It's not a concept we really think about too much, but we're actually pretty obsessed with it. We feel like we can't be a healthy person unless we're working out every day with muscles bulging out in every direction. Or the second we eat a cookie, the diet is blown so we might as well just eat a massive plate of fries and settle back into routine with our old friends Guilt and Self-Loathing.
Something that has become clear from talking with you guys about mindfulness is that people have a tendency to apply the all-or-nothing thinking to mindfulness too. I've heard "I don't have time to sit down and meditate every day, so I don't think I can be a mindful person" and "I tried to practice mindfulness every day but then I forgot and feel guilty for failing."
So I'd like to address these.
Firstly, I'd just recommend forgetting about the label "mindful person". Becoming a "mindful person" is not a goal. Mindfulness is not a permanent state of being. Mindfulness is simply a concept that you can apply to your life in different ways. And secondly, you don't have to sit down for a formal meditation every day to be mindful. As you'll see in the Breathing Space meditation I posted, I recommend just doing that one for three minutes. But coming up I have some posts about how to use mindfulness in other ways, outside of a sitting meditation.
As for the guilt of not practicing every day, I think a good step is just being mindful of that guilt. In many cases, it's the same guilt that we feel when we have a plan to exercise every day but then skip a day. Or if we're trying to be really healthy and then give in to a slice of cake. Or if we're trying to learn a language and then fall out of it after two weeks.
I'm not saying it's easy to not feel guilty. Guilt is habitual. It's ingrained. But it's worth being mindful of; it's worth noticing when you feel it. Then you can ask yourself: "how is it serving me to feel guilty about this?" "is it beneficial to punish myself?" "does this guilt/punishment/loathing help me do better next time?" "does it help me address my goals?" "do these negative feelings inspire me to make improvements in my life?"
We can't simply ignore the negative things we feel about ourselves, but we CAN be mindful of them. And then maybe when we really start to consider how these feelings are affecting us, maybe we can start showing ourselves a little forgiveness and a little compassion.
Wishing you well on this day <3