When winter time comes around some of us can get thrown out of balance causing a sense of the winter blues within us. Our mind and body can get out of sorts a bit because of lack of sunlight, lack of exercise, lack of social connection, and of course, that nasty cold weather.
Seasonal affective disorder doesn’t have to get to you if you learn how to keep your mind and body in balance. Remember to keep your internal thoughts and words as positive as you can. The cold weather and inability to spend much time outside can wreak havoc on your well-being. You don’t want to end up feeling like Jack Torrance from the horror movie:The Shining do you?
Here is what I would do if I were in your shoes.Start a list of things you can do to avoid the winter blues and post them in a place where you will see them everyday like on your desk, the fridge or even in your car. Try switching brain gears to activities that are right brain oriented which will help you to achieve a more calm, relaxed state of mind. It always works for me. Maybe that is why I always liked Art class in school.
Things you can do to fight off the winter blues
- Get out the pad and paper and start drawing some pictures. I bought a really cool book on how to draw for $5.00 at Borders books.
- Get moving, if you are adventurous go outside and do some work. Clean up, wipe off the outside of your house, pick up tree branches ,or pine cones off the ground.
- Do some bird watching with binoculars. There are still plenty of birds outside to see and they would love your attention. I just saw a really cool cardinal in my backyard yesterday.
- Take five minutes a day, three times a day to do some breathing exercises. Breath in for a count of four seconds, hold your breath for eight seconds(if you can) and exhale for four seconds. This will immediately change you state of mind and well-being.
- Watch some good comedies. You will literally change the way you feel by watching some movies that make you laugh. I enjoy Jim Carrey, he is hysterical and outrageous.
- Eat natural and fresh foods. When we are feeling blue we tend to indulge in foods that are not good for us. What we put into our bodies will have a direct impact on how we feel. Avoid comfort foods as much as you can. I know this is hard to do. But being healthy both mentally and physically will really help you to beat the winter blues.
- Get Cooking. I love to learn new recipes and try them out at home. Baking also is wonderful to do and you can give away the goodies to your friends and family. When baking use less sugar or Stevia as a sweetener if possible.
- Go for a drive. Take the family or go solo for a nice country drive. Remember to keep a bag in your trunk for emergencies. Extra clothes, gloves, first aid kit.
- Call your friends and family and catch up with them. Schedule a lunch or dinner date with them.
- At the beginning and ending of each day state five things that you are grateful for.
- Do yoga for about five minutes. You can search You Tube for some great videos about yoga.
- Do some soul searching and write out your feelings about why you feel the way you do. This process could take some time but you may uncover a limiting belief about why you feel sad and or depressed during the winter. Once you uncover the limiting belief you will be much more able to take action to feeling better.
- Perform a Smudging ceremony to cleanse the self and the home. Buy or make some dried sage and burn one end of it. Fan the smoke from the sage as you walk around every room in your house. Be sure to open the windows in each room partially so that the negative energy can escape. Dried sage smoke has been used for thousands of years to remove negativity from people, places and things. Just be sure to use caution when burning sage around your home.
Not all of us can move to Florida during the winter so why not bring Florida to you. Add some small palm trees to your home and bring in some sand to make a beach room. Add some heat lamps to warm you up. The key to remember to deal with the winter blues is to become creative because creativity is your greatest gift.
When you are feeling low sometimes all that it takes is for someone to remind you how special you are. Please allow me to do that for you by having a coaching session with me.
This post first appeared on Mazzastick.
