While meditation is great, if it’s not you’re thing, here are other ways to align yourself.
Okay, let’s face it, we all could do with some calm in our lives. And while we have heard endlessly about the powers of meditation, we often get lazy about it. The reason, I believe, is one—you haven’t found the right one for you. A friend of mine, after years of trying all kinds of meditation, chanced upon the Tibetan Singing Bowl. The repetitive motion of the wooden stick along the edges of the brass bowl and the deep hollow voice instantly put her at ease, and I don’t think she’s missed a day of meditating over it since.
And to make my point, and hopefully help you find your “singing bowl”, I put together this list of meditations (sort of) for you to try and hopefully achieve your calm.
The scribbles
My therapist recommended this after I had had a long, hard day. She asked me to take out a blank sheet of paper and start scribbling. No intention, no design or form, just scribbling without picking up the pen from the paper. She said I had to do it for a minimum of two minutes. I did it for five. And to date, it is something I practice on a long, hard day, or even a day that I am convinced is going to be a long, hard one.
Skincare meditation
I do my skincare routine without fail. Every night if not twice a day, and the night routine is one where I unwind and pamper myself. It’s a good 15 minutes of ASMR, and I only recently chanced upon a podcast where I was introduced to the concept of skincare meditation. It is 15 minutes of self-care time, and why not make it as much about your inward beauty as it is about your outward? So now I play some Chopin, light an aromatic candle, and soothe myself into a beautiful meditation.
Watering the flowers
This was a chance discovery, but the most endearing five minutes I have spent seeking my calm. My mother was coming to visit me from Darjeeling, which meant I had to make sure the house was clean and in order. This included flower upkeep. So, I got to it. Plucking off the dried leaves, de-weeding the pots, and watering the plants. And it wasn’t just how the result looked, but the act of patient care that was meditative.
Pimping-up food
Now, I know cooking isn’t for everyone. But I am not talking MasterChef cooking anyway. Even stirring up a simple condiment for your meal can have meditative benefits. Research shows that happy hormones can be stimulated by acts of self-care, and making yourself a quick something can help tremendously. So, next time try whipping up a quick dip to go with your chips, or maybe jazz up your morning eggs with some cream cheese and chives on the side.
Cleaning up
Call me crazy, but nothing, nothing at all relaxes me and makes me feel more productive about life than a good cleaning sesh. And I mean deep cleaning. Take out the brushes and the dusters and the cloths. Pick one section of your room, and clean it till it’s absolutely sparkling. Just seeing the dirt on the duster gives me the calm of a job well done.
