Green & Natural Thursday Mamas, I'm participating in the Mindful Mama Carnival today, so I hope you enjoy all of these wonderful natural parenting posts! The linky for your green living or natural parenting post is at the bottom of the page.

This post was written for inclusion in the Mindful Mama Blog Carnival hosted by hosted by Kelly of Becoming Crunchy and Zoie of TouchstoneZ. Participants are writing posts about what mindfulness mean to them. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

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You,unknowing yet wise,diminutive yet full of heart,have done for mewhat I have spent a lifetimetrying to do for myself.
You’ve lassoed time,drawn it in,and placed it in a bubbleof peace and contentment,fixed in place,neither rolling back to the pastor forward to the future.
You have given methe gift of the present,where I’m now suspendedwith you -the past no longera prickly burrholding me back,and the future no longerthe impetus of my daily life.
Thanks to you,the presentis all I need,as long as I sitin this bubblewith you.
I am reposting this poem because as I tried to find the words to describe how I have arrived at experiencing mindfulness in my life on a regular basis, and as I thought about what mindfulness looks like in my life, I kept coming back to this poem that I wrote for Baby's 10 month birthday. It describes my inspiration, as well as what mindfulness looks like in my life. For me, mindfulness is all about being present, experiencing each moment deeply, and having that bubble-ish experience where you are so immersed in the emotion of what is in front of you that you couldn't even dream of being elsewhere. My son brings me to this place, and I will be eternally grateful to him for this.

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Visit the Mindful Mama Blog Carnival Homepage to find out how you can participate in the next Mindful Mama Blog Carnival!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• An Alternative Approach to Parenting Mindfully Through Present Moment Awareness Amy at Peace 4 Parents offers an experience of present moment awareness as a pathway to mindful parenting.
• Define: Mindful Alicia C. at McCrenshaw describes the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings for Engaged Buddhism and attempts to describe how she can apply them to her non-Buddhist life on her new journey toward mindfulness.
• This is what mindfulness looks like in my life Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama describes what mindfulness looks like in her life in the form of poetry.
• Practice, Practice, Practice: Becoming a Mindful Mother Erin at it's OK shares her definition of mindfulness, and her struggle to develop a regular practice.
• How Meditation Makes Me a More Mindful Mother Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares her methods for sneaking meditation into each and every day in an effort to dig deep and be the most mindful mother possible.
• A Simple Practice Kat at My Mental Oddities outlines a simple practice with children
• Our Family Mission Statement Patti at Jazzy Mama writes about how living mindfully means living intentionally. She created her Family Mission Statement to help her family stay focused on their goals and values.
• I REALLY Miss Being Mindful! Tracie at Purposeful Practices shares what it’s like to find and then lose your mindfulness practice.
• My Job Made Me a Mindful Mother Amy at Anktangle tells a story about how a mindfulness practice she used to utilize in her job as a nurse still impacts the way she mothers her son today.
• Now Amanda at Let's Take the Metro shows how mindfulness is all about living in the moment.
• Stepping into the Unknown To Rachael at The Variegated Life, mindfulness is a way of stepping into the unknown.
• Derailed Kelly of Becoming Crunchy explores what mindfulness looks like in her new, somewhat more hectic life.
• Mindful Mama: The Places That Scare Me Zoie at TouchstoneZ learns to stop struggling by being present with uncomfortable realizations.