Shut Up Brain!

My resolution for rest this year is going in the route of developing calming, productive routines throughout my day.

Routines are the atoms of our daily life.

Think about it:

Our day is one big routine, and in that routine we have smaller routines. Waking up, going to work, being at work, going home, and the evening. Then in those smaller routines, you’ll find even smaller routines… and so on. Our daily life is made up of routines. Which then makes sense as to why every self-help influencer preaches the importance of healthy routines. Don’t believe me? Search on YouTube “easy steps to success,” and watch the first video. I guarantee within those steps, having a healthy routine is at least one of them.

The importance of consciously choosing to have a healthy routine is extremely significant to where we are at in our lives. We add healthy routines to counteract the unhealthy routines we currently follow. Breaking an unhealthy habit can be frustrating, and stressful. We have trained our minds and bodies to be comfortable in the unhealthy for years. When we start to remove the unhealthy, everything in us starts to fight against it.

As an example for this piece of writing, I am going to use meditation. I personally have always struggled with meditating consistently. One thing I do want to do more of this year is to be present and remain calm in any situation. The best way to achieve these goals is to meditate daily. Well, before I set this goal I was waking up with barely enough time to take my dog out, get ready for work, and leave. An activity such as meditation would require me to wake up earlier. Which was something my body protested against over and over again. Why was I forcing myself to get up 20 minutes earlier, just to go sit on the living-room floor with my eyes closed when I can do it perfectly fine in the warmth and comfort of my bed? It was astonishing to me.

I’ll tell you a secret though. Waking up earlier was hard, but staying in bed till I had to jump out and literally run around my apartment every morning was not doing great things for me either. Meditating every morning has not only given me an allotted time to check in with myself internally, but to also have a brief moment where I don’t have to do anything besides breath deep and sit still. To be able to think a thought about work or home or the dog (or kids), and having the power to tell that thought, “That is not my priority right now.”

Now, if you’re anything like me, sitting still and quieting the mind can be just as difficult as a stubborn medication bottle. My one piece of advice: Keep a pen and paper nearby. Sometimes, there are those pesky thoughts that just won’t leave you alone. When they come around, write them down. It’s a way of telling your brain, “I hear you. This must be very important so I will write it down and we will revisit it when I’m done.” Afterwards, you can return to your breathing quietly and guilt free.

In meditating, your priority is you. It is a time to quietly dive into your core, and really sit with whatever you find there. Many people heal trauma through meditation, others come up with million dollar ideas, others are just happy to be able to be unbothered for that five to ten minutes. Whatever the intention for meditating, the results are always miraculous. It’s an easy goal to squeeze in every day too! Doesn’t just have to be a morning, or evening activity. Whenever you find yourself with five minutes to spare, sink down and close your eyes and breath. That’s all it takes.