3 Ways TSD Mindfulness Can Help Moms Like Us
Photo Credit: Jhon
Whether you are raising a neurodivergent kiddo or dealing with your own chronic health challenges, TSD Mindfulness, as a practice, can support you. When you work one-on-one with a coach like me, we begin by unpacking your Unique Stress Type, and I come up with specific strategies to further help you. But, even before we begin with sessions, it is important to connect with some ways it can benefit you as a Mama on this journey.
Helps Us Understand How / Where Stress Shows Up -
Is the stress showing up in your mind with non-stop thoughts and the pressure to make a decision quickly? Or maybe you are ruminating - thinking about the same issue over and over - making it hard to calm down, and both your mind and body are tense. TSD mindfulness helps us lean into exercises such as short meditations connecting us with our breath, sensations in the body, and sounds around us to bring us into the present moment. This gives us time (as little as 1-2 min.) to take a short break from decision making and concern about the future and soothe our nervous system.
Many of us also need space for softness around difficult emotions without pushing them aside. Calling in balance here looks like becoming comfortable with uncertainty, becoming aware of what exists in our hearts, practicing self-compassion, and allowing our authentic emotions to lead us to healing, gratitude and joy.
Mamas like us are always wading through anxiety around constant changes either with our kid’s health or our own. This may show up physically as tightness or uneasiness in our stomach (or gut area), or emotionally as worry about We can use TSD techniques to understand what triggers our guts - the emotions we feel, thoughts and physical sensations. We can then identify ways to soothe ourselves such as affirmations or validating statements that acknowledge our experiences instead of denying them. Ultimately helping us, step by step, lean into comfort with changes in our lives, validate our survival instincts, and soothe our guts when triggered.
Deepens Our Self Compassion
We are HARD on ourselves, Mamas. We show up for our kids, our partners, and friends without question. But often, we are last on the list. It starts with self talk. We convince ourselves there is not enough time to pour back into us because everyone needs us now. Working through those beliefs, in the moment, and affirming we DO matter, is where the healing begins. TSD mindfulness defines self compassion as the “wish for ourselves to experience the authenticity of our emotional experience (i.e. sadness) without thinking self-devaluing thoughts and feeling the emotion of shame.
Instead, we wish for ourselves to have thoughts and feelings of being (a) loved, (b) worthy of that love, (c) connected to people and spirit, and (d) confident you are a good person.” For instance, one TSD mindfulness exercise works with the ways we put up resistance to self compassion by not always allowing those feelings of sadness, longing, fear, etc,, in and calls us into a supportive strategy to move beyond that rooted in self-validation.
Ground Us in Acceptance
Acceptance does not mean we do not try to move out of challenging situations, but it does mean instead of pushing aside or ignoring what is happening, we choose to greet it like a friend. We become curious, and release judgment. One group of TSD mindfulness exercises encourages us to ground ourselves in acceptance with affirmations and / or validating statements (which can be customized for us), such as “I accept my body ache with compassion,” “Right now it’s like this…”
Right now it’s like this _____________ I often fill in this blank by saying however I am feeling in the moment: it is challenging, stressful, overwhelming etc., placing my hand on my heart so I fully feel the emotion instead of suppressing it and then lean into what is most supportive for me - crying, journaling, screaming, breathing deeply.
Another acceptance exercise calls us to also sit with difficulty. Because it is so easy to push right into solving the problem or get stuck in the overwhelm. “Acknowledging difficulty and validating our feelings is a practice in accepting what is happening in the moment and creating space for healing.
Take a pause
State you notice the challenge - Name that you are noticing the difficult feelings - sadness, pain, etc.
Sit with your feelings (acknowledge that it is difficult for you) with care and compassion.
