What is Mindfulness?
The importance of mindfulness is stressed from a young age at school, but we are never taught what exactly mindfulness is and how to practice it. Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you are sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Mindfulness is only one type of meditation. Other forms may include spiritual, focused, and movement meditation. Mindfulness constitutes of a range of exercises, which may include breathing methods, guided imagery, or other practices to relax the body and help reduce stress.
What are Self-Soothing Techniques?
When we get hurt – physically or mentally – or are feeling anxious or depressed, we want to feel better. We seek feeling better by learning how to make ourselves heal by relieving anxieties, in both immediate and long-term ways. This is known as self-soothing. Self-soothing is a way in which we treat ourselves to feelings of betterment so that we can move forward and pass any negativity or pain. Self-soothing techniques are countless. Ranging from touch, taste, smell, sound, and sight, they include taking a warm bath, drinking a hot cup of tea, lighting candles, watching television, or listening to your favorite playlist.
Organizing as a Self-Soothing Technique
One self-soothing technique that is not commonly recognized and one that I personally regularly utilize is organizing. The art of organizing anything – from planning your day or week, organizing your closet, and even organizing your thoughts – has been proven to reduce stress levels and the feeling of being overwhelmed. Putting in the effort of getting organized, especially if this organization extends to multiple areas of your life, can help reduce stress levels by requiring less last-minute scrambling in a variety of everyday situations.
Benefits of Being Organized in Your Everyday Life
There are many befits to staying organized, which can help transform a stressful day into a more enjoyable day. These include:
- Achieving more in less time and increasing productivity
- Gaining a sense of control over your own time and feeling empowered
- Clearing your head from all the clutter and unnecessary thoughts or worries
- Gaining energy from the space around you
- Having more time to spend on the things that are important to you
How to Use Organizing as a Self-Soothing Technique
Organizing can seem like a very daunting task to most people, with countless possibilities and no clear starting point. Your clothes do not have to be hung up by color and your desk does not have to be spotlessly clean for you to be organized. Here are a couple of tips on how to approach getting organized and how to use organization as a self-soothing technique:
- Start small. You can never expect to have your whole life organized in ten minutes. Begin by focusing on a small section of your life. For example, start by planning your day. You can do this in several different ways. You could create a to-do list with all the tasks you want to accomplish by the end of the day. This only takes a few minutes and helps you structure your day accordingly.
- Do not be too harsh on yourself. Do not overcrowd your day with twenty tasks. Make sure that you are being realistic and providing yourself with breaks to recharge, relax, and spend some time doing things you like.
- Reward yourself. It is very important to constantly reward yourself every time you accomplish something no matter how small, even if it is after you have completed one task out of ten. Providing yourself with rewards acts as a positive reinforcer for your behavior, motivating you to repeat it.
- Have an organized space. An organized workplace or an organized room can help you feel productive and reduces work-related stress which improves your efficiency. This can simply be done by removing all distractions, such as turning off your phone and television.
- Write down your thoughts and goals. It is very important to not only stay physically organized, but to stay mentally organized as well. There are many ways to do this; common ones include keeping a diary or journal, creating a few goals you want to achieve by the end of the month, or simply speaking to a friend about how you are feeling. This can help with resetting and refreshing your mind, which can help you with getting physically organized.