Mental Health: Being at Peace With Yourself

I just got done a really rejuvenating meditation after not really feeling myself today. Yesterday was great, but about a half hour before bed I just felt really angry for no explainable reason. I went to bed and woke up feeling fine today but just couldn't shake the feeling that I was not at peace with myself for some reason. A friend posted an article this morning on mental health that I really loved (and will share further in this blog post) and it inspired me. I've been keeping a list for some time now of things that make me feel richer/fuller/happier-- how I feel more at peace with myself. So I felt today was a good time to finally share those thoughts. After all, fitness is a world more than just getting a good workout in at the gym. A healthy, sound mind is just as important.


1.) MEDITATE 
What I do during my meditation is I find a place I am comfortable like my bed or my yoga mat on the floor in a dimly lit room. I put on my "Calm Meditation Radio" station on Pandora (highly suggest it), and I lay on my back with my eyes closed. This is a time to relax my mind and body and think ONLY positive thoughts. I start by just laying there for about 5 minutes. I imagine a place I'd like to be and I contemplate every beautiful detail of the serene location. Today I imagined walking through a golden field of wheat, and eventually moved onto sitting onto a beach next to my love. I image I am there and I think about how I feel in that place. I continue to think good thoughts about myself; things I am good at, why I am beautiful, how amazing my body is because it lets me live, breathe, dance, make art. I close my mind off to everyday thoughts about what I am doing today or something I am stressed about-- those thoughts are not allowed to cross my mind during meditation. If you are a spiritual being, I'd suggest meditating on a psalm while you are doing this too. I also stretch. Nothing crazy, just soothing. I think about my muscles, my breathing, and become very self aware of my body and thoughts. While stretching I think about snippets of my life where I felt alive. Today I thought about the time I walked through the forest in Germany alone at night-- it was a full moon and florence and the machine's Cosmic Love was playing on my ipod, and I had no fear of the darkness, the wild boars, or rumors of the child spirits. I thought about the time we went camping and it was pouring, and we all took our shoes off and tiptoed through the overflowing streams scattered amongst the woods like lines on a map-- and peeking through the trees we saw a man standing deep in the water fishing, surrounded by ripples from rain drops. After I am done stretching, and thinking beautiful thoughts, I lay on my back again-- breathing out any bad feelings like anger, anxiety, stress, and breathing IN peace, love, happiness. I end in prayer, open my eyes, and feel immediately different and completely at peace with myself.

2.) CREATE YOUR ATMOSPHERE 

 Decorate! Create a space that inspires you. Hang positive wall hangings, or create a nest of soft pillows. Drape a canopy around your bed, light candles, make your space feel like YOU. One thing that really changes my attitude/mood is twinkle lights so we have them here and there throughout our house around the perimeter of the ceiling. Seriously, twinkle lights change everything so if you don't have any, get some.

3.) COLOR OR MAKE ART
Paint, draw, knit, photograph, whatever it is you do, do it! I've recently joined the realm of adult coloring books and I love them. They're so great and there's lots of different ones. I love them because, 1.) coloring is fun, duh. But also because it is something I am in total control of. If I want a purple frog and red trees, you better believe no one is stopping me from coloring a purple frog and red trees.

4.) KEEP A WALL OF ENCOURAGEMENT
We have a wall in our kitchen where I hang all the thank you cards and sweet notes from friends and clients. They are filled with so many nice, appreciative thoughts about me and it fills me with so much happiness when I walk by and catch glances of their beautiful words.

5.) MAINTAIN A HEALTHY DIET AND EXCERCISE
Seriously, sometimes I feel like a great workout does more good for my emotional state than my own physical body. Wether it's a normal hour long workout routine or a brisk walk, it does wonders to get me out of a moody funk. Same goes for the food you put in your body. Everyone knows the feeling after you down a baconator, fries, and soda from Wendys. Yea, not fun. Less junk, more goodness from the earth.

6.) CLEAN YOUR HOUSE OR DECLUTTER
You can even ask my husband about this one... Every single time I am stressed or feel unaccomplished or unhappy with myself, I clean. Subconsciously it is like a purging of all the bad thoughts I feel. Even if it's just 1 room or 10 minutes, try it. Go through your clothes and get rid of old things you don't wear. Get rid of clutter laying around the house. Throw stuff out. Chuck the old tomatoes sitting on your kitchen table into the road across the street (haha yes, you can also ask my hunny about this too. It's a regular routine for me when produce goes bad)

7.) SPEAK YOUR MIND
This one's pretty self explanatory. Don't bottle your feels.

8.) CREATE A LIST OF THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF/THINGS YOU'RE GOOD AT
Even if you just do it in your head. When you start to feel the negative thoughts coming on, list of all the things you're good at. I can paint, draw, photograph, dance, sing, cook, bake, home decorate, and write. Think about your favorite things about yourself. I love my hair, my freckles, my lips, cheek bones, and my legs. Your turn!

9.) GET OFF SOCIAL MEDIA
When I spend too much time on Facebook, I get what I call: swamp brain. Yucky, slow, over opinionated, negative, boring, unadventurous, swamp brain. Today I made it my goal to check facebook less, scroll less, procrastinate less, and spend more time just *being* without a phone or social device.

10.) DRESS UP FOR YOURSELF
With my nanny job and working out every day, I spend so much time in sweats, hoodies and workout gear, sometimes I feel like I forget how nice it is to put on a dress with my favorite boots and a nice scarf. Even if it's Saturday and you're not going anywhere, put on your favorite outfit and dress up for YOU. It's crazy how different you'll feel by simply sprucing up a bit.

*If you're interested in reading the article i had mentioned that my friend shared this morning, here it is. There's a lot of other great ideas here for mental health:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/annaborges/may-your-2016-be-mentally-chill#.efngEkrQo