The beginning of a new semester brings about a variety of different emotions. For many students, there are feelings of excitement, joy, and enthusiasm. Others may be experiencing feelings of fear, nervousness and doubt. As we all step into the Fall 2020 semester, many of us are also experiencing heightened levels of uncertainty and anxiety as we navigate the COVID-19 global pandemic.
For many of us, faculty and staff included, we have had to shift our plans and adjust our expectations for the Fall 2020 semester. With everything happening in the world that may seem out of our control, it can be difficult to focus our energy and intention on the things that we can control.
If you are experiencing any of these challenges right now, you might consider implementing some of these mindfulness practices into your day.
Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique. When we practice mindfulness, we are practicing the art of creating space for ourselves – space to think, space to breathe, space between ourselves and our reactions.
Check out these 3 simple strategies below for implementing mindfulness into your daily life:
Meditation
In mindful meditation, we are learning how to pay attention to the breath as it goes in and out, and notice when the mind wanders from this task. This practice of returning to the breath builds the muscles of attention and mindfulness. Meditation can be 5 min a day or it can be multiple hours in a day. Try to release the pressure to meditate a certain way and simply work on implementing a daily practice that could work best with your schedule.
Check out these meditation apps to help you deepen your practice:
- Headspace – Headspace has been branded as “your gym membership for the mind” and believe that your mind is a muscle that deserves just as much attention as your biceps. The app also offers sleep music and soundscapes to help you get sleep.
- Liberate – Liberate is the #1 meditation app for the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community. The meditations are led by BIPOC practitioners who have diverse backgrounds and approaches to support healing focused on common cultural experiences such as microaggressions.
- Insight Timer – A multifaceted gateway to more than 30,000 guided sessions that tap into every emotion rattling your nerves, it also offers relaxing music tracks, and therapeutic pep talks.
Journaling
Journaling is a great opportunity to engage in self-exploration and expression, helping one to live in the present, to become deeply aware and appreciative of life. Journaling can take place at any time of the day; however much research has suggested journaling right when you wake up or right before you go to bed. Here are few journal prompts to consider:
- What current emotions or feelings are you experiencing right now? How are those emotions or feelings resonating in your body?
- What are 3 things you are currently grateful for?
- Write down 5 things you admire about yourself.
Grounding
Grounding, also called earthing, is a therapeutic technique that involves doing activities that “ground” or electrically reconnect you to the earth. Being grounded can mean two things; being fully present in your body and/or feeling connected to the earth.
A few ways you can get grounded include:
- Walking barefoot
- Lying on the ground
- Submersing in water
- Gardening
However you choose to connect your body to the earth, make sure that it is skin to earth contact. Some benefits of grounding include reducing stress levels, facilitating better sleep, improving circulation and improving mental health.
Taking care of ourselves is instrumental to our overall well-being. We hope this list provided you with some new ways to incorporate mindfulness into your everyday life.
Ivory Levert
Buckeye Peer Access Line (PAL), Program Manager