135: Microdosed Mindfulness with Janet Fouts

Mindfulness – everybody hears about it and they have all kinds of ideas of what mindfulness is. A lot of times, they think it's this really complicated thing and that you have to do the whole kung fu thing to be mindful. But you don't have to.

On today’s episode, Duane carries an inspiring conversation with Janet Fouts, the author of Microdosed Mindfulness.

Janet devolved into depression when her partner was diagnosed with cancer. She found it hard to handle things well, considering how she had to take care of her partner while also running her business. As her way of numbing the pain, she began to drink a lot and tried a few drugs. She found it hard to get out of it but she knew she had to stop.

She ended up going to a mindfulness-based stress reduction course, a weekend retreat that blew her mind and led her to learn about mindfulness and dive deep into studying, quitting her job, and becoming a teacher.

Janet identifies self-judgment as the biggest hurdle of a person’s mindfulness journey. When you stop to recognize that judgment, you begin to back away and get centered.

Recognize that it's okay to come back to it. That's part of the process. So don't be hard on yourself if you didn't get to meditate today. All you need are microdoses, moments to start living mindfully instead of practicing mindfulness.

Once mindfulness dawns on you, you realize it’s just about being aware. And when you're aware of the fact that you're not aware, you switch back to being aware again. It’s such a simple concept but it can take a long time for some people to get there.

When you're in emotional suffering and a lot of pain, your body's telling you that you've got to get out and do something to stop the pain. It may tell you to do so by using drugs, for instance. In those times, sitting with mindfulness can be really challenging, even if it's just 10 seconds. But it can be done!

In this episode, you will hear:

• How mindfulness came into Janet’s life
• What awareness means
• How to get started with practicing mindfulness
• What it means when you normalize something
• How mindfulness shifts your perspective
• The biggest hurdle of starting a mindfulness journey
• Why you also need to celebrate

Key Quotes:

[02:45] - "I was convinced that if I just learned to meditate that everything would start to move slower, and I would be able to manage my life and everything would be wonderful."

[05:34] - “It's really so simple when it dawns on you that all mindfulness is simply being aware.”

[06:08] - “Another word I like to use is ‘notice’ - and that’s the simplest version of awareness.”

[08:53] - “When we're aware, and when we're paying attention, we're such better human beings.”

[15:39] - "We just need the microdoses. We just need the moments and pretty soon, we start living mindfully, instead of practicing mindfulness."

[18:10] - “There's tons of maladaptive behaviors that we can get into if we want to. But sometimes you really just have to go, ‘Wow,’ this really hurts.”

[21:08] - "We can actually retrain our brain to be happier, to have more joy simply by recognizing joy more often."

Supporting Resources:

www.microdosedmindfulness.com

Microdosed Mindfulness book: www.microdosedmindfulness.com/#e-book

Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

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