We all spend far too much time berating ourselves and beating
ourselves up for everything. The person in the world that you should be the kindest to, is yourself, but how do we start to notice that we are even doing this. So much of the time it's our subconscious mind that has us fooled. It's feeding us information about ourselves that is just not true.
Step One: Live in the Moment
All day long we hide within ourselves, thinking about what we did the day before, or what we might do tomorrow. When we start to pay attention to what is going on right now, we can also start to notice what we are telling ourselves in the moment. For example, if I'm in a business meeting and I am not fully present in that meeting and am really day dreaming about what else I could be doing. I'm focusing internally, and I'm not really living my life. I'm hiding from it. Focus on the meeting, be present for it. It will not only show the boss that you are with it, but it help you to realize when you are hiding from life and when you are not.
Step Two: Sit alone at least once per day, and focus on the positive things in your life.
Write them down on a piece of paper and reflect about how great your life is. Keeping a positive attitude will help you to notice when those negative thoughts start to surface. For example, if I start focusing on how much it sucks that my house is falling apart and I start complaining to myself and others about how much I hate my house, then I'm just attracting more of that negative energy to me.
Step Three: Decide to choose positive thoughts
Change the way you think by noticing when negative thoughts pop into your head and change them. It will be a struggle because our brains are naturally wired this way. It's a defense mechanism and most of the time we don't even notice that it's happening.
Be present and keep your thoughts in check. The more you remain positive and calm, the more you will attract the good things that you want into your life.
Breathe. You got this!
Meditation is super important in our daily lives to
reduce stress and to maintain focus in a world full of distractions. In order to assist your own meditation journey, I have downloaded and tested 4 Meditation and Guided imagery apps for your smart phone. Each one is slightly different and each one has it's uses.
Relax Mini: Way of the Leaf
The first one is very simple. It's called Relax Mini: Way of the Leaf. It's basically just a guided imagery meditation tour. As a very calming female voice leads you through the woods in the fall leaves a video plays of a tree with bright colored fall leaves on it blowing in the wind. It's very calming and relaxing and with this one you can either watch the video or close your eyes and just listen to the calming voice. This was the first one that I downloaded and when I realized it was just the one guided imagery story, I decided I needed to try out a few more. I needed some options. But I'd rate this one 5/5 stars because it gives you a great tool to relax at the end of the day.
Simply Being
This is a collection of classical songs and nature sounds for relaxation and meditation. There is no voice leading you through the imagery, but it is pretty easy to let your mind imagine that you are in a calming place when you can hear the sound of the ocean waves, or the calming meditation music. There are 3 classical music options called Acceptance, Sanctuary, and Gentle Night and there are 5 nature options, including Calm Ocean Shore, Light Rain, Gentle Forest Brook, Evening Lake Birds, and Moderate Surf. You can decide whichever sound makes you the most relaxed and then you can set the timer for how long you want to meditate for. You can set the timer for 5, 10, 15, 20, or 30 minutes. I love this app and would also rate it 5/5 stars. It is super easy to use, and makes it really easy for anyone who wants to meditate daily.
Headspace
This is an animated cartoon with an man with an Australian accent explaining the best ways to meditate. He gives you some beginner insights and starts you off nice and slow. There are singles options for when you just want to do a quick relaxation technique, but there is a main area where you basically have to complete the first session before you can unlock session 2 and so on. There are 10 sessions total. I rate this one a 2/5. It looks really professionally done, but I don't find it very calming and the first session didn't get me relaxed and neither did session 2. I wasn't very impressed with it, but that doesn't mean it's not worth trying if you want to!
Breethe
And the Winner is.... Breethe. This app is absolutely AMAZING. You can use it for free, but I strongly suggest paying for the monthly fee. It gives you access to all of the wonderful meditations. There is a meditation for every situation. I pay the 12 bucks a month for a membership and my favorite mediation is one called positive self image. She walks you through a meditation where you sit in your happy place and look in a mirror and she helps you see yourself in a more positive way. It's wonderful and always makes me feel happy and safe. There are meditations to help you sleep, help you get through chemo treatments, weight loss, pain, getting rid of negative thinking. There are so many! And the app also has themed weeks, so you can do a themed week that has a meditation for every day of the 7 days of the week. There is one for feeling happier, stressing less, better sleep, etc.
I hope this was helpful for you and I really hope that if you don't already have a meditation routine, that you download an app to help you create one. Happy meditating!
