3 Steps to Well-Being to Curb Stress and Anxiety

Mar 28, 2022WELL-BEING

Achieving well-being is a journey unique to each individual. The most important steps to well-being involve taking care of both your physical and mental health. Finding balance in your life is also important to feel content and fulfilled.

Eating a healthy diet, exercising, and getting enough sleep are obvious steps to well-being. Taking care of your physical health helps improve your mood and energy levels, and can also prevent chronic illness and disease.

Practicing self care means taking time to do things that you enjoy, things that help you relax and unwind. This could be anything from taking an Epsom salt bath to reading a book — or both. By taking time for yourself, you can help reduce stress and improve your overall well-being.

Social connections are also important for your well-being. Spending time with friends and family while engaging in fun activities can help improve your mood and reduce feelings of loneliness.

There are additional steps to well-being that are necessary to get in front of potential stressors. These steps are super important, but often overlooked.

First Step to Well-Being — Limit the news.

Our psyche isn’t designed for 24/7 cable news. The news we consume in the U.S. is often divisive. This manipulates our brains and emotions towards despair, hopelessness and anger. Limiting our news exposure to no more than thirty minutes per day can help improve our well-being.

Second Step to Well-Being — Limit Social Media.

Scientific studies have proven social media turns-off our critical thinking skills. Psychologists recommend consuming less than thirty minutes of social media per day. A better use of time is reading a book.

Third Step to Well-Being — Absorb melatonin.

As we age, we lose the sleep hormone, melatonin. You’ve heard of melatonin pills, but have you heard of melatonin via sunlight? Our bodies have the ability to create melatonin. All we have to do is look towards the sun for three minutes with our eyes closed. The sunlight releases neurotransmitters that activate our pineal gland. This balances our brain’s chemistry.

“Let it go. Change the channel. Turn it off. Unsubscribe. Unfriend. Unfollow. Mute. Block. Walk away. Breathe.”  —The Minimalists

There are times when my mind gets extra noisy. It can be challenging to quiet my thoughts. The Psychology of Meditation by Naval Ravikant helps slow my mental pendulum and bring me back to center. That’s why I have this post bookmarked.

“Mediation is your natural state. It requires no one, needs no thing, and has no technique. If something requires a guru, a mantra or a teaching, it isn’t universal and it won’t free you.

We say we want peace of mind, but what we want is peace from mind. No technique of the mind will free you from the mind. All chases are attempts to escape from the mind. Meditation is the direct path in an age of mental gluttony. It is fasting for the mind.

Before paying a therapist to listen to you, listen to yourself. Before clearing your inbox, clear your mind. The sky rains when clouds are heavy. The body sleeps when the limbs tire. And meditation arrives when the mind is calm.

Prepare for meditation by sitting with eyes closed and back upright. Sixty minutes are easier than thirty, as it takes time for the mind to settle down. Sixty consecutive days are necessary as it takes time for the body to go from unfit to fit.

Realize at this moment, you are the only person in the world and there is no one to instruct you, praise you, or judge you. Make no effort for or against anything. Whatever happens, happens. Surrender to yourself in the moment. Resist nothing and reject nothing—including the urge to resist and reject. Meditation is not going through thoughts, but rather letting thoughts go through you. The thought “I am meditating” is also a thought.

Meditation isn’t holy or spiritual or magical. It’s nothing. It requires no mantra, no chakras, no Buddhas, no music, no gadgets, and no apps.

There are many meditation methods, but “no effort” is the universal method. Every creature at all times can choose to do nothing. There’s no need to get up to record a thought. If the idea was good, it’ll come back. If it doesn’t come back, it wasn’t that good.

Meditation is a single player game. There is no point in comparing to other meditators or to even your own previous meditations. If meditation was easy, you’d do nothing else. The point of meditation is not to become “a meditator”—in reality, there’s no such thing. If it doesn’t bring lasting and effortless change, drop it before it becomes another struggle.

There is nothing to say and nothing to offer. No one is taking you anywhere, selling you anything, or making you promises. Reading or talking about meditation will do nothing for you. You cannot fail at meditation. Meditation is good for nothing. That’s why you do it.

The closer you get to the truth, the more silent you become inside. The ability to be content and at peace, by yourself, is freedom.”

Meditation enhances your brain’s neuroplasticity. The more you practice and work out brain circuits through active relaxation like meditation, the better your brain will operate.

Well-being is a state of being happy, healthy and comfortable. It is a holistic concept that encompasses not only physical health, but also mental and emotional well-being. In today’s fast-paced world, it can be easy to lose sight of the steps to well-being and prioritize work. Make it a priority to take care of your well-being to lead a fulfilling and satisfying life.

As always, thank you for being here and sharing the articles you appreciate most. Be sure to subscribe to future posts below. And if you have questions or suggestions, leave a comment or drop a note. My mind and inbox are always open.

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