Small Changes: A Not So Serious Approach to Mindfulness

Why? Because if you figured out how to find balance in a busy life, you wouldn’t subscribe to as many “all or nothing” projects and products. You wouldn’t buy things that help you cut out this, that, or the other, nor would you sign up for those retreats or seminars aimed at fixing the burnout caused by overdoing and exhaustion.

The same goes for meditation. Traditional practice is wonderful and certainly has its place in our balanced lives. It’s often how many people (including myself) begin a meditation practice, allowing the benefits to soak into your bones and become habits.

But traditional practice isn’t the only way to learn how to find balance in a busy life. In fact, if you’re someone who struggles with meditation, traditional approaches might do more harm than good. You might convince yourself you’re “not good” at meditation and give up entirely. Or, like me, you may find that your practice comes and goes, never fully sticking.

What I’ve come to find is that 2 minutes of meditation can impact your life as much as 20—or even as much as a 2-day retreat. No incense, soft music, or meditation cushion required.

If this style of meditation helps it fit better into your life, I strongly encourage you to take the pressure off and try this more practical, daily approach. A friend once told me, “I’m trying to meditate for just 5 minutes a day and can’t even do that.” My answer? “Then try 2 minutes and see how it goes.”

Here are a few ways I find a couple of minutes each day to find balance in a busy life and stay grounded:

Sit in the car for 2 minutes before heading into work or going into your house for the evening. Tune into the sounds around you—the ticking engine, cars driving by, maybe even sounds of nature (and all the better if it’s raining).
Plop on the ground while your coffee brews. Focus on your belly rising and falling as you breathe, noticing the sounds and smells of the brew.
Set a timer for 3 minutes post-workout. Lie on your mat and enjoy the feeling of your nerves relaxing as you focus on your breath.
Take a mindful moment on your walk. Slow down and tune into everything around you. This is especially lovely when the seasons are changing, and you can appreciate the shifting beauty of nature.
Sit outside for a few minutes when you let your dog or yourself out for the last time in the evening, and think about three things you’re grateful for that day.

I sprinkle these daily practices in to stay consistent, while enjoying a more formal meditation session just about once a month. Lately, I’ve really been enjoying sound baths. I think there’s something soothing about the way the sounds activate both sides of the brain, easing anxiety—perfect for those moments when you’re learning how to find balance in a busy life.

But as with everything, what works for you may be different than what works for me. You’ll likely try a few different things before finding what sticks. “What’s real for you will stay,” one of my yoga teachers once said. “The rest will float away.”

Do me a favor? If you’re enjoying this journey towards a balanced life please subscribe, share it, and follow my Instagram for smaller bites.

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Balancing a Brain that’s Fighting Back

By Katherine Warren • April 6, 2025

Your brain will straight up lie to you. There’s no way to sugar coat that, friends, there just isn’t. But your brain also creates beautiful ideas and inventions, and well, everything you see that surrounds us. It’s the power of the AND. Your brain is the king of the “and.” The first step in finding balance is recognizing this. The second step is discerning the beautiful part of your brain from the beast. The third is not reacting to, judging or negotiating with the beastly part. It’s tough, tough work. It’s lifelong work. And even if your friends start calling you things like the “definition of balance” (a term so kindly bestowed on me by some friends recently). You’re still gonna have to work your a** off on this part for the rest of your life as you sway back and forth, in and out of balance. Does it get easier? Yes and no. The beauty of understanding the feeling of balance is that you don’t have to rely on your brain so much. You know how it feels to be in a place of solid, grounded peace, no matter what your brain is shouting you “should” or “could” be doing. The harder part is that the more you find balance, the more likely it is that you are upleveling your life. Your focus and pure presence have likely brought about more of whatever you define as a successful life--mentally, physically, or materially. That uplevel can mean those brain lies cut a little deeper, make you question every decision you make to protect your peace. If you’ve learned to sit with that pain in your belly, it might fight a little harder to make you pay attention to it. It might put up a bigger fight to try to force you to listen to those untruths. This is when you have to remind yourself, your brain will straight up lie to you. Under no circumstances should you negotiate with these thoughts. That’s where spiraling lives, that’s where lack of balance lies. Sometimes holding hard to your balanced routines will do the trick.