Gentle Reminders

a few self-care considerations (note to self)

Hi Y’all.

Last night’s post was dense! Thanks to those of you who hung in and read the whole thing.

I was thinking this morning that I should send a follow up, a short list of things I try to do that help when I feel overcome with anxiety or stress. Maybe someone needs a gentle reminder that it’s okay to take care.

• deep breathing. Breathe in for 3 seconds, hold, breathe out for 3 seconds. Whatever version of that - sometimes I adjust the time lengths - works wonders for me. I also use the Breethe app — I use the guided meditations but also the videos, playlists, and sounds.

• holding a touchstone object, such as my copper ball or mala beads.

  

• widening my field of vision.

  • I have noticed that in times of stress, I sometimes feel like I’m in a tunnel or that the walls are closing in on me. The mind fitness course I’m working my way through has taught me how important it is to keep my eyes open, forward, and focused widely on my environment, not narrowly on the focus of the problem with which I’m being presented. Doing so reminds me that my world is okay, and not burning down from the center of whatever the agitation is.

• a cup of hot herbal tea if possible, a drink of water if not. Even coffee, though it revs me up, can help, just because it sometimes involves sitting down to drink it. You also can’t sip hot things if you’re breathing quickly — ever notice that?

• getting quiet if I can and listening to the whispers of my heart and soul instead of tuning them out and staying in slay the dragon mode. Saying silent prayers, focusing on the rhythm of my heartbeat, and repeating the needed mantra, whatever it is, for example — may I/we be happy, safe, and calm.

• putting both feet on the ground and concentrating on feeling the strength in my body flow from the top of my head to the soles of my feet and back again.

• MUSIC! Any kind that isn’t too dark.

• LAUGHTER. Sometimes you must stop and laugh at yourself. Sometimes you must stop and laugh with others (good naturedly!). Sometimes it helps to laugh at the things we get caught up in — most of it is tiny, tiny, tiny in the big scheme.

I welcome any other tips.

I hope y’all have a wonderful day. So far, so good in Tennessee.

Peace and love,

A.

---