Amanda Vander Kelen - Mindfulness in Motion: Melding Geographic Thought and Therapeutic Practices

Hello! My name is Amanda Vander Kelen, welcome to my blog! Here, you will find my posts about mindfulness, meditation, apartment plants, and other good life things. I am currently applying for jobs in my field, and decided to share my techniques for staying peaceful during such a daunting process. 

I have taken to doing almost daily mindfulness walks in nature. I find this is a great way to stay grounded and present. I end up doing these in the later part of my day, after scrolling through new job listings, writing cover letters, and sending out job applications. What I notice is that it really helps me to stay mindful and peaceful, feel confident with my daily task accomplishments, and end the day feeling hopeful. 

While on one of my walks, I started to think more about what it means to be mindful. Coming at this from the perspective of a Geographer (I have a master's degree in Geography & Environmental Studies), I began to think of mindfulness as something that is constantly moving through time. Being mindful and being present doesn't mean being static. It actually means that you are constantly moving! Time passes - even from the start of reading this post to the end, a few minutes have elapsed. Being mindful, then, means being present for each passing second. I found this particularly interesting, and began to think more about incorporating my geographic approach to thoughts and my experience as a 2-decade participant in therapy and therapeutic practices. Perhaps this means I am creating a mindful geography! Or just a mind full of geography :) Either way, I liked where these thoughts were going and wanted to share them with anyone who might want to listen and read. I think taking a mindful approach to the stressful things in life, as well as the blissful things, is important. It is easy to get caught up in both good and bad moments, but it takes practice to tread mindfully. Staying mindful helps to regulate anxiety, and all those pesky problems that stem from anxiety run amok. 

I found that from doing almost daily mindful nature walks, my anxiety about both the big "T" and little "t" traumas in my life has seemed less daunting. I recorded a video, linked below, where I briefly discuss my ideas about this new concept I am creating called Mindfulness in Motion, and about these "T" & "t" traumas. 

I hope you appreciated this blog! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my thoughts. 

Mindfully,
~Amanda

YouTube video:

Mindfulness in Motion - Melding Geographic Thought & Therapeutic Practices

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