Tag: mental health

Meditation types and practices

Today, I will be walking you through different meditation types and practices. I am inviting you to join me in trying meditation for the next five days and I hope you will see the benefit.

What is meditation?

Meditation is difficult to define, due to the number of different meditation practices that exist. However, my general definition is that meditation involves maintaining a focus in order to reach a sense of calmness.

Just what are these different meditation practices though?

Types of meditation

There are a ton of versions of meditation out there, but today I want to focus on seven of them. They all meet my above definition of meditation, but they go about doing so in different ways.

Mindfulness meditation

Mindfulness is being aware and in the present moment without judgement. This version of meditation can be used to increase your overall mindfulness skills.

With mindfulness meditation, you will find a comfortable position and start noticing your thoughts. You don’t try to hold onto them or change them, but simply notice them as they are.

Spiritual/religious meditation

This practice differs depending upon the spiritual or religious affiliation of the person who is practicing it. However, it is commonly used in many religions.

A lot of people think of it as similar to their prayer practice.

Mantra meditation

In mantra meditation, you focus on a word, sound, or phrase. You will speak this word, sound, or phrase aloud to yourself. This is the type of meditation you see in media where people are repeating “Om.”

If you are not a fan of silence, this could be a great meditative practice for you.

Focused meditation

With focused meditation, you will want to stay focused on one thing. This could be your breath or an object. It could also be a thought or one of your senses.

Focused meditation is useful because it can be done anywhere. You can essentially do it without anyone around you knowing.

Movement meditation

If you have trouble sitting still, this may be the form of meditation for you. Movement meditation involves parts of mindfulness or focused meditation and combines them with things like walking or yoga.

So, you would either cultivate a state of mindfulness or focus on something like your breath, then add movement.

Guided meditation

Guided meditation is the one that I find the easiest. For this practice, you will use someone’s voice as your point of focus. Usually, this is done by finding recordings of guided meditations. However, it is also sometimes done in person in places like yoga studios.

Guided meditations can be found through various apps and can be searched through Youtube. My personal favorite app is Insight Timer.

Music/sound meditation

Music meditation involves using music or sounds to achieve meditation. You can find music or sounds specifically for this on the internet or through many apps. The point is to find calming music or sounds, usually without words, and bring your attention to it.

I also recommend searching Youtube and Insight Timer for music meditations.

Benefits of meditation

Meditation can benefit both your mental and physical health. According to Healthline.com, here are just a few of the benefits you may receive from a regular meditation practice:

  • reduction in stress and anxiety
  • reduction in blood pressure
  • lower levels of pain
  • improved sleep
  • longer attention span

Creating a meditation practice

Now it’s time to create a meditation practice that works for you. I have a few tips to help you:

  1. Allow yourself to experiment with different kinds of meditation to see what feels the most helpful to you.
  2. Pick a time of day when you will meditate. Schedule this time for yourself every day. It is most commonly done in the morning or evening, but it doesn’t have to be.
  3. Don’t push yourself to meditate for too long to start with. Build up slowly.
  4. Do your best not to judge yourself if your mind wanders away from your focus point. It’s normal and okay.

I hope you will try to build your own meditation practice! It really can reduce anxiety. As always, let me know if you have any questions in the comments down below or you can find my contact information here!

Until next time,

Danna

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Gratitude Journaling Benefits and Methods

Gratitude journaling is something that brings me great joy. It allows me to reflect on my day and my life.

But what is gratitude journaling?

Gratitude journaling allows you to reflect on the things in your life that you are thankful for. There are so many ways to use a gratitude journal, but in this post, I will be discussing my top three methods, as well as the benefits of gratitude journaling and how to start one.

Four benefits of gratitude journaling:

Gratitude journaling can have several positive impacts on your life. First, it helps you recognize positive aspects of your life and draw attention to them. This can help with negative thinking patterns and help lower levels of depression.

It can also help you be more thankful for the people in your life. If you are taking time to reflect on what others are doing for you, this can have a positive impact on your relationships.

Gratitude journaling can also improve your physical health. People who keep a gratitude journal have less symptoms of physical illness and less pain than those who do not. They also report both more sleep and higher quality sleep because they are not tossing and turning from stress as much.

It can improve your self-esteem by helping you reflect on your accomplishments. Gratitude journaling can also help you feel like you are a person who is worthy of the kindness of others.

Three methods of gratitude journaling:

There are many ways one can keep a gratitude journal. I will be discussing my top three favorite methods. I invite you to try each of them and see what works for you.

GLAD Journaling:

GLAD Journaling is my personal favorite way to do gratitude journaling. I learned about it from my therapist quite a while back and I still use it frequently.

GLAD is an acronym that stands for Grateful, Learned, Accomplished, and Delight. At the end of the day, I like to write one sentence for each of the four categories to help me reflect upon my day and recognize the positives. The four categories may overlap some. This is okay. You can put things into whatever category feels best to you.

The “Grateful” category is pretty self-explanatory. Write about something you are grateful for that you experienced or appreciated that day.

In the “Learned” category, you write about something new you discovered that day. It can be anything from learning something about yourself or others to learning a new skill or fun fact.

For the “Accomplished” category, take a moment to reflect on everything you accomplished that day. Write down your favorite or biggest accomplishment, something you are proud of for that day. Even accomplishments that others may consider small can count. You deserve to be proud of yourself for whatever you were able to accomplish.

For the “Delight” category, write about one thing you enjoyed about the day or something that made you really happy. Writing about my “Delight” for the day always makes me smile.

Your GLAD Journal might look something like this:

3 things I am grateful for:

This is a second method of gratitude journaling. It does not have categories like GLAD Journaling does. Instead, you simply come up with three things you are grateful for each day.

Try to do this at the same time each day. Many people prefer to do this in the mornings, first thing when they wake up.

While it sounds like a fairly simple exercise, the challenge comes when you have been doing it for a while since you want to try your best not to repeat yourself over time. This means that the more specific you can get, the better.

Yours could look something like this:

What would my life be like without this?

The third and final method of gratitude journaling that I will be sharing with you today is “What would my life be like without this?” This is probably the most time consuming of the exercises, but it does go deeper than the rest.

For this exercise, you will want to think about something or someone really important to you. Write it down.

Then, you will start to write about how your life would be different without this thing or person.

Close out the exerise by writing “I am grateful for _____ because _____.”

The following picture is an example, although I would recommend trying to make yours longer if possible.

Starting a gratitude journal

Starting a journal of any kind can feel overwhelming to begin with. The first thing I like to do when I am starting a new journal is to pick out a journal that makes me feel excited. I have found that when I have a pretty journal, I am more likely to continue using it.

Another important thing is to find a writing utensil that feels good to you. That may sound silly, but there’s nothing worse that trying to write with a pencil that squeaks or a pen that doesn’t write smoothly. I have recently discovered the magic that is erasable pens and it has honestly been a game changer.

Once you have your journal and writing utensil(s) picked out, it’s time to pick a method to use. There is nothing wrong with going back and forth between different methods of gratitude journaling, nor is there anything wrong with sticking to one method.

The internet has a plethora of ideas for more specific prompts if that’s your style. If you are struggling to come up with things to be thankful for, I would highly recommend searching for gratitude journaling prompts. Then you can decide whether you would like to adapt their ideas to fit one of the ideas above or do a free writing exercise on a prompt.

Please reach out to me if you have any questions, or comment below! (You can find my contact information here.) And don’t forget to subscribe to my email list so you can always keep up to date on my posts!

Until next time,

Danna

Mental health: Welcome to Musings by Danna!

My name is Danna Richardson, and I am the owner of the blog Musings by Danna. I designed this blog to be a place for an open discussion on mental health. I will be sharing my thoughts, experiences, and tips on mental health. Some of the things I plan to write about include depression, anxiety, trauma, and self-care.

I am 21 years old. Some of my life goals include publishing my own creative writing, being able to help others, and living a happy life.

I have struggled with mental health conditions for most of my life. I started having panic attacks before I can even remember and began experiencing symptoms of bipolar disorder in elementary school. Beginning from a young age, I experienced many traumas.

I have since been diagnosed with panic disorder, bipolar disorder, and PTSD. It’s becoming easier to manage my symptoms and I would love to help others get to a place where their mental health can improve.

You can expect frank discussions on mental health topics from this blog. I will not shy away from controversial or hard to discuss topics. I believe in the importance of education and honesty.

Feel free to contact me at any point if you have a question or comment! You can find my social media at the bottom of the page. My email address is in my ABOUT/CONTACT ME page. I would love to hear from you whether you have questions about my content or have a recommendation of something you would like to see from me.

Please consider joining my email list! I will be sending out weekly newsletters to keep you updated on everything that’s happening around here.

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Until next time,

Danna