Meditation

Every week, I talk about small ways we can boost our moods, with little to no effort. I became inspired when my second cousin was going through a slump, so I was giving her simple ideas to help boost her mood. I know at some point, we have gone through this slump trying to deal with the effects of the pandemic lockdowns.

I have been working on practicing meditation, and making it a part of my every day life. I feel like I have been able to focus better. Sometimes I felt like I have had some challenges trying to stay focus on somethings. Especially when the tasks takes me longer than it needs to complete. Which is really troubling, and sort of annoying that I had troubles focusing and getting stuff done. But I feel like that since I have been working and making meditations, I feel like I am able to get more things done. I feel like I am able to think more clearly. Meditation has a lot of other benefits, as well, such as helping you get a deeper sleep, helps release stress, and so many more.

Since this is a new practice for me, I have only been setting aside five, maybe ten minutes of meditation every day. I have been working on it, for almost two weeks now. I am definitely proud of myself for keeping up with this habit. I feel like it has been keeping me calm through my the situation with my Grandpa, since he is currently at the hospital.

The five minutes I have been setting aside for a meditation has been so easy, and the effects that it has on my body, mind, and soul have been game changer. I am so happy, and definitely encourage everyone to try meditating. There are so many videos on meditating on YouTube, which is a free service. If you are new to meditating, try looking for a beginner video to start out, and get comfortable with. You would be glad you did.

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Thankful Thursdays #36 – March 4th, 2021

This is one of my favourite posts, because I get to talk about what I am thankful for the past week. It is always a good and fun way to end the day, or week with a grateful heart. I would love to hear about yours in the comments.

There are so many benefits of practicing gratitude, so you have never to lose by practicing it. Some of the benefits of gratitude, is you sleep better, and easier, you help lower your stress levels, so it might even be harder for you to feel stress. You also increase your immune system, which helps you decrease your chances of getting sick.

Here is my list from last week…

1. I am thankful that we got to celebrate my boyfriend’s birthday. He loved his present, and that I made him brunch, and dinner for us.
2. I am grateful for being able to go through all of belongings from my old room.
3. I am thankful that I am starting to declutter again, it really helps me reorganize, and make more room for the things I enjoy.
4. I am happy that I was able to spend some time with my sister while I was babysitting my niece. Normally she works all day, and then by the time she is done work, it’s dinner, and then my niece goes to bed, and then my sister gets ready for bed, shortly afterwards. But on Tuesday we were able to hang out, and take my niece out to the park, and for a walk. It was a lot of fun.
5. I am grateful for being able to allocate our finances to pay down our debts. I am really happy that we are on the right path to be debt free. It’s going to take us a little while, but we have spent some time working on what to pay off next. Which is really exciting.

Day 52

I have been working on my Happiness Project, and I am still enforcing my January resolutions in February. For those that don’t know, a Happiness Project was inspired by Gretchen Rubin, about how she makes monthly resolutions in various aspects of her life. Each resolution is to help add happiness in her life. I was inspired to start my own Happiness Project. Feel free to get caught up if you haven’t already…

/http://threeyellowdaisies.ca/category/my-happiness-project/

Gretchen has written a book documenting her journey, tilted The Happiness Project. It was an inspirational book.

One of her rules that I have been working on, too, is if it takes 60 seconds or less, don’t procrastinate and don’t get that task done. Get it done now. The amount of energy and stress we have of constantly thinking about this task, and ways to avoid it, is actually more exhausting than doing the actual task at hand. I am slowly reminding my boyfriend about this rule, too. I think that it is a good rule to have and enforce in your house.

Today, I spent about 5 minutes doing various one minute chores, like cleaning a dirty mirror.

One minute tasks include hanging up your coat when you walk in the door, adding more toilet paper to the bathroom, putting your clothes in your hamper, instead of on the floor, and I know they are so many other tasks like this, that for some reason we keep pushing off.

Today, I will focus on getting tasks that no time at all now, instead of wasting time and energy waiting to schedule those tasks in my day, or do it another day. It is best to do things as they happen, instead of waiting to do them later. We can actually save energy, and be less stressed, as well.

Day 51

This lesson is from Saturday.

My boyfriend was making us dinner, and while I was waiting, I was going through my art and crafts bin. I had pulled that out, so I can take some crafts to do with my niece when I was babysitting her last week. I kept it because I wanted to do some crafts myself. I took out some of my colouring and my pencil crayons and started colouring. I picked out my Alice in Wonderland colouring book. I love that movie.

I love that colouring has an ability to calm me, and relax me. Colouring is so soothing. I will definitely be making more time to do crafts this week, especially since it’s almost my boyfriend’s birthday. I also have a lot of colouring books.

Today, I will focus on ways to relax and calm me. Which can be easier than one think. Colouring, and doing arts and crafts are a good way to relieve stress. I personally love to colour. Finding healthy ways to relieve and cope with stress is easier than one might think it is. We just need to think about it more creatively.

Day 26

The other night, my boyfriend and I were discussing something, and he could have handled it better. I get that it was a stressful topic. But just because something is stressful, it does not give someone a free pass to say something mean to the other person. When things get stressful, it is important to stay calm, and not to lash out by something you will regret the second you say it.

“Two things to remember in life”

Take care of your thoughts when you are alone, and take care of your words when you are with people.”

-Unknown

Learn to refrain from saying anything mean to another person just because you two are fighting or having a disagreement.

Photo Credit: Teach Junkie

Today, I will learn to carefully about my thoughts that I wish to share and contribute to the person I am talking to. I should learn that my tongue has the power to heal or the power to hurt someone. I should make sure that I speak only kind words. I should choose my words wisely, to ensure that I don’t hurt anyone in the process.

Day 25

I realized that I made a mistake when I was trying to discuss something with my boyfriend. I was upset and needed someone to talk about things. I became aware that I should have discussed it with him during dinner. I say that we should have talked about this earlier, since it isn’t a good idea to talk about stressful things in an hour before bed.

Discussing these things with my boyfriend before bed, didn’t really help me, because he became upset and stressed out, too. We didn’t really come up with any ideas to resolve this situation. So it had to wait until later to figure out a solution.

Today, if I can, I will not talk about stressful situations before going to bed, as it might interfere with actually falling asleep. Instead, I will try to write about my feelings in a journal, and I will discuss with someone who is involved in the situation, or someone who might be able to solve the situation until it is an appropriate time to discuss something stressful.

Day 21

There are going to come several days throughout your life, where life may seem so chaotic and stressful. Sometimes it can’t be avoided, sometimes it can be. But whenever life is throwing stress your way, always remember to stay calm, perhaps take a moment to pause. This might help enlighten you and solve whatever you are going through.

Or perhaps you can write about it in a journal, or talk it over with a friend, or a family member. Whatever you choose to help cope through a mess, always remain calm about the situation. Find your way to remain tranquil during times of stress and or uncertainty.

Today, no matter how stressful my situation and life is, I will try my best to stay calm. Things can get better from this. And most of the bad times in our lives often lead to the best times.

Day 20

The sooner you get a handle on your finances, the easier and less stressful life will be. Money can either make life easier or harder. But it is something that can be worked on. I recommend making a budget, and keeping track of where you spend your money. In order to save money, you must not exceed what you make. I know sometimes that can be harder than it actually sounds. But it does take some time, but once you get a handle of it, life becomes less stressful, and more freeing.

When you make your budget, make sure you are including all of your expenses. Make sure you don’t forget about all of your subscriptions (YouTube, Spotify, Netflix, Prime Video, etc.). Use this time to reflect with what you can and can’t live without. Every dollar counts.

Today, I will not let another day go by, without working on my finances. I understand that the sooner I get a handle on my finances, the better my life will be. I will be able to have more freedom, and less stress. It may be challenging at first, but I know I can overcome these obstacles.

Day 17

Life can come at us fast, so it’s important for us to take things one day at a day. It’s necessary for us to slow down. Learn to be in the moment. You don’t have to accomplish 500 things in a day to feel accomplished. Learn to feel accomplished by completing three tasks.

Learn to do things as they come to you. Life is almost like laundry, once the washing machine stops, you put the clothes in the dryer. You just have to take life as it comes. There is no need to rush life, or the need to know everything all at once. Life is lived one day at a time for reason. So don’t feel bad if you don’t know what to do next. Give yourself some time to figure what to do next.

I did not always believe in this, about how I should learn to take life slowly, and how I should live one day at a time until a few years ago. And ever since then, I noticed I was able to relax more because I wasn’t stressing out about things months away. I learned that sometimes it’s okay to not know everything at once. Whatever you are meant to know, will come to you when you need to know something. There is no reason to stress.

Today, I will accept that life is meant to be lived one day at a time, so I should only focus on things that are relevant for the day. By focusing my time and energy on today, I will be able to relax more instead of worrying about my tomorrows, and more tomorrows after that.

Day 13

I have always found that it is best, to get organized for the next day, instead of having to worry about it in the morning. When I was a kid, I liked to get up early for school, so I can read a book after eating breakfast. The night before I packed all of my notebooks, and text books in my backpack for school the next day. I also liked to plan my outfit for tomorrow. I like having peaceful mornings, because I found by doing these extra steps I am able to start the day off right.

Today, before going to bed, I will do something that will save me time in the morning, that way I can be more organized starting out my day.