Take Notice
Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.
Support Available
The Chaplaincy are running virtual mindfulness workshops, drop-ins and organise a weekly MindLetter which consists of an email and a theme for reflection.
Know You More, one of our coaching partners, has put together a resource to help you understand your own reactions at this time of crisis and identify your personal strengths and resources to support you stay resilient and adapt.
The Institute for Academic Development has produced a guide to provide researchers with the skills and awareness required to thrive in your research position.
Thriving in Your Research Position
The team at Calm have made available some of the resources for free and offer a 40% off code if you wish to download the app. You'll find a variety of content (Sleep Stories, meditations, music, mindful movement, etc), breathing exercises and journaling prompts to help stay grounded.
How to be more mindful?
The following is taken from NHS guidance on mindfulness
Reminding yourself to take notice of your thoughts, feelings, body sensations and the world around you is the first step to mindfulness.
Notice the everyday
"Even as we go about our daily lives, we can notice the sensations of things, the food we eat, the air moving past the body as we walk," says Professor Williams. "All this may sound very small, but it has huge power to interrupt the 'autopilot' mode we often engage day to day, and to give us new perspectives on life."
Keep it regular
It can be helpful to pick a regular time – the morning journey to work or a walk at lunchtime – during which you decide to be aware of the sensations created by the world around you.
Try something new
Trying new things, such as sitting in a different seat in meetings or going somewhere new for lunch, can also help you notice the world in a new way.
Watch your thoughts
"It might be useful to remember that mindfulness isn't about making these thoughts go away, but rather about seeing them as mental events.
Name thoughts and feelings
To develop an awareness of thoughts and feelings, some people find it helpful to silently name them: "Here's the thought that I might fail that exam". Or, "This is anxiety".
Free yourself from the past and future
You can practise mindfulness anywhere, but it can be especially helpful to take a mindful approach if you realise that, for several minutes, you have been "trapped" in reliving past problems or "pre-living" future worries.
Sleep
Mindfulness practices aid good sleep, and quietening of the cognitive reactivity that accompanies difficulty sleeping, by quietening the mind’s ‘driven-doing’ mode of mind, which activates the fight/flight and drive systems.
Here are some guided practices, recorded from the Mindfulness Drop-ins, to stream or download. These are best done a few times a week, to help train your mind to gather and settle.