Early in my journey and as a first step in healing and improving my overall well-being, I found focusing my attention on my energy flow very important.  That meant putting my attention toward my physical, mental, and spiritual health.  Three daily practices I found supportive in shifting my attention to my overall well-being were to increase my intake of water, practice deep breathing exercise, and regular journaling.

Water intake – Increasing water intake was incredibly helpful in improving my attention to what my body needed.  Being able to listen to what your body is communicating to you about its needs is a first step in self-care and will have long-term benefits to your happiness.  As reported by the Mayo Clinic staff, increasing water intake achieves many positive outcomes including moving nutrients and oxygen to your cells (including brain cell efficiency), protecting body organs and tissues, and to lessen the burden of your liver and kidneys by flushing waste from the body.  Strive for eight glasses of water each day and sip water all day long, rather than chugging water. Your body will love you for it! 

If you are one who gawks at drinking water, consider the bigger picture of how it relates to your overall health and well-being.  Start slowly and progressively increase your water intake over several weeks. Carry a bottle of water with you at all times and sip it.  Make a small achievable goal about improving your water intake.  Increasing your water intake 4 – 8 ounces each day is a good improvement and will help you build a substantial practice of keeping your body hydrated and your energy flowing.    

Deep breathing – as a small step to enhance the relationship between your mind, body, and spirit while improving oxygenation of the body, practicing daily deep breathing exercises is a must.  I’m talking 2 – 3 minutes each day for deep breathing. Get yourself in a quiet place and either stretch out on a bed or floor mat in order to stretch out the area of your solar plexus and diaphragm, or you can sit up if that is more comfortable.  Slowly inhale for the count of 10 seconds as you imagine filling your lungs with air and expanding your diaphragm. Inhale as deeply as you can and expect a bit of discomfort at first.   Hold for a moment.  Exhale slowly for 10 seconds until all the air is expelled from your lungs.  Push yourself to completely empty your lungs.  Repeat the inhale/exhale exercise for 10 repetitions, once each day.  You’ll find as you practice daily your lungs and body will become comfortable with the exercise. 

The importance of deep breathing is to encourage improved oxygenation to the body while also opening connections between the mind, body, and spirit.  Deep breathing trains our conscious mind to focus on what the body is experiencing, while also flooding the body with oxygen to keep our energy moving and open to new awareness.

For me, deep breathing exercise is best done upon waking to help me integrate into my day, or before I go to sleep at night because it relaxes the body, but I also practice deep breathing at other times when I’m overwhelmed or feel stressed, for its calming effect. Deep breathing is an especially wonderful practice for de-escalating and redirecting high-emotion responses and triggers.  There is no bad time to practice deep breathing.  Decide on the time of day that is best for you. 

Journaling –  daily journaling has two key benefits: it helps you create a regular and daily routine of mindful focus while enabling you to move thoughts and ideas into the concrete world.   Once on paper, thoughts become tangible aspects of the self that will communicate ideas and themes about your well-being. 

As a daily practice it takes 2 – 5 minutes each day to journal.  Find a quiet and comfortable place/space where you will not be interrupted.  Have a pen or pencil and notebook by your side.  (I find any notepad you have at home is good for journaling.  Find something you can use exclusively for this purpose). 

Get in touch with your breathing with a few long, slow, and steady inhales and exhales.  Listen to the thoughts that come to mind and body sensations you experience.  Write down whatever comes to your mind.  Do not judge or edit your thoughts.  Write what comes.  It could be words or phrases, whole sentences, pictures, scribbles or ideas.  It doesn’t matter what comes to you.  The important point of this activity is to go inward and pay attention to what is in your mind and then express it in the journal.  Questions you might ask are:

• What am I feeling at this moment? 
• What is my body telling me?  What sensations am I experiencing?
• What thoughts are flooding my mind at this moment? 
• How did I do today? 
• What am I hopeful or anxious about today?

In this exercise journaling is not for figuring out your problems.  It is for learning to listen to your thoughts, your body, your feelings, and then externalizing them through the process of writing or artistic expression.  Later you can go back to your journal entries and see if there are themes or ideas you want to explore further. 

All of the above recommendations are beginning practices meant to open your mind, body, and spiritual connections. They will help you create a strong foundation for moving forward in your life by establishing a strong foundational relationship with yourself.  Try the suggested activities for seven days and then write to us about how it’s going for you.  What changes are you noticing?  What barriers are you experiencing?  Contact us at recoverymyway@yahoo.com with any feedback you have.