Skip to main content

10 Things I Do To Escape Negativity

You can’t live a positive life with a negative mind. Today, I wasn’t feeling my best. Despite having good boundaries in place, the negative thoughts can still creep in. When this happens I have a list of go-to self-care activities and I thought I would share these with you. Meditation I always thought meditation was sitting crossed-legged on the floor and clearing your mind completely, which, quite frankly, feels impossible for me. I gave up trying to meditate for ages until it was explained to me that is not the case. The actual definition of meditation, according to Merriam-Webster, is: 1: to engage in contemplation or reflection. 2: to engage in mental exercise (such as concentration on one’s breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness Each morning, I make myself a cup of tea, set a timer for 10 minutes and sit in silence, letting my brain do what it wants to, which is usually worry, roll off my list of things I need to do and a few other odd random thoughts. I have noticed that if I skip doing this for a few days, my brain slowly fills up, the thoughts having not been given their morning freedom and the overwhelm kicks in. I have also found that if something I perceive as negative happens throughout the day, stopping to take 10 minutes can help me gain a bit of perspective and even put a positive spin on things. Avoid the news How often do we see positive news appear on the TV or on our phones? Just this morning, I have had 5 phone notifications from a news app and all of them are negative. Both negativity and positivity are like magnets and once you are drawn into one, the more you attract. If I am in a negative mindset, I turn off the TV and any device notifications for the news. Seeing or reading something negative will just feed me more of it. Talking I have a counselling session each week and I feel comfortable enough to let any of my concerns out during that hour, but if I have something that’s bothering me, I talk to the husband, my family or one of my good friends. Sometimes just getting things off your chest can be a massive release. Avoid alcohol Does anyone pour themselves a glass of wine to relax? I was convinced that a glass or two of wine was a cure and alcohol numbed me to the things I didn’t want to think or feel. This could not be further from the truth. Drinking alcohol is quite simply adding fuel to the fire and eventually, you will feel worse than you did in the first place. Gratitude There is always something to be grateful for, even if sometimes it doesn’t seem that way. It could be something as small as having food to eat. Feeling thankful for what we have will us distract from the negative thoughts, in a much healthier way. Getting outside Take yourself outside. In the garden, on the balcony or for a walk around the block. A change of scenery, even for 10 minutes, can help you think things through or put your mind elsewhere. Setting intentions Giving yourself a plan for the day is a good way to refocus the brain. Think about what you can do to make the day easier on you. Get those annoying tasks out of the way first, those you have been putting off, and you will feel so much better after. Make a to-do list, and tick things off as you do them, it’s so satisfying to see all those ticked-off tasks at the end of the day. Scrolling Yes, you read that right. Scroll. If, like me, you pick up your phone and mindlessly scroll through social media before you even realise what you are doing, mute or unfollow anything negative on your feed. Even better, set up a separate social media account and follow only positive pages. There are so many out there and they are full of useful ways to help you feel happier. Music There is nothing like a good song to lift the spirits. Everyone should have their own happy playlist. If you don’t you can borrow mine. Sing along, dance and enjoy. Write Writing down your thoughts and feelings is a good way of making sense of them. Just like talking, it gets the thoughts out of your head, where they would otherwise endlessly swim around. For me, writing is such a huge release. I can get everything out of my brain and down in words, it doesn’t matter what I write, no one ever has to read those words unless I want them to. What are your go-to self-care activities?♥️
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 Things I’ve Seen & Heard This Week Including A Way To Earn As You Spend & An Exciting Crime Series

Being on holiday has given me plenty of time to read, listen and watch things and I write this very post as I lounge around the hotel pool. If you would like to watch fairytale for adults I rewatched Collateral Beauty on the plane. Will Smith plays Howard, a man broken by a personal tragedy. He spends his time writing letters time, death & love, whilst his concerned friends, played by the brilliant Ed Norton & Kate Winslet, try in vain to help him recover. It is a beautiful and moving story, something we all need to see. If you want to listen to the new Luther Vandross I put my name down for karaoke on holiday thinking I might sound ok amongst the usual candidates. Then Sterling got up. This man sounds just like Luther Vandross! We were chatting to him and he has entered several singing contests such as Pop Idol & X Factor but for some unknown reason, he didn't get through! If you want to earn money whilst you spend it Use TopCashback . I use this whenever ...
Post a Comment
Read more

My 3 Reasons For Feeling Grateful This Week

Holiday Clothes I always have problems finding clothes I like, I used to be able to buy any old thing, safe in the knowledge. After too many years of enjoying myself, that privilege has been taken away and now I have to psyche myself up to try on clothes and there are almost always outfit tantrums . I made the mistake of having my first trying-on session in the evening after dinner when I was feeling ill. In the end, I was a sweaty mess, half from fever, half from the heatwave and I hated all of the outfits. I decided to try them again when I was feeling better, so on Thursday morning, I decided to do just that. I ended up keeping half of the things I had ordered, much to the husband's dismay. Yoga This has been on my list of weekly intentions on and off all year and I finally did it on Thursday! I did a beginner session, where I learned the importance of breathing and how to do this as well as some of the basic moves. I've tried beginner yoga a few times and this was b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Wobbling on the wagon

The dentist has a lot to answer for. Not only was it a traumatising situation, it also led me to fall off my health wagon. As you know, I treated myself to a sausage baguette yesterday (maybe I said roll before, lets just call it a "baton") The fun didnt stop there, I had an omelette for lunch, as per the #leanin15 cookbook, then went onto five pieces of fudge, four jaffa cakes and several ritz crackers. This episode of bingeing exhausted me and I fell asleep, whilst watching a B horror movie. I then woke up just before the boyfriend got home, cooked him pork chops with creamy greens (and a secret side of mash potato, whcih I wasnt supposed to have. Sleeping is apparently not cardio)  A while later I have sucumbed to several heaped teaspoons of Nutella, this was not going well.
I felt groggy and sluggish, this must be all the wine I drank the previous night, damn those grapes!!! I am now avoiding wine. 14 hours later, I meet a friend for lunch and ordered a bottle of sav bl...
Post a Comment
Read more