It’s easy to get wrapped up in your busy lifestyle and lose your sense of balance. Unless you take the time to regain your center through relaxing and stress reduction exercises, you can lose yourself to your life’s obligations. In time, this can have serious effects on your physical and emotional health. Fortunately, there are some simple things you can do to center yourself and alleviate the stress that is complicating your life. Here are a few ways you can center your mind and spirit.
Practice Mindfulness
This is a type of meditation that involves training your mind to focus on your present situation. To begin, you must find a quiet place that’s free of distractions and interruptions. This can be a room in your home or office, or you can choose an outdoor location, such as a secluded part of a public park. You should sit in a relaxed position and focus on your breathing. When you catch your thoughts wandering, turn your focus back to your breathing. With practice, you’ll go longer and longer without experiencing wandering thoughts. Each session should last between five and 10 minutes.
Practice Positive Affirmations
Most people don’t even realize that they’re starting each day with a negative mindset, or that those negative thoughts are affecting how their day turns out. You should try to change your mindset by starting out each day with a positive affirmation. You can tell yourself that you will have a good day, or you can choose a more specific positive affirmation. Telling yourself that a morning meeting will go well may be all you need to experience a more successful outcome. As you practice more positive affirmations throughout your day, you’ll adopt a brighter mood. In turn, your happier mood will influence how others interact with you.
Practice Deep Breathing
Another way to center yourself is to practice deep breathing exercises during a tense situation. The common response to stress is to react emotionally, but that rarely turns out well. Instead, take a few minutes for yourself to practice some deep breathing exercises. An easy practice involves taking a deep breath that lasts for three counts. Hold the breath for another three counts before releasing it over the span of a third set of three counts. You should do this two or three times, or you can continue performing the exercise until you feel your heart starting to calm itself. When you return to the situation, you’ll feel a greater sense of balance and calm.
Positive Manifestation Writing
Just keeping a journal is a great way to center yourself and alleviate stress. You can record your thoughts and feelings about the experiences you had during the previous day. Additionally, you can perform positive manifestation writing, which involves writing out what outcomes you want in a certain situation. By writing your desires out in your journal, your giving substance to your desires. This can help you bring your desires to fruition by forcing your subconscious mind to work out the best strategy for achieving your goals.
Practice 5-5-5 Therapy
Therapists teach 5-5-5 therapy to patients who suffer from PSD because it helps them stay grounded in reality during a panic attack. However, anyone can use this type of therapy to regain their focus in any situation. It involves stopping what you’re doing and naming five things you can experience with each of your senses. Begin by naming five things you can see. Next, name five things you can touch, five things you can hear, and five things you can smell. Finally, you can focus on the sensation of taste by drinking some cold water. The cold sensation in the mouth is often enough to bring the individual back to their present state of reality. Drinking the water will also help you become more aware of your body, which has remained grounded in the present.
Many of the suggested activities can be done in just a few minutes, and they can be performed in almost any isolated location. Just taking five minutes to focus on your breathing as you sit in your car can help you return to a situation feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the challenge. While regaining your center doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming, it can be highly effective in helping you maintain a clear mind.