The Daily Mind

Daily Steps To Mindful Living

Mind

How to Deal with Anxiety without Taking Medication

Mental Health, Mind

Anxiety is a normal emotion everyone feels in response to perceived threats. It is something we all have to deal with on a day to day basis and, though always an uncomfortable feeling, can actually be beneficial for us since it can make us more focused and be more motivated to solve problems in a more efficient manner.

xanax anxiety meds

Photo Credit: Dean

The problem with anxiety is, therefore, not the feeling itself but a person’s inability to cope with it in a healthy manner on a day to day basis resulting in chronic anxiety. For many, having chronic anxiety means seeking relief through medication. Unfortunately, this tack often brings with it a new set of problems as its many adverse side effects end up affecting the patient’s quality of life. While in some extreme cases medication is undoubtedly essential, a more natural approach to anxiety reduction is often enough and may even be more beneficial in the long run. Furthermore, whether taking medicines or not, it is critical that you acquire other tools to deal with anxiety if you don’t want to be dependent on your anxiety meds all your life.

So just how can you deal with anxiety without taking medication?

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Originally posted on August 9, 2013 @ 11:09 pm

How Your Garden Is Great for Your Health

Body, Home, Life, Mental Health, Mind

gardening-for-healthy-eating-587x350

Doctors of the modern age have coined a term that last century’s practitioners might have a difficult time understanding: ecotherapy. Partly a prescription to just go out and enjoy the sunshine, ecotherapy is the process of easing stress, anxiety, depression, and other typical psychological ailments through nature walks and time outdoors in the sun.

It’s a method of holistic medicine that focuses on treatments that are not necessarily based on chemical intrusions as a means of healing, but rather on attaining a healthy body through natural means, like water, massage, and vitamin supplements. Ecotherapy is too new to be backed by exhaustive scientific testing, but it has received great reviews from many patients.

Despite the lack of concrete scientific evidence, many medical professionals are hopeful that a walk through nature will soon become what the doctor orders. [Read more…] about How Your Garden Is Great for Your Health

Originally posted on August 4, 2013 @ 9:22 am

How to Raise More Mindful Kids

Family, Life, Mind, Mindfulness

Anyone who has kids will be able to relate when I say that, more than anything in life, they inspire us to be better individuals and motivate us to keep on living in a more mindful manner. With our kids’ futures on the line, we can’t help but to look beyond ourselves and act in ways that will hopefully give them a chance at a better life, and one way we can ensure that is by raising them to be more mindful as well.

angelic kid

Photo Credit: Gizaa

If you think of raising kids in a more mindful manner as one of the tasks you need to fulfil as a parent, then you will find that is definitely not the easiest item on your endless TO DO list. After all, chasing around a curious 2-year old all day or waiting for a teenager to come home all night can sap anyone’s energy and patience, leaving you feeling like you don’t have what it takes to teach your kids anything about mindfulness. However, if you approach raising your kids in a more mindful manner as something that you impart naturally to them as you live it yourself on a day to day basis, then it becomes more doable. You don’t have to feel pressured when your little one “fails to share” his toys or your teenager commits some “dreadful mistake” in life when you’d hoped that they would have learned to make better choices by now because you know that the seeds you plant as a parent will eventually come into fruition and that, as long as you continue to live by example, your kids will have a compass to guide them even when they seem to lose their way.

Still, to help you feel a bit more empowered as you strive to raise your kids to be better persons, here are a few tips on raising your kids to be more mindful individuals:

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Originally posted on July 25, 2013 @ 4:09 am

Blues or Depression? Knowing When to Seek Treatment

Mental Health, Mind

self medicate depression or not

Advances in the study of the brain have led to a greater understanding of depression. It’s not just a bad day, but a host of symptoms caused by chemical imbalances that can more deeply root the neural pathways of the brain in a cycle of depression.

Studies have shown the depressed brain can atrophy and change over time if not treated. However, recognizing when depression has set in is one of the trickier parts to overcome because the symptoms go beyond sadness. [Read more…] about Blues or Depression? Knowing When to Seek Treatment

Originally posted on July 22, 2013 @ 2:33 am

Four Things I Learned from Facebook on the Topic of Discretion

Mindfulness

Going on an internet hiatus is a great way to help you focus more on your inner self since it strips you of endless distractions. This is especially true if you are addicted to Facebook and keep on checking everyone’s status updates and their comments on yours every few minutes. Of course, just because you’re on Facebook does not mean that you have a Facebook addiction that you need to beat. In fact, Facebook does offer some interesting nuggets of wisdom for those who pay attention to such posts.

As part of a simple exercise, I did a quick scan of my Facebook friend’s posts yesterday and picked out some quotes which I thought would be interesting to share with you. With so many wise (and not so wise) quotes going around I thought that sticking to one topic would be better, and what better topic to stick to than discretion? After all, in this world of airing dirty laundry on Facebook, holding one’s tongue now applies not only to face-to-face conversations but to Facebook posts and comments as well.

So here’s the stuff I learned about discretion from Facebook.

 

be careful with your words quote

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Originally posted on July 20, 2013 @ 11:56 am