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How to stay sane during challenging times

5 easy-to-use top tips

Sometimes when life is tough, we can feel like we are at the mercy of our thoughts and we develop a very negative attitude ..."the glass is half empty" syndrome. The media doesn't help, filing our day with negative news.

However our mind and energy are two powerful tools at our fingertips that can influence the outcome of how we feel and what manifests in our life. So no matter what is going on around us, we can work with our mind and energy to be calm, sane and at peace.

Try these simple steps on how to stay positive and calm no matter what is going on in your life:

Stay Grounded

One of the easiest ways to let stress take over is to become ungrounded. We know we are ungrounded if we don't sleep well, or our body is very tired or we can't seem to focus or complete tasks. To become grounded, get out into the fresh air and walk (or run). Physical activity is a good way to help clear your head and stay grounded. Ideally you would do this in a park or near nature/trees/water as this has a really positive effect on your energy and helps to ground your thoughts. If you find yourself walking and thinking negatively then count your steps - distract your mind away from those thoughts.

Watch your posture

We tend to ignore our bodies until they give us pain or bother us. Try to make sure you stand/sit with your feet flat on the ground (again this helps you to stay grounded as per above tip). Pay attention to how your body feels and if you are 'holding' your body in a tense way, then mentally ask it to relax. Breathe into that area of your body if you need to and just let it relax. We underestimate how our body simply mirrors our thoughts. In other words if we are mentally anxious then our body reflects this with tension. However by changing our posture it can help us influence our emotions and thoughts.

Do a Breath Watch

Simply put, just notice your breath. Take a moment several times a day to just notice your breath. When we get anxious we tend to tense our muscles and our breathing can get shorter and shallow. Our body needs oxygen so shortening the breath can cause your body to get stressed (and our mind picks up on this causing mental stress too). When we take our attention to the tip of our nose then we can let our breath relax. If we have we have been taking shallow breaths, then just by watching the breath it will start to relax and become naturally longer. Do it for 5 to 10 breaths and several times a day (or more regularly if you need to).

Glass half full tip

Feeling grateful even for the smallest things in life can help us to shift away from the negative attitude. Writing down or acknowledging something (or someone) that we feel grateful for helps us to develop a 'the glass is half full' attitude. When I do this, I usually start off with simple things like my breath, my health, my home, having food and water, then I expand it out into people in my life (I list them and why I feel grateful for them), my work (the bits I like about my day) and so on. It can be a long list or simply one thing but focus on it and take it out every day to remind yourself of what you can feel grateful for. When something nice happens (even if it is just catching the bus or getting a green traffic light) say "thank you" to yourself and feel grateful for this.

Golden and Pink light

This is a neat thing to try especially if you have difficulty dealing with challenging people. When we have a challenging person or situation we tend to let our thoughts get into a heavy negative state, even if the person isn't there (or we aren't physically in that situation at that time). In other words we let them 'live' in our head taking up space and feeding our negativity.

• First of all start of by thinking about the colour gold. You can imagine it as a gold cloak or gold light (egg shape) all around you protecting your energy. Imagine that it is really strong and bright and nothing and noone can touch you.
• Now each time you think about that situation or person - imagine them surrounded in pink or wearing pink! Are you smiling (even just inside) at the funny thought of them dressed in pink? Keep thinking about them surrounded in pink or dressed head to foot in pink.

One of 2 things will happen, either the person or situation will get better or your will find it/they no longer bother you. I've tried this method with my most cynical friends and they are amazed how it works. The colour gold (in healing terms) is a very strong protective colour to use (like having your own personal body armour) and the colour pink is the colour of the heart centre filled with the energy of unconditional love. Not the 'mills and boon' kind of love - we are talking about energy here. As we send this to someone/a situation, we heal the relationship we have it/them.

Lorraine Murray is a Reiki Master Teacher who teaches meditation, Reiki and Indian Head Massage. Full details about these courses are on this website.

Or you can try some of the meditation CDs - particularly any of the 'peace in you' CDs in the Online Shop >>> . If you wish to use this reproduce this article, please contact Lorraine in the first instance.