How To Get The Teens In Your Life To Care About Mindfulness

So unsurprisingly, when I told people I was working on a mindfulness book for teens, Zen Teen, pretty much everyone could pinpoint someone in his or her life who could use it. Here are some tips I've identified in my research that will make the topic of mindfulness more engaging for teens and young adults:

When talking to your teen, consider saying something more along the lines of, "Hey, I think you might need to take a step back from this stressful situation with your friend and just witness what's happening for a while." Talk about mindfulness techniques as if they are the most natural thing in the world, and keep in mind that your teen has probably already been exposed to these tools.

The more your kids see you practicing mindfulness techniques, the more they will want to do it too—at least when they are young. If you usually meditate in the morning for 15 minutes, consider making it a family practice (you can still have a private meditation later in the day). If your teen is rebellious, remember they are also wise. So they might still consciously choose to adopt your mindfulness habits. Regardless, what you model for them now will become what they practice as adults whether they want to or not. It's just what people do—they subconsciously adopt the patterns of their parents. Give your teens some healthy ones!

Some teens just feel things strongly and deeply, for example, and might have trouble managing and expressing these emotions. Instead of teens always feeling overwhelmed by or at the mercy of an emotional storm, mindfulness techniques can teach them how to process and put their emotions in perspective. A relief for everyone in the house, as the collective emotional energy will begin to feel more neutral. Teens are like everyone else—they want to find ways to make their lives better.

I say in the intro of my book that if you asked 100 different people for a definition of mindfulness, you would probably get 100 different answers. Sometimes there is value in boiling things down to their essence. Find other words to describe mindfulness so it easily makes sense to teens. You could say that being mindful means being more aware, more thoughtful, more focused, more calm, or more present. I'd also explain to teens that mindfulness gives them tools to have more control over their lives and encourages them to think of themselves as co-creators of their reality.

Could you use your own refresher on mindfulness before you pass it along to your kid? Check out this guide to working more mindfulness into your day-to-day, even if you're not a meditator.