Every day we have to experience a variety of emotions and often they are not very pleasant. Someone is used to dealing with stress with alcohol, someone prefers to use antidepressants. In fact, there is a way to keep calm and relieve yourself of worries with the help of simple exercises.
Author of Zen Exercises – French psychologist and psychotherapist Eric Pigani, his technique is described in the book ”How to keep Zen calm in a hectic world”.
How to stay calm: 7 exercises by Eric Pigani
- Rice Jar
This exercise is one of the most popular Zen exercises that can train patience and relieve stress. To feel the effect of this Zen exercise, repeat it once a week.
Prepare two identical glasses, fill one of them completely with rice and start transferring the grains into an empty glass, while counting them. After the calculations are completed, write down the result. Then again shift the grains from a full glass to an empty one, not forgetting to count them.
- List of questions
Write down the questions you don't know the answer to. At the same time, they can touch anything – the meaning of life, relationships with a partner, family secrets, your childhood, etc. Everything from mobile phone to Wi-Fi to TV should be turned off.
In the process of writing questions, there will be a “cleaning” brain. When you ask it to work on questions for which there is no answer, the brain is checking millions of data. Thanks to this process, a new inner breath is opened and a person is able to better understand himself.
- Write down whatever comes to mind
Put a sheet of paper in front of you, grab a pen and write down whatever comes to mind. At the same time, you should not try to streamline your thoughts. This is great for helping to unload the brain and keep calm.
- Sing
Just put on your favorite song and sing along. Don't worry about how your voice sounds – just focus on the words. This will give you a sense of calm.
- Go
Take time to walk, about 20 minutes will be enough – just walk down the street with a confident and not too fast step. Try to breathe deeply and slowly, the diaphragm should be as relaxed as possible. While walking, pay attention to the objects around, while only your eyes move.
- Pretend to be calm
Even if you have experienced a serious emotional shock and a real storm broke out inside you – pretend to be calm. Imagine that you are an actor and now the main back is to keep calm – move and breathe more slowly, try to smile at others. After a few minutes you will really calm down. When you feign calm behavior, the subconscious mind begins to believe that you are really calm.
- Be…zen!
When you feel that the stress is growing, say to yourself everything that you are doing at the moment. For example, when you put the – say “I put the plate back” when you go – say “I'm going”.
These simple zen exercises are guaranteed to help you stay calm in any situation.
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