Some habits or gestures at home have the power to reassure us quickly. Putting them into practice at certain times makes the best of oneself emerge.
Turning our mind and home into havens of calms not something we can aspire to achieve overnight. However, gradually implementing a series of habits such as those suggested below can make it easier for us to maintain serenity despite the rush and uncertainty and achieve peace of mind.
9 HABITS THAT GIVE YOU PEACE OF MIND AT HOME
How to achieve peace of mind at home? In a noisy or disorderly environment, it is difficult to achieve the necessary peace to feel relaxed, think clearly and put emotions in order. Some measures help to create a space conducive to calm.
Any home can benefit from having a corner where you can turn around situations dominated by negative emotions. As soon as they overflow, you go to this place to perform a soothing ritual. For example, you close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, light a candle, calmly review your feelings and decide to face the situation with serenity. Humanize your environment.
In the same way, we cannot control what is beyond us and that is a source of stress: the rhythm of life, the pressures of work, generalized uncertainty, the socioeconomic or health situation … But if we want to maintain serenity in the midst of all this hustle and bustle, we can work in our immediate environment.
Apart from the general advice, each person knows what a few minutes of peace bring in the middle of a busy day. Reading, walking, listening to music, playing with children, writing, painting, singing, a hot bath… The possibilities are endless. In this article we give your ideas that can help you, whatever your hobbies and interests.
1. TIGHTEN AND RELEASE MUSCLES
In stressful situations the body increases the production of adrenaline and noradrenaline. These hormones cause the heart and respiratory rhythms to accelerate, as well as the feeling of alertness. It is a physiological response that prepares for a physical solution to the situation: fight or flight.
But in the civilized world there is nowhere to escape, nor does it seem ethical to fight. So, when stress is caused by self-demand, there are only two alternatives: relax or unleash the accumulated energy.
One way to manage situations of acute stress is to become aware of the areas of the body where tension accumulates. They are usually the jaw, nape of the neck, facial muscles, chest, back and legs. Once a tension is discovered, you have to contract the affected muscles even more for a few seconds and then relax them to feel their relaxation.
This can be done at any time, for example, while waiting at a traffic light or in line at the market. After repeating a couple of times, the contraction and relaxation of the muscles will increase tranquility.
The other method of eliminating tension is to direct it against an external object, for example by punching a cushion. But peaceful and intense physical exercise is preferable.
2. TAKE OFF OUR SHOES
Taking off your shoes to walk or rest barefoot whenever you have the opportunity (at home, in the field, on the beach) represents a liberation. The shoe somehow symbolizes the corset of social life, the importance of appearance, the armor that is needed to stomp on, and its sole harbors endless pollutants. It is convenient to rest from all that.
The naked, vulnerable foot aspires to be nothing but itself.
3. TRY TO LISTEN TO SILENCE
The German Dominican Master Eckhart wrote, “There is nothing in creation so God-like as silence.” Every day you should set aside a few moments to experience it.
We can lie down, close our eyes and try to listen to even the slightest noise that occurs around. Then we will hear the silence between the slightest sounds. Afterwards, you can bring attention to the inner silence and enjoy it.
4. MOVE SLOWLY
“Dress me slowly because I’m in a hurry” is a maxim of popular wisdom of universal scope. The chain of events is obvious: stress leads to acceleration and acceleration to errors and inefficiency.
In addition, the speed of thought and behavior – the result of the activation of the sympathetic nervous system – allows many fronts to be opened, but none to be addressed in depth. It’s like trying to put on your shoes, jacket and hat at the same time, which can lead to a comic scene, seen from the outside, and tragic if you are the protagonist.
It is advisable to put on the handbrake, that is, to start the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for relaxation.
It can be done by doing everything more slowly during the day, which means putting more attention and precision, and less anxiety, whether at work or at the time of picking up the table and washing dishes after dinner. It is convenient to get used to cooking and eating slowly. To speak slowly, to listen to the reasons of others before exposing their own and not to get upset by a red light.
But above all it implies dedicating more time to the essential, not letting oneself be dragged by the banal. For example, we can spend time reading emails, surfing the internet or watching a TV show, or we can have tea or take a walk with a friend. The question is: what provides more satisfaction and peace?
A curious phenomenon occurs: by going slower, time dilates and gives more of itself. This is because the experience of the moment becomes more conscious, the perception, clearer, and with it increases the ability to concentrate. This ends up gaining time, since thanks to the new inner tranquility thought and action are harmonized. They become clearer and more structured, so that things are resolved more effectively.
Perhaps there is no better advice than to recover the slowness, because it allows you to rediscover yourself – at a certain speed, the shadow seems that it cannot follow the body – which produces a great feeling of serenity.
5. MEDITATE IN FRONT OF A MANDALA
Hang a mandala on the wall at eye level when you’re sitting. The shapes and colors of mandalas bring order and balance to the mind.
Breathing slowly and deeply, he gazes along the edge of the circle and lets it go progressively towards the center, following an imaginary spiral. The gaze should fly over the image, without stopping to analyze symbols or colors.
6. PUT THE MOBILE IN AIRPLANE MODE FOR AN HOUR
Looking around you can see that mobile phones, consoles, tablets and other gadgets catch the attention of many people when they manage to separate from the computer. The success of these devices lies in an interactivity that is stimulating, even addictive.
It’s worth stopping to think about whether we shouldn’t devote all that time, or at least some of that time, to other, more human things, or just doing nothing. Put your phone in airplane mode for an hour and you will be surprised.
7. ADD ESSENTIAL OILS TO THE VAPORIZER
The aromas reach deep areas of the brain, the least rational, and promote well-being.
It is advisable to have a small oil kit on hand to add a few drops in the vaporizer when necessary.
- Bergamot calms anger and relieves anxiety.
- Geranium relaxes and enlivens.
- Basil centers the mind.
- Black pepper increases the available energy.
8. SPEAK POSITIVELY
People with stress often suffer from the snowball effect: anxiety grows as you descend the hillside. As this “ball” is above all an inner reality, there is a possibility to stop it. It consists of taking distance, stopping time and abandoning the character in front.
This is done by becoming aware of one’s own thoughts, observing them as coldly as if they belonged to someone else. In the inner dialogue there are probably phrases like: “I’m not going to make it”, “How am I going to do this?” or “It’s going to go wrong and I’ll be finished”. They are negative ideas that appear in relation to work or family situations.
After observing, the first step is to automatically change every reproach for a loving word, every pessimistic reflection for one fueled by hope. Ideas such as “Stay calm”, “Do one thing after the other”, “I have already come out of similar situations” or “I must take it as a challenge” serve to dispel anxiety and strengthen you.
At first it may seem that taming thought is a titanic task, but you have to be patient because it works. Its effect must be complemented by the rest of the initiatives in favor of calm.
9. SAY “NO.”
Between the “yes” and the “no” there must be a balance. Accessing all the requests and favors they ask us for makes us look very good, but it takes time and adds responsibilities. It can also make us feel bad if it is about requests that we do not want to attend.
An effort must be made to perceive only what really motivates us and politely reject what is a burden on us.
