7 Days of Wellness
Day 1: Live Mindful
Hey! Welcome to the 7 Days of Wellness. These are a series of posts designed to be quick and easy wellness exercises to help you while studying for finals. This ranges from tips to help you manage your time or improve your relationships, or getting much more sleep at night.
I hope these exercises will give you a good intro to prioritizing personal wellness. In the middle of classes, social life, and jobs, it can be easy to forget about caring for ourselves. Prioritizing ourselves should always be our number one priority.
Today, I want to give you guys a quick intro to mindfulness.
Most people know what mindfulness and meditation are, but dismiss them as not for them. You’ve probably thought of meditation as sitting crisscrossed, holding your hands in circles, and saying “Om”.
Om. Om.
You can probably picture the old guy in your head saying that.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But it can cause hesitation. For me, I wanted to reduce the stress in my life. Stigmas about meditation made me unsure if I was a good fit.
It took some digging to realize it’s actually quite simple.
Our minds run at 1000 miles per hour. Brains feel less like brains and more like traffic jams. Every thought wants to merge into the same lane. It can be tough to shut them off.
Meditation is less about “soul searching” and more about being aware of how you feel. There will be stress, and there will be uncertainty. The better we’re able to recognize those feelings, the more we can control them.
It’s also about training in awareness and getting a healthy sense of perspective. You don’t want to turn off your thoughts or feelings. You’re learning to observe them without judgment.
Don’t be so hard on yourself
Before we dive into meditation, congrats on almost finishing the semester. Give yourself some credit.
Remember, everyone’s first draft sucks. No one understands that concept right away. I got rejected 15 times before I got my first internship. I almost failed out of college my first semester. Sometimes life deals you a bad hand, and we have to make do with what we have.
But it’s all about how we get back up.
There will be days where there’s no motivation to study, or no desire to write. Our body screams at us to stay in bed and sleep. Maybe the problems will go away then.
Getting back up makes us that much more equipped for the next time. The next time we face trouble, or confusion, or pain. We survive, we learn, we persevere and endure. Always keep going.
And before anything, always be your number one fan.
All it takes is 16 seconds
Here is something for those “in-between” moments in life — the 15-minute breaks between classes, or the quick walks to the restroom while studying. It’s called the “16 second meditation”.
First, take a step back from the traffic jam and watch the thoughts drive by. Don’t be as concerned with where they’re headed, but watch them for what they are. When you’re ready:
- Take a deep breath in for 4 seconds.
- Hold the breath for 4 seconds. Your stomach should be expanded and you should feel it there.
- Breathe out for 4 seconds.
- Hold it out for 4 seconds. Watch as it leaves.
That’s it. 16 seconds. Keep this in your pocket for confronting stress and confusion.
Meditation breaks
There’s a ton of meditation apps out there — it’s tough finding the right one or which exercise to start with. Headspace is great, but I’d recommend starting with this and this if you’ve never tried meditating before.
Take short 5 minute breaks between studying and do these to keep you stress-free and focused.
Thanks for reading! That’s it for Day 1. Meditation is that simple — taking a step back for a bit to understand how you’re feeling and what you’re doing.
Sunday, I’ll give you guys some time management tips to be more productive and get some shut-eye. In the future, the exercises will likely be sent each evening, to use for the next day.
Take 5 minutes right now to live a bit more mindfully. If you all have questions, email me at dxautry@gmail.com.
See you all for Day 2 Friday!
~keep rockin~
