Melanie's Journey to Mindfulness

Maintaining a healthy weight has always been a struggle for me. I have come to find that I was really good at losing weight, simply by restricting calories, eliminating my favorite foods, or not eating at all. However, this wasn't sustainable and I inevitably gained everything I lost back and then some. Something had to give. I was overweight, unhealthy, and starting to feel the effects of the extra weight in my feet, knees, and back. I decided to recommit to a more healthy lifestyle.  This time, I started learning about  'mindful eating'. This concept of slowing down at meals, really appreciating the food, enjoying it, thinking of what this particular food had to go through to get to my plate, and a life-changing statement: "Is this food worthy of ME?" It was then that I started investigating mindful eating further. At the same time, as a classroom teacher for more than two decades, I was seeing an increasing amount of students who were struggling to remain focused, manage their emotions, and many were being diagnosed with ADHD. I was on a mission to find strategies to help this population of students. I attended a conference on ADHD and Executive Functioning Skills and the presenter mentioned that creating a calm environment with mindfulness can help students. There was that word, 'mindful' again. I continued researching. In addition to the these events, I have two children of my own and  I wanted to meet them with compassion and understanding throughout their personal social and emotional growth and development. Again, more research, and I began to learn more about how to cultivate a focused awareness, I immediately saw the benefits it was having on my health and wellness. I was able to respond instead of react. I was starting to notice subtle nuances about how I handled certain situations. I was able to get curious about what I was learning about myself and make discoveries. This passion and drive I had to learn more lead me to start training in the neuroscience of mindfulness. From there I embarked on a journey of inquiry, practicing, and truly committing to live a mindful lifestyle. Each day I try to carve out just a little slice of mindfulness and doing so has greatly enhanced the quality of my life.