Home » Mind & Soul » Female Depression » Maintaining Wellness - Page 2

Maintaining Wellness - Page 2

© Mari Brodersen

7) Enjoy nature. If you live in an area where the natural landscape has been overrun by buildings and asphalt, you can still enjoy a garden of your own. If space is at a premium, have potted plants. Other ways to enjoy nature include bird watching (which can be done in cities as well as in natural settings), going to a park or public garden, or watching a sunrise or a sunset.

8) Have hobbies or interests that make you happy. You don't have to be a creative genius. All that's required is that you enjoy what you're doing, and that you can lose track of time while you're doing it.

9) Meditate. If you feel you can't meditate, take some quiet time for yourself every day. Ten minutes is better than nothing. If you don't like to meditate or don't know how, pray or just take a little quiet time each day.

10) Journal. Put in writing how you feel, and what hopes and dreams and wishes you have for the future.

11) Slow down. Take time to take a few very slow, deep breaths. Inhale deeply and slowly, and then exhale very slowly. Take a brief or some quiet time during the day. Even five minutes is better than nothing.

12) Learn to handle stress. A few ideas:

Reframe the problem. For example, if you hate your commute to work, change it into a time for you. Avoid getting stressed out, listen to music that you enjoy or listen to an audio book. Let the other person take the right of way if they want it so badly.

Breathe! Breathe slowly and deeply, and focus on your breath. Do this for several breaths.

List the things that you're grateful for. You don't need write a list (though that would be best); you can do this in your head as well.

If all else fails, you may want to look into some stress reduction classes, or go into therapy to learn healthier ways to deal with stress.

13) Don't judge other people. Assume that, like you, they are doing the best they can with the circumstances they're given.

14) Recognize the fact that the only person you can change is yourself. It's useless and frustrating, at best, to try to change another person or to try to convince them that you're right. This is where a lot of trouble begins in relationships. Give each person the acceptance that you would like to have from them.

The copyright of the article Maintaining Wellness - Page 2 in Female Depression is owned by . Permission to republish Maintaining Wellness - Page 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.