Wellness with a special emphasis on mental health seems to be a hot button topic on everyone’s minds these days. According to the consumer reporting giant McKensey & Company, the wellness industry is an estimated $1.5 trillion dollar business…and growing. Mindfulness, or the practice of being present and not constantly distracted, is said to produce a calmer mind. The report goes on to state that “more than half of the consumers in each of the surveyed countries said they want to prioritize mindfulness more.” It is a practice that could go a long way in creating a better state of mental health for all.
Women fall into the multitasking trap most in our society with the brunt of the work-life/home-life balance being a precarious juggle at best. Creating a sense of calm is now, more than ever, a much needed commodity in achieving an overall sense of mental health and wellness.
How do we do that without buying a million products or downloading yet another seldomly used app?
A totally free and very simple way of practicing mindfulness is learning to cultivate quiet time in your life. Think back to being in school where quiet time was enforced to still busy young bodies after so much stimulation throughout the day. If that was thought to be necessary for little ones you can imagine how helpful it would be to adults.
Modern life is full of so much noise. We’re required to multitask and spend our days in different states of sensory overload. Talking, music, television, traffic. Sound! All of these elements are a part of everyday life and can add on to our stress.
According to Harvard Medical, it not only affects our mental health, but it also impairs our ability to focus and concentrate. “We are bombarded with information from TVs, computers, and messages such as texts or emails. “When there’s too much material, it burdens our filtering system and it’s easy to get distracted,” explains Dr. Kirk Daffner, a neurologist and director of the Center for Brain/Mind Medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
We all know that feeling of being jittery and unable to focus our minds, going a mile a minute, only deepening our sense of mental unrest and encroaching on our sense of well being.
Now is the time for quiet!
Here are three tips to help you achieve more quiet in your life:
- Use alone time in the car or any commuter time to bathe in the quiet. Looking out of the window and choosing a different route to and from work in order to have new sights to take in can all aid in creating a calm environment. For those working from home, setting aside intentional transition times in between Zoom calls to have even one minute of silence before jumping to the next task can increase your level of mental calm and inner peace.
- Go on a quiet walk in nature or around the block. Instead of having music as an accompaniment allow the breeze, the birds, and the squirrels skirring about to be your melody and score. Take deep breaths and feel the rhythm of your belly expanding and contracting as you walk. Use this time to center yourself and your breathing and you’ll experience ultimate stillness.
- Download inspiring or soothing music and find a great home scent. Let the sound you let into your environment be on purpose. It’s not just noise for noise’s sake. Sound used on purpose is then used to uplift or soothe. Think about how calm you feel in a spa. The sounds and smells that are used are there to intentionally soothe the mind and body. Create your own spa tunes. This could include ambient wave sounds or soundtracks of nature. Allow that to play in your ear or in your space and notice the difference in your mind and body.
Though it may require some intention, the sense of calm that mindfulness can restore is worth giving a try…even if it is just for three minutes of quiet.
Mckensey & Company Consumer Report https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/feeling-good-the-future-of-the-1-5-trillion-wellness-market
Harvard Medical school https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/tips-to-improve-concentration
