One way to cultivate gratitude is through mindful living. Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present in the moment, without judgment or distraction. When you are mindful, you are more aware of your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, which can help you to appreciate the present moment and the people and things in your life.
Here are some of the benefits of feeling grateful and practicing mindful living:
Gratitude and mindfulness are both associated with increased feelings of happiness and contentment. When you focus on the positive aspects of your life and appreciate what you have, you are more likely to feel happy and fulfilled.
Both gratitude and mindfulness have been shown to reduce stress and anxiety. When you are grateful, you are less likely to focus on negative thoughts and emotions, which can lead to stress and anxiety. Mindfulness can also help you to manage stress by helping you to stay calm and focused in the present moment.
Gratitude and mindfulness can also improve your relationships with others. When you are grateful for the people in your life, you are more likely to treat them with kindness and compassion. Mindfulness can also help you to communicate more effectively and resolve conflicts in a more peaceful way.
Gratitude and mindfulness can help you to develop greater resilience in the face of challenges and setbacks. When you are grateful, you are more likely to see the positive aspects of a difficult situation and to find ways to overcome it. Mindfulness can also help you to stay focused and motivated, even when things are difficult.
Gratitude and mindfulness have also been linked to improved physical health. When you are grateful, you are more likely to take care of your body by exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet. Mindfulness can also help to reduce stress, which can have a positive impact on your overall health.
In conclusion, gratitude and mindful living are powerful tools for improving your overall well-being and increasing your sense of happiness. By cultivating gratitude and mindfulness in your daily life, you can experience the many benefits that come with living in the present moment and appreciating the people and things in your life.
]]>We forget living a good life is simpler than we think. A good life is about paying attention to present moment and creating moments more meaningful by our conscious actions and thoughts.
and It starts with gratitude - gratitude for opportunities, gratitude for learning and failures, gratitude for precious people around us, and so on.
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"When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around." - Willie Nelson -
"Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance." - Eckhart Tolle -
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." ―
Life will be never enough. We set a goal. Once we achieve the goal, there's one after another. When would it ever feel completed or enough? Is all the waiting and anxiety worth it? Are we feeling happy or not?
We forget living a good life is simpler than we think. A good life is about paying attention to present moment and creating moments more meaningful by our conscious actions and thoughts.
and It starts with gratitude - gratitude for opportunities, gratitude for learning and failures, gratitude for precious people around us, and so on.
Here, we created gratitude bracelet for more intentional life. It's made with gratitude symbol of the infinite loop for lasting appreciation in life. Hope the symbol brings more meanings and imagination than the word itself. See details here.
]]>Recently, I watched a show,'undone' from Amazon. It's about a girl practicing time travel to find who killed her father. But in the process of practicing time travel, she does this exercise.
The exercise is about her consciousness is not bound to physical body but beyond. There's a scene that her dead father explains about consciousness with toy blocks. We are living in the world surrounding with objects. The objects are numerous toy blocks. From our eyes, it can be grill cheese we love, people we love, or personal experience. However, when we look at it from above, outside, it's just bunch of same blocks (which is just objects). As we live, we pass by the objects. It helps her to understand her consciousness is not by physical or mental state but it can be more.
So, she practices to 'be the sky' above all the surrounding objects.
This made me think of my meditation practice. When I look at a thought as an object, it's not personal or negative. It's just an object happen to be there at the moment. It will pass. When we feel everything is temporary in the end, there's no need to be attached too strong one way or the others.. Because it's temporary in the end.
The question is when we are living in this temporary moment by moment, what is actually matter? It's not thinking about the past or the future. Because this moment in the end is everything we have. There's nothing more or nothing less.
If we truly understand this, this can simplify life and we can make better decisions.
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White Sails***** Painting by Kirstin McCoy
Whether that's from a person, work or a personal issue, negative emotions come up more often than not.
I used to talk to myself 'Think positive. This will pass'. Although I self talk in my head, the negative emotion stick around longer than I wanted. It doesn't work.
Recently, I learned a trick. The trick is to observe the emotion. Imagine standing in front of the emotion as an object and look at it. Interesting thing happens.
First, it's not easy nor pleasant. There's temptation to be distracted. But, I just need to look at it like looking at an art in museum,..and observe it. See the fear, anger, frustration, or disappointment, all those negative emotions.
'Where are these coming from?'
Asking these questions and trying to think objectively, the thinking leads to no where surprisingly. There should be something but there's nothing. All the elements and different emotions doesn't have solid ground or true. It's floating abstract feeling that's associated with some random experience or thoughts and it sometimes feel bigger than what it is temporarily. But it's not worthy of spending the time. Because it's just a thing, another thing out of million other things.
Try the trick. It works. (most of the time!)
]]>Lipstick and Love by Denise Prince
We are in a rush most of time.
We eat in a rush to be full. We cook in a rush to eat. We walk in a rush to arrive.
We are always rushing and heading for another goals. It's continuous.
What we do often a means to an end. So, we rush.
One time I was hungry and I wanted to eat specific food that I can only make (can't get it from delivery or takeout). So I started cooking. When I was cooking, all I could think about was the first bite I'm going to eat and feeling full from the food I was craving. It was suffering. In my rush, I even burned my hands. After finished cooking, I rushed to put the first bite in my mouth.
Hm. It was disappointing. The taste was not what I expected and it was not cooked thorougly- some parts were cold, some parts were warm. and I lost my appetite.
In that moment, I thought wouldn't it be better if I took more time? After all, the food was not only the taste or feeling full but the process of making it - my own taste. Rather than rushing to complete it, I could've spent time to check the temperature. If I had bite before, every bite of food can be more divine experience.
I realize I do this often thinking beyond the current moment.
Finding joy is not catching the rainbow somewhere nor from achieving the greater deal. Focusing on the activity I'm doing now leads to greater joy.
]]><Untitled #49 Drawing by Ary van Baalen>
This book, The way to love by Anthony de Mello, talks about illusion of ourselves - the part of us being in our head too much and being suffered.
The negative feelings of anxiety, depression, hatred, envy and anger can be explained not by blaming specific situation or someone but ourselves. The author talks about the 'attachment' we have in our head filter the world and people we see which cause negative feelings. So we need to examine and investigate ourselves what attachment, belief, ideas we have. Ultimately, the true freedom can be achieved by letting go of meeting someone's expectation, and focus on living true to ourselves.
There's a part he explains about layers that we have between reality and us. The layer make us dull and insensitive to things, people and anything. The layers can be made of belief that we are grown up with, ideas we have for specific people, habits of looking at things same way everyday and attachments to objects or people and fears. Because of these elements, we can't see true reality and world as it is.
So, the question here is how can we get rid of these unnecessary layers?
First, realize that we are surrounded by prison walls of belief, ideas, habits and fears. When we are used to how we think and live, we become conformists. We need to be able to see the prison walls exist in the first place.
Second, contemplate on the walls. Take time and observe belief, ideas, habits, attachment and fears. Look at them and it will crumble.
Third, spend some time looking at things and people around you with new perspective as you see them like the first time. The fresh perspective, feeling can make you feel alive.
Fourth, sit down and observe how our mind works like a movie. It's like watching the whole movie and we will find it so much absorbing than any movie. It's so much more life giving and liberating.
I guess experienced meditators can relate to this part.
There's another part about building compassion. "If you have someone you want to avoid, think this way. This person is crippled, blinded, lame not as stubborn and malicious as we think." Think of this person's encounter as an opportunity where you can build compassion for seeing weakness of human nature. It's nothing personal but that poor person just simply can't see it nor have awareness of it.
There are many tidbits in The book worth pondering.
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<somewhere over the rainbow by Kasia Derwinska>
The thoughts and feelings come and go. It’s natural. One day we are full of energy, everything is on track and exciting. The next day everything goes down hill.
We are weak. Once negative emotions and thoughts take over, we struggle and get sucked into the rabbit hole. But, we are also strong because we have the power and intellect to go through and even to be much better than we were before.
But we need to work for it. We can’t rely on thoughts and feelings to be positive every day because it will never be, but we can plan for bad days. ‘The space.’
Magic happens in the space. The space doesn’t require us to travel — no car, no walk, no getting in line. Because it’s at our home. It can be a chair or a cushion on the corner of our room. When you are in the space, only good things happen. Our mind gets quiet. We start listening to birds outside or deeper to ourselves. We smell what’s around and we feel what’s touching our skin. In the peaceful space, anxiety disappears and there are only good thoughts that unfold and we feel alive. It’s the space where we create magic.
In the space, every minute is gold, priceless. It can’t be bought. It’s heaven in our head. Only good things happen here. We think about happy memories, daydreaming, and all the good things we forgot we have. It’s full of blessings.
The best part of the space is we don’t need to wait. It’s available anytime whenever we need it.
Do you have the space? What’s the space look like for you?
<Nobis by Marianne Hendriks>
From the practice of Koan today :
Medicine and disease correspond to each other. The whole earth is medicine. All the sensory experience we have is medicine. Without wounds, there's no healing. Then, what's the disease? where is your real self? who are you?
Maybe we are misunderstanding ourselves which cause more suffering?
When we feel pain, we find the living as hell and want it to go away. But, when we feel good, life is a blessing.
When we feel pain, why the pain is so painful and not going away easily? maybe we are addicted to the pain or the ego becomes greater to sacrifice anything even though it can be self-destructive at times? or maybe we are having misconception of ourselves. Our true self is clear and pure being with good intention but temporarily it's contaminated by whatever the external factors which cause confusion.
One takeaway for me is to actively look for medicine when we feel pain. What kind of blessing and cure are we surrounded with and how can we activate it and savor it more?
]]>There was a zen practitioner lived in China a long time ago. He spent many years to dedicate himself to be awaken but didn't get anywhere. So, he decided to go back to his hometown, fishing village. On the way to go home, his toe got stuck in a rock and hurt really badly (bleeding a lot) which caused him a lot of pain. In that just the moment he had a great awakening. He decided to go back to where he was. When he came back, his colleague asked him why did he come back. He said 'not a single step was taken.'"Even though I head it off, I didn't take single step." From the moment he hurt his toe, he had a sudden realization. There was no where to go but everything was just right there and is right here.
The whole universe is one bright pearl.
All ever we wanted is right here, and the experience we are having now is one bright pearl. This very moment is one bright pearl..
The story stuck in my head for a while. Maybe I am constantly looking for a bright pearl somewhere in the future but this very moment right now can be one bright pearl. Each experience, each moment is the moment that actually matter- not the past nor the future.
Are you looking for one bright pearl somewhere far away and missing out the moment right now? Maybe the very moment you have right now is one bright pearl or you can make it as one bright pearl.
]]>One world is Material World. Material World urges me to do something from the moment I wake up till the bed time. Without doing anything, I get anxious. I fill the void with things. Things give temporary comfort or distractions but they disappear quickly. One after another I look for things. I get bored, and tired easily. So I look for more things.
The other world is Quiet World. There are no ads, no splashy things in Quiet World, just me with a blank canvas. But it’s hard to be in the zone of a blank canvas. Material World is trying to break in. Within 20 minutes of entering Quiet World I hear the hum of Material World in my head, hundreds of chattering voices demanding to be heard. One thought connects to another and my mind is wondering around with a feeling of helplessness, searching for something sweet to fill the guilty void.
Quiet World admits only masters of the mind. It requires skill and experience to keep the balance. The balance is to enjoy the present moment while I also need to let go others. It’s hard. Sometimes I get lucky and a few minutes I'm in the zone. There's deep feeling of peace, and joy that I can't feel or even close in the material world. Even the great movie can't touch that deep. It's like having goosebumps all over my body from thrill of joy deep within. Yea, it sounds weird but it's true.
While time in Material World is fleeting and hollow, time in Quiet World persists of deep realizations and brings new meaning to life. I've got everything to be the happiest person in the world right now. I don't need another thing to tell me what I might've missed. There's nothing missing in my life. I've got everything I need already.
]]>There's something we can learn from how a plant grows with just dirt, air and sun light.
I have a plant (money tree - I don't know why people call that way). It has 3 branches twisted around each others and each has 4-5 green leaves.
After changing soil months ago, I see at least one new leave or 2-3 more new leaves come out every other week. New leaves bring me joy whenever I see it. One morning, I was staring at the tree and had a moment.
What I realize is the joy comes not from the perfect shape that's fully grown. The joy comes from looking at the growing leaves. It grew from the ground, and builds the height one step at a time, one leaf after another. Each leaf is special and related to another. Each leaf grows without pressure, not in rush. It sprouts when it's ready.
Sometimes I wonder how our intelligence ignores or forgets the basics of nature. Admiring and remembering the key element of nature, we might find its own beauty and joy in them.
]]>A good movie doesn’t age. I watched the movie ‘Good Will Hunting’ again and it is still good (as good as the first time). After the movie, I was paused for a while.
Good Will Hunting looks at the way a person can open their heart and connect with others in a real way; its something worthwhile to reflect on.
People change, its what makes us human. Caring from someone change’s us as much as it can change another. Overcoming fear or weakness, and being vulnerable can be powerful change events. When Will cried, it was the moment of change; his resistance to change melted and it was the start of something new.
Ultimately, what we want is peace in life; peace with ourselves. When we have it, we don’t need to fight against our inner voice and intuition but go with the flow. Though we are not used to doing that because we learn to fit into society. But as we slowly unlearn all the things we know, we find a new ground where we feel good and comfortable.
In our own ground, we accept ourselves fully. Acknowledge what bothers us instead of denying it, what we are afraid of losing, what’s blocking us to connect. As we make progress with this, we can finally love ourselves and others better.
Where are you in your life? What’s challenging you? What are you unlearning about yourself?
]]>One of my friends said 'cooking is like,, my meditation'. All the worries and thoughts go away once he starts cooking.
]]>Like sun goes up and down every day, weekend always comes every week. It's necessary to have weekend. We can wrap up the week either sleep more, eat better, work out, and just r.e.l.a.x mind. During the weekday, how many of us actually slow down and feel relaxed??
When you have 2 generous days of anything you can do, what do you choose to do? When weekend comes, I have a few routines like watching netflix documentary or pixar movie first thing in the morning lying down on couch on Saturday. Then, the first question I ask is 'what am I going to eat!' Besides wowing my taste buds, a good food makes me feel happy but there's more in cooking.
Cooking can be more interesting and fun if we pay attention about the process, the journey from prep to finish. From the start, pick out fresh ingredients from local grocery, bring it to kitchen, unwrap, clean and get it ready for cooking.
Cooking is a joyful experience.
Think about where all the ingredients come from - people who have worked hard to take care of vegetables, transport to the grocery and people who opened a shop nearby and run the business so we could get food so conveniently.. It's amazing not only because of a delicious finished dish but also the thinking and thanking the process and people involved.
Also, cooking awakens our senses to be pleased (imagine beautiful red pepper, smell fresh squeezed lemon, taste a little salt and perhaps there's a good jazz playing or favorite podcast playing on the background). As good as it gets!
As it's getting chilly in new york, soup, hot food, and mulled wine sound good!
What are you having this weekend?
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When we practice gratitude, it changes our mindset from focusing on what’s missing to what we have already. It's a simple mind switch we can do to create abundance and happiness in life. However, are we doing it right?
I still get frustrated and disappointed when things don't work out. I thought
'shouldn't I still feel grateful when things go bad?'
I did a little research to make my gratitude practice.
You may be a lucky person if you feel thankful and find blessings in small things in life such as drinking water, walking like mundane activities. But, most of us are not. but it’s Okay!
Neurologists say our brain is a miracle - hopeful miracle I'd say. We can train our brain. Once the brain is trained, it will do the job automatically. That means we can do anything to train our brain. We just need a little daily effort to create gratitude muscle in part of our brain. Write down, speak inward, or say it aloud. Express what you are grateful for in the moment, or life in general.
Everyday practice will get easier and we are getting ready to master the gratitude practice as we do regular. Mastering anything takes time and regular efforts.
We know gratitude practice is good for us. I started writing down the list of what I’m grateful for. It's usually my health, my family, the tea I am drinking or the special occasions of the day. But do I really feel grateful every time when I was writing down? yes sometimes. But honestly, it feels like chores time to time. Furthermore, what I realize is after writing the list, my gratitude soul and positive vibe go away quickly when things get tough or don’t work out. I easily get frustrated. Then, if I were the person really grateful for my life, would the trivial obstacles really get to me in a way like frustration or disappointment? probably not.
When we practice our gratitude, the key here is we need to 'Feel' it. Feel it so deeply that we almost have goose bump all over to be so thankful. Take time to do it. I start doing this because gratitude without feeling it doesn't last long.
Admit we face undesirable situations, people, and events. Life happens. We stuck in traffic middle of the street when there's a really important meeting to go. We work so hard on something to succeed and it didn’t work out no matter how hard we worked. When that happens, it's easy complain. But we know it doesn't get better by complaining.
When you feel that way, look around. Physically, lift your head up and look around. Bring attention to physical surroundings. There's at least one thing we can find it amusing or nice. The negative situation is just a little part of 360 degree of life. When you face the bad situation, look the other side what's working than not working or great. There's a real benefit to practice gratitude especially when things get tough.
Building this super power of being thankful anytime and any where is a true strength. No one can take it away. It only brings us more opportunities and abundance in life because we intentionally choose to be grateful. Life is a blessing, learning, experiments. Therefore we feel deeply grateful. It’s a trainable skill we can do it anytime anywhere. As buddha said, the pain is not avoidable but suffering is optional. When we master the gratitude practice, we can be grateful any time and anywhere. It starts from our practice now any time and anywhere.
Shop our gratitude symbol bracelet.
]]>Does this sound familiar? What do we usually do in this situation? Having anxiety in our mind for a long time can be consuming, reduce productivity, and in serious cases even cause medical issues.
What can we do to deal with anxiety and get peace of mind?
It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. - Buddha
We can only achieve peace of mind through awareness. The awareness that we are stressed. The desire to develop a peaceful mind. The determination to bring it about.
Then, here are a few ways to find peace of mind.
Get out of the building, and take a walk. Take some time away from your laptop and mobile. A 5-10 minute walk can be a time to recenter. Changing our environment gives our brains a break from the stress.
Guided meditation is a great way to relieve stress and anxiety. Meditation can be more difficult when we are inundated with negative throughts. Guided meditation can help.
Sit down quietly with your favorite meditation app and just follow the instructions. Breathe slow, emptying the mind and finding the peace.
If you are really stressed, consider changing your focus to something else for a while, like listening to your favorite podcast or music.
Relieving our stress by intensionally changing our focus can be healthy as long as it doesn't enable a long-term problem to develop. Healthy distractions are ones that enable us to change our focus so that we can come back and solve the problem later. Unhealthy distractions are ones that mask the underlying problem and let it build or prolong.
]]>1. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle's book, The power of now inspire us to live the moment, now. Many readers of the book hooked into mindful living and the concept after reading this book and become fan of his work. This is a great book to read for anyone who would like to practice mindful living and live the moment.
“Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”
2. The Miracle of Mindfulness : An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh
Meditation Master Thich Nhat Hanh wrote many good books related to mindfulness and meditation practice. Reading his books are like a meditative journey for readers.
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”
3. Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Wherever You Go There You Are explains how to cultivate mindfulness in one's own life. It may not be the easiest book to read for beginners but for deeper mindful practices, this book is must-read.
“Perhaps the most "spiritual" thing any of us can do is simply to look through our own eyes, see with eyes of wholeness, and act with integrity and kindness.”
4. The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology
Even though you might not be a Buddhist, there are many things we can learn and apply to our life. In this book, Jack Kornfield explains mindfulness through Buddhist insights and practices that go beyond the trap of self-improvement and find unconditional fulfillment and happiness.
“the world is full of pain, uncertainty, and injustice. But in this vulnerable human life, every loss is an opportunity either to shut out the world or to stand up with dignity and let the heart respond.”
5. Loving Kindness : The revolutionary art of happiness
Love is powerful. Sharon Salzberg in this book shows how a loving practice can help us create true happiness in ourselves and compassion for others.
“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
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When we get this idea not from our rational thinking but emotionally from our heart, our lives and perspectives will change completely. Life. is. short. It's too short to waste on worthless feelings or thoughts..
]]>Life is short and tomorrow is not promised.
When we get this idea not from our rational thinking but emotionally from our heart, our lives and perspectives will change completely. We would realize we just can't waste our today with all the negative feelings, stresses, or complaints.
Life. is. short. It's too short to waste on worthless feelings or thoughts..
"The trouble is, you think you have time." - Buddha-
We are busy and almost too busy just living through a day.
How many times do we really think and have intention of trying to make the most, best life possible today? feel grateful for what we have and what we achieved already? have some time to think about how we are actually doing? are we neglecting or blocking the thought of how we are doing because we have no time to think? We may convince ourselves if we have more time - we would drink a nice tea and contemplate life. or we may feel too stressed that can't even think about the big questions.
What if today is our last day of living?
Then, we probably don't want to delay the answers to the question - how can we live and spend today best possible? It's important question to answer. because we want to define what it is so matter to us that we should care enough than anything else?
It's hard to create urgency and have urgent feeling everyday. What we can do is to practice taking time for ourselves everyday before bed or first thing in the morning. Whether that's meditation, taking a bath or sit quietly, take time/having mindful time for ourselves. and do things that matter for ourselves now. Today.
]]>According to researchers, an average person processes 50,000 - 65,000 thoughts a day. Can you believe it? That's a lot of thoughts going through our heads each day. Is it any wonder that people feel distracted - that we can find it difficult to focus?
The realities of modern life aside, we don't want it to overwhelm us. Life is short and if we don't live in the now, where and what do we live for?
Here's 5 concepts I learned that help me to shrug of chaos outside and live in the moment.
Wherever you are, practice awareness; choose to live in the moment.
It's surprising how much our lives are comprised of routines - evolution's "low power" mode. Routines allow our bodies to operate at higher efficiency. The unfortunate by-product is that it is all too easy to become a passenger to our own lives.
Being a passenger is a waste - we must remind ourselves to tune into our lives and find joy in what we're doing.
instead of thinking about something else that doesn't serve me at the moment, I remind myself to be aware. For example when I am working out in gym, I try to listen to my breathing, to sing along with the music, and to observe and acknowledge the people around me. I feel this helps me appreciate what I am doing.
How many times do we acknowledge what's around us? The sound we are surrounded with or the room we are in. Look around. Look at the color of the room 'how calm it is', look at the sky, 'how blue it is'. You will have a lot more appreciation than before.
This is where we often go into the stream of thinking. Think about what's in your mind now. Many thoughts, concerns, things to do list, etc.
You become the observer of your thoughts. When you have some thoughts in your head, just aware that you have it. You don't have to be hard on yourself about the distraction but tell yourself you have the thoughts and it's okay.
It's time to move from thinking to feeling. You practice observing the environment and yourself. Now, feel the awareness. It's a little deeper practice but it's more powerful than thinking. This is the anchor to stay present. When you feel, you feel alive. Without this anchor, your mind can be easily distracted to something else.
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When we are stressed, we can be tempted to look for distractions to avoid the unsatisfied feeling. But distractions only work in the short term, temporarily. While more difficult, we are all capable of another intentional response to stress.
How many times in a month do you take time to ask ourselves how we are doing? How often do you intentionally respond to your human emotional needs?
It is nobody's intention to live in a bubble filled with stuff, distracting ourselves from our emotions. We can use our precious time in better ways than that.
Here are some habits you can build at home that will reduce your stress by creating space and time for yourself.
Darkness creates a quiet environment. When you can only see the one candle light, you would feel all the thoughts in your head are gone and just be in the moment looking at the flickering light.
Instead of alcohol, try a night tea with no-caffeine. Sipping a warm tea can be very soothing when you are stressed.
TV makes our mind more busy and interrupt sleeping as well. Try calmer music on the back ground music and do the suggested activities here. A great speaker helps to create vibe that you want to be in.
No one can deny power of a long relaxing hot bath especially in chilly weather. Give your body and mind break at the same time.
You can get benefits from essential oil. The simple way to start is to add a few drops of your favorite oils in diffuser and smell the pure nature in your home or put it on your hands and rub it.
Writing can be therapeautic sometimes to release your stress on paper. Write anything that is in your mind. Write down on things that make you happy like next trip planning or how you feel about right now.
Read completely different categories that you don't normally read. If you usually read non-fiction, try fantasy or a good novel. A good book can nourish your mind more than anything.
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Routines are powerful things. When we do a thing over and over, we are training our brains on certain responses so that they happen faster and more accurately next time. From an evolutionary perspective, this is a good thing because it allows us to operate more efficiently.
But as we develop routines, we stop paying attention to all the details of the environment around us. Daily habits like getting out of bed, brushing your teeth, and eating breakfast are routines we perform with very little awareness. Maybe these are not times where you can find much improvement or appreciation, but you wouldn't know if you don't pay attention.
And the same phenomenon is present in much of our daily experience. If we don't pay attention, we will miss out on much. The feeling of gratitude and making of small improvements can be surprisingly fulfilling. This is what it means to live a mindful lifestyle.
Similar to the first point, pay attention to the activities and people around you. What or who creates most joy of your life? What does not? Increase more of joy in your life and reduce those don't serve you well. Mindful living is made up of the daily choices you make to create your own path. It is to pay attention to yourself and your environment and make the decisions that lead to happiness and fulfillment.
The reality is that modern life operates at break-neck speed. We are surrounded in cities and work with busy people. This naturally makes us anxious and stressed even once we have arrived home. An important countermeasure is the capacity and habit to deliberately slow down. We need to learn to take a break mentally and physically from the busy world around us.
There are many ways once can do this. It can be an hourly practice of closing one's eyes and counting our breaths for 1 minute. It can be a daily routine of drinking tea or taking bath. Or it can be a weekly yoga practice to refresh your body & mind. Preventive wellness habits are far less costly than a recovery from burnout and cumulated stresses.
Even taking care of yourself can be difficult sometimes. But when you feel like you are in a good place, why not look around and pay attention to people around you?
Caring about other people doesn't require much effort. We just need to pay attention! When we are aware of the people around us, and make an effort to be nice and helpful, we are our best selves. Small gestures can bring real happiness to others. Remember: you are part of their environment. When you are your best self, you help them to be in a better place, and inspire them to be a good person. And this gives us the same effect in return. Win-Win.
We tend to be our own worst critic. Moderate constructive criticism can help us to improve ourselves. But too much can send us in the opposite direction. Many times, any criticism is unnecessary.
Practice self-reflection in a calm and safe space. Coach yourself to build yourself up, not tear yourself down. Remember: you are better than you think. Like Brene Brown said, "you are enough." So be kind to yourself.
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