Exercising and journalling can help to create a more balanced mindset
Ernie Schramyr Hamilton Spectator June 19, 2024
I had the opportunity to deliver a salon-talk style lecture a couple of months ago for the organization called Mindfulness Hamilton, it was a really fun, stimulating event with an audience who participated throughout, and it was a big success. One of the features of the evening was that I handed out index cards and asked attendees to write a question down for me to answer for them. Unfortunately, we had so much discussion going on for the two-hour period I wasn’t able to get to many of the questions. As a result, I thought that I would answer some of them in Fitness.
The lecture that 1 presented was called Mindfulness and Mindset: Two Sides of the Same Coin. While I spoke about meditation and how to develop practices that help you live a life where you are more mindful of being in the moment no matter what is going on around you, we also
discussed the idea of developing a more positive mindset to help you move forward while managing the challenges that life inevitably throws at us.
Here are a few of the questions that attendees asked me:
How can I create a consistent meditation practice?
For me, personally, it has been all about developing routines which become so ingrained that they soon become rituals. Just as most people would never miss a day of teeth brushing, the same can happen with a meditation practice. Therefore, I have found it useful to anchor my practice to something else that is an absolute. My morning routine is consistent and happens the same way 90 per cent of the time as follows; wake up, go to the bathroom, brush teeth, drink a glass of
water and take a multivitamin, sit to meditate with the Headspace app, bring in the newspaper, eat breakfast while listening to jazz and then call my first virtual personal training client.
How can I focus on days when it just seems “hard?”
Without a doubt, the best tiling to do on days like that is to work out before you even try to get quiet and still. I often call this getting out of your head and into your body. I’d also recommend making your workout on those “hard” days a little more challenging than usual. Pushing yourself physically like that will divert any random, distracting thoughts into what you are doing in the moment. Whether that is a tough treadmill session or sets of pushups, the exercise will require your attention and leave you feeling refreshed and ready to calmly get back ”into your head” as you try to complete your mindfulness Practice.
What “quick fix” mindfulness practice can you share with us?
Just like working out gets you out of your head and into your body, journaling is a way to get you back “into” your head and mind. Using a pen and paper, I’d recommend journaling for five minutes when you feel like you need to get your head straight. This can be structured where you answer specific questions, or it can be more free-flowing where you start with a blank page and get a little more creative. The blank page is my preferred method. I’ll sometimes list a things I am proud of, ways that I can create more impact for others, tillings that I am grateful for or just interesting thoughts or motivational quotes that I’ve been pondering. I keep these journals and will occasionally go back and reread what I’ve written
What do you notice when you stop meditating?
Just like you start to feel weaker, less conditioned and generally less well when you stop exercising, I feel a little unsettled when I stop meditating. This might present itself as low level, mild anxiety or that I rise to anger more easily. It’s really just a whole bunch of little things that make me feel that I need to get back to my practice. The good news is that while a couple of workouts makes you feel physically better almost immediately, doing a couple of days of meditation makes you feel mentally and emotionally better in a relatively short amount of time.
Thank you to everyone who forwarded questions. I will get to more of them in the coming weeks.
LIFE COACH AND CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER ERNIE SCHRAMAYR HELPS HIS CLIENTS TO IMPROVE THEIR LIVES PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY. YOU CAN FOLLOW HIM AT ERNIESFITNESSWORLD.COM OR CONTACT HIM AT ERN1ESFITNESSW0RLD@GMAIL.COM
Listen to Ernie being interviewed on a Hamilton Talks Mindfulness Podcast at LINK