Hi Thinking out loud here :D
First of all, I want to say that I now have a Patreon page for anyone who would like to support my writing and also be able to see these blog posts two weeks early before they get uploaded onto my blog here; here is the link for anyone who wishes to subscribe to my Patreon patreon.com/freyaAhatfield I will do a post just for here talking about the different tiers I have for subscribers, but for now let’s get into this weeks Mindful Monday.
I will start this blog post properly in a while, but first, It’s been a while since I have written a blog, over a year to be exact. Before I unintentionally stopped writing mostly-weekly posts, I started a series called Mental Heath Mondays MHM for short back in August 2020, which now seems so long ago. I had intended to turn it into a podcast; however, with moving back to New Zealand from Australia and spending time with family, starting and continuing with writing projects, along with starting an Instagram page with my little cousin All Things Positive, for anyone who wishes to see what we do. I got a bit off track with creating the podcast and keeping up with weekly uploads, so much so that I just never got around to uploading at all in 2021.
I have decided for this year, instead of continuing with that series, I am going to do something similar with a new series called Mindful Monday, MM for short. Whether I turn this into a podcast or not, I’m not sure yet; I think I will see how I go with uploading blog posts for now and maybe later in the year, you will hear part of this blog post in a podcast. It will be similar to MHM; only it will allow me to be freer with what I talk about in these Monday uploads.
I found that MHM was becoming very much only about C and not much else, which is fine as that was a huge part of 2020; it wasn’t what I wanted to be talking about. Going forward with Mindful Monday, I hope it will be lighter, happier, and have no boundaries. More than anything, I want it to be a space where you can come back to a particular post throughout the year and feel like it is still helping you and it is still relevant no matter the time of year it is.
I want this space to be somewhere where you can breathe, let go of stress for a little while, and allow yourself to be. So at the beginning of each MM, there will be a little deep breath exercise along with another one to finish before you continue with your day. Please, and I can’t stress this enough if you have breathing problems in any way, skip these parts of the blog, as I am in no way a doctor, so I can’t give you breathing advice. These exercises are simply just used for a bit of love to your breath and as a reminder to come back to your breathing during the day when you feel like the day is getting a little too hectic to cope with in that moment.
I hope you enjoy this series for however long it lasts. Know that these posts will always be here for you when you need them. Or as a little reminder that your world can be burning around you or imploding, but know you aren’t alone, you are an amazing person, and you have got this; you are stronger than you know.
Please, if you haven’t already gotten a drink, get one, maybe even a snack and find a comfy seat and let yourself relax. Let all worries go for the next little while; let yourself get ready for taking in five deep breaths.
Breath out all the way, time for your first deep breath, take in one deep breath through your nose for five 1..2..3..4..5.. hold for 1..2.. and let out through your mouth for five 1..2..3..4..5.. hold for 1.. second breath in through your nose for five 1..2..3..4..5.. hold for 1..2.. breath out through your mouth for five 1..2..3..4..5.. hold for 1.. third, breathe in through your nose for five 1..2..3..4..5.. hold for 1..2.. breath out for five through your mouth 1..2..3..4..5.. hold for 1.. two more to go fourth breath in through your nose for five 1..2..3..4..5.. and hold for 1..2.. breath out through your mouth for five 1..2..3..4..5.. hold for 1.. last one deep breath in through your nose for five 1..2..3..4..5.. hold for 1..2.. breath out through your mouth for five 1..2..3..4..5.. hold for 1.. now go back to your regular breathing pattern. I hope you feel calm and relaxed.
Intentions
Welcome to Mindful Monday week 1
Let’s talk about intentions, what we want to do? What we want to get out of the week and possibly the month ahead? Maybe even the year. I won’t say resolutions as, let’s be honest, when was the last time anyone kept to those? I know I certainly haven’t kept to any that I have ever made. I would like to start this week happy knowing I have already got a blog post up and started the year as I mean to go on. (Thank you, Nov 2021 me for thinking ahead, getting lost in NaNoWriMo and procrastinating with writing blog posts instead of what I should have been writing.) I would also like to end this week knowing I have got at least one post, if not two, up. We will see if I continue with Thursday uploads as well as Monday uploads.
I would like to start the month again with this first post, the first one of four if not eight posts this month; that seems daunting now but absolutely not impossible. I would like to end it feeling accomplished, mentally and physically, I would like to set out a plan for writing ahead in the year, for getting my work out and actually starting to earn some money from it and it not just sitting on my laptop waiting for me to be ready. Truth be told, if I dont do it now, I’m scared I won’t ever do it and move to where I want to be with my writing. Now, this seems impossible, but I promise to myself now and for my future self that I will do everything to make it possible as this is something I have dreamed of for too long; it is now time to make it a reality and stop it from being a dream. That also goes for anything that you have been dreaming of doing; stop dreaming and just do it; there is no better time than now to get started.
My intentions for the year are to keep to my plan, to keep my promise to myself, to keep the fire and drive of wanting to earn money from my writing. I dont want the fire to go out, even on the days when it is hard to write, which there are many. But also to not let writing consume me as it has in previous years, to let other ambitions be able to flourish, and let other aspects of life start to take place perfectly alongside writing.
These are my intentions for the week, month and year ahead; please let me know in the comments below what your intentions are. Remember, they aren’t new years resolutions; they are intentions of what you want your week, month or year to look like and what you plan to do going forwards with these intentions. If you don’t stick to them, don’t beat yourself up, don’t feel guilty; you can always get back on track no matter how long it has been.
Thank you for reading this blog post. I know it has been a while; if you have stuck around during my unintentional break, thank you, it means a lot, remember to be kind, treat others as you wish to be treated, and if you can’t say anything nice, keep it in your thoughts as we don’t know what anyone is going through unless they want to tell us.
Let’s finish on a little three deep breath breather.
Take one breath in through your nose for five 1..2..3..4..5.. hold for 1..2.. breath out through your mouth for five 1..2..3..4..5.. hold for 1.. second breath in through your nose for five 1..2..3..4..5.. and hold for 1..2.. breath out through your mouth for five 1..2..3..4..5.. final breath in through your nose for five 1..2..3..4..5.. hold for 1..2.. final breath out through your mouth for five 1..2..3..4..5.. no hold here you can now go back to your regular breathing pattern.
Thank you again for reading. I hope you feel calm and ready for the week, month and year ahead.
Love always Thinking out loud xx :D
