Constellations of Relaxing Moments
Each star is a moment of relaxation. Make your day the Milky Way!
During these times of increased time at home and potential for homeschooling, finding ways to infuse relaxation into your daily activities can make a huge difference in creating an atmosphere of peace, connection and being truly mindful and present with one another.
For me, I like to think of these infusions of peace as constellations. It’s not about having a whole day of silent retreat, but rather it’s about pausing frequently throughout the day to become aware of your intention to relax. Do this several times and you now have created beautiful constellations of relaxation. Before you know it, the entire energy has the power to shift into one of contemplation.
Kids need not only planned moments of down time but also spontaneous ones as well. In this post, I’m offering some ideas as to how to begin to experience moments sprinkled in throughout your day in hopes that this is a softer, more doable and easeful way to infuse peace into your family life.
Start small. Five minutes as a block of time can be built into more blocks as time goes on. Here are some five minute ideas to begin adding moments of peace to you and your child’s day:
- Invite your child to do some dishes with you. With your hands in the water, pause to take a deep breath, draw your attention to the suds on your hands, the feeling of the water. Watch the water dripping from the dishes back into the dishwater. Listen to the sound the dish makes as you move it around.
- Pause before making dinner to take a five minute photo break. Grab your phone and take 5 mindful photos of common objects around your house and then sit down with your child to mindfully look at the pictures. Notice the colors and textures. Point out the details. See if you can notice something you haven’t noticed before.
- Make a snack together: prepare some cut up fruit. While you are preparing the fruit, mindfully activate your sense of smell. Breathe deeply and breathe in the essence of each fruit’s fragrance, pausing to experience the range of smells that fruits can have. Notice the shape and size and feel of each fruit. Hold it in the palm of your hand to see how it feels, the weight of it, the texture.