Relaxation Moments

Relaxation for The Mind and Body

6 Activities That Lift Your Mood

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How do you cheer yourself up and lift your mood when life gets you down? There are many possibilities to lift your mood in a fun and positive way. Taking care of your physical, mental, and spiritual health in all aspects helps you live your best life.

You can create your mood, and you are in control of lifting your mood any time that you choose to be. Let’s check out some great mood-lifting activities.

1.      Focus On Good Things

Focus on positive things. Focus on what’s good in your day. It does not have to be anything deep. It can be simple small things. Think about those things you are working towards, looking forward to, or striving for. Remember to focus on gratitude as well. Taking time to appreciate whatever small thing is good in your life does amazing things for your mood.

2.      Go Outside

A change of scenery and routine from time to time is a mood booster. Getting some new views and changing up your routine is a great way to feel happier, calmer, and better overall. Go outside, breathe fresh air, be happy. Outdoor activities are also often great exercise.      

3.      Go On An Adventure

Take a random adventure. It doesn’t have to be expensive, or complicated, just something that you don’t normally do. The change of scenery is a great way to lift your mood and experience joy. Get creative with planning for things that offer an authentic experience. Adventures don’t have to be expensive. Enjoy a new experience.

4.      Have Fun

Do whatever you enjoy that is good for you. Relax, snack, play, chill, hang out, see friends, go to the gym. Whatever your thing is. Do you. Guilt-free.

5. Focus On Others

Focusing on others can be as simple as helping out a friend. This could also be volunteering to do some good in the world. However, it goes, focusing on a task outside of yourself is good for the soul. Getting outside of your head, your concerns and your bubble is a great mood lifter.

6. Clean, Organize and Refresh

Yes, it’s time to get organized. Clean your desk or office. Clean your room. Clearing physical space can help you feel more mentally organized and productive. A great way for some easy mood boosting is accomplishing some of these often put off tasks.

Getting organized can be a mental relief and an organic mood lifter. Consider getting rid of, donating, or selling items that take up space but that you definitely do not use.

The Choice Is Yours

There are many mood lifting techniques, strategies, and options to create positivity in your life. Try out many activities until you find our favorite. The possibilities are endless. The important thing to remember is that a good mood is not like the weather. It does not come and go depending on the season.

 You have direct control over your mood. Even if there are times in life when this does not feel like the case. This means that on days you are not feeling great you can choose to do activities that make you feel good. If you are having a bad day it can be challenging to have this mindset. If you choose to, you will usually feel better after choosing to participate in mood lifting activities instead of dwelling in a funk.

Life can be challenging at times. Instead of being victim to your moods, consciously take steps to lift your mood. Just like building muscles in the gym, it is up to you to separate yourself from average.

The Importance Of Lifting Your Mood During Hard Times

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Hard times can take a toll on us, both mentally and emotionally. To prevent these times from creating chaos on our lives, it is up to us to take action to lift our moods and keep them boosted. There are steps we can take and things we can do so that we can continue to thrive during hard times instead of letting them get the best of us.

Why It’s Important to Be Deliberate About Boosting Mood

When times are difficult, it can be easy to fall into poor mental health. Evidence shows we become more susceptible to stress, anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders. We are also much more likely to experience negative thoughts, feelings, and emotions and have more difficulties managing those thoughts, feelings, and emotions (Bradbury, 2020).

 If we don’t take measures to boost our mood, these negative aspects can take root and grow becoming bigger and taking control of our lives. But by being deliberate about boosting our mood, we can essentially prevent these negative outcomes and regain control of our lives.

Ways to Boost Mood During Difficult Times

  1. Community: During times of hardship, having a group of people, whether friends or family, that you can rely on can go a long way for offering support. When you are surrounded by people who can be a listening ear, offer a shoulder to cry on, and/or provide practical help and assistance can help us to be happier and feel less stressed. In a recent study, an app was used by researchers to determine how much happier people were when with their friends, parents, and children.

The app sent alerts asking people to rate how happy they felt on an 11-point scale from “not at all” to “extremely” throughout the day. Via the analysis of more than 3 million submissions from more than 50,000 participants, researchers found that people experienced an 8% increase in happiness on average when with friends. The app also found a 1.4% increase in happiness among people when with their parents and a 0.7% increase in happiness when with their children (Brodwin, Orwig, & Spector, 2016).

You can obtain your support remotely via phone and video chat, so you can stay safe and still connect.

  1. Physical Activity: Engaging in some type of physical activity is another way to take a step towards boosting mood. Exercise releases chemicals in the brain shown to reduce stress hormones, decrease anxiety and depression, and enhance feelings of happiness. Researchers at the University of Vermont found that just 20 minutes of exercise can create mood-boosting benefits that last up to 12 hours. Their research also found that active people were generally more happy and satisfied with their lives (Brodwin, Orwig, & Spector, 2016).
  1. Meditation: Meditation is the practice of focusing intently for a set period of time. Numerous studies suggest that the act of meditating can help decrease feelings of anxiety and depression.

Research conducted among long-term meditators has hinted at a heightened sense of awareness and greater emotional control. All of this means improved levels of emotional consciousness and improved mood overall (Brodwin, Orwig & Spector, 2016).

  1. Gratitude: Practicing gratitude is a final way to be intentional about boosting mood during hard times. Psychologists at UC Davis reported in a recent study that there was a link between optimism and gratitude In the study, researchers had 3 groups of volunteers keep weekly journals focused on a single topic.

One group wrote about a major event, the second group wrote about hassles they experienced, and the third group wrote about things they were grateful for. After 10 weeks those in the group keeping the gratitude journal reported feeling more optimistic and satisfied overall than those in the other groups (Brodwin, Orwig, & Spector, 2016).

During hard times, we must be as proactive as we can be in order to combat the negative impacts that difficulties can create in our lives. When we take measures to boost our mood, we take care of our minds and emotions in a way that ensures overall mental health and wellness.

References:

Bradbury, K. (2020, January 5). Getting through tough times. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/breathing-room/202001/getting-through-tough-times

Brodwin, E., Orwig, J., & Spector, D. (2016, August 4). Here are 25 habits that psychologists have linked with happiness. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/simple-ways-to-improve-your-mood-according-to-psychologists#10-make-time-for-friends-16

How to Stay Calm in Stressful Situations

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Overcoming the stress in your life starts with noticing what your stressors are and working to reduce them, but you can’t prevent every situation that could potentially cause you stress. This is your body’s natural response, which leads to a fight or flight response. You still need to get out there and live your life, so it is more a matter of how you react to stressful situations when they arrive.

Keep reading to learn how you can remain more calm and relaxed even when incredibly stressful things are happening around you.

Stop Your Body and Thoughts

When a stressful situation hits you, you have the opportunity to choose how you are going to handle it. How you think, feel, and even how your body reacts is all up to you. If you react in the negative and immediately, it is going to increase your stress hormone, and make you feel a lot worse and much more overwhelmed.

Instead of reacting instantly, just take a step back. Freeze your body and your mind, and just let your thoughts calm down. Don’t try to reason through it, don’t think about the potential future or make assumptions, and don’t start letting all those regrets run through your head.

Just get into a calm place, whether you freeze your body, or try to meditate or use mindfulness practices. This can help you to get back to neutral, where you are able to think logically with whatever the stressful situations is.

Find Positivity

Being positive has a wonderful impact on your mind and emotional health, as well as helping you to handle stress. Being positive doesn’t mean constant sunshine and rainbows. You can understand that life isn’t always perfect, accept your flaws, and move past them. You even understand that stress is a normal part of life since unexpected things happen all the time.

However, instead of letting the stress affect you mentally and physically to an extreme level, you can remain calm by remaining positive. Just try to think of some type of positive element, whether you go through a list of pros and cons, or you simply try to find the one thing that could be good about the stressful situation. Trust me, there is at least one.

Stop with the Assumptions and ‘What If’ Questions

Stop asking what if, and making assumptions every time anything happens. This is going to lead to a lot of anxiety and stress, that otherwise might not have been that bad. If you feel that you have constant stress all day, every day, ask yourself where it comes from. Is it from things constantly happening around you, or is the way you perceive things?

Write down in your journal the next time you experience a stressful situation what actually happened. Not what could have happened or what you feared would happen, but the actual situation you dealt with. More often than not, your fears and what if scenarios were far worse than the reality.

When a stressful situation happens, the best thing you can do is just stand back, remain present, and be realistic with what has already happened. Don’t assume the worst case scenario or start creating all of these images in your head of what catastrophe might be in store for you. This is definitely adding to the amount of stress you experience on a daily basis.

Know What Your Stressors Are

You also need to understand more about what is causing you the most stress. By now, you likely have a good idea of where it is coming from, but using a journal can help you determine this with more details and clarity.

Keep a worry or stress journal that you use only to write about your stress. You want to include as many details as you can, such as what you were doing, where you were, what time and date it happened, who you were with, what the situation was, and anything else that is relevant.

Write down things like why it caused you stress, what your mind was doing at the time, and what the outcome was.

Do you notice any patterns? Are there certain things causing you more stress? Is it work or home life? Is there someone in your life that always seems to be around when you have the mot stress? These details will help you figure out your stressors, which in turn helps you know what you need to avoid in the future.

6 Ways to Relax When Feel Overwhelmed

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If you have been feeling very overwhelmed with your life and responsibilities, it can take a impact on your mental health and wellbeing. This feeling often gets worse, even leading to more anxiety and worsening depression symptoms. Before you let the overwhelm take control of your life, try some of these tips for relaxing and reducing stress.

1. Start a Worry Journal

When you are overwhelmed, you probably have a mind that is FULL of thoughts, worries, concerns, fears, regrets, hopes, and so much more. You need to get all of these thoughts and emotions out of your head, and there is no better way to do that than writing it out.

Start a journal specifically used for your stress and overwhelm, called a worry journal. This is really easy to do and can be used as a place to vent about every single thing you are worried about. Think about what is causing you the most stress right now, and write it down.

Be honest, be detailed or vague, write it however you want. Don’t worry about how long it is, how long it takes you, grammar or spelling, or any other “rules” of writing. Just get your worries out in whatever way works best for you, and soon you will realize not just that you had a lot to say, but have more clarity about why you have been so stressed and overwhelmed recently.

2. Complete Something You Never Finished

Another way to relieve overwhelm in your life is to think about something you have not completed, but started, and finish it. This can be anything big or small, whether it is related to your current goals or not.

Why is this helpful? Because you get a feeling of accomplishment when you complete something. Even a small thing you have been putting off, a little home project you started but didn’t complete, or a big goal, can all bring you that feeling that you did something. You worked hard and completed it. You did what was expected of you.

This can relieve a lot of the stress and overwhelm you are currently experiencing.

3. Wander and Visualize What You Want

Visualization is very powerful, almost magical. When you can see something you want to be, accomplish, or get done, it gives you inspiration and motivation. IT allows you to work hard toward your goals, and actually visualize what the process is like.

But it doesn’t have to be only practical. Sometimes what you need the most is to dream. Allow your imagination to be creative and open-minded, dream up something you would love to have in your life, whether it is realistic or not.

Just take a few minutes a day to really visualize this dream, and go as far with it as you need to. When you’re done, you will feel more calm and relaxed, and ready to take on the day.

4. Develop Healthy Sleep Routines

Everyone needs sleep, even you! This should be your top priority, whether you have stress and overwhelm or not. Sleep is essential for your mind, body, and spirit. You need rest each night to hold on to your memories, to gain focus and energy, to be able to get through each day.

If you don’t get enough quality sleep, start looking at your daily sleep routine. Maybe you need to start getting ready for bed earlier, or you have a problem with using your cell phone before bed. Switch up your routine so that you are fully rested and ready for uninterrupted sleep.

5. Find Your Own Priorities

Choosing what is a priority in your life is a crucial part of relaxing when you feel stressed and overwhelmed. This is true in your personal and professional life. A big part of self-care and relieving that feeling of overwhelm is knowing when to put yourself first.

If a project you started or a goal you thought you wanted to achieve doesn’t bring you joy and you don’t remember why you wanted to do it in the first place, let it go. This is obviously not a priority in your life, so there is no reason it should be causing you stress.

6. Start a Morning Routine

Morning routines help set you up for success. They provide you a way to be energized and positive right from the moment you wake up, keep you from developing a negative attitude when the alarm goes off, and give you a time of the day for a little self-care.

Start a new morning routine that is good for both your body and your mind, with things like doing yoga, drinking a glass of water, writing in your journal or planner, meditating or practicing mindfulness. There are no rules for a morning routine as long as it is good for you and helps you feel invigorated and ready to take on the day.

Small Daily Changes That Can Help You Manage Stress

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If you are trying your best to reduce your stress levels, it doesn’t mean you have to change your entire life. What helps you the most might be the smallest changes each day that lead up to a reduction in stress, worry, and anxiety. What you might find is that you have many other benefits as a result of these daily changes, from thinking more positively to being a more mindful person in general.

Keep reading to find out how you can make small, daily changes to help you manage your stress.

Try Guided Imagery

If you want to manage your stress, you can try a really simple meditation technique called guided imagery. This is simple to do and gets you used to meditation without having to put too much pressure on yourself. Plus, it is a wonderful way to be more optimistic and visualize your hopes and dreams. This helps a lot when you feel like you are being held behind with the amount of stress you are dealing with.

Guided imagery is typically provided by someone else, though you can use visualization techniques at any time when you want to relieve stress. What you want to do is have a scenario that puts you into a peaceful, calming environment. You might be at a beach, laying in the sand, walking through a mountainside, or in a garden of wildflowers.

The great thing about guided imagery is that it is easy to do and only takes a few minutes a day.

Have Healthy Daily Habits

Another daily change you can make to reduce your stress is to develop some healthy habits. Many of your current habits might be making stress worse, while others just simply aren’t improving it. Start thinking about your physical health and emotional health together, and find healthy daily habits that are sustainable for you, and can improve your health. You will notice that the result is a lower amount of stress.

Some healthy daily habits to consider are:

Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet. What you put into your body makes a big difference in how you feel, not just physically, but mentally as well. You can nourish your body and mind by eating a healthy diet.

Getting regular exercise. Exercise is wonderful for relieving stress, and is a healthy habit everyone should make a daily habit. It doesn’t have to be hitting the gym or spending hours working out. Walking every day, going on a hike, yoga, riding a bike, or dancing in your living room all count as daily exercise.

Avoiding unhealthy habits. There are also some unhealthy habits that might be making your stress worse. For example, if you drink large amounts of alcohol or participate in recreational drugs, they are covering up your stress in the short-term, but in the long-term are actually making it much worse. Excessive amounts of caffeine can also make your stress worse.

Making sleep a priority. Everyone needs sleep, so don’t feel like getting little sleep is doing you any good. You need high quality sleep, no matter how busy your schedule is. Don’t make light of only needing to sleep a couple hours a day, because this is NOT normal OR healthy for you.

Getting rest every day. Just like sleep, you also need rest every day! If you have a busy schedule, then make an appointment for rest and self-care if you have to. This is a priority to reducing stress!

Focusing on mindfulness. Mindfulness is regularly recommended for stress because it helps you live in the moment, and have a better understanding of your thoughts and worries. Practicing mindfulness every day, such as during your self-care routine, is a healthy habit you can start doing now.

Use a Stress Journal

Stress and worry journals are amazing for reducing your stress. These are going to provide many benefits for you, including seeing when your stress peaks, understanding more about what is causing your stress, and keeping track of any stress-relief methods you try out.

You will also see the other side effects of stress and worry, such as headaches, digestive issues, increased anxiety, problems sleeping, and work productivity issues.

Avoid Unnecessary Stress

There may be sources of stress in your life that are completely unnecessary and optional, even when it doesn’t feel that way. If you are already dealing with a lot of stress in your life, the last thing you need to do is encourage more of it.

To avoid unnecessary stress, start by learning how to say no to people. You do not have to yes to everything, from hosting parties to taking on extra projects at work. Manage your time and choose what are priorities for you.

You also want to look at your current sources of stress and make a list of anything that is from something optional – such as an extra responsibility you took on, that you could delegate to others.

How to Rejuvenate Yourself After Burnout

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If you are suffering from burnout, you’ll likely be looking for ways to restore your peace, health, and happiness. It’s important to treat yourself lovingly after such a trauma to your system so you don’t develop chronic health conditions.

Burnout can cause all sorts of mental and emotional issues, including anxiety and depression. You should try to recognize the signs that lead to burnout, but this may not always be possible. If you concentrate on restoring yourself after burnout, you can avoid these issues and get your true self back.

Consider these burnout tips to help you regain your strength:

  1. Find a new direction. The best, most permanent, way of dealing with burnout is to focus on making sustainable life changes. Ask yourself whether or not you’re happy in your current situation. Perhaps it’s time to make a major life shift, such as a new career or downsizing your home.
  • Take a break. It’s best to get away from the situation that has caused you to burn out. This may mean going out for a walk and getting away for a few hours, or it may mean giving yourself a full blown vacation.
  • You don’t necessarily have to spend a lot of money for a vacation. Your goal is to relax and clear your mind. You can certainly do this at home or in your local community.
  • Solve the problem. If you’re currently in the middle of a stressful situation, take action to solve the problem right away as best as you can. Consider the possible solutions to the problem and ask for help from others if necessary.
  • Gain control. Take control of the situation where possible. Realize that you can solve your problems and you’re not doomed to remain in this state forever. Also, have the wisdom to accept that there are situations that are beyond your control.
  • Do what you can to improve your situation, but avoid worrying about the things out of your control.
  • Be open and honest. Sometimes it’s best to set your pride aside and ask for help when you need it. Open up about the issues you’re facing with a close friend or relative. If that’s not an option for you, seek the help of a counselor.

Stress Management

If burnout tends to be a common occurrence for you, it would be in your best interest to start studying some stress management techniques.

There are certain things you can do to combat stress:

  • Don’t take on too much at work or at home.
  • Remember that you can – and should – tell people “no.”
  • Make time for yourself.
  • Ask for help from others.

Know Your Warning Signs

Once you’ve suffered burnout, you’ll certainly want to know how you can avoid a similar situation in the future. Study the factors that led to burnout, and identify your mistakes so you can avoid making them again in the future.

In the End

These strategies will help you regain peace with yourself. If there are any outstanding issues that you need to resolve, seek solutions so you can achieve peace. You can do so through self-reflection, prayer, meditation, and communication. And once you do, you’ll avoid burnout altogether!

How to Meditate to Help Relieve Stress

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Meditation

Meditation is one of the best ways to relax and relieve all that stress that can accumulate from your everyday life. It also has a variety of health benefits, and of course, reducing stress is always good for you.

If you haven’t done much meditation before, it doesn’t take long to learn how and to start using it to your benefit. Here’s how you can meditate for stress relief.

Get Rid of Any Distractions

A big part of meditation is clearing your mind and staying in the present moment. It’s much more difficult to do that, especially for a beginner, when you have the TV on in the background or your cell phone starts ringing a few minutes in.

Before you start meditating, find a place where you won’t be distracted. Silence any electronic devices, and if possible, ask anyone who’s around not to disturb you.

Make Yourself Comfortable

When most people think of meditation, they envision a monk or yogi sitting cross-legged or in a double-lotus position. If you’re flexible enough, you can meditate like that, but it’s certainly not required. The most important thing about your position when you meditate is that you’re comfortable, which means it’s actually better not to get into any tough positions that stretch you to your limits.

You could meditate while sitting in a chair in your office or lying down on the floor. It’s entirely up to you, and all that matters is how you feel.

Focus on Your Breathing

Breathing is a major focus when you meditate. We often don’t think about our breathing much since it happens naturally, but doing it properly can make a huge difference in our quality of life.

As you meditate, make sure that you’re taking deep breaths with your diaphragm. Inhale and exhale slowly. By doing this, you’ll breathe more efficiently, which is good for your health and really melts stress away. Look at it like this – when someone is extremely stressed, they’ll often hyperventilate. To calm people down, we tell them to breathe.

Let Your Thoughts Pass By

When you meditate, it’s good to stay in the present moment and stop thinking about anything else, including any worries you have. This is obviously easier said than done, and you may be amazed at how difficult it is to clear your head.

It’s fine to have thoughts come to mind while you meditate. The key is to let them pass by without focusing on them. Allow them to come and go and you’ll be able to stay in the present much better.

The more you meditate, the better you’ll get at it. Eventually, you’ll reach the point where you can do mini meditation sessions just about anywhere and anytime you need to rid yourself of stress.

 

Daily Methods for Relieving Stress

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Daily Methods For Relieving Stress

You need to practice daily methods for relieving stress. Constant stress can lead to physical problems and mental disorders, but there are several easy ways to prevent stress. Begin using these methods to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the stressful events that occur in your life.

Engage in Physical Activity

Not only can exercise maintain your weight, but also, it can relieve your stress. Rather than taking medications to reduce your anxiousness, find a physical activity that you enjoy. Experts recommend exercising at least three times a week, but if you want to eliminate the stress from work or school, then find a physical activity such as bicycling or jogging that you can enjoy each day.

Learn Specialized Breathing Techniques

If you are having a stressful day, then you can practice specialized breathing techniques anywhere to eliminate your anxious thoughts. One of the breathing techniques that you will find useful is taking a deep breath to fill your lungs and releasing the air slowly as you count to 20. While you are performing this breathing technique, you will notice that your blood pressure declines and your racing thoughts stop.

Consuming a Healthy Diet Each Day

When you consume a healthy diet, it is easier to cope with feelings of stress. A nutritious diet includes a lot of fruits and vegetables along with whole-grain foods, dairy products and lean protein. You should avoid eating sugar or refined flour, and it is also a good idea to moderate your consumption of caffeine. In addition, drink several glasses of water each day to remain hydrated.

Socialize with Family and Friends

By socializing each day, you can reduce your stress levels. You might think that the time spent with your friends and family is wasted, but it is important for your brain and body. When you are socializing, your brain releases serotonin to improve your overall mood, and when you have a happier mood, your stress is reduced.

Expose Your Skin to Sunlight

If you are inside a building all of the time, then you aren’t getting enough sunlight exposure. Scientists recommend exposing your skin to sunlight for 20 minutes each day to increase your body’s vitamin D levels. With more vitamin D in your body, you are able to cope with stress along with having additional physical energy and mental alertness.

Increase Your Mindfulness with Meditation

With daily meditation, you can increase your mindfulness. Today, many individuals aren’t living in the moment because they are thinking about yesterday or tomorrow instead. When you practice meditation each day, it helps you to focus on today by clearing the troubling thoughts from your mind.