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Karen teber km463@georgetown. Edu

How to be Mindful Right Now

renee jain is a life coach and founder of the programs gostrengths! and gozen! jain has written about her own struggles with childhood anxiety, and sat down with me to talk about motherhood, anxiety, and mindfulness. Rae: let’s dive right in! you have a really compassionate, non-stigmatizing take on anxiety. You’re not a failure as a parent because your child is anxious. That must be so relieving for parents to hear. Renee: i had bad anxiety as a kid, so i know how real a difficulty it can be. I remember it affecting the entire family. I know the pain that’s associated with having a child with anxiety for everyone.

Being mindful means paying attention to the present moment, exactly as it is. It is really hard to be anxious if you are completely focused on the present moment – what you are sensing and doing right now … and now … and now. This is different than what we usually do when we are anxious: get stuck in our heads and think about everything that could go wrong. Our anxious brain likes to hang out in the unknown future and think about all the bad things that could happen. An anxious brain is very creative and can come up with the most amazing worst-case scenarios! our anxious brain also likes to obsess about the past and dwell on regrets.

By julie corliss , executive editor, harvard heart letter archived content: as a service to our readers, harvard health publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date each article was posted or last reviewed. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. My mom began meditating decades ago, long before the mind-calming practice had entered the wider public consciousness. She liked to quote sayings from thich nhat hanh, a zen buddhist monk known for his practice of mindful meditation, or “present-focused awareness.