kindness practice

Day THREE of Break THRU Boredom: KINDNESS

Day THREE of Break THRU Boredom: KINDNESS
Today, our mindset focus is on Kindness! Studies show that performing kindness acts activates areas of pleasure, social connection, and trust in the brain. Scientists also found that when someone only thinks of the idea of giving, endorphins and oxytocin hormones, which elevate the mood, are released making him/her feel better and happier for hours. Read about why Kindness is important to the brain.

Affirmation: I am Kind, I am Giving

Snack:
Let's spread kindness by thinking of shareable snack packs to bring to neighbors or essential workers.  Here are a few ideas.

A list of snack ideas to give out to neighbors or essential workers:

Printable tags: 

Mindfulness Activity: Worry Rocks 



Activity: Painting Kindness Rocks

We absolutely love participating by sharing and finding kindness rocks.  Our town has a Facebook group that is very active and it started at a Nursing Home as a fun activity for the residents to do as well as for them to receive from town members.  Whenever we travel to other states we've started finding them as well.  Now, we enjoy painting rocks and sending kindness messages to friends and families as well as hiding them when we go out hiking.

From this website: Here's how you can create Kindness Rocks with your family or in your classroom. You'll need these supplies:

  • Palm-sized, smooth rocks
  • Acrylic paint and thin brushes
  • Paint pens or permanent marker (optional)
  • Clear outdoor sealant spray

Gather your rocks. Look for ones with a smooth side that fit in the palm of your hand. About 3” is the best size. (We got ours from our river rock landscaping.)


Invitation to Play: Giving the Stones a bath
Kids absolutely love to play with water and soap or shaving cream make it 100% more fun!  Set up a water table or a shallow bin with water and soap or shaving cream.  Add some sponges and scrub brushes.  Set a basket of collected rocks (from the kids or ones that you provide).  Also, set a basket of plastic animals.  Tell them that the rocks and animals need a bath today!  This should engage them for quite some time.  To extend the play, then build a habitat scene with the rocks and animals while they dry on a towel using the color as the terrain such as a green towel for grass or a blue one for water.

Enjoy the shift in the brain this week!

Find the 5 Day Break THRU Boredom challenge in my facebook community too!  That's where you can participate for prizes and get more free trainings


If you like this blog, you may also like this Free Guide: 5 Ways to Reduce Childhood Stress and Anxiety.

Grab the Free PDF 15 Ways to Build Self compassion here

Join my FB community for Conscious Moms here


Meet Tanya Milano Snell

 
Becoming a wife and mother was so exciting for me. I had so much love to give and I strived to always find solutions to life's bumps in the road. From cloth diapering to buying as much organic or local food as we could I was trying to keep us as healthy as possible. I found products that I liked at online stores and corporations, big box stores, local shops, and local farms.....you name it, I was using it all and it was complicated. I also stressed the importance of self care so my husband and I can be there for our kids and for our community, but there just never seemed much time for this.

So, then came a series of traumatic events in our life. First, the death of my mother in law after a long illness followed 2 years later with the death of both of my parents from cancer. Having 2 young kids (one of which was diagnosed with asthma) and navigating this time in our lives was nothing short of a miracle. We have so many friends and family to thank for this! We were maintaining self care (honestly, my yoga practice was crucial) and healthy living as best we could given our circumstances or at least that's what I thought.

In the summer of 2018, my husband was hospitalized with severe gastrointestinal problems. After a week in the hospital, we received a diagnosis of Crohns disease. On the day of his release from the hospital, I was a mess. My body and mind had HAD enough. I didn't know how we were going to manage all of these changes. I cried all day!! I felt like I couldn't be strong for the one person that was strong through all of our battles so far.  In the next few months, we had new food to buy, new supplements, new medical bills, and the list goes on. I was having daily headaches, irregular bowel movements, and increased anxiety. Bills and shopping were so hard to keep up with. It was time to make some decisions for the whole family. 

I realized that staying in the teaching field was unsustainable to my well-being and detrimental to my family's well-being.  I chose to really listen to my intuition, strengthen the practices that help me listen, and follow the path that I was being led to follow.  Leading and living from the heart was the only option.  My love for what yoga does for my mind, body, and soul was the missing piece to my puzzle on how to make all my passions and dreams a reality.

Today, I have much less stress because I have developed a self awareness that keeps me from self abandonment (SacredSeat and SafeSeat practices). I sleep better. I have much fewer headaches and muscle pains. My anxiety is managed and I worry less about providing what my family needs for proper nutrition. And best of all, I now have a self care routine so that I can be there for my family and their needs. I also have more time for the things that I enjoy doing like reading, playing outside, and family time.


Contact