Six Tips to Save Your Sanity

I used to wake up with a sense of dread so familiar I didn’t notice it until it was gone. Maybe some of you have felt that way too, this week especially. Today I want to share 6 Sanity Rituals I have been practicing, some for about a decade. Initially, my goal was to maximize my own happiness and peace of mind. Little did I know I was training for the mother of all tests of mental fitness: Covid Times and the mayhem that’s come with it. I am not the authority on any of these—I’ve just curated different techniques for my own personal benefit. So if you want to control anxiety, clear your mind, and get your energy ready for what’s been going down, keep reading.

Sanity Ritual #1: meditation. Friends have recommended it to you, but who has time? You do. It’s a few minutes. If you haven’t yet, do yourself a favor and look into it. I’ve practiced for nine years and it may be why I don’t drink coffee and enjoy a burst of afternoon energy that gets me through the evening feeling good. It’s trendy now, but it’s been around for thousands of years. If the thought of trying it out makes you antsy, check out tm.org. All kinds of influential people credit meditation with their greatest accomplishments. And, best of all, this method is meditation for dummies. I had never been able to do any form of it—and believe me I tried—until I learned this one. I’d trained myself to worry and nothing could compete with that lifelong habit. This technique undid my worry trigger. And sometimes during a meditation, inspiration shows up and I get to keep that gold nugget as a bonus. Win win win win.

Sanity Ritual #2: morning pages. If you are not a morning person, there are plenty of folks who choose another quiet time during the day to do this exercise. For me, the only guarantee I have to write uninterrupted is when my family is unconscious. After an early meditation, I creep out of bed before the dog wakes up to fill three pages without thinking. This serves as a data dump for whatever is rattling around in there. Plans I am making in the back of my head, regrets for how I handled something, but also awesome ideas that were buried underneath all the garbage.

Sanity Ritual #3: get out in nature and MOVE. This is a two-fer. My family is still asleep when I take off, but when I’m done, everyone is up so there is no time to dillydally. Today, I am exhausted so I went for a quick walk to watch the sun burst through the clouds and streak the sky yellow to pink to blue. There is nothing that brings me to the present moment quicker than taking in a sunrise. Moving my body outside in nature grounds me. Walking, running, roller skating, who cares, just as long as I am outside and moving.

Sanity Ritual #4: breath work. Stay with me here. You non-yogi types are probably going to try to clock out. Maybe it seems weird to us here in the US but it is widely practiced in other cultures across the globe. Ancient breathing techniques used in Eastern traditions direct your prana, a sanskrit word meaning life force energy. The technique clears your head and wakes up the energy centers (chakras). The technique I use is four quick inhalations, then four exhalations, all while tapping each of my fingers to the thumb, from the index to pinkie. I do it for a dozen times or so. Your neighbors may look at you funny as you huff past their house but if this is the only behavior they find odd, clearly they don’t live next to me. If you are interested in learning more about breath work, take a look: https://www.calmwithyoga.com/pranayama-yogic-breathing-ujjayi-techniques/.

Sanity Ritual #5: energy cleanse. This list may sound time-consuming but the breathing is a couple of minutes and if you can do just one or two of these, it still helps. I find this one so critically important that if I don’t do it, I feel like I haven’t showered, to borrow a friend’s analogy. We deal with some sort of lockdown-related disappointment, fear or heartbreak daily. If the whole world did it, there would be peace on earth.

So this is how. As I walk along, I visualize the bright light of the universe shoot down through the clouds, in through the top of my head down through my body all the way to the earth’s core, then back up the same path through my feet, up and out my head and into space. I repeat until my energy feels sparkly clean. The number of times I do it depends on how I feel—usually three or four times. Then, in the same fashion, I bring the energy in, hold it in my heart, turn it pink (the color of love) and send it out to my family and friends. I have an attorney friend who sends good energy to her judge before every hearing. If you are her opponent, watch out. This is her secret weapon.

I finish up by sending healing white or blue light to people who are ill or otherwise having trouble. I end with drawing the energy in, expanding pink energy in my heart and disbursing it throughout my own body. Every time, without exception, a spontaneous smile spreads across my lips. I saw Master Stephen Co at a seminar demonstrate this powerful technique and I have done it regularly ever since. If you follow him on Facebook, you’ll get lots of intel on these techniques.

But wait, there’s more!

Sanity Ritual #6: gratitude. This really shouldn’t be last but this is how I wrap up—it’s the cherry on top. When I am nearly home, I take the time to thank the trees for oxygen, the sky for the beautiful clouds, and God (you can thank whomever you credit for all that we have, doesn’t have to be God) for giving me and my family everything that we need. I name each family member and express thanks for their unique gifts and thank God for things I don’t yet have (Dr. Edith Eger style, if anyone is familiar with her beautiful book The Choice). This is the part I look forward to the most. Someone smart once said, “express gratitude as if you only get the things tomorrow that you were grateful for today.”

And this brings me to my one and only “don’t.” Do not consume news in the morning. Apparently a full 80% of people who consume bad news first thing, report having had a bad day. Don’t do that to yourself. Maybe at a low energy point during the early afternoon, read what you need to stay informed and then move your body so it doesn’t get stuck in there. I like a 4:00 p.m. dance break myself.

 

By the time I walk into my house, I am refreshed and ready for the day. When it’s raining or I work out indoors, I sometimes miss the energy and gratitude work. It shows. When I’m doing all this regularly, I glow with a sense of wellbeing others around me can feel. These rituals have healed me and my little corner of the world.

With this practice, I feel a deep certainty that everything is going to be ok.

Love, Elizabeth

Writing Prompt: What are you grateful for today?