Category Archives: Emotional Well-Being

Mindfulness

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“Mindfulness is about paying attention to what is going on in our minds, our bodies, and the surrounding environment—and doing this in a kind and curious manner.” ~ Unknown

Mindfulness means noticing and paying attention to what is going on in the present moment, without passing judgment on it. Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of your thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens. You often spend more time thinking about what’s coming up in the future. Or dwelling on things in the past you can’t change. You can miss out on experiencing the present.

Mindfulness also involves acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them—without believing, for instance, that there’s a “right” or “wrong” way to think or feel in a given moment. When we practice mindfulness, our thoughts tune into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future.

It’s possible to train yourself to focus on the present moment. You become aware of what’s going on inside and around you—your thoughts, feelings, sensations, and environment. You observe these moments without judgment. This is called mindfulness.

Mindfulness has been shown to be effective for reducing stress, improving emotional balance, increasing self-awareness, helping with anxiety and depression, and coping more effectively with chronic pain.

Mindfulness can involve a sitting meditation that’s practiced in a quiet space. In this practice, you focus on your breathing or sensations in your body. If your mind wanders—like thoughts popping in about things you need to do—you try to return your mind to the present moment.

But mindfulness doesn’t have to be done sitting still or in silence. You can integrate the practice into things you do every day, like walking or eating. You can also be mindful while interacting with others.

Health Benefits of Mindfulness

Studies suggest that focusing on the present can have a positive impact on health and well-being.

Mindfulness has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression. There’s also evidence that mindfulness can lower blood pressure and improve sleep. It may even help people cope with pain. “For many chronic illnesses, mindfulness meditation seems to improve quality of life and reduce mental health symptoms,” says Dr. Zev Schuman-Olivier of Harvard University.

Mindfulness appears to help with depression in two ways.

First, it helps you develop the ability to stay grounded in the present, explains Dr. Sona Dimidjian of the University of Colorado Boulder. With depression, “your attention can get hijacked into the past or future,” she explains. You spend time focusing on past negative experiences or worrying about things to come.

Second, mindfulness can help you “de-center” from such thoughts. “It’s like being able to sit on the riverbank and watch thoughts floating by like leaves on a stream,” Dimidjian says. “Developing the skill of mindfulness can help stop you from being pulled into any one thought and carried down the stream. People often experience thoughts like, ‘nothing ever works out for me,’ or ‘it’s always going to be this way. Over time, and with practice, you can develop the ability to stand back from these painful thought patterns.”

Researchers are now studying whether mindfulness training can help with a variety of other conditions, including PTSD, eating disorders, and addiction.

Mindfulness, to be effective, takes practice, time and dedication. It’s important to aim for a few minutes of mindfulness each day to start.

A body scan meditation can be a good way to connect with your body. It helps make you aware of how your body feels as you mentally scan from head to toe.

Start in a comfortable position with your eyes closed. Take several deep breaths. Then, notice your feet. How do they feel?

Let your scan travel up your body—legs, stomach, arms, hands, neck, and finally, head. Notice any sensations or discomfort. Try not to change or judge these feelings—you’re simply checking in. Doing body scans on a regular basis can help increase mindfulness.

in summary, mindfulness is about being completely aware of what’s happening in the present—of all that’s going on inside and all that’s happening around you. It means not living your life on “autopilot.” Instead, you experience life as it unfolds moment to moment, good and bad, and without judgment or preconceived notions.

References:

  1. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2021/06/mindfulness-your-health
  2. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition

Practicing Gratitude

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Practicing gratitude has incredible effects, from improving our mental health to boosting our relationships with others.

Practicing gratitude can have far reaching life-enhancing effects, from improving your mental health to boosting your relationships with family members and friends.

Living your life with gratitude helps you notice the little wins—like the bus showing up right on time, a stranger holding the door for you, or the sun shining through your window when you wake up in the morning.

Each of these small moments strings together to create a web of well-being that, over time, strengthens your ability to better notice the peace, joy and good in life.

Building your capacity for gratitude isn’t difficult. It just takes practice. The more you can bring your attention to that which you feel grateful for, the more you’ll notice to feel grateful for!

1. Start by observing. Notice the thank yous you say. Just how much of a habitual response is it? Is it a hasty aside, an afterthought? How are you feeling when you express thanks in small transactions? Stressed, uptight, a little absent-minded? Do a quick scan of your body—are you already physically moving on to your next interaction?

2. Pick one interaction a day. When your instinct to say “thanks” arises, stop for a moment and take note. Can you name what you feel grateful for, even beyond the gesture that’s been extended? Then say thank you.

Robert Emmons, psychology professor and gratitude researcher at the University of California, Davis, explains that there are two key components of practicing gratitude:

  1. We affirm the good things we’ve received
  2. We acknowledge the role other people play in providing our lives with goodness

Research has linked gratitude with a wide range of health, mental and emotional benefits, including strengthening your immune system and improving sleep patterns, feeling optimistic and experiencing more joy and pleasure, being more helpful and generous, and feeling less lonely and isolated.

“Gratitude is “an affirmation of goodness”. When you practice gratitude, you acknowledge the good things in the world and the gifts you’ve received in your life.” ~ Robert Emmons

References:

  1. https://www.mindful.org/an-introduction-to-mindful-gratitude/

Never Let Yourself Be Defeated

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“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”

― Maya Angelou

“Winners are not those who never lose, they are the ones who never quit.”

Sometimes you may not win. But that is not your defeat. You are defeated only when you accept it. You must never accept your defeat at the first occurrence. In the game of baseball, if a batter swings and misses the first pitch, it doesn’t mean that he is out.

Mental Illness and Awareness

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“An overwhelming majority (90%) of people in the United States think the country is experiencing a mental health crisis,” according to a new survey from CNN in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).

According to the CNN and Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll, about half of adults say they have had a severe mental health crisis in their family, including in-person treatment for family members who were a threat to themselves or others, or family members who engaged in self-harming behaviors.

More than 1 in 5 adults describe their own mental health as only “fair” or “poor,” including extra-large shares of adults under the age of 30, adults who identify as LGBT and those with an annual income of less than $40,000.

A third of all adults said they felt anxious always or often over the course of the past year, including more than half of LGBT adults and those under 30. About 1 in 5 adults said they were often or always depressed or lonely over the past year, too.

Major sources of stress for a third or more of adults include personal finances and current and political events. About 1 in 4 adults also identified personal relationships and work, respectively, as major sources of stress.

Each year millions of Americans face the reality of living with a mental illness. And, each year it’s important to fight the stigma, provide support, educate the ourselves and the public, and advocate for policies that support people with mental illness and their families.

It’s imperative to understand that mental health illness and conditions do not discriminate based on socioeconomic status, race, color, gender or identity. Anyone can experience the challenges of mental illness regardless of their background.

However, socioeconomic status, background and identity can make access to mental health treatment much more difficult. Each year millions of Americans face the reality of living with a mental health condition and not receiving adequate treatment or care.

Know The Warning Signs

Distinguishing “normal” behaviors from possible signs of a mental illness isn’t always easy. There’s no simple test to label one’s actions and thoughts as mental illness, typical behavior or the result of a physical ailment, according to National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Each illness has its own symptoms according to NAMI, but common signs of mental illness in adults and adolescents can include the following:

  • Excessive worrying or fear
  • Feeling excessively sad or low
  • Confused thinking or problems concentrating and learning
  • Extreme mood changes,including uncontrollable “highs” or feelings of euphoria
  • Prolongedorstrongfeelingsofirritability or anger
  • Avoiding friends and social activities
  • Difficulties understanding or relating to other people
  • Changes in sleeping habits or feeling tired and low energy
  • Changes in eating habits such as increased hunger or lack of appetite
  • Changes in sex drive
  • Difficulty perceiving reality (delusions or hallucinations, in which a person experiences and senses things that don’t exist in objective reality)
  • Inability to perceive changes in one’s own feelings, behavior or personality (“lack of insight” or anosognosia)
  • Over use of substances like alcohol or drugs
  • Multiple physical ailments without obvious causes (such as headaches, stomach aches, vague and ongoing “aches and pains”)
  • Thinking about suicide
  • Inability to carry out daily activities or handle daily problems and stress An intense fear of weight gain or concern with appearance

Mental health conditions can also begin to develop in young children, according to NAMI. Because they’re still learning how to identify and talk about thoughts and emotions, children’s most obvious symptoms are behavioral. Symptoms in children may include the following:

  • Changes in school performance
  • Excessive worry or anxiety; for instance, fighting to avoid bed or school
  • Hyperactive behavior
  • Frequent nightmares
  • Frequent disobedience or aggression
  • Frequent temper tantrums

It’s vitally important to promote awareness regarding the mental health challenges facing Americans. Here are a few facts (Source: NAMI):

  • 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year
  • 1 in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each year
  • 1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year
  • Annual prevalence of mental illness among U.S. adults, by demographic group:
    • Non-Hispanic Asian: 13.9%
    • Non-Hispanic white: 22.6%
    • Non-Hispanic Black or African American: 17.3%
    • Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native: 18.7%
    • Non-Hispanic mixed/multiracial: 35.8%
    • Non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: 16.6%
    • Hispanic or Latino: 18.4%
    • Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual: 47.4%
  • Annual prevalence among U.S. adults, by condition:
    • Major Depressive Episode: 8.4% (21 million people)
    • Schizophrenia: <1% (estimated 1.5 million people)
    • Bipolar Disorder: 2.8% (estimated 7 million people)
    • Anxiety Disorders: 19.1% (estimated 48 million people)
    • Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: 3.6% (estimated 9 million people)
    • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: 1.2% (estimated 3 million people)
    • Borderline Personality Disorder: 1.4% (estimated 3.5 million people)
    • 46.2% of U.S. adults with mental illness received treatment in 2020
    • 64.5% of U.S. adults with serious mental illness received treatment in 2020

Getting Help

When mental illness is present, the potential for crisis is never far from mind. Crisis episodes related to mental illness can feel incredibly overwhelming. There’s the initial shock, followed by a flood of questions — the most prominent of which is: “What can we do?”

Like any other health crisis, it’s important to address a mental health emergency quickly and effectively. With mental health conditions, crises can be difficult to predict because, often, there are no warning signs. Crises can occur even when treatment plans have been followed and mental health professionals are involved. Unfortunately, unpredictability is the nature of mental illness.

There are a variety of treatment options available for people with mental illness and the best combination of treatment and other services will be different for each person. Recommendations are made by health care professionals based on the type of illness, the severity of symptoms and the availability of services. Treatment decisions should be made by the individual in collaboration with the treatment team and their family when possible.

If the situation is life-threatening, call 911 and ask for someone with mental health experience to respond.

References:

  1. https://nami.org/Get-Involved/Awareness-Events/Mental-Health-Awareness-Month
  2. https://nami.org/NAMI/media/NAMI-Media/PDFs/2022-SPAM-Partner-Guide.pdf
  3. https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/05/health/cnn-kff-mental-health-poll-wellness/index.html

Daylight Saving Time

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Daylight Saving Time ended at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 6, 2022. Don’t forget to reset your clocks and watches.

Daylight Saving Time has its roots in train schedules, but it was put into practice in Europe and the United States to save fuel and to reduce electricity usage during World War I by extending daylight hours, according to the US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

On the first Sunday of November, at 2 a.m., clocks in most of the United States and many other countries turn back an hour and stay there for nearly four months on what is called standard time, writes CNN’s Katia Hetter. On the second Sunday of March, at 2 a.m., clocks move forward one hour back to Daylight Saving Time.

For about eight months of the year, much of the US and dozens of other countries follow Daylight Saving Time. And for the remaining four months, they follow standard time.

There’s a move in Congress to make Daylight Saving Time permanent in the U.S.

Don’t forget to reset your alarm clock.

“Fall back; Spring forward.”

Sources:

  1. https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/05/health/daylight-saving-time-explainer-wellness
  2. https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/us/daylight-saving-time-history-trnd

Good Relationships Equate to Happiness

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“Satisfaction with relationships was a better predictor of how people would age more than cholesterol, socioeconomic conditions, or genetics.” ~ Motley Fool contributors Brian Feroldi, Brian Stoffel, & Brian Withers

Positive and strong relationships keep you happier, healthier and living longer, according to the results of a 75+ year experiment started at Harvard during the Great Depression and according to dozens of other studies.

In 2002, two pioneers of Positive Psychology, Ed Diener and Martin Seligman, conducted a study at the University of Illinois on the 10% of students with the highest scores recorded on a survey of personal happiness. They found that the most salient characteristics shared by students who were very happy and showed the fewest signs of depression were “their strong ties to friends and family and commitment to spending time with them.” The New Wallis, 2005).

“Social connections are really good for you; and loneliness kills. “People who are more socially connected to family, to friends, to community are happier; they are physically healthier; and they live longer than people who are less socially connected.”

A relative lack of social connections has been associated with depression and later-life cognitive decline, as well as with increased mortality. One study, found that lack of strong relationships increased the risk of premature death from all causes by 50% — an effect on mortality risk roughly comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and greater than obesity and physical inactivity.

Thus, satisfaction with relationships was a better predictor of how people would age more than cholesterol, socioeconomic conditions, or genetics.

Social connections give you pleasure, they also influence your long-term health in ways every bit as powerful as adequate sleep, a healthy whole real food diet, physical activity and not smoking.

Understanding finance and investing your personal capital are just a means to an end. The whole point of financial freedom is using that time that’s freed up to strengthen your personal relationships.

There’s nothing more important to a long-term mindset than good social relationships. The quality of your personal relations with other people is the number one factor that effects your level of life-satisfaction.

So, make it a priority to take time to foster your most meaningful relationships. Choose activities that are most likely to bring joy to you and the people you have the strongest personal relationships.

“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” ~ John C. Maxwell

References:

  1. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-health-benefits-of-strong-relationships
  2. https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/science-of-happiness/relationships-and-happiness/

Mindfulness

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“Mindfulness is about being fully aware of your experiences as they are happening in the present moment. You are aware of your thoughts, emotions, and your body sensations.” Charles A. Francis

Webster’s definition of mindfulness is “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.”

Mindfulness is a secular form of meditation that has its roots in the teachings of Buddha over 2,500 years ago. The main goal of the practice was to attain freedom from suffering. This is accomplished by developing self-awareness, or mindfulness, because it was your inaccurate views of the world that trigger your negative emotions and harmful actions.

With mindfulness, you can develop an awareness of the true nature of reality. By observing what is happening within your mind, body, and the world around you, you’ll begin to lift the veil of illusion that creates the suffering in your life, states Charles A. Francis, co-founder and director of the Mindfulness Meditation Institute.

4 Simple Mindfulness Practices

Mindfulness is a powerful practice that can help you avoid a lot of unnecessary anxiety and negative thoughts, writes Francis. It will enable you to cope with life’s many challenges and help you find peace and joy. Here are some of the simple tools you can use, according to Francis.

Mindful breathing. At the heart of the mindfulness practice is mindful breathing. Paying close attention to your breath will help you calm your thoughts and emotions. It will keep you from becoming overwhelmed. All you have to do is occasionally stop what you’re doing, and just observe your breath for a few moments. You can count 5-10 breaths, and then return to what you were doing. That’s it.

Mindful walking. This is another simple practice. Unless you have mobility issues, we all do some walking throughout our day. When walking from one place to another, pay close attention to your footsteps, just like you do with your breath in mindful breathing. If the weather is nice, you can go for a mindful walk. Try keeping yourself in the moment by observing your surroundings. Notice the different sights and sounds of nature. Focus on smelling the fresh air and observing all the critters, both large and small.

Your mind affects your body, and your body affects your mind, perhaps more than you realize.

Sitting meditation. Many people have the misconception that meditation is difficulty, and that they need to clear their mind before they can start meditating. That’s not so. Sitting meditation is actually quite simple. All you have to do is sit quietly for a few minutes, and follow your breath as best as you can. When your mind wanders off, and it will, just keep bring it back to your breathing.

If you’re new to meditation, try it for just 5-10 minutes each session. Then increase the duration as you’re able. Remember, you don’t have to do it perfectly. The ideas is to give your mind a break from the constant stimulation, and simply allow it to calm down naturally. And it will.

Writing meditation. This is a practice helps you overcome stubborn habits that are preventing you from being at peace. What you do is take the scripted meditation, which is a set of affirmations, and copy it by hand over and over. This will imprint the affirmations in your subconscious mind, and they will manifest themselves in your life without any conscious effort. And it only takes about 5 minutes a day.

An article in Fast Company, called How the Pope Does Mindfulness, revealed how company executive Drake Baer practices mindfulness. He practices daily “mindfulness” by:

  • First, remind yourself why you are grateful as a human being.
  • Second, lift your horizon for a moment. Call to mind some crucial personal objective, or your deepest sense of purpose, or the values you stand for.
  • Third, mentally review the last few hours and extract some insight that might help in the next few hours. If you were agitated, what was going on inside you? If you were distracted and unproductive, why?

You can use this executive’s short method and practice mindfulness several times a day. It is beneficial to focus on the present.

References:

  1. https://time.com/4184938/mindfulness/
  2. https://www.catholiccompany.com/magazine/turn-mindfulness-into-god-full-ness-5908
  3. https://mindfulnessmeditationinstitute.org/the-mindfulness-meditation-practice/what-is-mindfulness-meditation/
  4. https://mindfulnessmeditationinstitute.org/2022/07/14/7-powerful-mindfulness-tips-for-better-coping-with-grief/

Thoughts

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Negative thoughts can make you feel sad and anxious. They take the joy out of life-and they can take a toll on your physical health. That’s why it’s so important to learn how to deal with them.

One way to deal with negative thoughts is to replace them with thoughts that make you feel better. Positive thoughts can make you feel better and more hopeful. And it helps your body too.

Do you have any negative thoughts right now?

Take a minute, listen to your thoughts, and see if you do. If you’re focusing on negative thoughts, remember: You are in charge of what you tell yourself. And, it’s up to you to come up with something more encouraging.

Because of the mind-body connection, your thoughts really can affect your health. By telling yourself more encouraging things, you’re telling your brain to produce chemicals that can:

  • Lower your blood pressure.
  • Reduce your risk for heart disease.
  • Make your immune system stronger so you can resist infection and disease.
  • Lower your stress level and make you feel less anxious.
  • Help you avoid stomach problems, insomnia, and back pain.
  • Make you feel happier and more optimistic about the future.

Sometimes negative thoughts are connected to the way you live from day to day. Here are some things you can try right now to help you see the brighter side of life:

  • Be “mindful” and focus on what you are feeling right now. If you’re sad, feel the sadness. But don’t tell yourself that you have always felt this way and are doomed to feel sad forever. Sadness passes. A negative thought can linger… until you let it go.
  • Share your feelings with someone close to you. Everyone has negative thoughts from time to time. Talking about it with someone else helps you keep those thoughts in perspective.
  • Do something nice for yourself. Maybe you could work less today and play with your kids more. Or you could find something that makes you laugh.
  • Take time to count your blessings. There are so many things for each of us to be thankful for.
  • Eat well. Sleep well. Be active. The nicer you are to your body, the easier it is to feel more positive about yourself.
  • Make social connections. Reach out and enjoy some time with family and friends.

References:

  1. https://myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/Pages/conditions.aspx

Stop focusing on how stressed you are and remember how blessed you are.

The Wisdom of Steve Jobs

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“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” ~ Steve Jobs

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” ~ Steve Jobs

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” ~ Steve Jobs

Finally…

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” ~ Steve Jobs

“When you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it… Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.” ~ Steve Jobs

References:

  1. https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/steve-jobs-quotes

Feeling Good and Well-Being

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Feeling good means that your body and mind are working at their peak level, and you have a general sense of well-being.

To feel good day after day, according to David Rakel, MD, director of the integrative medicine program at the University of Wisconsin, means that your body and mind are working at their peak level, and you have a general sense of physical, mental and emotional well-being. Dr. Rakel suggests:

Practicing Mindfulness: Stay focused on the present moment.

When you stop, look around and be mindful of the present moment, this life is pretty amazing.

“If we can learn to recognize the clutter that our mind is in and learn to be more mindful of the present moment, that can be a tremendous asset to our overall sense of well-being,” Rakel says. The “clutter” that can make you feel bad includes regret about the past and worry that bad things might happen to you.

A practice called mindfulness can help you reduce the clutter by keeping your focus on the present moment.

Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

To be more mindful, try to:

  • Take in the colors, sounds, and smells that surround you at any given time.
  • Pay attention to your breath moving in and out of your body for a few moments.
  • Let worrisome thoughts flow out of your mind when they pop up, rather than giving them attention and dwelling on them.

Whenever you bring awareness to what you’re directly experiencing via your senses, or to your state of mind via your thoughts and emotions, you’re being mindful. And there’s growing research showing that when you train your brain to be mindful, you’re actually remodeling the physical structure of your brain.

Essentially, mindfulness lights up parts of our brains that aren’t normally activated when we’re mindlessly running on autopilot.

“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally,” says Jon Kabat-Zinn, creator of the research-backed stress-reduction program Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

Practice staying positive.

The definition of being positive is having hope and confidence in one’s ability to handle what’s tough, along with remembering that nothing is all negative all the time, states Angela L., editor for A-Lifestyle.com.

Shifting perspective can help you live a happier, more fulfilling life.

Being positive starts with changing your perspective on how you see things. The same event can happen to two people, and one views it as a positive and one views it as a negative. So try to see the good side of the things and people around you; it can help you stay free of anxiety and depression, Rakel says.

Research says that we have powerful capabilities to choose positive ways and emotions of thinking. Our emotions change our body at the cellular level. Rather than trying to get rid of negative feelings, we can choose to respond to them differently. To live a happier life, it’s essential to learn how to highlight the positive thinking and improve your outlook on life.

If you believe something is negative, then it probably will be (and vice versa). Challenge that negativity by embracing the mindset of a fixer and a doer. If there’s a will, there’s a way! That’s truly how to stay positive.

You can’t control what happens to you, but one things you can control are your perspective and how you respond. It’s up to you to look for the right side in everything and react most positively.

Make a spiritual .

As long as your happiness depends on things that are impermanent, such as new luxury vehicles or new homes, you will always be disappointed and unhappy over the long-term.

If you want to achieve long-lasting peace and serenity, then your spiritual practice must become a way of life.

Rakel defines this spiritual practice as spending time on “that which gives your life meaning and purpose.”This could be your spiritual beliefs, enjoying nature, or sharing moments with loved ones. “If we get up in the morning excited about something that gives us meaning and self-purpose, our bodies do all they can to heal,” Rakel says.

In short, your happiness must depend on something that is constant and consistent. One thing in your lives that is constant is the present moment, and this is at the core of spiritual practice.

Be around people.

Having good interpersonal relationships and a good support network of family, friends, coworkers, and other people who care about you can help you stay healthier, feel less stressed, and even live a longer life. Spend time with these people regularly, and work to keep your relationships with them strong.

References:

  1. https://www.webmd.com/balance/features/more-energy
  2. https://www.mindful.org/meditation/mindfulness-getting-started/
  3. https://thriveglobal.com/stories/12-simple-ways-to-stay-positive-and-happy/