Day 2 – and next week is mental health awareness week, in our series of blogs we are looking at what we can do to improve our well-being.
Be Aware
Being in the present moment helps you in a number of ways, firstly by stopping you worrying about the past or possible futures that increase your anxiety, secondly allowing you to be in the moment, mindful of your priorities.
Being aware of how we are feeling but also why we are feeling that way can help you prioritise what is important and help you formulate solutions to the problems. If you realise you have the power to change things you feel less helpless.
Things we can do to heighten our awareness are:
- Mindfully meditate for 10 minutes
- Declutter a cupboard or your desk at work.
- Walk a different way to work and take notice of the temperature, the weather, the birds singing, the traffic noises.
- Go to somewhere new for lunch and people watch for 30 minutes.
- Do a spot of gardening or buy a new plant for your work place, or some freshly cut flowers.
If you find it difficult to meditate, I do special one to one classes to help you understand and get the most out of mindfulness.
Joan
Joan was in her 50s and had been diagnosed with a tumour that was slowly paralyzing her – it was inoperable, but despite the prognosis she had come to accept her fate with calm reflection.
It had been suggested she try mindfulness to help her cope with the situation, but she found books and CDs didn’t really help, as she couldn’t ask questions or know if she was doing it right or not, so she came to see me. Over 3 weeks we practiced a variety of different mindful exercises including mindfulness of breath, Do 5 things, and mindful stretching and walking.
As well as this I also introduced her to self hypnosis, partially to help her relax and partially to manage the pain. She found both mindfulness and hypnosis both very useful tools.