I am a believer in the mind-body connection. Your body responds to the way you think, act and feel. If you continuously expose your mind to negativity, then I believe your body has to cope with the negative energy in some way. When I say expose your mind to negativity, the sources can come from many places: social media, family, friends, relationships, work, news. Granted, there are times when we cannot completely remove ourselves from negativity; we don’t, after all, live in a vacuum. But to the extent we CAN distance ourselves, then we should and, frankly, we must. I limit the amount of time I’m on social media and how much news I watch. If people are toxic, I remove myself from them; this can be unfriending on social media, or not engaging in conversations at work or family settings. If things upset you to the point they are distracting from your life in an unsettling way, then remove it. YOU are in control. You must protect your energy. Your body responds to what your mind is processing. If you are upset, sad, angry, depressed, stressed, anxious, how do you think your body is going to respond? Inflammation, high blood pressure, anxiety attacks, restless sleep. All of these conditions are not good, not short term and certainly not long term. Life is too short for any of us to allow outside forces to infringe on our inner peace.
One of the tools in my arsenal against negativity and to continue to train my mind to stay in a positive mindset are apps that are geared towards guiding a person to a restful sleep. And more importantly, keeping you asleep. I currently subscribe to three of these meditation/sleep apps: Calm, Slumber and Deep Sleep. They are all similar in that they offer different modules that focus on relaxation. There are sleep “stories” and a variety of ambient sounds to choose from. The narrator usually starts out with deep breathing exercises and through a series of visualization techniques, guides you to a progressively relaxed state of mind that is a type of self-hypnosis. In no time at all, you are fast asleep. You can set reminders that encourage you to get ready for bed, or take a break in the middle of the day to listen to a mindfulness message.
As an example, in the Slumber app, my favorite is “300 Deep Sleep Affirmations”. The narrator’s voice (which I find extremely soothing and relaxing) switches from relaxation techniques to statements of positive reinforcement (e.g. “I am being present in this moment”, “I am observing my mind and body winding down”, “I am releasing worries and tension as I feel my muscles loosen”, “I am beautiful inside and out”, “I am releasing and letting go of negative past thinking”, “I am in control of myself, I can control how I feel”). This particular choice plays over an hour and I have yet to stay away past 15 minutes! But I know that the mind is listening to the positive statements even though your body is sleeping. I also change it up by listening to relaxing sounds (I personally enjoy the Warm Jacuzzi and Starship Sleeping Quarters).
There are offerings for the day as well. The Calm app is something that I use every day at work. There is a feature called “Daily Calm” and every day the narrator engages you in a 10 minute session on dealing with tension and staying “mindful”.
These apps are sleep (and life!) changers! When I wake up, I feel more rested and refreshed. I don’t have the negative mindset I did upon rising. I feel as if my body is saying *thank you* every morning for helping me feel so refreshed and recharged! There are subscription costs, which some may not appreciate, but for the cost of a cup of coffee a day, I would say keeping your mind and body happy is worth it! XO, Char
