stress

Day 174: Gratitude 14

~ joypetite ~ Leave a comment

Gratitude of the Day: Exercise!

Yesterday, I wrote about the knot in my stomach of anxiety and stress. Not good. I haven’t found much to combat it yet except maybe less work (Ha!). Meditation made me aware of it, but I discovered today that exercise can keep it at bay (predictably). I went to ballet class yesterday (yay!) and yoga today(double yay!) and while I could still sense the bubble of stress, I was focused on something else, so it felt diminished. Another reason for me to go to ballet and yoga. Not only do I feel great after I go, but now it’s also helping dissipate my stress knot.

Until tomorrow.

191 days to go.

Day 173: Gratitude 13

~ joypetite ~ Leave a comment

Gratitude of the day: Meditation

As part of my New Year’s Resolutions, I started meditating every day…or mostly every day. I started using the app Headspace and have been going through the basics or the minis (if I’m crunched for time). I really like the guided meditations as my mind wanders off and I often forget to bring it back to meditating. It’s only been a short time, but I’ve also found the body scan to be very helpful. I guess I never noticed before, but I hold a ball of anxiety and stress right above my stomach and I’m just naturally stressed and clenching my muscles all the time (work).

I don’t like having this feeling all the time, but I do know that now is the time to do something about it before it grows or gets worse. I exercised on Thursday and I’m trying to do a few deep breaths every time I notice it’s there. It’s a work in progress.

Until tomorrow.

192 days to go.