Meditation

We hear this form of self-care often, but is it truly? Mindfulness or meditation can be as diverse as it is personal. Mindfulness is a practice of using mindful or focusing techniques to train your attention and awareness; to ultimately achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state. This state can be achieved in various ways. Through mindful mediation, guided meditation, or mantra meditation to name a few. So how does mindfulness help with self-care?

Mindfulness has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. When performed, mindfulness can restore your body to a calm state and help the body repair itself. Calming your breath and practicing the refocusing of your thoughts helps to redirect you when falling into negative thinking patterns. When starting out, try practicing mindfulness for at least five minutes per day. Some other simple strategies are counting your breaths and focus on listening to your breathing, while calming your body. There are countless ways to finding your preferred method of mindfulness, but the key is to start.

To gain more information about mindfulness check out this NY Times Article at https://www.nytimes.com/guides/well/how-to-meditate. If you are interested in learning more about sacred listening and mindfulness, you can go to Darby Christopher’s website https://www.revdarbychristopher.com/.

If you or a loved one is having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-8255, or dial 911. The Crisis Text Line for Georgia is Text GA to 741741, this is a free 24/7 text line for people in crisis.