Looking After Your Mind, Body and Spirit
With the Mind Body Spirit festival starting later this week we thought we would get our top tips together to help you look after your Mind, Body, and Spirit.
Mind
De-clutter your life
Choose a place — your email inbox, your desk, a closet — and get rid of the excess and junk. You'd be surprised at how satisfying it can be to organise a small part of your life like this.
Be present
Pay complete attention to something you usually do on autopilot.
Be still
Sit somewhere green, and be quiet for a few minutes. Take in the world around you and observe the magic in the environment.
Unplug for a day
Take a break from the constant barrage of social media, just for one day. Close your laptop, turn off your phone, and just be.
Practice a full day of rest
Take a full day to rest and rejuvenate. Put on a face mask, blend up a fruit smoothie, lay back and relax.
Make Time to Have Fun
Playtime is crucial whether you’re a child or an adult. Do something ridiculous and fun you've always wanted to do.
Get Plenty of Sleep
We all know we need sleep to function well, but it’s easy to forget that as adults we should be getting an average of seven hours of sleep a night.
Find a Project
Hobbies are great and can even be therapeutic for yourself and your social life. Get together a book club, or take the time to learn a new skill.
Body
Make one small change to your diet for the week
Drink an extra glass of water each day, or have an extra portion of veggies each meal. One small change like this can go a long way towards improving your health.
Do something that energizes your body
Go for a jog in the morning, or do a few laps in your local swimming pool.
Stretch
Find the kinks and tension spots in your body, and stretch them out.
Breathe
Believe it or not, there is a right way to breathe. Put a hand on your ribcage and breathe deeply. If you can feel your diaphragm rising and falling, you're doing it right.
Spirit
Pay-it-Forward
Do something nice for someone else without asking for anything in return. Encourage that person to do something kind for someone else, and start a chain of good deeds.
Make a Small Connection
Have a few sentences of conversation with someone in customer service, such as a sales assistant or barista. You never know how a smile and a word of kindness can brighten someone's day.
Stroke a Pet
There is a reason why spending time with animals is considered therapeutic. Chill out with a cat, a dog or another animal of your choosing. If you don’t have one, find a friend that does.
Get quality time with a quality person
Hang out with someone who you love. If they’re far away, give them a phone call.
Do Something Small for Yourself
Think of that one thing you've always wanted to do for yourself, but never got around to actually doing. A manicure, facial, massage, or any small luxury that you never had time to do.
Take a Home Spa
Have a long bath or shower, sit around in your bathrobe, use a clay facial mask and read a magazine. For a day, treat yourself and live the luxury that you deserve.
Create a Gratitude List
With the New Year coming up, it's the right time to reflect on the past year and the people that made it wonderful. Once you're done with your list, tell those people how much you appreciate them and spread the love around.
Change Your Perspective
Try something new that you thought you never would - listen to that band everybody's talking about that doesn't seem your style, or try food you thought you wouldn't like. You never know when your presumptions are holding you back from new experiences.
Stay Positive
Keep the positives in mind to keep you going through the hard times. It doesn't have to be big, but find the beauty in a song, or a flower, or the way the sun shines on the ocean.