Set yourself up for a great weekend! Saturdays, I will vlog mixed practices such as meditation, yoga stretches, mindful awareness, and more. Connect to essential elements of life that promote rejuvenation and relaxation to enjoy the weekend ahead.
Building a Foundation
#1 How Do Emotions Affect Your Decisions?
How do emotions affect your decisions?
Do you often find yourself irritable, anxious, sensitive, or tense? If so, you’re not alone. According to the American Institute of Stress, 73 percent of Americans have stress that impacts their mental health.
When you experience stress, it can be challenging to make healthy decisions. Remember a time when you were upset, nervous, or in a bad mood. In that state, you may subconsciously revert to a situation from your past that has an emotional element attached to it. You then make a decision based on an earlier experience rather than the current situation.
Recognizing how your own emotions and past experiences influence the choices you make can help you discern when it is best to put off a decision until you are in a more relaxed frame of mind.
Calm the Storm Meditation
Here is a practice to be with stress and release stress. Remember what you practice leads to better choices in stressful situations.
- Notice your emotions right now. What do you feel? Use a word that explains this feeling.
- Scan your body. Where do you feel this emotion? What sensations are present?
- Don’t worry about controlling or changing the feelings or sensations right now.
- Imagine your mind is like a storm, rainy and windy. Hear the raindrops as they fall onto the rooftop. Tap, tap, tap. Know that you are in a safe, dry place.
- Hear the raindrops as the storm gets closer and then reaches its peak. Your emotions are also at peak sensitivity.
- As the storm begins to pass, the rain gets lighter, and you feel your emotions feeling lighter and lighter. The sound of the rain begins to grow faint—your sensations and your feelings lose their intensity.
- Imagine the clouds beginning to part and slowly revealing the blue sky. Observe your feelings lifting and shifting to reveal the new sensations of peace and relaxation.
- The final raindrops tap on the roof as the sky becomes completely clear. Notice how you feel as the intensity of your emotions fades and releases from your body and mind.