Mindset is Everything:
Setting an intention for what you want to experience sets the stage for how things unfold in your life. Meditation can help center yourself and find the positive amidst these trying circumstances around us. This is a powerful shift that more people are becoming aware of every day. The recognition of the power you have in co-creating your reality through changing your thoughts, beliefs or expectations is empowering.
Take a few moments each day, preferably early in your day, find a quiet spot, breathe deeply, and think about the good things in life you have to be grateful. While in this relaxed state allow yourself to connect with what you would like to feel and experience this day, feelings like calm, gratitude, love, connection, peace, courage, grace may come to mind. Now allow yourself to experience that feeling in the moment. Practice the feeling until it is memorized in every cell of your body. Throughout your day notice when you are experiencing these feelings and allow yourself to experience them often.
Create a Healthy Routine:
Change can be unsettling, so creating and sticking to a healthy daily ritual can create a sense of control in our lives. This routine will help you feel more grounded and will also help you sleep.
- Keep your wakeup times and sleep schedule consistent and reasonable. Do your best to get 7-9 hours of sleep.
- Increase your intake of water by carrying and sipping water throughout your day. Shower and/or bathe daily. Our bodies are made mostly of water therefore water is very nourishing and soothing, like coming home to ourselves.
- Dress for the day you want to have whether it is working at home, homeschooling, or household projects. Choosing and wearing clothes you feel good in is important and sets the tone for your day.
- Move, stretch, or workout. Endorphins are our friends to relieve stress. Yoga is a perfect blend for releasing endorphins while connecting mind, body and breath.
- Schedule regular breaks and time for self-care. Give yourself a luxurious at-home facial, write in a journal, listen to uplifting music and dance around the house. Choose whatever feels good for your spirit.
- Savor nourishing meals and enjoy every bite! Focus 75% of your daily intake on fruits and vegetables and 25% on everything else. Nutritious food makes us radiant from the inside out.
- Create a bedtime ritual. Dim the lights, put the phone down, sip some chamomile tea, take a relaxing bath with aromatherapy essential oils. Give yourself time to unwind.
Connect with Loved Ones:
Human beings need connection. It is the way we are wired. When stress and anxiety are elevated it helps to find a connection in several ways:
- Firstly, connect with yourself: check in with your emotions to see how you are feeling. It’s okay to feel anxious or sad or happy. Just notice what comes up for you. notice where you feel it in your body. Acknowledge it by squeezing back the area of your body that is calling to you and breathe into it until it begins to calm. No need to go into the story. Permit yourself to feel what you are feeling and then as you do it will pass, and you can move on. Allow yourself to find joy and to play. Get creative and express yourself.
- Connect with the people you care about: Use video chat options whenever you can, as seeing the faces of those we love makes us feel less isolated.
- Connect with Nature: Time in nature is grounding and helps relieve stress. Take off your shoes and walk on the grass or soil, lean against a tree, and take time to smell the roses on your daily walks.
- Connect through volunteering. Being of service is empowering. Check in on neighbors or those living alone. Volunteering options are all around and being of service improves our mood and our immunity! Many options are online. Together we can make a difference.
Remember, you are stronger and more powerful than you know. Just like the lotus flower blossoms up and out of a murky pond. Use these times as an opportunity to grow.