We often get stuck on negative moments and enlarge their significance. This mindfulness activity teaches us to pay attention to the events of each day and intentionally focus on the positives. It encourages paying close attention, living in the moment and appreciating all that life has to offer. Learning to pay attention to how different moments/events make us feel is an important skill leading to emotional intelligence, improved self understanding and greater compassion and empathy.

Five Good Moments

Each day pay attention to moments that make you feel good and try to find five different ones. The moment might be a thought that inspires, a view that is lovely and makes you pause, an interaction with someone, etc. What it is doesn't matter. What matters is that for at least a moment it made you feel good. Ask someone else (friends, family members, etc) to do the same. When you get together at the end of the day share your five good things with one another.

We do this as a family each evening, each person saying one thing at a time in a circle, and call it "Thankful For." Often at the end of a full day the responses are, "I'm thankful for bed, pillows, sleep, etc." When the offerings get generic and often repeated (my family, my friends, my home) we remind the kids to think of something specific from today (a trip to the park, the colours of the clouds at sunset, the taste of fresh picked berries, etc). We also occasionally switch it up by saying "If I were so-and-so (the family member to their right or left) I would be thankful for..." This is always an interesting exercise and prompts some insightful observations. It also helps teach children to think about others and what happened of importance in someone else's life that day.

For more ideas on living mindfully visit http://www.yogainmyschool.com

photo by Hamed Saber