Anxiety and stress significantly impact people’s lives. And the best way to resolve them is what people often find the most challenging: to just relax and simply be.
Managing stress and learning to relax doesn’t mean you have to go on an expensive vacation, take a leave of absence from work, or go to a health spa for a retreat. Relaxation can be achieved even in the midst of daily stress and chaos. There are many ways to help bring about inner calmness.
Here are a few ideas to inspire you and help get you started:
- Meditate
Find a quiet place in your home where you’ll be able to relax. If you want, you can add ambiance by burning sandalwood incense or white sage to clear the space of unwanted and negative energies. Or light a lavender or peppermint candle and quietly play some relaxing music.
Sit upright on a comfortable chair, or sit cross-legged on a cushion on the floor. When you’re comfortable, close your eyes and take some deep breaths. With each breath you take, begin visualizing that the room is filling up with protective cobalt-blue light. Fill the room and saturate yourself with this light. Visualize it removing all negative unwanted energies and replacing it with positive vibes.
Whether you have time for yourself when you’re at home or not, this meditation exercise has been created to do for as long as you can manage wherever you are.
- Write in a Journal
Journaling will helps you get things off your chest and release them. The process of writing your feelings, your thoughts, and your doodles down on paper can go a long way toward helping you release stress and other concerns.
When you’re ready, go back and look through your previous journal entries. Whether you like what you’re seeing or reading or not, journaling will help you identify the things in your life that need to be changed, how to begin the process of changing them, and if it’s necessary for you to seek help.
- Connect with Nature
Go out and get personal with nature. Find green space or a park near you and go for a walk. Take off your shoes and socks, and feel the grass between your toes. Run your hands along the grooved bark of a tree trunk. If you live near a beach, hold a shell up to your ear and listen to the sounds.
Spending time connecting with nature will work wonders for your well-being on all levels—physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional. There are countless health benefits, including relief from stress and anxiety, and the ability to help you be fully present.
You can also make connections with nature at your home, whether you have a yard and garden or not. Bring some houseplants into your home. Grow herbs in containers on your balcony or kitchen windowsill. If you have young kids, this can be a fun activity to get them involved in nature, too.