Taking care of myself.
I was mentioning to someone else that which I do to relax and soothe my mind and emotional state when times are rough.
Times have been very rough this year and I've been doing these things a lot and I find they've REALLY been helping me, so I thought I would share them.
I have learned a few things which don't take a lot of time which seem to help me a lot and if you'd like to try them, here they are:
The 12 minute walk. Just 2 blocks away and back. One steady walk, not 12 minutes walking around the office or 12 minutes doing something and walking, but 12 minutes of focused this-is-all-I'm-doing walking. Honestly that one alone is probably the best.
Breathing exersizes. Spend a couple minutes taking deep measured breaths. The key is exhaling at the same rate as you inhale. Many folks inhale slow and exhale fast, which doesn't really help. Count seconds as you comfortably take a deep breath and then exhale the same amount of time. At first I found this a bit disorienting and would run out of air mid-exhale. You learn to measure it better quickly and in a couple minutes you can do it easily. Then yer done.
Creative visualization. Visualizing a waterfall, imagining your hand entering it, re-create the feeling of water rushing past, recreate the sound, the spray of water on your face, etc. The key here is focusing on the small details. Create the scene in your mind paying attention to these details, and if you run out of details, take some action in your visualization like walking or even breathing. Describe those in detail to yourself.
I think the feeling of independence, being able to soothe yourself can give you some great resiliance when life's troubles start piling up or stress comes and smacks you upside the head.
Times have been very rough this year and I've been doing these things a lot and I find they've REALLY been helping me, so I thought I would share them.
I have learned a few things which don't take a lot of time which seem to help me a lot and if you'd like to try them, here they are:
The 12 minute walk. Just 2 blocks away and back. One steady walk, not 12 minutes walking around the office or 12 minutes doing something and walking, but 12 minutes of focused this-is-all-I'm-doing walking. Honestly that one alone is probably the best.
Breathing exersizes. Spend a couple minutes taking deep measured breaths. The key is exhaling at the same rate as you inhale. Many folks inhale slow and exhale fast, which doesn't really help. Count seconds as you comfortably take a deep breath and then exhale the same amount of time. At first I found this a bit disorienting and would run out of air mid-exhale. You learn to measure it better quickly and in a couple minutes you can do it easily. Then yer done.
Creative visualization. Visualizing a waterfall, imagining your hand entering it, re-create the feeling of water rushing past, recreate the sound, the spray of water on your face, etc. The key here is focusing on the small details. Create the scene in your mind paying attention to these details, and if you run out of details, take some action in your visualization like walking or even breathing. Describe those in detail to yourself.
I think the feeling of independence, being able to soothe yourself can give you some great resiliance when life's troubles start piling up or stress comes and smacks you upside the head.