Here at the Institute of Healing Arts, we are finalizing all the steps and requirements needed to submit our application for the IPT Research Study Questionnaire. We are making progress and getting closer to submitting our application to the IRB Board for approval. We are so excited to be participating in a study that will help us collect data about the effects of IPT and want to thank you for your patience as we finish these last and final steps.
And while we are working through this process towards completion I have found it so helpful to focus on mindfulness practices. There are so many resources out there about mindfulness. One of my favorite places to gather helpful information about mindfulness practices is from a book called “Sitting Like a Frog” by Eline Snel. In this activity book, there are 75 mindfulness games for kids and their parents. It contains stickers, ideas for crafts, coloring pages, recipes, stories, and songs. There is a separate smaller handbook for parents.
I find it easy as an adult to engage in these simple activities that build mental muscles. It’s a great place to start when learning how to implement mindfulness practices. It simplifies mindfulness principles and helps even adults understand how easy mindfulness can be!
If you are personally in a holding pattern right now in your life and feel like things are moving at a snail's pace finding the right mindfulness activities for you could be just the ticket. You could be finding yourself waiting for the approval of a promotion at work, or as a young mother waiting to have children out of diapers and able to care for themselves, or maybe you are waiting to complete that last year of college, or waiting to find love in a relationship.
The anticipation of reaching a goal can be part of the journey that brings a lot of excitement and joy, especially if it brings a sense of pleasure or fun like waiting for that long awaited vacation to finally come, or for a life change to happen . . . however, if it turns into drudgery or impatience or generates resistance or anxiety, there are things we can do to help with some of these heavy feelings.
Whether you are playing the waiting game, or whether things in your life are happening at light speed, mindfulness practices can help offer peace and keep us grounded in present time. No need to hyper focus into the future or ruminate over the past. Mindfulness practices can help us to trust that we are in the right place at the right time, and that change is already happening, even if we can’t see it yet. And that projecting into the future or clinging to the past cannot make it happen any faster.
Accepting where we are in the process of bringing goals and dreams to completion can settle the mind, ease anxiety and bring a sense of confidence to your inner world. Mindfulness practices help move us out of resistance into acceptance. Acceptance generates deeper levels of trust and hope that all things work for our good.
I am personally practicing mindfulness exercises, which helps me stay in gratitude for all that IS happening. Gratitude increases my trust in God’s timing for the launch of our IPT research study, even if that timing is uncertain at this point. It is in this state of trust and peace that I am witnessing miracles, and understand on a deeper level than ever before that God is in the details. In times of uncertainty, may we all continue to watch for God’s hand in our lives and trust God’s timing!
With much love,
Pam Robinson