Covid stress is real. It has been a year now since anything in our lives has been considered normal. When life around you seems out of control, there are ways to take back your sense of control with mindfulness for Covid Stress with Empower Counseling.
Mindfulness, simply put, is being fully in the present moment, aware of your thoughts and feelings, without judging yourself for them.
Covid Loss.
Covid has presented each of us with loss. Some of these losses are considered huge losses….the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, or the loss of a relationship with someone you were close too. Some losses involve missing life events that only come once like weddings and graduations. Then there is the loss of the connectedness we used to feel when we could roam unencumbered visiting family and friends across the country.
Whatever your losses due to Covid are, it is unhelpful to rank them in importance or minimize them because you think others have greater loss. Let yourself feel whatever it is you feel. Let yourself morn your losses. Do not gloss over them as unimportant, because if they are important to you, then they are important…period.
If you find yourself ruminating about the past or worrying about the future, a mindfulness routine from Empower Counseling, a Birmingham area counseling clinic, can help bring you back to focusing on the present.
Mindfulness for Covid Stress.
I was recently honored to be a part of an article entitled, “Thoughts on Life and Love” by cognitive behavioral therapist, Mandy Kloppers
Here are some tips she shares in her article on how to incorporate mindfulness into your day, and reduce the stress you are experiencing during Covid.
The first suggestion is to create a morning mindfulness routine, asking yourself questions that will help keep you in the present, away from worry about the future and things you cannot control.
At the very beginning of each day, I ask myself the following four questions:
1. How do I want to show up to those I love today?
2. How do I want to treat myself today?
3. What do I want to accomplish today?
4. What actions will it take to accomplish this?
By asking myself these questions, I take control of my life. I focus on what I can control, instead of what I can’t. This cuts down on overall anxiety and helps me be more productive. At Empower Counseling, my Birmingham area counseling clinic, I specialize in helping clients through anxiety counseling. Mindfulness is an integral part of Acceptance Commitment Therapy, in which I am advance trained.
When clients come to Empower Counseling for anxiety treatment, I help them create their own mindfulness routines to cut down on worry and take control over their own lives. Each routine looks a little different because we find what is right for each particular client.
We often use a cloud visualization for clients to let go of unhelpful thoughts causing anxiety.
Visualization.
Imagine yourself lying on a blanket on a beautiful day in the middle of a green meadow. You are watching big, white fluffy clouds pass into your vision on the right, in front of you, and out of your vision on the left. You put one of your helpful thoughts on the next cloud that comes into your vision, and you watch it float by at it’s own pace until it floats out of your vision on the left. Practice putting individual unhelpful thoughts on their own clouds for a few minutes a few times a day. Practice this mindfulness for Covid stress with Empower Counseling.
The next time you begin to worry about something that has happened in the past or what the future might hold, try these exercises.
For more help with your anxiety, reach out for anxiety counseling from Empower Counseling, a counseling clinic specializing in ACT for anxiety, serving Homewood, Mountain Brook, Hoover, Vestavia, and other surrounding areas.
Anxiety counseling is not the only service available at Empower Counseling, A Birmingham area COUNSELING clinic serving Homewood, Mountain Brook, Vestavia, Hoover, and other surrounding areas. We also offer counseling for depression for teens, college students, young adults, and professionals.
If you are struggling with a difficult life transition, Empower Counseling is here for you.
All you need to do is:
- Call Kathryn at Empower Counseling. 205-730-6570
- Schedule your first appointment.
- Feel better.