A Non-Exhaustive List of Things You Can Do to Feel Better.

And they’re mostly free.

For when you need some re-centering. Keep any of these ideas in your back-pocket. Or create a list of your own. Feel free to share your techniques in the comments.

• Sleep 8 hours a night. I sleep almost 10 hours every night.

• Box Breathing. Inhale for 4. Hold for four. Exhale for 4. Hold on empty for 4. Repeat. OR Inhale for 4 (or longer if you can) Hold for 4. Exhale for 6 (or longer if you can). Helps calm the nervous system.

• Jump in a pile of leaves.

  

• A long hug with a friend or lover.

• Compliment a Stranger.

• David Elliott Meditations

• Not quite sure if it’s Tai Chi or Qi Gong but my acupuncturist taught me a helpful move for anxiety. Find a tree. Place your (bare) foot up against it like you were putting your foot on a gas peddle. Inhaling, reach your arms up and over head like you were gathering all your trouble. Exhale, press your palms down toward the ground. Repeat 108 times, OR, until your anxiety has dissipated.

• Journal. Aim to “brain dump” what is on your mind every morning. Try to fill a page. Or three if you subscribe to The Artist’s Way methodology.

• Walk 3 miles without a phone or any electronics. I walk the loop in Prospect park without a phone and it's excruciating but very helpful. It’s interesting to notice my mind and what I end up thinking about. It's very meditative. I always think that I look better after these walks and I think it’s just because I got the blood flowing.

• Go sit in the woods or anywhere there are some trees. My acupuncturist told me that trees are “good filters”. My interpretation of this is that trees filter the air and by extension they can help filter the mind.

• Wash your dishes. 

• Fold your laundry. 

• Put your keys on a keychain. 

• Make your bed.

• Call or text your parents and tell them you love them even if you don’t feel like it.

• Read a book. I haven’t in a few weeks.

• Put your phone in a drawer. 

• Take a bath with some epson salts– great for grounding. 

• Sit and do your makeup whilst listening to music. 

• 101 Powerful affirmations by Louise Hay. Or if you want to get really crazy– record yourself speaking the affirmations and listen to those… painful…

• Blast music in the privacy of your own home and vigorously dance in front of the mirror until you can’t breathe anymore. Songs I like to do this to at the moment are here and here.

• Drink water. 

• Jump in water. 

• Eat fruits and vegetables. If I eat one vegetable a day it's a win.

• Ask someone else how they are doing and actually listen and care. Harder than it sounds for some of us… (me).

• Indulge in the sweet smell of a dog’s skin.

• Keep your commitments.

• Be really honest with yourself and others. Write the things you’re worrying about on a tiny piece of paper, i.e., relationships, job, money, apartment woes, etc. etc., and put it in a little box to symbolize “turning it over”.

• Scream into a pillow.

• Lie in bed and watch Sex and the City all day.

• Ignore people on text.

• Post a cute photo of yourself on IG stories and watch who likes it.

• Listen to Ram Dass.

• Hum really loudly to yourself in the steam room at the gym.

• Massage your stomach with castor oil. 

• Run really fast for as long as you can until you can’t breathe anymore. Good for the heart. And the mind.

• Lather yourself in an oil that smells really really good after you shower. I like this one but anything you have in house will do.

• Smoke the occasional cigarette.

• Put your bare feet on the earth. 

• Play a card game with your friends. 

• I repeat, put your phone in a drawer. 

• Try this dropping anchor exercise if you are having trouble getting centered. 

• Get 10 minutes of pure sun exposure, no sunglasses, first thing in the morning. 

• Set up your alarm to wake you up with “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers.

• Volunteer somewhere. I used to volunteer at the Bowery Mission making sandwiches, etc. I actually did this in large part to make it seem like I was a good person when starting to date my boyfriend. For that omission I probably should go back and not tell anyone… which leads to the last and final thing…

• Do something good for someone else and don’t tell anyone about it.

  Thanks for Reading!! Share with a friend if you liked :)