By Caleigh Montoya, Staff Writer
Finding peace within yourself can be very hard, especially as a college student. Below I have listed 7 daily ways you can practice peace to help manage stress, and to feel some serenity.
Meditation: Meditation helps manage depression, anxiety, stress, blood pressure, and pain. It improves sleep, memory, awareness, mindfulness, relationships, relaxation, and attention spans.
Breath work: Breath work increases activity, improves focus, helps heal from trauma, improves digestion, increases muscle tone, manages depression, releases toxins, improves self-esteem, strengthens lungs, lowers blood pressure, and increases energy.
Gratitude: The practice of gratitude can look different for everyone. It involves recognition of the good things in your life and how they affect your life. Again, this could look like several different things. Practicing gratitude can look like journaling about things that you are grateful for, paying attention to the little things throughout your day, expressing your gratitude to those around you, doing something kind, or giving thanks through prayer.
Spiritual Practice: Finding a new spiritual wave or even strengthening your current spirituality is a great way to find inner peace. Spiritual practice can enhance our feelings of self, peace, hope, and meaning.
Time in Nature: Time spent in nature reduces our cortisol levels, muscle tension, and lowers heart rates. Nature also generates feelings of positive emotions including calmness, joy, reflectiveness, and can increase concentration. It’s always nice to get out of the classroom, the dorm, or the study room and sit outside for a while.
Affirmations: Affirmations are a form of positive self-talk and self-empowerment. When you repeat them and believe in them, you can start to make positive changes. Positive affirmations boost self-esteem, decrease stress, rewire the brain’s thinking, increase productivity and movement, and raise happiness levels.
Visualization: Visualization is simple but effective. With visualization, you can prepare for events / goals and have the self-confidence to do exceptionally well. You decide what you want and picture that scene. Visualize this daily and you will be prepared and confident when that vision becomes a reality. This helps with self-confidence, preparation, mindfulness, and positive thinking.