A good nights sleep

Any morning routine should begin the night before. Make sure you get a good nights sleep. Without adequate sleep it is difficult to start the day on a positive footing.

Start the day with a refreshing zingy, zesty shower. Shower gels and soaps that contain citrus essentials oils such as lemon, lime, mandarin or grapefruit, not only smell delicious but they have an uplifting effect on the senses.

Getting up at a reasonable hour that allows plenty of time to prepare for your day. Nothing worse than dashing around with coffee cup in one hand and coat in the other.

Start the day with a healthy breakfast and try to eat some of those lovely citrus fruits whose essential oils were in your shower gel.

Go easy on the news, we all know it is a media platform for spreading negativity and stirring up fear and manipulation. Know what you need to know and take the rest with a pinch of salt.

If you have time, write a short list of positive tasks and stick it on your fridge door. Ticking off the ones you complete or achieve.

Or, a trip to your nearest yoga class or any form of exercise will increase the level of happy hormones.

Its all about you

There are a multitude of ways in which you can have an effective mental health day and that might mean different things to different people. Quite often when we feel off balance, anxious or depressed we find it difficult to muster up the strength to even spring out of bed and if the weather is poor this makes it more difficult for some.

For me, I am going to share one of my personal practices that I find lifts me without even going out of the front door.

I find running a lovely hot bath, as hot as I can tolerate. In addition I add a few drops of my favourite relaxing essential oils, makes such a difference. I make it as indulgent as I can and find Lavender essential oil very effective.

Lighting a few candles and lighting your diffuser sets the mood.There is nothing like the heat of healing water and the aroma of essential oils for lifting your mood.

After a good soak, I get out my most luxurious body balms and slather all over and put on one of my most comfortable and favourite outfits. If its cold outside and I don’t want to go out, I will either watch a good film under a warm blanket or get stuck into something creative.

Here are just a few things you can consider;

• If you can Indulge in a spa treatment. Make it something relaxing like a therapeutic back massage or a facial. It does not have to be the most expensive facial as long as massage is involved.

• Prepare yourself a really lovely meal or even better, arrange a meet up at your favourite eatery with a good friend or just a chat over a coffee.

• If you like nature, throw yourself into a garden project or something creative.

The Beginners Guide to Meditation

4 Aug

How I started.

Meditation can take a lot of practice to master especially when we have a busy life. I had practiced Yoga for around 10 years and found that I could not quiet my mind enough. Just when I thought I was getting there, in would pop things like, “what shall I cook the kids for dinner”? and so on. I learned that this was kind of ok so in time I would quickly push my mind back to the present.

As a spiritual person who never seemed to have enough hours in the day due to work load, kids and house work, I then, only a year ago, when I was going through a very traumatic time, decided I would take myself off to spiritualist church. This was a turning point for me. Not only did I start to meet like-minded people with a spiritual connection but I joined an open circle which led to me joining a closed circle.

As meditation plays a big part within the mediumship circles, I suddenly found I was able to meditate. I believe it was the guided help of the circle mediums that helped me a great deal.

I then started to take a few minutes here and there in the day just to close my eyes, take some deep breaths and just be in that present moment.

After scrolling through YouTube I discovered Pura Rasa. She has many guided meditative practices that you can follow. I found these practices were further enhanced by her hypnotic voice, so the sleep hypnosis is fantastic for those that struggle with poor sleeping patterns.

So for those of you who want a starting point into meditation, I would go for a guided meditation to music. Choose a time and place, even if this is in bed before sleep. It doesn’t have to be lengthy, just 15 minutes to start and see how you feel. Once you get into the swing of things there are numerous types of meditation for tapping into specific things like mindfulness, inner peace, and healing to name just a few.

Let it out!

There are a multitude of practices one can exercise to help calm anxious thoughts. I want to talk about one method that I feel is good practice in helping you with the way you deal with anxiety and anxious thoughts.

Generally speaking, when a person has anxious thoughts or is suffering with anxiety, they are over-thinking about the future and the “what ifs”. So grab yourself a journal and start writing down your thoughts, let them out!

I want you to think about,

• What thoughts you are having? Write them down, time date etc….

• How are these anxious thoughts making you feel emotionally and physically? Describe them.

• Think about the triggers.

  1. What were you doing when the anxious thoughts began? Describe and log.

• Start writing in your journal and describe how and when you began having these anxious thoughts. is there a time line?

  1. Who were you with? (is this a pattern).

• If you were with someone, was it something they said or did? Describe how this made you feel. Do you think it was a deliberate act or just a misunderstanding?

  1. Was there an event that triggered the anxious thoughts?

• Sometimes events happen in our lives that trigger an anxiety attack leading to anxious thoughts. This could be a family rift or fallout, a death or an argument. Think about this and describe how it made you feel and why?

  1. Was there a “now/present” trigger that reminded you of a past trauma?

• Something that happened now can be a instant reminder of a past event that then leads you into being anxious about the future.

  1. Are you procrastinating about a task you are putting off?

• If so, why are you putting the task off? What is the worst thing that can happen? Think about this and describe.

  The above are just a few examples of how to start logging in your journal. Not only will it make you feel a little calmer by getting it off your chest but you will, over time, start to see a pattern and then be able to start thinking about how to navigate coping strategies.