28 Days To Confidence - Day 5

28 Days To Confidence - Day 5

Day 5: Take Ten

You have 1440 minutes in your day, all I'm asking for today is 10.  

Yesterday I briefly discussed meditation and how it helped me face my fear (blog post here).  I wanted to elaborate on it in today's post for those of you who may find it useful.

How does meditation equal confidence?  Not only did it help face my fear, I also use it when I feel pressured, stressed or unproductive.  To me, it's like a reset button.  When things seem overwhelming, I take ten minutes of meditation and I'm refreshed and ready to go.  It's not only for times of stress or pressure, I try to do it every day.  In fact, right after a meditation is when I had the idea for this blog post series. 

Calm app

How did I go? 

I've been using an app called Calm for the last week.  There are several meditation apps you can download, I've tried a few, but I prefer Calm (not sponsored).  The reason I prefer it is because you can choose your own background sounds or "scenes".  

The beach <3

It has everything from rain to falling snowflakes.  My favourite is Sunset Beach because the sound of the beach relaxes me, I grew up near the beach and used to fall asleep to the sound of waves crashing on the sand.  I chose the meditate program of 7 days (the 7 days is free), each day teaches you meditation techniques.  You can also choose a guided meditation or just sounds to a timer.

Not only do I have jaw problems, I have issues with my neck/shoulder and back muscles.  Everyday I have to stretch these out as well.  I noticed that as the day went on, my shoulders were really tight and giving me grief.  I had to pull myself away from what I was doing and relax.  

To stretch out my shoulders, I place a rolled up towel or foam roller between them and lie down.  This forces them back and stretches out the muscles (recommended by my physio, for my particular needs).  During this time I like to use this app, I'm just lying there anyway.  

I've already finished the 7 day program, so today I chose a guided meditation for ten minutes.  It really helped with my stretches because it made me relax into it more.  It also cleared my mind that was a bit of a mess due to pain and thinking of all the things I had to get done.  I was able to come back and really focus on the day ahead. 

It's ten minutes, do it and thank me later! ;)

What helps you stay focused and relaxed?