An interview with mindfulness teacher Dr Natasha Papazafeiropoulou, as she reflects on the practice of mindful journaling and writing.
What’s Your Personal Interest in Mindful Journaling?
I have been practising meditation since 2004. In 2011 I became certified as a mindfulness meditation teacher by the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). During my training, we were encouraged to share our experience in meditation and emphasised the importance of reflection after each meditation.
Years later, I decided to extend this practice of mindful sharing from verbal to written form. So, I started keeping a journal of my everyday meditation practice.
Having initially had no expectation as to how trivial or profound this practice might be, my experience was so rewarding that I decided to design a course and workshop to teach people how to journal in a mindful way.
"Writing can be an incredible mindfulness practice"
-- JON KABAT-ZINN
How Can Journaling Support Us?
There are different types of journals. Journaling can be a good way to keep track of our activities and our progress against fitness or work-related goals, but also can be used as a good outlet to express emotions and reflect on our experiences.
The uniqueness of a journal is that we can express ourselves privately, with the freedom to be authentic and original in our writing. At the same time, it's a tangible keepsake that remains throughout the years so e have the option to go back to old journals or share them with others.
How Does Practising Mindfulness Benefit a Journaling Practice?
There are two ways mindfulness can support a journaling practice. First, using mindfulness awareness we can use the journal itself as the anchor to keep our attention in the here and now. This way journaling becomes a mindful activity such as mindful walking, washing up, etc.
Secondly, journaling can be used as an alternative way to share our experience of our meditation practice. Practising journaling while in a meditative relaxed state, we are more able to get insights into our practice, life situations and keep a record of our reflections.
"Whether you're keeping a journal or writing as meditation, it's the same. What's important is you're having a relationship with your mind."
-- NATALIE GOLDBERG
How Does Journaling as a Group Differ From Journaling Alone?
In the journaling course we practice in a group setting. Although journaling is a solitary activity (just like meditation), when we share our journaling experiences with others we can gain better insights and different perspectives.
For example, participants see similarities with the way other people usually see journaling as a way to express distractive emotions, such as anger, and realise how a mindfulness practice can inform their journaling practice.
During the course, we learn how to use journaling to reflect on the past and set intentions for the future. We practice different ways of journaling from structured and guided written reflections, open writing, and combining writing with drawing or sketching.
We practice different mindfulness ideals such as equanimity, gratitude and self-care and use mindful journaling as a way to apply these principles to our everyday life in a meaningful way. Finally, people learn to use their discretion to share as much or as little as they feel is useful.
It’s deeply rewarding to teach this course and I am excited to watch people getting insights into their practice and to use an alternative means to reflect and develop.
" I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. It was very well paced, a variety of meditations and opportunities to practice journaling and exchange experiences with other participants."
-- ANNA, WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT
Finally, Do You Have Any Top Journaling or Mindfulness Tips?
My top tips for both mindfulness and mindfulness journaling are:
- Let go of any effort to achieve something or get a specific outcome
- Let go of any guilt of not practising enough
- Consider group meditation to gather momentum for your own practice
Dr Natasha Papazafeiropoulou
Dr Natasha Papazafeiropoulou has been practicing meditation since 2004 and trained to teach mindfulness meditation at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2011. Since then, Natasha has been teaching mindfulness to organisations, universities, small groups and individuals. Natasha has a PhD in computer science and taught at Brunel University. She now lives and works in Athens, teaching mindfulness, yoga and running retreats. Natasha has a passion for teaching mindfulness in any setting and is particularly interested in applying mindfulness ideas into everyday life.
Join Natasha’s 4-Week Mindful Journaling Course or Half-Day Workshop.
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Take a moment to look around you. The furniture you are resting on, the paper on your desk, the tea in your cup, the food on your plate -- all of this and most everything that sustains us, is thanks to nature and its resources.
The earth is our home, but these days the majority of us live deeply disconnected from it, forgetful of the profound continuity between nature and our self.
Today, on Earth Day, it is nice to connect with a sense of gratitude for the gifts of nature that surround and sustain us, which day-to-day we take for granted -- water to drink, sunlight to brighten and warm our days, trees to clean the air, earth rich in nutrients to grow our food. When we look with awareness, we see that we are a part of nature and not apart from it.
Today is also a time to remember that our earth is as risk and we are edging towards an environmental disaster of epic proportions. The time is also now for us each to consider how we can play our part individually in caring for its future.
As we do, it becomes clear that something deeper must change within us all -- at the level of our mind and our consciousness. In the words of Albert Einstein:
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
Without an urgent shift in the state of our awareness, the repercussions of this crisis will begin to play out in all areas of life.
At this critical point, mindfulness has an important role to play. The simple act of cultivating awareness is one of the first steps we can take to help us to begin to rebuild the relationship with have with the earth.
When we become awake to the interconnection of life on earth, and aware of our dependence on it as a source of physical and psychic nourishment, we naturally deepen our respect and intention to care for it.
These small shifts in attention and intention allow us to begin to make choices that are better for the planet and have a common humanity at their heart -- and although they may not feel much on an individual level, when they gain pace collectively, we may begin to see seismic shifts taking place.
To honour both the hope and despair these reflections can evoke, here is one of our favourite Wendell Berry poems:
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
The Mindfulness Project runs a range of courses, workshops and retreats to help us to cultivate awareness.
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As we approach a birthday, anniversary, or long-anticipated event, it can bring about many thoughts and feelings. We might experience happiness and joy, but we can also feel disappointment, regret or sadness if our day, or lives, are not as we wish them to be.
Such milestones can prompt us to look inwardly, to judge ourselves or to make comparisons with others. In doing so, we can prevent ourselves from fully enjoying our day or even cause ourselves and others suffering.
So, what can we do to cultivate joy and ensure a more positive experience?
Here, we offer eight ways to mindfully support a happy birthday and to help us remember that birthdays are a celebration of the unique gifts each of us brings to the world.
1. Let Go of Expectation
Have you ever not planned something for your birthday?
How does the thought of it make you feel?
Perhaps it brings up feelings of discomfort or maybe it’s a refreshing idea.
We might find ourselves planning our birthday weeks or even months in advance, ruminating over what we may or may not do. In doing so, we can give ourselves excessive time to plan every minute detail in our heads, unintentionally setting expectations.
When we set expectations, instead of being able to enjoy each moment for what it is, we can end up lost in thought, worrying that everything will go to plan. We can miss out on what is actually happening, letting our birthday pass by without being fully present.
For example, if we are planning a party, we might fret about looking our best instead of enjoying the experience of visiting a salon or taking a warm shower in preparation. We might spend time wondering if someone is going to turn up, instead of connecting with those that are already there.
Consequently, when things turn out different to how we expect -- as they usually do -- we can be left feeling disappointed.
Instead of planning, we can consider if a level of uncertainty might help to keep our minds open.
Can not-planning allow us the freedom to choose what we want to do to suit our needs nearer the time, or even on the day?
Perhaps in choosing not to envisage every last detail we can relieve pressure around preconceived ideas about what a birthday ‘should’ or ‘should not’ look like. As we let go of our own expectations, we can also avoid complying with the expectations of others.
When we make space to enjoy the anticipation of not-knowing what will happen on our special day, we can let it unfold with curiosity and wonder.
2. Nourish Yourself
If there was only one day in the year to feel nourished, birthdays are likely to be up there.
If you wake up on your birthday and want to curl up in a blanket with a good book and a cup of coffee, then it’s your birthday and no one is there to judge you, including yourself. If you want to party until 4am for your 80th, then it’s also your birthday!
When we shift our awareness to observing how we feel, we can more easily accept what is and respond to meet our needs, as opposed to what the world around us might dictate.
Regardless of the day, it’s important we regularly set time aside to think about what will nourish us, so that we can learn to restore, reset and reconnect with the world around us. A birthday can provide a good reminder to set such intentions as you move forward into a new year.
3. Choose Gratitude
Instead of ruminating over what a birthday might mean, we can focus on being grateful for what we have as we reach each milestone. We can pause and notice everything around us –- almost like taking a polaroid picture in our head.
We might choose to start or end our day by writing a list of things we are grateful for from last year. This might be experiences, people, objects, or the things we might otherwise take for granted, such as our health and mindfulness practice.
Gratitude can help us to see the world the way it is and let go of the imagined version of our day or the way we might otherwise feel we ‘should’ be celebrating. In directing our attention to gratitude, we can better cultivate positive mind states.
Find out more about our mindfulness courses and workshops.
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4. Read (or Start) a Mindful Journal
As we write down what we are grateful for on our birthday, we might also take a moment to look back on our journal and the year that has passed.
We can take note of what we have learnt about ourselves in a compassionate way. We can celebrate the challenges we have overcome, the experiences we have been a part of and the unexpected surprises that might have taught us something along the way.
Whilst mindfulness is about the present moment, it can be helpful to reflect on the past from time to time to support us in being more mindful and to help set positive intentions for the future.
You might realise that the event that you were so dreading turned out to be enjoyable. Or that the noise the washing machine was making was not a sign that it was broken at all. It might be that thoughts about where we were heading at the start of the year could have turned out to be completely unfounded. This can help us to move forward with greater knowledge and intuition.
If you haven’t started one, you might treat yourself to a shiny new journal -- it’s your birthday after all!
5. Invite a Beginner's Mind
When we are children, we celebrate birthdays -- both our own and that of others -- with a pure excitement that can be lost or hidden under layers of busyness or stress as we grow up. Rather than being a day to catch up with friends, eat cake and play pass the parcel, it can feel like a chore.
When we invite a beginner's mind to our birthday, we forget about making our day ‘perfect’ and centre in on the here and now. We celebrate as if we were a kid again, reverting to a childhood sense of curiosity and joy.
For example, we can open a gift with excitement, rather than expectation or worry. We can focus on the cake in front of us, rather than how it will look on Instagram. If we want to, we can even play musical bumps, mindfully listening for the music to stop without thinking about where we might fall!
6. Mindful Gift Giving
Have you ever thought about giving a gift to someone else on your birthday?
It might be a small token of gratitude for someone that has supported us over the course of the year or a donation to a charity that we admire.
A mindful gift does not need to be expensive; it can be spending time with someone, writing a thoughtful card to acknowledge your appreciation, or simply thanking someone out loud.
Mindful giving can strengthen the connections with those around us and help to cultivate joy for both the recipient and ourselves.
7. Before You Blow Out the Candle…
If you have a busy schedule planned, why not start it with a simple candle meditation, focusing on the flame and helping to move into the day with clarity and inner calm.
Alternatively, if you’ve chosen to have a cake to mark the occasion, you could use the candle as a cue to look around you before you blow it out. Perhaps notice who is there to celebrate with you, tapping into your senses and how you feel in the moment.
And once the candles have been blown out...
8. Have Your Cake (Or Not)
Finally, many of us will celebrate with an edible (or drinkable) treat on our birthday. Why not take a moment to really savour the moment and enjoy that special something in detail with some mindful eating?
A birthday cake, for example, might generate eye hunger -- one of the seven types of hunger -- so why not feast your eyes on the detail of the icing or the different layers before savoring each bite, noticing the textures and flavours. In doing so, we can really appreciate it and the effort that has gone into making it.
And if you don’t feel like a huge slice of cake… then eat what you want -- listen to your body and save the cake for another time if that’s what it’s telling you. Put a candle in an avocado, a piece of sushi or a slice of cheese. Tune in and give yourself the birthday presence you’re truly craving.
Happy birthday!
Meditation
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Tina Basi is a mindfulness teacher and guest lecturer on the subject of sociology at the London School of Economics, specialising in culture and technology.
In developing the Introduction to Mindfulness and Racial Awareness Workshop and Racial Awareness Monthly Drop-ins, Tina has brought together two of her lifelong passions, sociology and mindfulness.
Tina is currently researching the concept of community and the role it has played in traditional mindfulness practice, bringing to light the work that is yet to be done in contemporary western mindfulness practise. She contributed an essay on the subject of community for the Mindfulness Initiative’s publication ‘Mindfulness: Developing Agency in Urgent Times'.
What motivated you to develop the Racial Awareness Workshop and monthly drop-ins?
This came out of my own experience in having challenging but necessary conversations with my own friends and communities. I found that as a woman of colour I often felt apologetic in putting my views forward or creating a conversation, and that my white friends were often very defensive and sometimes aggressive in the way that they were engaging with the conversation.
I wanted to bring together my skills and experiences as a meditator and a teacher of mindfulness to help bring about this very necessary social change of creating racial awareness and ending racial injustice.
What do you hope participants will achieve from attending?
I believe that being able to sit with unpleasant experiences when having discussions of race are going to be vital in progressing this period of social evolution for all of us. For all of society and for all the world.
At the moment, there are lots of internal flashpoints when discussions of race come up and I think we understand from our studies of mindfulness that this is the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) kicking in.
What we want to do is to be able to notice the way in which terms of race trigger the SNS. We want to notice it in the same way that we do with overthinking, signs of depression or any other triggers that take us into negative spaces.
It’s really about cultivating an awareness and a sense of spaciousness when we’re dealing with race.
For more information about the Introduction to Racial Awareness Workshop and monthly drop-ins.
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What's different about the Racial Awareness Workshop and monthly drop-ins?
The workshop introduces guided meditations, exercises, discussion and theory over the course of two-hours, focusing on the subject of racial awareness.
The monthly drop-ins are an hour long and focus on a different race-related topic each month. They offer different practices each month, such as body scans, mindful movement, seated practice, awareness of sound, etc.
Both the workshop and drop-ins are intended to help build a community and safe space to discuss race, allowing participants to share the journey of racial awareness in a sustainable way. There is an opportnuity to share what comes up for you and a really open invitation to share how those experiences have connected with racial awareness.
We wouldn’t usually talk about something so thematically organised on a mindfulness course, and here we’re going to actively invite opportunities to notice, experience and then articulate anything that might connect with race, racism or racial awareness.
Are the workshop and drop-in sessions suitable for everyone?
Absolutely, the course is suitable for anyone. My hope is that the topic of racial awareness might bring people who have previously thought mindfulness wasn’t for them into the conversation because this is a new way of engaging with race, racial awareness and conversations of race. Mindfulness is another tool to engage, just like debate, discussion, reading, learning, seeing, watching, and hearing.
Please note, you do not need to do the workshop prior to joining a drop-in session.
How many people will be in the group?
The workshops are small groups - up to 12 people. We have found that smaller groups mean that you have the chance to connect and share with almost everyone in the group and that really does help in the articulation process.
When the group is too big it can be a bit intimidating to share what’s come up in your practice, but in a small group there’s a sense of intimacy and trust that is built right from the outset. This makes the learning process a little smoother and softer.
Quite often in mindfulness we find that others are having similar thoughts and feelings, and it can help to have someone else articulate what you have been through.
The drop-in sessions vary from week to week, depending on how many people have signed up.
What do I need to bring?
There’s nothing in particular you need to bring with you. If you are doing the course online, it's a good idea to tell those you are living with that you are doing the workshop or drop-in session and to find a room where you can close the door and not be disturbed for the duration. This includes not just partners, family, friends, but pets as well.
You want to be comfortable enough that you can focus on the practice itself, but not so comfortable that you will fall asleep. For the practices themselves, you might find it handy to have a blanket, cushion for your chair and a pair of warm socks -- there’s no need to have meditation cushions or to sit on the floor, unless you want to.
Please note, the safety and welfare of all participants is a priority for us in running the workshops and drop-in sessions.
For more information about the Introduction to Racial Awareness Workshop and monthly drop-ins.
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