Mornings are not my favorite time of day. Generally speaking, I don’t really like to get out of bed. That feeling is magnified by the fact that my daughter doesn’t really like to get ready for school in the morning.
It makes for a pretty stressful beginning to the day.
Lately, I’ve been trying to find a way to calm myself in the morning.
Enter deep breathing or centering or meditation or whatever you want to call it.
Every morning, I sit in my closet, close my eyes, and take 10 deep breaths. With each slow breath in (think 5 or 6 counts), I say one mantra (or phrase or whatever makes you comfortable). As I slowly breath out (I take 10 counts for this one), I repeat another phrase.
I repeat throughout the day as necessary. Whenever I feel the stress level rising, I step out of the room (sometimes all the way outside) and take my 10 deep breaths. It’s like I’m putting myself in a little mental timeout.
Here’s just a few of the phrases I’ve repeated in the past:
- It’s never as bad as it seems
- This day will be great
- I am incredibly blessed
- There is only this day
- I did it once, I can do it again
- It’s only a phase
- It will all work itself out
- Model good behavior
You get the idea. You can repeat the exercise as often as you want, anywhere. Just put inwhatever phrases you want and make the exercise your own.
Stress reduction and mental fitness all rolled in to one. Doesn’t get much better than that.
(Visited 2 times, 1 visits today)