For the 19th consecutive year, April is designated as National Stress Awareness Month . During this month, health care professionals and the medical community spend extra time talking with their patients about stress and offering classes in stress reduction.
To get things started off, I’d like to address the stress-reducing technique of meditation. We live in such a fast-paced world, with freeways, carpool lanes, fast food drive throughs, instant messaging, constant access to the internet, and microwaves. We seem to seek out any technology or device to allow us to get our information as fast as possible. And yet, how many of us feel like we don’t have enough time to get everything done we need to in a day? Perhaps we are actually moving too fast to be truly productive?
Yogis and meditation experts will tell you that meditation helps your overall view of life and health in several ways. First, mediation can help you learn to control your thoughts and turn negative thoughts into positive thoughts through visualizing the good in various situations.
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Second, mediation can help you control your mind chatter, which is the constant replay of events or situations in your head. Mind chatter can disrupt our sleep and keep us reliving painful or hurtful situations. Through meditation, we can quiet the mind chatter and get back peace.
Third, mediation can connect or reconnect us with our . Remember, spirituality doesn’t necessarily mean religion, although it can. Spirituality is defined as a personal process in which individuals seek to develop their moral philosophies and find purpose in their lives. Mediation allows us the opportunity to connect with our personal moral compass and gives us the chance to visualize where we want to go with our life.
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To learn how to meditate, you can go to your local library and check out books on meditation or order books and videos. There are also several websites with helpful tips for meditation. You can also use soothing music to enhance your meditation exercises.
How ever you chose to meditate, just stop and take a few minutes to get your mind, body and spirit in sync so you can have a balanced and less stressful view of the world.
