Rev. Becky Jo Messenbrink from the Minnesota Annual Conference.

It was a rainy day, but the rain hadn’t come just yet. Chad and I left the adult children at the rented cabin while we went out to hike Oberg Mountain Loop. The first part of the trail has peek-a-boo and picturesque views of Lake Superior. The backside of the trail overlooks the fullness of Oberg Lake and the vegetation that surrounds it. This sight surprised us enough to stop and take in the beauty of the incredible view, and we were suddenly mindful of the richness of that moment.

Mindfulness has become a deep part of my own health and wellness journey. I would not have named that before this past summer and fall, but I now have a name for the resources I have put together to work on my health and well-being.

I have Type 2 Diabetes. I bristled at managing my blood sugars, both taking the medications and testing three times a day. Then something occurred to me while I was away at a training in early August. Stuck in a hotel room without snacks in the evening or a vehicle to go get them, and not really being hungry after eating a healthy and hearty meal for dinner, I realized my morning blood sugars were in range. I became aware of the impact I could have on something that had frustrated me, if I would just be mindful of my evening routines and practices.

In November, I engaged with the Weight Watchers WW tool again. The simple app helps me track my weight, blood sugars, activity, and food. It’s not about limiting what I eat or judging me for my inactivity. Instead, it has given me an awareness of my body, my lifestyle, my choices. This tool helps me be mindful of the choices I am making throughout the day to inform my future choices. Should I get up and move for 10 more minutes? What kind of snack might I choose given what I have already tracked today? Mindfulness.

My health insurance enables me to have a call from a health coach every four to six weeks. Lindsey calls me for a quick, 20-minute conversation about setting short-term goals for my health and well-being. She doesn’t tell me what my goals should be but rather asks me questions so I can come up with my own goals. The entire conversation helps me be mindful of the places I am stuck on my well-being journey and gives me confidence in my ability to set goals that keep me moving forward. Just this week, Lindsey helped me create a goal and then asked me how I can meet it. We decided together on a mindfulness chart (I am thinking I need to get some stickers) to celebrate when I am successful. Perhaps that chart is going to live in my kitchen somewhere.

Naming these tools as “mindfulness” for me has been life-changing. I no longer think of tools for health and well-being as punishment or restriction. When my Apple Watch notifies me that I have been sitting for an entire hour, I am now aware and can decide how to respond. When my phone tells me how much screen time I have had, I have a choice about how to spend the rest of the day. Mindfulness won’t make the choices for you. But it will give you an awareness that enables you to make a decision for yourself.

Here’s to making mindful choices this week, like making plans to hike Oberg Mountain Loop this fall!

Helpful resources:

• Explore the many tools and options available through Weight Watchers

• If you are enrolled in conference HealthFlex benefits, learn about the various opportunities available through Wespath and Personify, including health coaching and a diabetes management program.

• Find a health coach in your location or to work with you virtually.

• To learn more about mindfulness, consider these opportunities at the University of Minnesota’s Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing.

• Consider these mindfulness apps: Insight Timer, Calm, Headspace, and the Healthy Minds Program.

• To learn more about diabetes management, take the Prediabetes risk test from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and check out the Diabetes prevention toolkit from the American Medical Association.