Now that we’re in the fifth month of our world being turned upside down by Covid-19, it’s easy to feel like you’re going a bit crazy! It’s not easy for anyone to be cooped up for so long in one place and with the same company. (For those of us lucky enough to be able to continue isolating in our homes.)
But with so much chaos and loss occurring, it’s more important than ever to practice gratitude and mindfulness.
Benefits of Mindfulness and Gratitude
Both of these mental practices can help you stay focused on the present, rather than worrying about the future. Making a habit of them can have wonderful effects on your wellbeing.
According to Harvard Health Publishing and PositivePsychology.com, building up a habit of gratitude can help you:
Be more satisfied with what you have
Feel more optimistic about your life
Improve your relationships
Have better physical health
Decrease bodily inflammation
Strengthen your resilience to stress
And enhance your self-esteem
Gratitude Exercises
You can practice gratitude through a number of simple activities. One of the most popular is keeping a gratitude journal, where you write down three to five aspects of the past day (or week) that you are grateful for.
Another activity is to write a thank you letter to someone who has positively impacted your life. You should try to send one once a month (or even hand-deliver it if you can, observing social distancing).
For a combination of benefits, try a gratitude walk. It’s a way to simultaneously practice gratitude and mindfulness. Take in everything you are experiencing on the walk: appreciate sensations, smells, sounds and sights. You can even take a gratitude walk with a partner or friend, noting your appreciation for the natural environment and their company.
Some exercises may feel forced initially, but over time they should become more natural and cathartic. If you find that something is becoming too tedious, you can switch to doing it once a week rather than daily.
Mindfulness Practice
One simple way to start practicing mindfulness is through an activity called Focus of Attention. This activity not only helps to place yourself in the present moment, but also teaches you to be kind to yourself.
To begin, sit in a comfortable spot and close your eyes. Then start taking in all the sounds you hear, becoming aware of all the different types of noises in your environment. Once you have done this, choose to focus on one of these sounds. For the next five minutes or so, tune in to that particular sound and try to zone out the others.
It’s natural for your mind to wander to other thoughts and become aware again of other sounds. But you want to gently guide yourself back to the one sound you’ve intended to focus on. It’s important to not be harsh with yourself for letting your mind stray.
Set aside five minutes each day to practice Focus of Attention. Once you feel you have become comfortable with this, try increasing the time to ten minutes. If you want to try something a bit more complex, focus on two sounds at once, ignoring all others.
You can practice gratitude and mindfulness anywhere. But being able to experience them in a beautiful natural environment offers the additional well-being benefits of the great outdoors. What could be better than focusing your attention on Adirondack birdsongs or appreciating the lapping waters of Copperas Pond Come stay at GO-Cottage to immerse yourself in the soothing atmosphere of Lake Placid!
