Uncertainty and discomfort are facts of life. But the myriad of everyday pressures like balancing your work demands, juggling family life, and keeping your wellness on track are now heavily stacked on top of additional worries stemming from the current global pandemic.
Life wasn’t meant to be easy, but it was meant to be manageable. Learning how to bring a sense of calm while staying focused is a skill that can be honed with practice and compassion. Here are our favorite methods for harnessing a state of wakeful calm to help you manage these new levels of uncertainty while bringing clear focus to what matters most:
Breathe Yourself Calm
If you’re feeling extra distressed or uneasy from the news or scrolling social media—turning your focus inwards to your breath is a quick way to regulate your emotions. Take some slow, steady breaths to decrease your heart rate, taper your “fight or flight” response, and activate your parasympathetic nervous system (designed to relax you).
And for when you need to refocus and reenergize, try alternate nostril breathing (it’s almost as good as a cup of coffee!) or inhale the instantly relaxing aroma of lavender for peace of mind and mental clarity whether you’re on-the-go or right before bedtime.
Support Your Body’s Ability to Adapt
In the modern world, your body is impacted by stressors on multiple levels: emotionally, physically, chemically, and biologically. This is why it’s crucial to support your body to adapt along the way so it can continue to function at its best.
CBD is a molecule that not only offers your body widespread support but also helps bring it back to a state of equilibrium. Which is why we specifically formulated our Calm & Centered Collection for when you’re feeling in overdrive and need a natural way to return to balance.
Stabilize Your Nervous System
If you’ve become so used to dealing with tension it feels like your new normal—you need a new way to notice when your stress response is bigger than what the situation calls for. One of the best ways to get off default mode and build in more calm to your day is to bring awareness to what activates your tension and notice how it manifests in your body.
Do your shoulders tense? Do you feel angry? Do you blame others? Use those cues to down-regulate your automatic “fight or flight” response by taking a rest, doing some breathwork, going for a walk, or turning your phone to airplane mode.
Set Yourself Up for Single-Tasking Success
If you feel like tension hits before you even get out of bed with thoughts of everything you need to get done, start planning the night before. Before you begin your nightly wind down (if you don’t have one, read this), write down your top five priorities for tomorrow and list them in order of priority. This can include a separate list for work items, personal items, and even wellness items.
Knowing that you’ve planned your day before it’s even started will not only set you up for success but take the pressure off your mind (and body) from having to remember it all. It also means you can focus on one task at a time (since you’re already prioritized) and help you go more calmly about your day.
Use these tools to calm your days, while staying focused and reducing the potential of experiencing hyper-reactivity to every news alert, work demand, wellness concern, or parenting challenge. Take some of the weight of these multiple challenges off and give your wellbeing a much-needed boost by knowing you can respond mindfully and bounce back gracefully in this ever-changing landscape.
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