What is working for internal ZEN & Peace - Please share your tips

[Kelly]

Hi all,

Please share what is helping you through these troubled waters of 2020. I will list some that have worked for me.

 

• Walks outside in nature.
• Putting my face to the sun (with eyes closed) for a few moments while on my walks. BLISS!
• Playing the piano
• Working on learning/refreshing my second language
• LAUGHING

What are yours?

Kelly

[MODArtemis2019]

My three boys keep me going. I am so, so grateful to have them. 

[steveb]

My 2 kids keep me grounded.

Ditto on walking in nature.

Exercise ... in particular cardio

laughing is great

last but not least, praying and meditation.  Both of which, are a work in progress:)

[Kelly]

Love the pictures ModArtemis and the tips steveb!! Thank you for sharing. Anyone else?

[reader]

 Thank you for starting this thread Kelly. I am with you and Steve and it is so important to laugh. Netflix, YouTube videos have helped a lot. Being able to talk to friends or family even via FaceTime makes a difference. 

[Jacx]

I find that being physical helps me too, it’s hard sometimes to get going but once I get going it help.
I’ve always liked doing crafts and stuff, I started a cross stitch pattern after my Dad passed and it’s been very soothing. It’s such a repetitive thing, and you really have to pay attention to your counting, it’s helped to stop my mind from wandering into not so great places.
Sometimes a good old fashioned scream/yell/sing in the car is the ticket though. If anyone remember me that ska song “the impression that get” from the mighty mighty bosstones.... it’s great energy and I just shout the lyrics at full volume.

Thanks for sharing everyone, it’s good to hear others’ coping mechanisms.

[widower2]

On 11/19/2020 at 11:35 AM, Kelly said:

Hi all,

Please share what is helping you through these troubled waters of 2020. I will list some that have worked for me.

 

• Walks outside in nature.
• Putting my face to the sun (with eyes closed) for a few moments while on my walks. BLISS!
• Playing the piano
• Working on learning/refreshing my second language
• LAUGHING

All of those, minus the language thing. Watching shows and movies that are more upbeat (as far as I can tell anyway). Also big on documentaries, esp nature some good ones on Netflix. Listening to and writing music. 

And granted a glass or two ish of wine doesn't hurt.

 

 

[TLN]

On 12/1/2020 at 3:22 PM, Jacx said:

It’s such a repetitive thing, and you really have to pay attention to your counting, it’s helped to stop my mind from wandering into not so great places.

I find this to be true about writing math problems; doing so, and drawing, help to calm a tumultuous mind, and also to keep me sharp enough to cut through the fog of grief. The others are writing and walking outside.

[reader]

Hi all,

This site has a lot of good tips:

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/surviving-tough-times.htm

[Meezer]

Thanks for the lead.  It's nice to think about not only what's hurting but what helps.

For me, writing helps, especially creative writing.  Any kind of creativity is good for pain,  I think.

I also watch a lot of You Tube and other online videos, looking for the ones that are just pure laughs (like dogs doing dumb things or something) or the ones that are truly reliably informative and educational, or l think of a song I love and then try to find as many versions of it as I can and pick the best then share it with friends via email.

Music, especially really can't-help-but-move-those-feet music, like Sly and the Family Stone works for me.

Reading.   Sometimes it's hard to concentrate, so besides full length books I got a couple of the type you can dip into here and there--quote a day, e.g.

Prayer, religion, faith.

I felt like being rather isolated during COVID and also grieving was making me a little self-absorbed, so I have been making a concerted effort to focus on other people and to ask them a lot of questions and to listen to them better, even if they have nothing in common with me, it just helps to be really interested in them instead of looking inward too much.

[reader]

Thank you for sharing Meezer

[Boggled]

My thought for today:  my husband was a kind of tether, keeping me tethered to his self, his opinions, his perceptions, and his abilities which were far superior to my own in certain areas like understanding electricity and mechanics, and  (though in this I think for myself of course), "what is right, what is wrong," ... morality.  So anyhow, I still have him IN MY HEAD, IN MEMORY, even though he is not physically here anymore.   and I MISS HIM.  Deeply.  

But, since he is not here anymore to BE with me, TALK to me, etc!  there ARE other kinds of tethers that I can rely on, that can help me be "resilient," such as ... 

the garden.  I've grown vegetables for at least 15 years now.  If I plant a seed in what I hope is good dirt, and it has what it needs to grow, I can watch the little plant (and there are many of them) grow, which it does reliably and in accord with time and the rest of the world.

the cats.  What they do is a real thing.  They are separate spirits (I have 4 cats) and they relate to me.  They're not always "good," but they are other entities that live around me.  And three of them are growing from kittens into cats, and they're okay.

My one friend.  and my mother in law, who calls every night, and we talk about an hour.  What we eat, what we've done during the day, multiple little things, what's going on in the news, I get to talk to her, she also tethers me.  My one nearby friend also is a kind of tether to "the rest of the world outside of me."  and is she a tether to ZEN?          and also there's humor, eh?

I deeply miss my husband's PRESENCE, because I deeply appreciated him, the way he was, the basic fact that our relationship was one of love!!  The memory of our relationship tells me many things.  The grief that he's gone is something I just keep experiencing over and over and over but the memories will always be there.  ... and they tether me.

of course the internet keeps me tethered to all the things the internet has on it, it's a line of communications to the rest of the world, in my opinion it has been a good thing, though also questionable and potentially dangerous, but SO FAR ... a good thing.

anyway, this tethering idea has occurred to me today.  'nuff said ... 

[KayC]

 

On 4/8/2024 at 7:00 AM, Boggled said:

it's a line of communications to the rest of the world

Truly what works for me is all of you and my Kodie...as I learned when my internet and phone were out yesterday.  My foot is injured so I couldn't just go walk it off like usual when this happens.  We did walk longer than I have been this week though, hoping I don't pay for it today.  

I'm not into zen but being with my puppy, he's amazing, so well behaved, so sweet.  I can't imagine life w/o him.

On 4/8/2024 at 7:00 AM, Boggled said:

My one friend.  and my mother in law, who calls every night, and we talk about an hour. 

I had that with my sister Peggy, but she's been gone two years, I really miss her.  I'm glad you have your MIL, my MIL has been gone 36 1/2 years, she was the mom I always wanted, I'm glad you have yours.