enough.  A single piece of dark chocolate instead of three. 5-7 mixed nuts instead of a handful.  2 grapes instead of 6.  

It sounds like a lot of work, but it's all a matter of seconds and a few thoughts.  You might be amazed at how effective this all is.  Give it a shot and let me know.

I had a timely reminder this morning that the intention, for me anyhow, is not to "lose weight" but to live a longer and healthier life. As soon as we focus on losing weight we set ourselves up for failure and disappointment any time we are "not losing weight".  "Losing weight" is diet culture - and this next part is absolutely critical - which implies a beginning and an end.  Living a longer and healthier life is a journey instead of a destination. It's not about the finish line, it's about the crossing.

If we weigh ourselves daily and those numbers inexplicably go up a bit at a time when we feel we're working harder than ever it can hit us hard in the motivation feels. We can get discouraged and science has shown us that that one negative feeling carries a lot more power than a great many positive feelings. If that sounds specific it's because it is! I weighed in several days ago (I try to only weigh myself once per week) and I had lost 6 pounds.  Fifty percent more than my estimated amount.  Since then, I've worked even harder in Supernatural as I learn to love this whole new exercise option. So today when I stepped on the scale I expected (...there's that word...) some amount of loss and instead was actually up one pound!

I immediately felt that rush of disappointment, the internal dialogue "How is that possible?! I've been working hard, eating right on target, sweating twice as much!" and because of my practice I also saw the next part arise and clearly saw it had no foundation whatsoever other than that dialogue...the doubt. I would tell you what the doubt said to me, but I let it go the moment I saw it arising...it never quite got off the ground. 

Instead I reflected on my previous 2010 success, and how that looked.  I remembered weighing myself every day and noticing the ups and downs, and that weighing daily is often very skewed.  I recalled that I focused on living a better life, not on losing weight.  I focused on how I felt each day instead of how I looked or the statistics that I saw on the scale.

Today, one pound in the wrong direction apparently, I feel fantastic! I am sore in that great "I'm working out" way. I am motivated and happy. The rest will be the fruit of that!

Cliche's are cliche for a reason...it may sound cliche to say that "it's about the journey not the destination" but it's the absolute truth and may even be the key to the whole thing, so instead of worrying about the scale every day, focus on how you feel about your efforts!

Keep it up!