Mumfulness, is a term I heard recently, it was actually spelt momfulness, but being in the southern hemisphere I will spell it our way, this is the term to describe Motherhood and Mindfulness combined.
To be a mindful and conscious Mama can take a lot of work, especially if our to-do lists are long, our energy is low and our multi-tasking has spiralled out of control.
I realize the times I get easily frustrated with my children is when they are continuously nagging me for something, but the reason their nagging becomes consistent is because I’m consistently distracted and my mind is elsewhere, this is when I’m not giving my children the focused attention they want and deserve from me. This is when the nagging turns into grizzling which can then escalate quickly and we all end up ugly crying.
To be a mindful mother takes training and focus, but not in the way I originally thought. It actually means focusing on ourselves with some self-love and care that ultimately energises and enables us to be the ‘present’ mama when we need to be. I get it - finding those times can be tough. At the moment, the quiet moments for me are limited, but I’ll take it! I have the hours between 7pm and bedtime that are ALL ABOUT ME (and my husband) and if I’m lucky in the mornings I’ll feed my 8 month old at 6am, put him back to sleep for an hour and before my toddlers wake up I’ll have a 20 minute window to do a meditation. Instead of getting up looking at the bright lights on my phone and scrolling aimlessly I wake up to the sounds of Oprah and Deepak Chopra in a guided meditation.
So mama’s, what’s your muse? Your outlet? What’s the thing you do that quietens your thoughts, and gives your overthinking mind a break, the thing that brings you peace even if it’s for just 5-10 minutes. Can you name 1? Can you name 3?
I was talking about this the other day with a group of mums and for some of us naming 3 each was quite the challenge.
Mine has changed over the years and sometimes changes week to week. Sometimes it’s exercise and other times it’s music. Right now it’s meditation, I’m obsessed with it, love the idea of having a space for myself both mentally, spiritually and physically, and I crave breathing in renewed energy and challenging myself to empty my mind of thoughts.
I heard meditation described beautifully the other day by Deepak in a guided meditation. Meditation is a journey towards unbounded awareness, unbounded awareness is the brief moments of silence between thoughts, this is when you should dive into that gap and stay in the peace.
And that Mama's sums up Mumfulness - unbounded awareness for our children.
