7 Days of Pause

Below you will find a 7-day challenge, or experience, or whatever you would like to call it. These activities are to get you engaged to help ground yourself and investigate your feelings and thoughts and help you to be able to process and respond to what you’re experiencing. It is a chance to take pause and be more mindful. The hoped for outcome is a better understanding of yourself, especially during these challenging times, and a set of actions you can engage in regardless of whether you’re bored or you’re completely overwhelmed with what life’s throwing at you.

The first day includes a link to help you start a mindfulness practice. You are encouraged to take 5-10 minutes at a minimum each day engaging in mindful practice. It is called mindful practice for a reason. You’re training your brain to be in the present. Meanwhile, your brain is trying to analyze all this data from the past and trying to anticipate the future, going 100 miles an hour. Remember, you can be mindful through meditation, walking, eating, etc. Each day on the calendar there is a different topic, reading and activity. Daily journal prompts are included each day to help you identify and/or process your thoughts and feelings about the topic chosen for that day. You can choose to do every day in order or you can jump around to the topics most relevant to you. As with most things in life, you will get as much out of each day as you put into it. Each week another seven days of taking pause will be uploaded.

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Week 1

Day 1

Activity: What is mindfulness? And how do I start to practice?

Journal prompt: How are you feeling about your new living/learning/working environment?

Day 2

Activity: Finding structure: Creating a schedule (Grinnell login required, Excel file)

Journal prompt: What are the most important parts to include in your day?

Day 3

Activity: How am I doing? Check in with yourself each day

Journal prompt: What are you most grateful for these days?

Day 4

Activity: Finding support: Staying connected to friends and family during social isolation

Journal prompt: Someone I am thankful for today.

Day 5

Activity: Creating a fruitful exercise routine

Journal prompt: What makes you feel most alive?

Week 1 Printable PDF

Week 2

Day 1

Activity: Why is sleep important? Need help falling asleep?

Journal prompt: What does it feel like to get a good night’s sleep?

Day 2

Activity: Checking in with your body: body scan.

Journal Prompt: What are some body indicators I have that I’m not relaxed?

Day 3

Activity: How have you been managing anxiety? Here’s a free workbook to help.

Journal Prompt: Identify a few situations in which you can feel your anxiety increase. How can you think about the situation differently?

Day 4

Activity: Breathwork is arguably the best way to gain relief from tension and anxiety, and to stay grounded.

Journal Prompt: What are some ways I can remember to engage in breathwork throughout my day?

Day 5

Activity: What is gratitude? Why is it good to give thanks?

Journal Prompt: Identify one thing you are thankful for. Write five sentences about why you are thankful for it.

Day 6

Activity: What is mindful eating? How can you use it to be more healthy and feel better about food intake?

Try this classic mindful eating exercise. [editor: the video is no longer available]

Journal Prompt: How would you like to change your experience with eating?

Day 7

Activity: Mindful (deep) listening can help you become a better friend, and a better communicator.

Journal Prompt: What does it feel like to be listened to? How is the listener showing you they’re engaged with you?

Week 2 Printable PDF

Week 3

Day 1

Activity: One of the many recommendations during this time is to “Take a walk”. Here is a practice on how to walk while being present with yourself and body. You can go more in-depth and learn about Walking Meditation.

Journal Prompt: What place would you love to take a walk in right now, but can’t? Describe how you think it will look and feel to walk there.

Day 2

Activity: Missing yoga in the museum? Try this yoga practice set to images from the Grinnell College Museum of Art!

Journal Prompt: What is a piece of art that has stuck with you? A song, painting, poem, book, sculpture, play, any kind of art. Why does it resonate with you?

Day 3

Activity: Have you been going on runs? There are many ways to turn these runs into a mindful practice and many benefits as well.

Journal Prompt: Who is someone you would run to?

Runners are dedicated to their sport, they run through all types of weather. What storms have you weathered to get to where you are today?

Day 4

Activity: It can be hard to find motivation to move. Here is a way to turn it into play with this bubble popping dance practice or noodling.

Journal Prompt: What is a song that makes you want to move every time you hear it? What emotion are you feeling as you move?

Day 5

Activity: Movement can take place while sitting at your desk. Here are 3 ways to take a pause with movement while sitting at your computer.

Journal Prompt: Are you content right now, in this moment? Why?

Day 6

Activity: 3 moves to help you be aware of your body.

Journal Prompt: What are three words that inspire you to continue moving forward?

Day 7

Activity: Qigong is a mind-body-spirit practice. Try this practice to get started on a Qigong journey.

Journal Prompt: What is your favorite movement or stretch? How does it make you feel when you do this movement?

Week 3 Printable PDF

Week 4

Week Four focuses on understanding the importance of and practicing self-compassion. During challenging times, when we’re out-of-sync and not doing well, it is easy to become overly self-critical and get down on ourselves. Well, it is easy to do that anytime. A frequent thought for many is that they’re not trying hard enough, or they’re lazy, or they’re somehow worse than others around them or how they’re “supposed” to be. Research shows that shaming and putting ourselves down is not only harmful in the short- and long-term, but also denies us a chance to learn from our mistakes and make ourselves stronger for future challenges.

The daily activities and journal prompts for Week Four will help you to listen to and identify how you typically “talk” to yourself. The goal is to build more compassion toward yourself (and perhaps others) so you’re working with and not against yourself. It is an important skill that, thankfully, can be learned with some commitment to change.

Day 1

Activity: The importance of self-compassion, especially during difficult times.

Journal Prompt:When I experience adversity and defeat, how do I talk to myself about it?

Day 2

Activity:Talking, even to yourself can be a good thing. Learn tips and benefits of positive self-talk.

Journal Prompt:What are some positive affirmations you can give yourself? Write those down and maybe even post them in your room as a reminder.

Day 3

Activity: Practice loving kindness towards yourself.

Journal Prompt: Who is someone who consistently makes you feel good after you talk with them?

Day 4

Activity: Remember, your worth isn’t defined by your productivity.

Journal Prompt: What is something you feel guilty about? How could you be more kind to yourself about this?

Day 5

Activity: Tips to make peace with your inner critic.

Journal Prompt: Practice externalizing your inner critic. Draw or describe it. Does it have a name? What does it look like? What does it sound like? How old is it? Who does it remind you of?

Day 6

Activity: Take a quick self-compassion break.

Journal Prompt: What is a way you are suffering?

Day 7

Activity: Self-care and compassion can be taking time do what makes you happy. This can be as simple as looking at unlikely animal friendships.

Journal Prompt: Pick a friend who is not in your home with you and channel their affection for you. Pick an animal friendship to represent your friendship with this person.

Week 4 Printable PDF