Meditation
The single most successful practice I’ve found in helping to heal my anxiety is meditation. This isn’t something everyone wants to hear, hell even I didn’t want to hear it at one point. But meditation is really the best thing you can do for yourself. Even my reluctant boyfriend has started doing it with great results!
Anxiety is mostly caused by too much focus on external matters, usually worrying about something that concerns the past or future. When you’re constantly worrying about the past or future you’re not present. Meditation brings your focus to the present moment and turns your focus inward; it helps you to quiet the internal ego noise and embrace stillness (or as near to it as you can get). If you can establish a consistent daily meditation routine (start with five minutes a day), you will start to see a reduction in anxiety. I found that once I committed to meditating regularly I became mentally calmer and when I did have an anxiety ‘attack’ its effects were lessened and I got over it more quickly. The best way to begin meditation is to download a meditation app that really helped me. I really like Calm which has a meditation timer and tracks your progress!
Walking
Another way to practice being present is to go walking in nature. I walk outside almost every day and I try to go to the woods as often as I can. I find the woods to be very mentally cleansing and calming due to the lack of noise and modern technology. There’s just something about fresh air and observing the environment that centers you.
Aromatherapy
I love a good essential oil and I like to use them in my diffuser. Aromatherapy has lots of benefits and you can use pretty much any essential oil you enjoy but traditionally lavender and chamomile are very calming oils. You can diffuse essential oils around the house on a daily basis or you can choose to use them specifically when you meditate.
Rose Quartz
Rose quartz is an incredibly peaceful, healing stone to carry around with you. It’s good at promoting self-love and self-care which is important when you’re an anxious wreck! When I was a child I used to collect rocks and crystals. One day I felt very anxious and my mom advised me to carry my rose quartz around with me and to touch it when I felt scared or worried. It seemed to help me so it’s a practice I continue to do. I also like to hold rose quartz in my hands when I meditate.
Healthy Eating
Another unpopular one. Yes, as much as we think we can go on eating lots of rubbish and it won’t affect us healthy eating has to be a priority for a healthy mind. I’m a vegetarian so naturally, I would recommend that as a beneficial step. Even if you choose to consume meat I recommend cutting back on processed foods and concentrating on home-prepared meals with lots of vegetables and fruit. If you know you’re eating healthily it does give a real mental boost as well as a physical one!
Journaling
Sometimes you’ve just got to thrash it out and journaling is a great way to do that. To spare your loved ones the stress of a full-on meltdown why not try writing down everything you’re feeling in a journal. This helps to release you from those feelings. You can also ritually burn the pages after you’ve written them!
$ads={1}