Healthful Approaches for Rediscovering Self

August 26, 2020

Our lives and the world around us may sometimes seem overwhelming. When we shift focus toward soothing our essence from within, we are better equipped to face challenges with a fresh mind, spirit, and determination. Laurie Grengs Counseling can guide you along this path of healthful approaches for rediscovering self.

Opportunities

Requests for our time and energy can leave us feeling stressed, anxious, and emotionally exhausted. Fortunately, self-therapeutic opportunities to nourish and revive our zest can be realized through everyday actions including listening to music, meditating, and writing. Practicing any one of these can help you find your calm.

Music

Melody, tempo, and even lyrics are powerful tools that affect our bodies in many ways. Studies continue to reveal stimulating insight on how the brain reacts to music. Using this method of self-care can help to:

• • Improve mood by increasing the body’s dopamine levels. This hormone affects how we feel pleasure
  • Reduce stress and anxiety. Music with a slow tempo can lower blood pressure and decrease cortisol levels
  • Support your memory bank. The release of dopamine promotes ambition, which enhances the ability to learn and remember

Additionally, music stimulates brainwaves in correlation with the beat. A faster tempo can increase attentiveness while a slower beat promotes relaxation.

Meditation

Learning to refocus the mind is a valuable means toward balanced well-being. Meditation can help you better connect with yourself, others, and the outside world.

Self-reflection offers mental and physical health benefits. Finding balance and harmony can be accomplished through several different techniques, including:

• • Breath awareness. Concentrating on methodical inhaling and exhaling removes distractions and uneasiness.
  • Loving-kindness. Learning to give and receive loving kindness toward all people and all things can help nurture an outlook of love.
  • Progressive relaxation. Recognize and learn to release areas of tension throughout your body.
  • Mindfulness. Become aware of the things that surround you and embrace them without judgment.

Journaling

Journaling allows you to get down on paper all the things you are feeling so that you can let them go. Take a few minutes to consider your emotions. When you understand the reason for feeling a certain way, you are better able to assess and resolve the issues that need to be addressed.

When feeling anxious or worried:

• • Appreciate what you have. Make a list of the things for which you are grateful. Then look back at your list with a full heart. Oprah Winfrey said, “I started a gratitude journal, and I will have to say it was the single most important thing I believe I’ve ever done.”
  • Free your mind. Write down everything that is going on in your head and relieve yourself of having to worry about it any longer.
  • Be forgiving. Detail any troubling thoughts in writing and remove yourself from the scenario. Instead, imagine a loved one working through the same situation and show yourself the empathy you would extend to someone else. Be okay with forgiving yourself.

Finding healthful approaches for rediscovering self is vital to maintaining a happy and nurturing existence. To have positive relationships with others, it begins with looking inward with compassion to nurture the process of growing self-love.

Contact Laurie Grengs Counseling to learn more about self-therapeutic opportunities and techniques.