The Boxing method

I have been practicing mindfulness for 3 years and meditation for almost a decade and each day it allows me to gain more insights for better ways to cope and thrive.

My 'box it' method is what I go to everyday to make sense of - sometimes EVERYTHING.

Let me explain, I have gone through post natal anxiety, so all I could see was chaos and uncertainty, every day, every minute.

I was afraid and many things overwhelmed me. I wasn't always like this - I used to work on massive TV shows confidently coordinating everything from people to flights and more. But when the anxiety hit, it crumbled much of my once strong walls, so I needed to find ways to declutter my mind, stay mindful in the moment and create a working solution for what happens in life - budgets, relationships, disappointments.

So I remembered a mindful meditation where you sit in a white room and create space for yourself. From here I expanded it..insert my 'mindful box method'.

I firstly imagine sitting in a blank room, I then imagine that a plain white box appears.

I name that first box the first thing that comes to mind - like family.

Then I set that box aside from me. A second box appears, I name it my finances and the scenario goes on until each of your life sections/ departments whatever you want to call them has a box and it's now separate from YOU.

So in front of you is a pile of boxes with the most important things in your life, but they are separate from you, no longer sinking your weathered mind or denting your spirit.

The person left is you, the spirit unburdened by any of the 'boxes' and their attachments.

From this point, you can remember who you are, what your passions or interests are, without being a parent, a carer, a worker, a cleaner - you get the picture.

Reality is in actual fact, whatever you believe right? If you think you are your debts or your past bad relationships, your lack of interest for your current job or your unhealthy avatar of a body, then that's what it will be. What we focus on grows.

But ...just imagine that now you can 'box' your life branches and even see them as separate to you but in YOUR full control, perhaps life can be a little bit easier.

Multi tasking has now been disproven as an actual solution to our busy lives.

When we take on too much, we get a 'boxed in' feeling. We get stressed.

When we don't protect ourselves properly, we break fragile inlays of ourselves, we get down.

So if each morning for only 5 to 10 minutes, we were to sit or lie in our bed or comfy chair and imagine that blank but infinite room around us, we can begin a day that is mindful and opens our potential to life.

Each box we gently set down in front of us, will contain a branch of life, for example, your finances.

Instead of getting overwhelmed - we see it as a box. A structure we create and we can even create smaller boxes within it to help define a strategy for that branch.

So you might realise you need to create actual money boxes or buckets in a real bank account so you can save the right amount each week for your budget. By spending that time to see your real situation not the percieved choas, you will then be feeling less stressed at the end of every month because you know you'll have the resources to pay the bills and maybe even have some fun money.

Each box then becomes a department or branch of yourself, BUT they don't need to define you.

You can check on how you're doing in each of them every day or each week, it only needs to be a few seconds.

Finance box - sticking to my budget feels good.

Relationships box - will make time to spend with my best friend.

Spiritual box - being kind to myself makes me feel stronger.

Just imagine feeling good about each day from the start.

My one caveat is we must be honest and kind to ourselves. There is a solution to everything, it may take more time, more thought and more care, but you can do it.

So when you check in with your relationships for instance, you see what's really happening, instead of overreacting by being stressed from all the other 'branches' of your life.

Each 'branch' or box deserves your time.

When we see these imaginary boxes in front of us, we can take a breath and understand that if your mindful of how you think and react, we can all live much more balanced lives.

It's all only a 'boxing' away. And that time that we are box-less, it can be your time to dream, it's ok to have dreams as adults, they keep us going and hopeful, never underestimate the power of that!

To those that think this is too simplistic, how complicated do you want your life to be?

We are a sum of all our parts but we can gently smooth those parts like a potter with clay, creating something beautiful from nothing.

You got this friends.