Practicing self-care in your daily life doesn’t have to be troublesome or even expensive. In many cases it’s actually free, or pretty close to it.
To dedicate more time to self-care, “most of the time, we need to move away from the negative monologues we have in our heads and focus on moving into a more sensory experience,” says Christine. says. Carper, Program Chair of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at the University of Phoenix.
“This is part of something called mindfulness.”
Before emptying your pockets, Carper recommends practicing mindfulness simply by stimulating your senses. Here are some ways you can do that.
10 acts of self-care that cost very little money
- Light your favorite scented candle
- Burn the balm with a diffuser
- Recreate the oshibori experience by warming a moistened washcloth with a tea bag and wrapping it around your hand
- Rub smooth stones or rose petals and appreciate the texture
- listen to calming music
- Sit outside and watch the clouds and hear the birds chirping
- Enjoy it slowly and savor it.
- Visit with Gratitude: Write about someone who has had a positive impact on your life and visit or call them to read.
- Recall your favorite memories and remember what you felt, saw, smelled and enjoyed in that moment.
- Look at old photos to remember the good old days
“It could be a two-minute vacation.”
Unmanaged stress can lead to long-term adverse effects such as diabetes and high blood pressure, says Carper.
But consistent self-care can produce healing hormones like serotonin that can shift our minds from triggering stress responses to defaulting to a relaxed state, she adds.
And the length of the self-care activity is less important than the action itself, says Karper. “It doesn’t have to take long,” she says.
“It can be a two-minute break two or three times a day. [That] enough to have a statistically significant impact on overall health. ”
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