Year End Mindfulness : Reconsidering Selfies

I've been fighting against using my cellphone camera lately. At least not until I take a deep breath and take a "mental picture" first. So I was delighted to see this article in the latest Westways AAA magazine. 

This article written by Christina Elston talks about breaking the selfie habit. In the article she reference's Martin Belzer PhD who comments "Take-a-photo-or-it-didn't-happen pressure can cause a lot of pressure"

Belzer came up with this acronym:

Stop. Take a breath. Observe. Proceed.

Now does this mean you should never take  selfie again ? not necessarily. This pause only takes ten seconds and by stopping you truly live the moment which is better than a rushed photo and hurrying to the next event.

Practicing this type of mindfulness is shown to help reduce stress and improve your immune system.  So think twice before grabbing your phone next time. Remember we didn't always have cellphones. Use your minds eye to capture a moment and just breathe it in!