New year, new me, right? I am trying out a more mindful me, starting today with Aetna’s Month of Mindfulness. I’m thrilled to be partnering with Aetna to become more mindful in 2016. The Month of Mindfulness is a 30-day program Aetna created to help people experience how mindfulness reduces stress and boosts health.

Please join me to do the Month of Mindfulness!

Many times as moms we are overwhelmed and run down from trying to meet all the demands of the day. Mindfulness is a fresh solution to stress, and yet most people don’t understand mindfulness, its benefits, and how easy it can be to incorporate it into everyday life so I am going to take you on the journey with me and show you how simple it can be.

Every day during the Month of Mindfulness, there will be a simple tip for how you can practice mindfulness. Here’s the first mindfulness tip that I was given and my experience putting it into practice.

Tip #1: Start on the path to mindfulness by being aware of your emotions and thoughts.

Today, take a few moments to pause and be with yourself as you are. Start with paying attention to a few breaths as they move in and out of your body. Notice thoughts and feelings without self-judgment or criticism. And keep returning your attention to your breathing. This practice can help you have less anxiety and feel happier now and in the long run.   

I practiced my first tip of the mindfulness program, today, while sitting in my home office. I just sat quietly with my eyes closed while listening to calming meditation music on Pandora playing softly in the background. At first, it was difficult for me to slow down my racing mind of things on my to-do list and to calm my thoughts. However, I definitely noticed that by shifting my attention to my breathing it allowed me to feel much more at peace and no longer feel overwhelmed.

For the most part, I was able to observe my thoughts and feelings without judgment or criticism and I can see how this is such an important part of mindfulness. So many of us moms can struggle with constantly worrying about something we did or said days, weeks or months before instead of moving forward and living in the present. I can already tell that this tip will be extremely useful for me and I’m excited to continue to practice it and improve my mindfulness!

Please join me on my mindfulness journey and visit AetnaMindfulness.com to participate and learn more. Have fun and please share your mindfulness experiences on social media using #Mindful30

This post was sponsored by Aetna, who believes health is about the body and the mind. Stress can affect emotional and physical health, and reducing stress can boost wellbeing. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blogger’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of Aetna. To learn more about stress reduction, visit AetnaMindfulness.com.