mindfulness sally fazeli

Have you heard the saying, ‘We can’t control the future, but we can control the decisions we make in the present’? Well, if like me, you regularly experience ‘future tripping,’ otherwise known as anticipatory anxiety where we worry about things that may happen further up the road. Then learning to catch ourselves and refocus on the here and now consciously is an essential first step in everyday wellness. Easier said than done, right? It’s something I still have to work on regularly, and I’ve found the following practices to be a great help, I hope you will, too.  

1. Stay grounded

Staying grounded and mental wellness; these go hand in hand. Staying grounded means allowing yourself to just ‘be’ in the present moment. How can you re-ground yourself? Take some time for meditation, yoga, going for a walk, stepping onto the grass, and feeling the earth beneath your feet. Something which always works for me is to dance! From slow dancing with my eyes closed to allowing all my limbs to go their own ways. I don’t overthink it; I just go with the flow. Let your spirit wander. 

2. Practice gratitude

Life is a journey, and we all have great days and down days, but even on the worst of days, if you can reflect on what you are grateful for, it will eventually pull you out of the depths. Be grateful for the sunrise, the waves, the birds singing, the people who love you, the chocolate in your fridge (to name a few of my favourite things). Or simply write down your thoughts and feelings through journaling. Aside from the actual activities, it’s good to have a little chat with yourself and tell yourself that ‘it’s ok,’ it’s ok to feel these emotions, it’s ok to be in this situation ok not to know. 

3. Slow down 

Why are we in such a rush? Often, we feel pressure to ‘get there quicker’ and worry that we are stopping ourselves from moving towards success by slowing down. Here’s the thing, real-life transformation happens in the moments in-between when we slow down and truly appreciate where we are. So just, pause and breath – you’d be surprised at the healing effect of just breathing. 

4. Trust yourself

Having more trust or faith can apply to many situations, but especially when it comes to your life path. Whichever emotions come peaking in, trust that you are still going in the right direction by stepping one foot in front of the other. If you believe in the universe, or a god, trust that they have laid out your path and your job is to walk it. Remember, the challenging moments you are experiencing now are small speed bumps, not an exit ramp. 

5. Take a Bow

Instead of using your energy to worry about the future, instead, bow to yourself and your past. Look at how far you’ve come, it’s incredible! Remember all of the speedbumps you endured to get here? But you made it through! You have so much to be proud of, grateful for, and even more to look forward to. Let’s bow to that. 

All my love, Sally x