. Meditation encourages you to embrace being in the present moment, accepting it without judgment. It can help you realize how strong you really are. Many research studies have shown that practicing meditation has a variety of physical and mental health benefits, from lowering your heart rate and boosting your immune system to promoting feelings of calm and well-being. Meditation can even help rewire how your brain responds to stress. Many types of meditation exist, although one that has received a lot of scientific study is "mindfulness" meditation.  If you can't find a meditation class near you, you can find many online. The UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center has several downloadable MP3 meditation guides.  There are also several mobile apps that offer guided meditations and mini-meditations. And of course, wikiHow has many articles to help you learn to meditate. Mindfulness has significant scientific support. Studies have shown that using mindfulness techniques can help you feel calmer and more relaxed, improve your relationships, increase your empathy, and even lower your blood pressure.  The University of California, Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center has a website with many mindfulness techniques that you can try in your everyday life. Many mindfulness exercises can be done in just a few minutes a day. For example, the next time you have a snack, slow it way down. Try to focus on all aspects of the experience, using all of your senses. What do you smell, see, hear, taste, and touch? What does it feel like to eat this food? Can you sense the food going down your throat into your stomach? Paying attention to the little things will help you practice mindfulness in your daily life. In your life, you have come up against many challenges, big and small.  In your emotions journal, write down your emotions – sad, angry, scared, ashamed – and how you dealt with those emotions. Write down how you responded, what you did, how you handled that situation. Write down your accomplishments that you’re proud of.  Write down the last time you made someone smile. Make a list of things that you like about your character, things that make you brave, times you have had to persevere. Add to the list every day. Become comfortable with the idea of knowing your strength and having confidence that no matter the outcome, you will make it through this part of your life, even if it takes time. Make a small poster that says, “I am stronger than I think I am” or something similar.  Hang it up beside your bed or next to your bathroom mirror. It can be easy to fall into self-pity and think things like “I deserve this” or “This is because I am a bad person.” Stay calm during tough times by realizing your self-worth. Nurturing a healthy sense of self-worth can really help you stay resilient when life gets tough. Make a list of all the negative thoughts you have about yourself related to your situation, and then reframe them into positive, realistic statements. Black and white statements like “Everything always goes wrong in my life” can gnaw away at your feelings of self-worth. Try to reframe statements like this with thoughts like “Life is really challenging. Everyone goes through tough times. There have been times in my life that haven’t gone wrong too.” Then you can make a list of things that haven’t gone wrong, just for a reminder! Living life with a healthy, well rounded, grounded perspective of what is really important in your life can help you stay calm in times of upheaval.  Knowing yourself and your place in the world is a solid way to feel calm during tough times.   In your emotions journal, start a gratitude list.  Write down things you are grateful for every day, no matter how large or small. Maybe you saw a blade of grass that was exceptionally green. Write it down in your gratitude journal.  Maybe you didn’t give up today and decided to face your challenges as best as you can. Sometimes, not giving up is the best we can do.  Write “I didn’t give up today” in big bold letters and be proud of yourself. If it’s helpful, look at pictures of outer space to give you the perspective of the strange world of nature, the mystery of life, and the beauty that is all around us. Gain strength in knowing that humans are capable of surviving all sorts of tough times, and you are one of them. One powerful coping strategy for getting through tough times is finding meaning in yourself, your struggle, and adversity.  Using your journal, write down things you are learning about the current struggle you are going through.  Write down the opportunities you have to be brave, what you can learn, and how you can decide to grow from this experience.  Write down things that keep you going. Write down why you have chosen to deal with this life struggle. Why did you decide to seek out ways to stay calm so that you can handle it?  Is it for your children?  Yourself?  Your loved ones?  Your pets?  Because you want your life?  Internalizing your own meaning will help you stay focused and calm as you wrestle with your life struggles.
مارس التأمل. جرب طرق "الوعي التام". امنح نفسك القوة بمراجعة إنجازاتك. اعمل ملصقـًا يعبر عن قوتك الداخلية. غيـِّر الأفكار السلبية إلى أخرى إيجابية. اكتب يوميات الشعور بالعرفان. ابحث عن المعنى في الصراع الذي تمر به.