Remember those plug-in water fountains we used to keep on our desks? Or maybe you preferred a Zen garden with the tiny rakes. Whether it’s a fad or long- standing practice, we’ve gotten good at identifying what soothes the human nervous system. Here are seven tried and true ways you may have forgotten about to tend to your inner peace:
- Giving yourself enough time. Perception shapes experience, so if you tell yourself that time is scarce, the whole world speeds up around you. The opposite is also true.
- Reading the spiritual. From ancient texts like the Bhagavad Gita or the Gospels to the current writings of Pema Chodron or Dr. Wayne Dyer, reading words that resonate at the soul level lifts the veils of doubt and insecurity.
- Going barefoot (also called earthing).When you remove any barrier between you and the ground, it allows you to connect to the nurturance of the earth’s energy.
- Making and then drinking cups of (herbal) tea.The key is to just pay attention to each step of the brewing process and then the imbibing, with all your senses.
- Natural scents from natural source Inhaling the fragrances of flowers, diffusing pure essential oils or burning incense evokes being in sync with nature, the spiritual or both.
- Watching Nature. Next time you go for a walk, observe the natural world. Acknowledge a tree and the shape of its leaves, the texture of its bark. Watch the birds fly, perch and fly again—seeing patterns that can only be perceived from being in the now.
- Purposely breathing in and out slowly. Taking several seconds to inhale and exhale best allows you tonotice all the sensations that arise with a full breath. That’s as present moment as you get.
