Strong Mind, Strong Life

Life gets busy. Schedules get crazy. People come and go. Big things and small things pile up. It happens. But you can’t control everything, nobody can. The one thing you can control is yourself, and most importantly, your mind. 

The quality of your thoughts dictates the results you’re able to achieve in anything in life, whether it be work or training or hobbies or relationships. Thoughts dictate actions. When life gets crazy, your mind can also become a little messy, and finding clarity in your day becomes more difficult. It becomes harder to focus, harder to make gains in the gym, harder to make decisions, and harder to get motivated to do the things you love. 

But time is a finite resource. The more time you have doing the things that are important to you, the better quality of life you can achieve. Here are a few methods to help you find clarity:

1. Meditation: Alright, this one is a little cliche. Everyone on the planet is talking about meditation and its benefits. We aren’t going to go into all of the different types or techniques, but it’s important to find time for yourself to gain clarity over what’s happening in your mind. Meditation can be a powerful tool to help you do just that. Whether you take 2 minutes or 20 minutes, whether you focus on your breath or follow a guided meditation app, taking the time to focus will help you find the clarity and stability you need to move forward. 
   
   
2. Journaling: Our thoughts can get away from us really easily when life starts piling up. It’s easy for our attention to get divided and distracted from our goals. Writing things down can help you filter through all of the things running through your mind and to see them from an outside perspective. There are also many ways to journal but a few that we like are morning pages and gratitude journaling. When you do morning pages, you write a stream of consciousness as soon as you wake up in the morning, no filter. Whatever is going through your mind is what you write down. This helps you clear out any negative or ruminating thoughts so you understand what you’re thinking about and make more conscious decisions. Gratitude journaling is helpful at the end of the day to remind yourself to look for the good in each day. When you take time to remind yourself to look for the positive, it can transform your thoughts and help you achieve more than you thought possible. 
   
   
3. Breathwork: Breathing is the fastest and simplest way to find calm. You don’t need anything to focus on your breath, just a few minutes and focus. Box breathing is what we use and it’s simple to implement.  To use the box breathing technique, sit up straight and breathe into your diaphragm for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale for a count of 4, and hold for a count of 4. Repeat a few times and see how you feel. 
   
   

Beginning a new habit and changing behaviors isn’t easy. Remember that what you have been doing brought you to this point but to move forward, it’s going to require something different. Pick one option and give it a try. Be patient and go slow. Let us know how it goes and how we can help!