How to better deal with life’s challenges –

We are facing many challenges in times of pandemic, but the complicated moments in life have always existed and always will exist. If, many times, we cannot change situations, what can we do then? We can change the way we react to these situations — that’s in our control.

The practice of Mindfulness brings us this: enjoying pleasant moments more and having more flexibility, resilience, calm and emotional balance to deal with life’s challenges. When we are very stressed, anxious or afraid, we act automatically and reactively or even feel paralyzed. When we are more present in our non-judgmental experiences, we create more space between what we think/feel and what we do with it..

Here are some tips that have helped me a lot since I started practicing mindfulness:

1- Live in the present moment

When we’re living a challenging time, it’s very normal for anxiety to hit harder. And we spend enormous energy suffering about the future, about things that may not even happen. And we forget to live the present moment, which is where our life happens.

When I perceive an anxious thought, an anticipated suffering, I always say to myself “calm down, this is not happening yet. This is Luiza’s problem tomorrow” (or next week, a year from now, and so on). I understand the anxious mind and I don’t fight with it. I just gently bring my attention back to the present moment, to what I’m doing. Your mind will insist on traveling to the future or brooding over the past, so it’s a constant practice to gently bring your attention back, without fighting with yourself. How many times do you need.

2- Intensify self-care

When a friend is going through a tough time, what do you do? Give more attention, pamper the person… So do it for your best friend, which is yourself. What do you need right now? What’s good for you, what eases your heart? Do activities you love, even for a few minutes a day. Meditate! Five minutes each time you feel stressed will make a world of difference (there are short meditations in my Youtube channel for you to hear!).

3- Allow yourself to feel

No one needs to be strong and high spirits all the time, that’s not even possible. If you need to collect yourself, be quieter, do that. It’s normal, it’s part of being human. Don’t sweep the most challenging emotions (sadness, anxiety, etc.) under the rug. You didn’t heal and let go, you just hid it in some little corner inside you. And that goes on accumulating, accumulating… and eventually the bill arrives.

Respect your body and mind, in these moments it is necessary and very productive to rest more and recharge your batteries. The most challenging moments and emotions bring many reflections and learnings. Allow yourself to slow down, rearrange and restructure.

4- Put gratitude into practice

Being a more grateful person has changed my life a lot. It’s not saying “gratitude”, it’s feeling. Make a box or gratitude journal and, before bed, write down at least 3 things that made you feel grateful. Of the simplest things (the little big things in life!) and the big ones too. We focus a lot on what is missing, we focus on victimization, on complaints. And we attract what we live, we get stuck in that low energy.

It can be a beautiful day, eating something you love, talking to someone you love, having a moment of self-care, managing to include meditation in your routine, having water to drink, having a home, health, a job…. Anyway, look how much. As long as you’re breathing, there’s more right than wrong in your life.

Hope it helped you! Thus, we will live despite the challenges and not because of them.