Reaching a Zen state of mind is all about finding inner peace and creating a balance in your life. These are 8 simple and effective ways to do so.
Simplify your daily activities down to the essentials
Sometimes, having too much on our plate can negatively impact our mental state and makes us feel overwhelmed. That’s not unusual considering the fact that we live in a fast-paced world and we’re always busy.
So, in order to slow down a bit and help your mental health to get back on track, you need to start by simplifying your daily routine and activities. Sometimes, getting back to the essentials is all that we need. Try to cut yourself some slack and take it easy. You can make a to-do list starting from essential tasks all the way to those optional tasks. Make sure to give yourself a break every once in a while and don’t stress too much over unfinished tasks. Simplify them into smaller segments and you’ll feel more satisfied with each finished segment. This will help you have peace of mind and take care of your chores more easily.
Japanese Tea Ceremony
If you’ve never heard of the famous Japanese tea ceremony, it’s time to introduce it into your daily life because you’re going to love it. This amazing ritual is perfect for those who want to achieve a Zen state of mind in the comfort of their home. Firstly, this ritual is great for strengthening social interaction. The tradition of this ceremony teaches you about self-control and humility. It also teaches you how to always position yourself correctly in front of other people.
Secondly, the Japanese tea ceremony is known for its amazing impact on the human brain. While you’re performing the tea ritual, both sides of your brain are equally stimulated. The beautiful, captivating aroma of the tea and a variety of amazing health benefits it brings are just some of the top reasons why you should incorporate this Japanese tradition into your daily life.
Yoga and Meditation
This is how meditation can be perfectly described. Imagine you are sitting in a room where several TVs and radios are turned on. In the corner of a room a person is sitting and giving you a very important lesson but they’re whispering the whole time. The only way for you to hear that important lesson is if you turn the radios and TVs off. In other words you need to cancel them out or tune them out.
That’s exactly how meditation works. It is a way for you to tune out all of your surrounding noises. You become the one with yourself and even if it’s just for a few minutes, you get to enjoy your own little bubble of peace and relaxation. It does take practice, but once you start you won’t ever want to come back. You can always start with programs of guided meditations for beginners and then you can work towards meditating on your own.
Meditation can help you develop self-awareness too. Apart from self-confidence, self-awareness is also very important. Being able to assess both your strengths and weaknesses gives you a sense of true balance and it teaches you how to love yourself as a whole – both good and the bad.
The Power of Compassion
Practice and cultivate compassion for others. This is the core of Buddhism for a reason. When you express compassion towards others you are learning the true meaning of our existence and it will help you find the sense of true happiness and peace. Compassion is tightly connected with other parts of Buddhism such as karma as well as many others.
Plus, it doesn’t take much effort or time to show compassion to other people. It will take some time to practice. It will also take you some time to become a bit more sensitive to the feelings and needs of people surrounding you. Simply start by being nice to everyone and doing random acts of kindness every once in a while. It will replenish your soul and help you reach that inner peace and happiness. This is more than just about some traditions and rituals. All of these things can have a great impact on your mind and your mood.
Let the nature in
Sometimes getting back to our roots and reconnecting with Mother Nature is all that we need to reach that inner peace of mind and happiness. So, don’t be scared to invite nature into your home. Let it become your surroundings. Introduce some house plants and decorate your living space. You can arrange different sized house plants and flowers around the house. Make sure to take care of them daily and water them regularly. Some of them will need more sun exposure and some of them will need less of it. You can get flowers delivered straight to the door of your home and have your favourite bouquets arrive in perfect condition ready to be placed around your lovely home. The presence of plants and flowers can have a lot of great benefits both for your physical and your mental health and it’s always a good choice to have them around.
Decluttering home to achieve Zen
Decluttering your living space is a very important step if you want to reach peace and inner clarity. It might sound silly at first, but your surroundings greatly influence your mind and your inner world too. If the space you live in is crowded, cluttered and dirty, it is inevitably going to take a toll on you and make you feel like you’re on the edge constantly. You always have to think about where you’re stepping. You have to care about not knocking things over. In a cluttered space you instantly feel overwhelmed and stressed out. However, once you declutter your space you’ll feel that the energy flows a lot more differently. You have more space to move around and you feel more free and relaxed.
You can start by taking your laundry to the washing machine. Then, take all the garbage out and clean the apartment. You can go through the clothes that you don’t wear anymore and donate them to those less fortunate. It will clear up the space and you will end up having more storage space. Lastly, for the things that you don’t know where to put away, try to find creative storage spaces such as under the couch storage and other places. This way, that stuff will be out of the way and make the space look more tidy and organised.
Try a mind cleanse
Speaking of decluttering, your mind also deserves a thorough cleanse.
Most of the time we forget how important the outside stimuli is and how much it can affect our state of mind. There are many ways in which it can influence us badly. It can fog up our minds, distract us, make us feel fearful, aggressive, paranoid, and a range of other negative emotions. These emotions pile up and if we don’t cleanse them and let them out through healthy channels they will explode and it can lead to a meltdown or a complete mental breakdown. We overwork ourselves and don’t take time to look within ourselves and process our emotions properly.
So, what can you do to cleanse your mind and process your emotions? You can start by letting out your negative emotions in a healthy way. Whether it is journaling, painting, dancing, or some other form of art for you, try to find a medium that can help you channel out your negative emotions. Then, consume what we call mental food. Whatever replenishes your should – a good book, your favourite movie, a new hobby, or something else – try to do more of it. It will help you recharge your battery and you will feel a lot better.
Re-evaluate your dreams and goals
We all have something that we’re striving for. We all have dreams, goals, or steps in our lives that we want to reach and accomplish. We keep looking forward to the day when we’ll be able to say we made it. It’s okay to have such dreams and strive for them. However, the problem arises when we get attached to our dreams too much to the point where we associate and identify ourselves with them and can’t ever imagine being happy unless we achieve our dreams.
This kind of attachment is very unhealthy and you need to find a way to set yourself free from it. Re-evaluate your dreams. Sit down and write a list of what you want to achieve but try not to let these lists define you. The goal is to stay grounded in the present moment and enjoy the now. Once again meditation is one of many great ways to do so.
Conclusion
In conclusion, creating that perfect state of mind is all about achieving a balance – a balance between the outside and inner world, a balance between our mind and our physical body, a balance between our present and our future, and so on. These are just some of the ways you can reach that perfect balance and inner harmony.
