I have experienced mood swings since the longest time, and I realise that a lot of us do. The worst is, we don’t know what overcame us! We succumb to these swings and by the end of the day, we feel drained, unhappy and just want to laze around in bed, like a panda.
Often times, we are not really lazy. We are just very unaware of where and how our energy has been haemorrhaging from the day. It can be anything from internal stress to external factors like toxic communication or unforeseen circumstances.
Thankfully, this is the year I’ve actually been a lot less lazy, and a lot less in my emotions. Did I do something? Yes! Plenty. But none of it is too ‘tough’. It just requires experiencing for yourself, and being consistent to a degree.
Anyhoo, all the recommendations today are relatively new additions to my daily routine. They work for me, even though I don’t understand too much about how or why, so give them a go and see for yourself!
#1 – Balance Your Chakras
To be honest, I don’t know too much about this, other than the fact that Chakras are energy centres in our body which when unbalanced, can make us behave in unbalanced ways.
For example, not being able to feel compassion is a sign of a blocked Heart Chakra. And not being able to speak up (or speaking too much) are signs of an imbalanced Throat Chakra.
However, what I do know is that this quick, 10-minute Guided Meditation on Chakra Balancing continues to help me start my day on a more relaxed note.
NOTE : Even if you don’t see (in your mind’s eye) any colours as the meditation suggests, don’t worry. The key to a good meditation session is that you feel relaxed afterwards. As long as that’s what happening with you post-balancing your chakras, that’s good enough.
#2 – Work with Crystals
I was apprehensive for a couple years, until I saw a giant crystal as a decoration piece at someone’s house. My first thought – that looks really beautiful! And thus, I was hooked.
Again, no expert here, but I do find that Quartz (clear, rose) and Amethyst crystals make me feel a lot better. Black Tourmaline is also a crystal that I work with, to ground and protect my energy. But as they say, you should go for the crystal that you’re most attracted to.
Personally, I just sit with my crystals during the fore-mentioned Chakra Balancing Meditation, and sometimes I carry a few in my purse when I’m out in public. This keeps my energies protected and balanced. If you’re like me and don’t like being around buzzing markets, crystals help!
One good tip on working with crystals, is to ask permission from each crystal before working with them, because they do have a pure consciousness. And to say a heartfelt thank you, once you’re done!
#3 – Establish Holistic Self-care Practices
Whatever you like to do out of self-love, just keep three perspectives in mind for a holistic experience – Mind, Body & Spirit. This trinity is the real make or break of a balanced life. Here’s what I do, incase you need inspiration.
- For my mind, I try to read everyday or atleast do something stimulating like craft work, a different kind of recipe, or anything that takes me off auto-pilot for atleast 30 minutes.
- For my body, yoga and jogging does wonders. Sometimes we have too much energy and it can frustrate us or make us restless. It then gets wasted in the wrong way.
- And for my soul, well, beyond the things mentioned in this post, Meditation, Mindfulness and a bunch of other stuff which I’ve also detailed here – 10 Ways to be Spiritual without Meditation.
This also cues the opportunity to shamelessly plug in my other popular blog post about my self-care practices, called 7 Daily Habits that Bring Results Immediately.
#4 – Clear Your Energy
Though I had been Meditating for years, I wasn’t always feeling my best (as we’ve already established). Then, when I joined the Heartfulness program, they explained why cleaning our energy is also important.
They used a great analogy, saying that imagine yourself to be a glass of water. Due to the events and problems, we can become muddy water.
Meditation helps still this muddy water. Once the mud settles down, it’s important to clean it out as well. And that makes complete sense! No wonder we can feel better after meditation but not necessarily stay in that state of bliss soon after. We haven’t cleared up the mud.
But, how? They introduced a very simple technique (shared in the next paragraph). In short, it’s about using our intention single-pointedly during visualisation, to release the heaviness within us from our body.
I do also think that their whole 3-step process of meditation, cleaning and prayer work great together as a complete healing experience, and you should try that, instead of just the cleaning! Here are the 3 steps :
- Meditation
- Cleaning
- Prayer (non religious, FYI)
#5 – Invest Your Time in a Journal
I find journaling to be a fool-proof way to express yourself without getting judged. It is also the space where many new thoughts and inspirations come from; from where many solutions arise.
I do have a dedicated post on the different kinds of journaling I like to practice. But for this post, I want to keep it short and sweet, by saying that you can write as little as 5 sentences about how GOOD your day was (gratitude writing), or write 3-pages of emotional venting (Morning Pages).
They all work wonders, if only you can love yourself enough to sit down for this heart-to-heart with yourself!
These are just some of the things that make a lot of difference, lately. How many of these do you already do? 🙂
Image courtesy : pixabay
