Tag: mental health

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Meditate for Spiritual Growth

Meditation is personal and private. This is a time to go deep within your soul to find the answers you have been looking for, instead of looking everywhere outside of yourself. Did you realize that we are actually spiritual beings having a human experience? When you think of it that way, many things can shift in your life. 

We are all unique. You may enjoy walking or running quiet-time to get grounded and connected to what means the most to you. Or, you may enjoy a more traditional approach to meditation when sitting in a calm and peaceful environment. Experiment and and find what works best for you. And then use these tools and techniques consistently. 

In the beginning it can feel too challenging and maybe your mind is racing fast and furious. You may want to try this box breathing technique to slow everything down: it helps achieve calm & has health benefits.

  1. Take 4 deep breaths in
  2. Hold to the count of 4 
  3. Release your breath to the count of 4 
  4. Then hold your breath for 4 counts. 

Keep repeating this for several sessions until your focus on your breath is bringing you into the here and now. This also reduces stress and takes you out of the future or the past. Return to natural breathing when it feels right to you. You can also start with short sessions of meditation and expand the time from there until you find your rhythm and consistency. The key is to keep at it — don’t give up. 

The beauty of meditation is that we connect to that inner wisdom, the internal GPS, the essence of our soul — and through that pure connection, we see what connects us all. We are all one, and the more we find ways to connect instead of ways to disconnect, the better our lives will be and the better our world will be. 

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Using Meditation and Mantras to reach Financial Stability

Setting goals can be easy to do but reaching them can be a challenge.  Unexpected emergencies can come up, or willpower can fail.  Doing daily meditation and using personalized mantras can help you find success.

First, be honest with yourself about what you are capable of.  Mediation can help put you in the right frame of mind for some hard talks with yourself about finances.  Sit in a comfortable room with either silence or music that isn’t distracting on in the background.  Once you are physically comfortable try to calm your mind with several deep steady breaths, focusing on making the exhale just as slow and long as the inhale.  Focus only on your breathing and keep doing this until you feel calm and at ease.  It doesn’t have to be long, as little as five minutes can help.

The important thing is for you to be in a calm frame of mind when you sit down to write out your goal.  Now have all your monthly bills together and write out the amounts, putting an honest average for any bills that change from month to month.  Then write down all your income that happens from month to month, don’t exaggerate, it is important.

Now think about what it is you want to achieve?  What does financial security mean to you?  Just being able to pay your bills? Or do you want to be able to pay your bills and save up a specific amount each month?  Don’t be extravagant because you will just end up disappointing yourself and becoming discouraged if you don’t set realistic goals for yourself.

So when you have all that decided, this is where the mantras can help.  Create a simple short mantra for whatever your goal is and say it to yourself each morning when you get up, and every night before bed.  For example, if your goal is to pay all your bills, save $100 a month and still have a little extra to have fun with, then create a mantra that goes something like this:

Financial stability will be mine.  I will have the income I need to pay all my bills, save $100 and also still get to have fun, each and every month.  I will do what it takes to make this happen because I work hard and I deserve it.”

It is important to always include a reason for this to happen, such as “you work hard,” but also something that helps positively reinforce this such as “I deserve it.”

This will help your subconscious understand what you are trying to accomplish and will send your intention out into the universe to help bring about your success.  The repetition of doing this morning and night will help you remember to control your impulses that might self-sabotage your goals. 

It is important to revisit your goals every couple of months.  Be kind and honest with yourself.  If you have succeeded, then set new goals, if you haven’t, don’t beat yourself up, just try to dial it back and set more realistic goals based on what has gone wrong so far.

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Stay Hopeful

Stay Hopeful

There is a lot going on in the world, and in your own life. Now is a great time to focus on taking care of yourself — from the inside-out. It is essential to connect with what is most important for you. But right now, with all the uncertainties, do you even know what that is? Let’s focus on the basics.

Hope

Now is the time for deep and connected hope. Hope is the core foundation to build on. Let’s start with powerful self-care ideas. Creating ‘me’ time is essential, find what works best for you.

  • Carve out a private space of solitude (inside or out)
  • Slow Deep Breaths — this simple practice can do wonders
  • Close your eyes and imagine a place of comfort and beauty
  • Actually see it and feel it in your soul. Imagine how it smells, sounds, feels etc
  • Connect with a trusted power beyond yourself (God, Spirit, Universe, Higher Self…)

When you are grounded into nature or your personal power source, you can work together to translate fear, worry and anxiety into faith, trust and hope. This is not silly hope, this is the deep knowing that together, we can all get through our challenges — one step at a time, one day at a time.

Do this again and again, because it should not be a once and done activity. Make this a regular part of your daily life, like eating or brushing your teeth. We are being invited to quietly go within to find the answers we have been searching for all over the place. Guess what? The best place to find those answers is within you. You just need to slow down and ask the really primal questions that you may have been afraid to ask. This is not a scary dark place to fear, that will re-open all the pain from your past. This is like opening yourself to your own super-powers. You need to take the dedicated time over and over to peel through the many layers of the ‘onion’ of your life, to discover the gourmet variety of choices and flavors that you can choose from. All you need to do is believe in yourself and take the first step.

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Why Is It So Hard To Love Ourselves

Why Is It So Hard For Us To Love Ourselves?

There is something about our society that over time has shown women that they have to be nurturers or caregivers.  This not only gives women a skewed self worth ideal, but also sets them up for years of self sabotage for not being enough to someone else. 

The opposite is true of how, for years, society has set up men for emotional failure.  For men, they are seen as weak or as less than if they show any emotions at all. 

Both of these stereotypical ideals of what people are supposed to be and strive for, sets both genders up for burnout, isolation, and a sense of failure.

How do we fight against this?  Self love is a good place to start.  It is easy to say, “love yourself” and one of the hardest challenges a person can face.  Childhood obstacles and trauma, unrealistic expectations of perfection, and measuring people by Hollywood standards make looking yourself in the mirror and saying “I like who I see,” let alone, “I love myself,” an uphill battle.

Where can one begin fighting against this near impossible challenge?  Small steps are the best way to attack any journey or mountain that seems too big to undertake. 

Make a list of things you like or admire about yourself.  Even if there is only one item on your list, start there.  Do more of whatever it is that makes you feel that positive way about yourself.  If you are proud of your artistic ability, then take a small amount of time each and every day to do something artistic.

If you think you have beautiful hair, then make sure to pamper yourself with special shampoo or a salon visit more often than you have been doing.

Whatever it is that is on your list, embrace it and celebrate it.  Once you start focusing on the good things you view about yourself, and feeding into that feeling about you, it will grow and branch out.  After a while you will start to see that maybe you have other things you like about yourself too. 

The second step to loving yourself is to begin to have compassion for you as you are right now.  So many people say “I would be happy if only…” about themselves or who they are.  It is an incredibly hard thing to think about yourself and have compassion for who you are right now this minute.  The reason for this is because we have unrealistic expectations about ourselves, so much moreso than we do of anyone else. 

Think of something you don’t like about yourself, whether it is your body-shape, or your inability to be as strong or as smart as you think you should be.  Now imagine your very best friend has those same qualities, I bet you would love them exactly as they are in whatever body, or abilities they have, because you see their worth, not for their body or the capabilities, but because of who they are.  Try turning that lens towards yourself.

Loving yourself and what makes you special and a unique individual is a wonderful way to fill your tank for the hard things you have to do every day.

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What Is Self Love

It’s hard to overstate the importance of self-love. Caring for oneself is often overlooked in the rush to care for everything else around us, but it’s critical that we all take time to nourish and protect ourselves. Proper self-love makes you a stronger and more capable person so you can better serve others as well.

What Is Self-Love

Self-love is an appreciation for yourself that’s nourished through activities that support your physical, mental, and spiritual health. This love of self requires a supportive inner voice, realistic expectations of oneself, and mindful care that nourishes rather than harms.

How to Self-Love

There are many ways that you can practice self-love. Seek those actions that help you feel peaceful, supported, and strong. Some examples of self-love activities include:

  • Enjoying a healthy diet.
  • Bathing and grooming oneself with care.
  • Scheduling regular health care appointments.
  • Creating a soothing living space.
  • Setting boundaries for people or activities that harm us.
  • Engaging in supportive social interactions.
  • Taking quiet moments for meditation or mindfulness.
  • Buying only the things you love and discarding those you don’t.

Self-Love Affirmations

Self-love affirmations are statements that you repeat to yourself often to reaffirm important truths. Some affirmations that you might try include:

  • I am worthy of joy and love.
  • I love my body and everything it does for me.
  • I grow and learn every day.
  • I will not apologize for being me.
  • I love and accept myself unconditionally.

Write your chosen affirmation on a piece of paper and tape it to the mirror, your car’s visor, the refrigerator door, and anywhere else you’re likely to see it throughout the day. Repeat your affirmation daily until it’s firmly ingrained as a core belief.

Practicing self-love will give you a strong foundation that you can lean on in times of trouble and build on as you manifest the life of your dreams.

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