Strive to reach your goals. Now matter how big or small the steps are. Your goals are important. Leave behind what is not. Although, we may do things of unimportance. Always remember to step back into the big picture, and work on your goals.
Practicing mindfulness doesn’t quickly alleviate anxiety, depression, or any other negative emotions. It takes patience, practice, persistence and training. I like the comparison of training for a marathon. Just like you build endurance for a race. You got to take the same steps to get to a more peaceful state of mind. My mind is a lot more at ease now that I have been practicing mindfulness for a couple of years. I keep improving, my negative emotions continue to reduce. Things I couldn’t handle before I am much better at coping with it now. Baby steps, how you cope and handle stressful situations, or difficulties in life will get better. You will be able to find more peace, calm, and happiness in your life. It isn’t a quick fix, but it will eventually get you to a more peaceful place with continuous practice. You will see results little by little.
Plans, vacations, appointments, schedules are all postponed, cancelled, or uncertain. Some are facing job losses, and financial instability. These times are difficult for everyone in one way, or another. It is hard to stay positive and calm all the time. Lots of thoughts may overwhelm you with all this uncertainty. With all of this, we must figure out ways to manage and cope. It is either that, or self-destruct, and fall into depression and despair. You, nor I, want that. I wanted to write down a list of ways that can help one cope through these tough times. So how do we cope?
Do what you can control:There are many things we can’t control about this situation, but all is not lost. There are also many things you can do. Things are not black or white, or all or nothing. There is grey area to work with. If you lost a job, maybe find ways to fill out resumes, and do job searches. I am sure there are plenty of places hiring, maybe some people you know may have some ideas, ask around. If you can’t go to the gym, do some home workouts, or do some exercises outdoors. If you can’t meet with friends, call them, or virtually hang out with them. There are things that you can do in this situation. It is all about working with what you got.
Find little joys&happiness:I just went for a walk Saturday. I also did some fun kpop reviews on my other blog. I really enjoyed doing this, and it made the weekend exciting. I was also excited to try these frozen fruits I bought yesterday. Finding little things like this that bring you joy is important through these times that may make you perceive the world negatively. Finding the little things that can make you happy can bring some excitement back to your life.
Take deep breaths/meditate:Whenever my thoughts overwhelm me. There can be times when all my thoughts about this uncertainty overwhelm my mind. I use the technique of taking deep breaths. This helps calm my thoughts. If you like to dig deeper. Closing your eyes, and doing some meditation can help calm your thoughts, and bring some clarity to the uncertainty.
Find Inspiration/Guidance: Looking for others for a different perspective, and outlook on life can be helpful. If I feel a bit down, I like to read my mindfulness books, and watch my favorite inspirational Youtube channels to guide me back to a more positive mindset. Doing this allows you to see things from a different perspective, and view things from a different light that you may not have thought of, or maybe just needing the reminder.
Express gratitude:We tend to put our focus on the negative. Try to take some time to write down 5 things you are grateful for. This could show you there are some good things going on in your life, and that not everything is bad. This could bring a bit of positivity back into your life.
Be productive/creative:This gives you a sense of accomplishment and achievement. It may be hard to do some things in these times, but there are plenty of creative, and productive things one can do to counteract the uncertainty, and difficulty of these times. It may even bring you joy after accomplishing these things.
Be kind to yourself:Remind yourself that it is okay to feel sad, anxious, lazy, lonely etc,… through this. These emotions are normal. Don’t beat yourself up for feeling this way. Show compassion and empathy for oneself.
Avoid News-The news likes to catastrophize, they like to show things that will shock their viewers. They rarely posts good news, because that isn’t what grabs attention. They tend to make things seem worse, than it is. Sometimes it is best to keep your distance from it. Be informed, but try not to consistently check up on it.
Talk to others/journal:Letting your concerns out to the world is very therapeutic. Try to use these outlets to help you cope. I always feel better writing my concerns down on paper, or talking to someone about it. Releasing it out, and not bottling it in can be very helpful.
Reflect on past coping skills: I saw this in one article I was reading for my research on this topic. I really liked this one. Delve into the past, and reflect on what you did in the past to help you cope through these times. We all been through something in the past, but you got through it obviously, what was it?, and can you apply it now? I like this one. This can help build your coping skills strength.
Take mindful breaks:I was on the computer yesterday, and I was getting overwhelmed with all the information being thrown at me. I was starting to feel lethargic and down. I decided to take a mindful break, and I felt so refreshed, rejuvenated, and relaxed once I did it. Being with your thoughts. You are able to find clarity, which then can help you problem-solve, and figure things out. Too much information being thrown at you can get overwhelming. It can also make it hard to confront your thoughts and concerns about life, so you may not be able to find clarity, and figure things out. A mindful break may be needed to gain perspective. It also allows you to live in the moment, and truly live. One is truly living when they are aware of the moment.
Accept:Last coping strategy, but certainty not least. These times make one aware that life is uncertain, unpredictable, and reminds you that losses will happen in life. Use this situation as lessons for the future. Uncertainty and difficulty will happen again. It is a natural part of life. Security, safety, and stability are not certain in this life. Situations like these helps bring us back to reality, and away from our perceived safety net of stability. Also, things can be much worse. Just think about all those movies & books about pandemics, or past diseases and viruses that killed many more people. See the reality of the situation, and keep moving forward.
We are all dealing with some type of difficulty, or struggle, but that is something we deal with daily, not just through this pandemic. That is life. There are good. There are positives as well. I hope these strategies can be helpful in some way. We just got to keep hanging on. Work through it. Keep moving forward. We will get through this, like the many other struggles we have gone through in the past. I hope you all have a lovely week.
There will be a something in life you would like to work on in your journey to self-growth and improvement. It may be eating healthier, working out more, being more positive, or productive, or being more kind to yourself, or whatever else it may be. I just like you to know there will be days on your journey when you will fall off track.
I write this because, although I like to be more mindful. There are days I fall into distractions. The thing is you must remember to remain kind to yourself, and not beat yourself down for one bad day. You are not perfect. I did feel like crap by the end of the day of being full of distractions, but instead of being hard on myself. I told myself I will be more mindful the next day, and that is what I did. I gave myself a pass, because I know I am human, and missteps will happen. I learned to move on from this, and keep moving forward.
Failure will happen from time to time. Try not to let that one bad day defeat you. It is one day you slipped up. There is always the next day to get back on track. You did nothing wrong by slipping into old habits, it happens. Habits are hard to break. Habits are part of who we are. As long as you are mindful of the bad day, and learn to accept what happened. You can move forward to getting back on track. Doing this can steer you away from beating yourself up, and punishing yourself for a human thing. You will fall many times, but it is important to learn to get back up just as many times.
Keep moving forward on your journey. Treat yourself with the kindness and compassion you deserve. Learn, accept, be kind, and move forward. This failure to be mindful has invoked inspiration to write this post, so there can be good in failure. It isn’t a bad thing if you learn from it, and continue to focus on evolving and improving oneself.
This pretty much goes with the post I recently made. I have recently tested positive for Covid-19, and now in self-isolation. I am pretty much feeling fine now, had some mild symptoms earlier, but I continue to remain calm, peaceful, and positive.
I choose not to let fear, anger, blame, hatred, and negativity consume my being. There are three perspective paths you can take in life. The realistic, negative, or positive one. Reality is I got infected(most likely by someone at work). I now have to let my immune system do its job, but also rest, isolate, and eat healthy, and hope for a smooth recovery.
The negative path can lead to blaming others, myself, and the world. Creating fear within myself to never go out again. Hatred for others, and myself for getting in this situation. Asking why questions that solve nothing. Anger for having to be home, and not being able to exercise, and do nature walks outside. Getting anxious about my work situation, or the bills I will rack up from the hospital visit. All these thoughts can arise from negative thinking.
I choose to not fall down that path. It is a road to depression, self-hate, overall hate, and misery. I choose the positive path. To appreciate that I only gotten mild symptoms so far. This giving me the opportunity to relax, and be home. Giving me a chance to learn about myself, and work on myself. This time gives me a chance to do things I wanted to do.
Challenge myself to be creative, and learn to live a different lifestyle. This gives me the opportunity to read many books I want to read. This isolation has given me the opportunity to talk to many family members I haven’t spoken to in awhile, to catch up and connect with others. Overall, this challenge has shown me how much I have grown as a mindful individual, and how with a mindful heart I can remain positive and happy through it all. I can’t control what has happened, it has happened. Time to accept, and move forward.
Being negative has a negative effect on the body. Remaining positive can help boost your immune system, and help one recover much more smoothly. Your body needs to recover, so being mentally sound can be beneficial to the healing process. I can give into all the negativity surrounding this virus, but there are plenty of people who are able to recover, and get through this just fine. Now that I have it. I should now most likely have immunity to it, and that can be another plus to this. I no longer have much of a fear for it, since I now have it, and been through it. Can this situation be burdensome, yes, but there are, and will be plenty of other situations that will as well.
I just want you to know that you can’t control the circumstances around you, but you can control how you think and handle them. You can choose, which path of perspective you want to go down. Humans have the power of thought. We must use it wisely. Remember, stay safe, take care, stay compassionate, and stay mindful.
Be proud of yourself. See the light within yourself. Help others see the light. Bring positivity to yourself and others. Show love, compassion, and acceptance for yourself and others. Times are tough right now. It may be easy to fall into the bubble of negativity. Remember life is unpredictable, and things won’t always go the way you want it to. Try to remain positive and accept what is. Always strive to remain empathetic, appreciative and compassionate. Stay safe everyone.
This is a personal post about my experience this weekend. I decided not to go online at all in the morning this weekend. I tend to scroll mindlessly a lot on the weekends, so I decided to have a mindful, and me time in the mornings.
I really enjoyed doing this practice. It gives me the head space to clear my mind, and be creative. It just allows my thoughts to run free. It is like I am in my own space. I don’t think I am mindful enough sometimes, but when I do get into a mindful mode. I wonder why I don’t do it often.
It just felt good to be away from the computer, and focus on me. I did some writing. I meditated. I worked on my online course. I did some mindful exercises, which can be fun. My mom bought me a lovely mindfulness book, and it really helps you put things into perspective, and see things differently. I mindfully listened to some music. I did some journaling, cleaning, and exercising. This me time allowed me to think more about things, but in a very mindful manner. I just allowed my thoughts to flow freely. It is a really wonderful experience to give yourself space to be you, and work on you.
I felt a sense of peace, relaxation, and positivity from giving myself the space to be me. I wasn’t bombarded by others thoughts and negativity by going online. I was just giving my mind the space it needed for clarity and creativity, which is a very beautiful thing. I like to continue this practice daily, especially on the weekends when I have more time on my hands. I hope you all have a lovely mindful morning wherever you are.
Not sure if this quote really fits with what I am talking about, but it really spoke to me.
There are times I don’t particularly feel inspired, motivated, or productive. There are days I feel lazy and unproductive. There are times I just want to get lost in distractions. I am sure you have all had these moments. We just don’t always have the motivation spirit.
Lately I have been in a rut, not much in the mood to do much. The one thing you don’t want to do is get down on yourself for feeling this way. Try not to shame or guilt yourself. The one thing I learn from mindfulness practice is to accept all types of emotions and feelings, negative or positive. I know I won’t always be in a productive state of mind, and that is okay. We are not machines. We need some down time to relax.
Having some distraction time is fine, but things do need to get done. I may have to push myself harder to get the things I want done, because I know it will benefit me in the end to get it done. I may not be in much of a mood to write, or finish my online course, or find inspiration, but I know if I don’t take steps to do it. I would feel like crap for not doing it.
I try to focus my energy on the future implications, and how it will end up helping me if I do these things. That usually pushes me to be productive. I tell myself that it will only take an hour or less of my time, and I would feel much better after it is accomplished. I always do feel better after doing the productive task.
It is easy to stay in a rut, and get down on yourself. When you have days like these. It is okay to practice self-kindness, and not shame, or guilt yourself for feeling this way, and not getting much done. It is all part of the human experience. We all have these days. It will happen. You just got to learn to push through it, and figure out your own way to get things done, even if it is little steps to get what you want done.
I am not in the mood to get things done lately, but I find a way to push myself to do it, because I know my mind and body will appreciate it. I know it can help make my future brighter and more satisfactory. I know I won’t feel good about my day if I don’t get at least one thing done.
I am not necessarily in the mood to find inspiration, but when I am able to push myself to read, or watch something inspirational. It finds a way to get me inspired again to do the things I want. I know being unproductive all day would make me feel like crap, so it is nice to have these reminders to get me back in the mood. I will say I am not 100% in a motivated, inspirational mood. It takes a bit of work to get the things I want done, but it happens, and that is fine.
It always feels good to finish a productive task, no matter how big or small it is. Try to remind yourself, or ask yourself. “Am I living a living with purpose or meaning?,” or “Is what I am doing benefiting me in any way?” These questions can help push you back to a motivated spirit. Accept these times. Embrace the challenge it brings. Appreciate the steps you take to get things done. Put your energy into the positive, rather than taking in negative energy. You will get things done on your own time, baby steps, productivity mode comes and goes. Try not to stress about getting everything done. You will get there if you keep working at it.
I read this passage in my mindfulness book this morning. It reminded me of this post. It shows no matter how small the step is. It is still progress to what you want to get done. Just take those small steps when feeling unmotivated/uninspired. It may actually get you back in the mood of production. If it doesn’t, you were still able to get something done.
I wanted to write this post to share my new mindset of being positive and appreciative. I should make this one of my goals for 2020. I kind of started to do this last year, along my journey with mindfulness. I really like to practice this a bit more this year.
I think this is a great mindset to have. It has made me a much more happy and content person. I like to focus my energy on the positive, and be appreciative of life. I don’t want to be consumed by negativity. I see myself being more at peace, calm, and happy now that I decided to see the bright side of life. I am in control of how I perceive things. I can either choose to be angry, bitter, sad, or miserable, or I can choose to be joyful, appreciative, calm and happy. I choose the latter. We should all choose that path if we want a satisfying and peaceful life. I want to focus my energy on positivity.
I have gotten a mindfulness book this Christmas. There are many wonderful exercises I can do to be mindful. It had me do a lovely exercise of dish washing, but it allowed me to be appreciative of the task, and focus my energy on the moment of the task. How the water felt, how my hands felt,etc. It allowed me to appreciate that I can walk, and use my hands to do the task. I also appreciate that I have clean water, and cleaning supplies to do so as well. It made me see this tedious task in a different light. It made me appreciate it more. If you can learn to appreciate simple tasks like that. It makes you much more appreciative of the whole scheme of things. It makes you appreciate life more.
Work has been difficult at times. I have been exhausted from all the work we have, and overworking myself. I can choose to focus on the disorganization, or the fact that they need more workers, or the fact that I am exhausted from the work and overtime.
But I choose to put my energy on the benefits of having the job. Money to get the things I want, and to experience the things I like. Health benefits that have been useful to me recently, especially Dental. Also, the lovely paycheck I will get from Overtime to help pay off cards and loans I need to pay off. Also, the lovely coworkers I have. That make work a bit more enjoyable. I actually do like my job, but it can be overwhelming at times. I also decided not to overwork myself as much to get things done quicker. I will do what I can, but nothing more. I shouldn’t give more, than everyone else. I tried that practice out Friday, and it made work much more easier and enjoyable. I felt much better.
In the end, it is the choice of the individual how we choose to perceive things. Either we focus on the good or the bad. Either we choose to be miserable or content. It is up to you. I chose happiness and peace of mind. Now I mentioned happiness isn’t stable, but with this mindset you will have a happier mindset. There will be more happiness, rather than sadness. You can be able to enjoy life much more.
I always try to remind myself, why be sad, when you can be happy. Who needs to be negative. When you can be positive. There is enough negativity in the world. I want to spread positivity. Grant it, we will get sad, that is life, but if I can control more happiness in my life. I will do that as much as possible. Always choose happiness over misery when you can. Life will have its bumps. Life will have its struggles. We just got to learn to combat it with positivity and appreciation, and the coping process will become much smoother.
How I enjoy finding a passage that speaks to me, and inspires me. These are my thoughts on this subject.
Let go of the need to control others and the world. You as an individual cannot fix the world and others. Try not to put that pressure on yourself. It is a losing battle. It creates negative energy. What you can do is put the focus on you. That is what you can control. This is what creates more positive energy. Peace and happiness will ensue.
I hope reading this give you a little bit more of a perspective on this topic. It is wonderful to just let go, and be free from the constraints of wanting to be in control of everything.
Psychology of Mindfulness 