It’s so easy to become consumed by day-to-day stressors, making us feel constantly overwhelmed and at a loss for how to see a way out. Chronic stress is a long term form of stress that can be harmful to the peace and stability your mental health requires. Everyone and anyone can benefit from some form of mindfulness, it can ground us and give us an outside perspective into our life – allowing us to analyse our emotions and find an inner peace with all kinds of struggles and situations. Whether you’re a student, a 9 to 5 employee, a full time parent or an olympian, there is a lot of weight on our shoulders and it’s important to acknowledge its presence and its impact on us; giving ourselves the liberation to remove it piece by piece.
Pair your mindfulness with: Time Management Tips to Reduce Stress
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a form of meditation and self reflection that allows you to be aware of your emotions in the moment without judgement. It comes in all kinds of techniques, activities and styles. There is well and truly a type of mindfulness for every personality and lifestyle, and it can be an extremely beneficial learning experience finding the right ones for you.
There are more benefits to mindfulness than I can list here but here a few points of motivation for you; mindfulness relaxes you and reduces stress which in turn increases focus and productivity as it clears your headspace. It can remedy insomnia and high blood pressure as well as certain physical health problems directly related to anxiety/stress – such as certain digestive issues and headaches.
Learn about the flip-side: Why some stress is actually good for you
Meditation Techniques
Guided meditation is the easiest form, in my opinion. It is so accessible, just type ‘Guided Meditation’ into YouTube and you will see all sorts of videos pop up. You can pick a video of any length, so whether you can spare 5 minutes or an hour of your day, you can take some time for yourself to reflect. There are lots of types of guided meditation, body scan meditation is ideal if you feel physical tension, walking meditation can be good if you feel too restless to sit still, breathing meditation helps centre your focus on one thing, or even cleaning meditation, which can help you be productive at the same time as meditating! All of these forms of meditation give you a chance to clear your mind and centre your emotions, giving you the chance to relax and refocus your energy. Meditation is also easy to incorporate into your daily routine. Make it either the first or last thing you do in your day and give yourself the best possible start of your day or the best possible sleep.
Awareness Meditation
When we are stressed and spend a lot of our mental space thinking of those stressful things over and over, it is easy to lost touch with reality. Regaining awareness of yourself and your surroundings will allow you to gain perspective on your life – where you are currently, and where you want to be in the future. Feeling aware of your surroundings is all about using one or more of your five senses, depending on where you are and what you’re doing.
Consider where you are right now, and look at the details in your environment. Maybe you’re in a room with loads of objects that you don’t even notice anymore because they’ve become so common to the eye. Take a moment to take in sections of your environment bit by bit and re-explore your surroundings, give your mind a break and turn to the simplicity of observation. A great way to increase awareness is by taking time out of your day or week to go somewhere where you can explore all the different details. A good go-to is a nearby park, here it is really easy to include other senses – there are things to hear out for like birds and the noise of your feet on the ground and things to smell like the freshly cut grass and oxygen rich air. Similarly, the beach or a river, the woods, a town centre or the top of a tall building can all give you different things to absorb and meditate with.
If you feel that you don’t have time out of your schedule to plan an outing somewhere, you can also incorporate this into your commute to work or school or a food shop or as your waiting in the queue for your coffee. What this awareness does is it provides a form of meditation which distracts from any key stressors and gives you the chance to look at your life with new emotions.
Self-care
Self-care is a way to get yourself going something with your hands and body without it being explicit meditation, but having similar benefits. Self-care can be a sport such as yoga or pilates, going for a run or joining a sport club. Exercise has been proven over and over to reduce stress, so try it out if you aren’t already doing a sport. It can also increase appetite and make you feel more physically fit, boosting your energy and positivity. Other forms of self care can be taking an extra long shower or bath if you find that those help you relax, or make yourself food that you know you really love, some foods have particular calming properties. Washing your hair, doing your nails or makeup, cleaning and tidying things up: these can all be really satisfying things to do which give you a good distraction. Choose to do something for yourself.
