Living through a global pandemic has some of us still coming to terms with how we are actually being affected.
the overwhelming sense of uncertainty has many of us scratching our head and wondering…how can I best adapt to these circumstances?
here we will explore some options that are available to us.
be active participants in the process of life: grow a plant or garden (pick one herb you use the most, [basil, chives, rosemary, thyme, mint] and grow it from seed in a pot with soil); grow seedlings or microgreens; do some earthing, going barefoot in the soil to absorb ions and improve mental health.
embrace color: paint one wall (or the whole room) in your home…go bold with a crazy color! color is known to unconsciously affect mood and arguably different colors tap into different archetypal structures in the unconscious itself. red, for example is typically known globally as depicting passion, fire, anger, intensity…all different shades of the same concept.
smell, yo: scents can uplift mood and spirit and assist with meditation and chanting. shoyeido makes all natural incense, though it can be pricier, it is worth it for the experience and item quality. essential oils also work very well!
succulency: succulency means having one meal that is INSANELY healthy, and telling one’s self, while eating, this is just succulent and nourishing and I LOVE IT !
one can also say a prayer of gratitude before commencing. this is not intended to be religious, but is designed to intentionally open ourselves to the amazing nutrients we are about to absorb!
some examples would be:
avocado toast with sesame seed, hemp seeds, olive oil, black pepper, turmeric, radish, microgreens, lemon, himalayan salt
making a smoothie or smoothie bowl using frozen banana, frozen berries, plant-based milk, and then the healthy add-ins (spirulina, chia seed, maca, ground flax seed, acai etc.), topping with nuts, shaved coconut, raisins etc.
juicing some fruits and/or vegetables
spoon inventory and evaluation:
it might sound strange, but we can see our daily energy spent through 12 spoons. each morning when we awake, we look down into our lap and see 12 spoons, ready to be spent on the day ahead. we may spend 1 spoon on making breakfast, 2 at the gym, 6 at work, 2 on stressing over the upcoming exam at school, and only have 1 spoon left when we return home. it is also worth observing that certain activities and relationships replenish spoons, while others simply take them.
taking a spoon inventory means observing the waking hours of a single day to see where our spoons go and physically writing down how we spent our spoons that day. this allows to decide what we are happy with and what we are unhappy with. for many of us, we may find that we spend too many spoons on social media. heck, we may even forget to include it as part of our 12 spoons because we do it so often and so unconsciously.
mental wellness can be about assessing where we are spending energy and how “wise” of an investment that spending is. do we feel good about it? if we are ashamed, why? what part of me feels ashamed? what other parts of me want to step forward to counter that? who is the part of me that deems it necessary to be on Instagram x hours a day?
as you can see, the possibilities are endless, and unique to each individual.
these are some ways one can consciously dedicate time to living more fully and to living more in the here and now.
living more fully means waking up from our programming. it means choosing to do and be things wholeheartedly rather than being pushed along by the stream of “supposed to” or “should.”
Thanks for reading!
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to the Pyramid Psychotherapy newsletter below:
