Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.

Today I'm going to share the concept of

having personal fundamentals in your life.

So practicing self care.

Isn't always easy.

You know, most of us are quite busy these

days and we have a lot of demands on us.

And right now, we have an

enormous amount of uncertainty

and hardship due to the pandemic.

Self care is often last on the agenda

of things to do and worse, for some

of us, we can even feel guilty about

making time to look after ourselves.

So when we recently surveyed our online

community at mindfulness.com and we

asked them, what are you struggling

with most during these difficult times?

A lot of people said they were in a slump

of bad habits, stress, negative thinking.

Maybe you can relate to this too.

You know, there's this, this feeling

of being in a slump is often what

happens when we stop doing the

things that nourish us, energize

us and keep us healthy and strong.

And let's face it, right, when we

don't take care of ourselves, we

just make life harder for ourselves.

We lose energy, focus and clarity of

mind, our mood plummets, and that has

impacts then on our relationships,

our ability to work well and our

just overall quality of life.

So how can we maintain calm,

wellbeing and inner strength

throughout the journey of our lives?

One way, is to have what

we@mindfulness.com call fundamentals.

These are habits that you do

consistently, usually daily that

keep you happy, vital, and energized.

So everyone on our team at

mindfulness.com has their three

fundamentals written down and we can

all see each other's fundamentals.

And we check in with each other each

week to see if they're all getting done.

Now, this is not done this check in

with any sense of judgment, but rather

just to see if that person needs

any support, to check that they're

having enough time, you know, to keep

doing the things that nourish them.

So for me, my three fundamentals

are a daily meditation,

exercise and time outdoors.

For other people on our team, they

have things like getting eight

hours sleep, doing a hobby they

love, spending quality time with

loved ones or maybe prayer or yoga.

One person on our team loves cooking.

So he sets aside time for that cause it

really nourishes him and fades his soul.

So that's for him.

But what about you?

What nurtures you and nourishes you?

What would be your three fundamentals

that if you did them daily or close

to, they'd really help you thrive?

Start small and realistic.

You could do simple things like

take a 15 minute tea break in the

sun or do some gentle stretching.

So I encourage you today to take some time

to write them down and make a commitment

to them as an act of self love and sanity.

It can be hard for us to find

the extra time, but now more than

ever, it's extremely important

to plan regular self care.

The more you can work these fundamentals

into your schedule, the better

you'll be able to grow, stay mindful

and thrive in challenging times.

So as always, thank you for your practice

and for being part of this community.

And just inviting you now to settle in

for today's meditation in the spirit

of caring for ourselves and staying

strong through these difficult times.