Meditation
Meditation is, in theory, one of the easiest actions we could hope to do... yet is somehow possibly one of the hardest weapons of wellness to practice. Largely because our minds are constantly racing, and unfortunately not always in directions that's helpful to our lives.
Its' benefits are well known including reduced blood pressure, reduced stress, depression, anxiety, pain, smoking cessation and generally help with reducing symptoms of stress.
And it doesn't take hours a day, literally 5 minutes a day can be enough to experience much of its benefits.
There's just one problem, our brains are often racing to such a degree that trying to attempt any sort of full stop meditation can be more painful than relaxing. Thats the reason why one of the worst punishments you can beset on kids are to make them sit alone in a chair. Our minds haven't necessarily matured since childhood in this way and will need some work as below.
As a quick recap, as on our page on the power of the breath:
...your brains job is to warn you of things contrary to your survival. It’s your job to only pay attention to what you agree are risks. Ideally, instead of dwelling on that which you fear or regret, you’d hopefully focus on ways of gaining more insight and coming up with a peaceful battle plan on how to best prevent or overcome it. Cognitive behavioral therapy is amazing for that. So imagine your brain is like a stereo that’s hard wired to continually raise in volume. The problem is that sometime that volume can become so loud we can no longer think straight, lash out or completely wreck something we cared for. How do we turn down the volume?...