Has it been hard for you to be upbeat lately? It seems that many of my friends and family members are struggling to stay positive. I, too, have found it difficult to be hopeful. The whirlwind of constant news is very hard to escape, and I have ongoing health problems that are plaguing me. Nothing too serious individually, just a whole lot of chronic things that make life harder.
I think we’re all in for a long-haul anxiety experience worldwide, and I’ve come up with some tricks to battle bad vibes and sad feelings. (Can you imagine how many stratagems and hacks Cinderella had to come up with just to get through any given day? The cooking, the cleaning, the bowing, the scraping—she must have had constant turmoil.)
My favorite trick is one I started in mid-2016, when it dawned on me that life in the US was about to be unpredictable, so I started meditating. I’ve done so every single day since then, except the day my grandson Ben was born. Here’s my advice to every single person out there who is feeling overwhelmed: Do something meditative every day.
Meditative activities include knitting, crocheting, hand sewing, chopping vegetables, walking or running while focusing on your body, kneading bread dough, staring at a lit candle, and doing yoga. Just 10 minutes a day of any of these activities will clear your mind.
Next, if you are consuming more than 60 minutes of news a day, please stop—unless you are one of those magically protected, chill people who isn’t filled with anxiety when awash in current events. You will not be a bad citizen if you don’t know every single thing that happens the moment it happens.
Just. Stop. Consuming. So. Much. News.
Here’s my nicest trick: Every morning before I get out of bed, I think of three things to look forward to during the day. Mine usually include things like a great book I plan to read that day, some tasty treats I can enjoy, and an episode of great TV I’m looking forward to. Really simple stuff. When I’m very down and can’t think of a single thing special about the day before me, I think of three things that are good in my life in general, like how lucky we are not to have a mortgage or how happy my husband I are to watch TV with the dog at night or how much I love our grandchildren. Simple stuff, but it’s a powerful exercise.
If you are overwhelmed these days (and who isn’t?) I hope you’ll find some enchanted rest in my suggestions.
Kate Wolford was the publisher and editor of The Fairy Tale Magazine for many years. She’s now enjoying being Resident Fairy Godmother.
Image from Pixabay
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