Design Your Life with Beauty--For You, Your home, Your Environment
As someone who experiences chronic pain, PTSD, anxiety and is affected by the worrisome events happening now I have had to put into practice what I learned, and researched for the past two decades, I share it with you here in a five part series.
Today’s busy life constantly comes with packages of stress, anxiety, and apprehension; all of which are not invited to a healthy happy life. To cope, people search for therapies and guidance on how to limit or eradicate these things from daily schedules. However, the answer may be much simpler than that. If anything, it is to calm down and take everything slowly; the definition of Zen.
What is Zen?
Now when some people think of the word Zen, they immediately relate it to a Buddhist somewhere off in the mountains, peacefully sitting in the utter silence of nature, ignoring the goings-on of modern society. It’s certainly something that not everyone is adaptable to. But while it is true that Zen originates from the tranquil practices of Buddhism, it doesn’t mean that you have to be on that level of Zen practices to achieve a peaceful life.
Quite the contrary, the general idea of achieving Zen or peace in life is to simplify and tone down the excitement that goes on every day. This works on both a mental and physical level. It is considerably easier to change your habits on a daily spectrum, but the mental challenges can prove tedious.
Here’s a good starter for understanding the principles of acquiring a Zen life you can apply to your everyday routine. With practice and punctuality, you’ll soon find that adapting Zen habits can fill your life with peace and prosperity and is much easier to maintain than you may have thought previously.
Here are five very basic yet effective Zen habits to adapt to a calmer, more relaxed lifestyle.
Zen Habit #1
Adopt a Centered, Grounded and Positive Perspective
Simplicity is the key to a happy life, but it isn’t that simple to achieve. To start yourself off on the journey to peacefulness, you need to start thinking about your mindset.
Identify and Accept Your Way of Thinking
Everybody has a separate way of viewing the world. Some see it with the eyes of an optimist, others are pessimistic about what lies ahead. And yet others like to think that they are realists, always looking to the facts and statistics to determine whether or not their day will proceed well.
It doesn’t matter what you believe you are, what matters is that you accept this. Acknowledge your ups and downs in the way you think and act. If you fail to see them, then ask somebody about what they believe you are like. You can get some very helpful pointers from a third perspective. Sometimes they may see something blind to your eye.
Nobody can really instruct you to a happy thinking pattern, because everyone is unique in this way. But what you can do to help yourself think positively on a daily basis is surround yourself with practical, beneficial people, places and things.
Realize the Problem
The first step to improving your thinking patterns is by realizing where you become negative. You may not always have a pessimistic opinion on matters. It may only be when you encounter a new or unexpected situation where you suddenly propose the worse possibilities.
Sometimes, a certain place or person that holds significant bad memories or influence can immediately turn on your negative perspective. Once you are able to distinguish what makes you feel upset or causes an uprising of unsettling emotions, you can take the necessary steps to overcome this and relax your conscious state.
Rethink Your options and Solutions
All the time your mind is in constant action, thinking about something. When you find yourself in a situation that you are uneasy in or that stresses you, your mind will jump to the quickest solution it comes up with. Your first resort may not always be the best one.
In a tense situation, your mind might tell you to run away while in a frustrating one, your mind may direct you to resort to verbal abuse to minimize the frustration. But before you do anything, think about the impact it will not only have on you, but on those surrounding you.
Will running away really solve anything? Will shouting angrily really get you the help you need? Or is there a better way to go through with the situation? Perhaps the Zen way! And...you can start by taking a deep conscious breath.
The best thing about adopting a Zen lifestyle is that it’s simple steps can help you find a happier place to be in, and they can be taken every day in the most insignificant places. Without all of the aggression and disturbance, go about your problems nicely, and always remember to let go.
Don’t hold on the pent-up eruptions against trivial matters for they'll only confuse and obstruct your day. Habits need to be built up one stepping stone at a time and they’ll only stick if you take those steps.
Your goal should inevitably be to satisfy yourself and solve all your problems or let them go. Never let any feelings stick to you, positive or negative.
If you let positive feelings stay with you, then you can build up an ego which creates arrogance; a bad trait to have. If you keep negative feelings tucked up inside you, you’ll have outbursts of illogical anger pent up from all the petty matters you never let go. So as soon as a moment passes by, let it pass because there are so many more coming up.
Surround Yourself with Beauty
You pick up many things from your surroundings, more than you tend to realize. If you’re engulfed in a glum, depressing environment, then you’re going to find yourself constantly in a bad mood.
What you can do is reach out to the people who make you happier or find places where you can relax and enjoy the time you have to ourselves. If you do find that you’re building up negative feelings, try to exert them in a way that won’t frustrate you or hurt anyone. Reroute them into better ideas and think about the good rather than the bad. There is always a nicer side to any case.
Keep a note on all of your emotions so that you can better understand which seem to occur more often in the day. If you enjoy your days more and seem to have positive thoughts all the while, then you’re on the way to finding your peaceful mind.
Wishing You Wholeness
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