Finding Solitude helps Reduce Stress and Anxiety

We can't always get away from this big world for rest and relaxation, but making an effort to find pockets in our schedule for solitude and rejuvenation is key to keeping a balanced life.

"I'll do it after the first of the year," you say, or "when the kids finish school."  But the truth is, those times are always in the future and the need for balanced relaxation in our lives is now.

If you aren't able to find a hut in the middle of nowhere to find peace and quiet, then try for a smaller, more reachable goal.

One woman finally insisted with her family that they must all arranged to cover for her so she could get away to the local Barnes and Noble once a week to sip some coffee and peruse the magazines and books for a couple of hours.  Another asked friends to watch her kids so she could go sit in a hot tub at the local recreation center now and then.  One man began taking that lunch hour he once worked through to go meditate at a facility he'd found in his area.

It doesn't have to be complicated or involve expensive trips away to even more expensive retreats in the mountains, which take time away from work, family, jobs and typically end up being even more stressful.  It's actually the little pockets of time, and little bits of relaxation during our day to day activity that add up to a more balanced life of stress versus relaxation.

Here are a few simple ideas for getting away for short periods of time:

*Find a local park and visit it during your lunch hour to eat or just walk or sit.
*Utilize your own back yard now and then to sit and watch the birds or clouds
*At home, run a hot bath and soak while listening to gentle music and/or using gentle aroma candles
*Go for walks in your area to relax the eyes from all the electronic stimulation
*Go visit your local library on a day when all the kids are in school.  They are fairly quiet places.
*Visit a Day Spa and get a massage in your area

Be creative and remember to listen to yourself.  When you find yourself saying "I'll do it later", you can be sure it's because you think it's too big of a task to get to right now.  Making the task smaller makes it reachable and doable.  You  can't put off your need for relaxation forever.  Your body and mind will eventually catch up with you and the stress by then will take so much longer to correct in order to bring balance to your life.

Thanks to Lain Merchant for the great photos
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Relaxation Exercises for the Eyes

The more we use computers and electronic devices for communication, the more strain we put on our eyes.  Many headaches and facial-muscle tension can be attributed to the strain involved in focusing on changing text and font sizes, as can setting our eyes on moving objects on our computer screens.  That’s why it’s important to learn a few exercises for relaxing the eyes throughout the day.

Two of the quickest ways to relax the eyes are:  Closing the eyes, and Distance Focusing.  Closing the eyes means just that.  Sitting back from your computer for just a moment and closing the eyes to relax all the muscles being used to focus on objects on your screen.  Many people avoid this exercise because they fear that if they close their eyes, they will fall asleep.  This is an understandable fear as statistics show that most people do not get enough sleep and are therefore tired prior to beginning their work day.  However, if you are disciplined or can set a brief and gentle timer, this method may work for you.

Distance Focusing is a way to get out from behind the computer (and the close proximity to the screen), and allow the eyes to focus on things much farther away.  If you can, go to a window and focus on distant objects or the horizon.  Mountains and even clouds are good targets to allow the eyes to shift from being focused just feet or inches away, to much farther distances.  Even just looking across a large room is a nice shift from the close-proximity-focusing of your computer screen or electronic device.

In addition, gently massaging the eyes over the top of the eyelids is another way to help the eyes take a break and relax from straining.  This can be done with the tips of the fingers, or the open palm of the hands.  Running your hands under warm or cool water first (depending on comfort level) can be helpful in introducing a calming sensation to the eyes.  If you wear contact lenses, you may want to massage the area near and around the eyes instead.

The human eyes are under much more strain than ever before in history, so it's very important that you take good care of them and know your limitations.  Looking at computer screens for prolonged periods of time can cause your eyes to dry out.  So it's crucial that you make a conscious effort to blink more frequently when you are doing work on your computer.  Don't push your eyes to extremes that are unnatural for them.  

Remember, the human body is not a machine.  It's a living organism and it needs rest.  The eyes were not meant to be used non-stop day and night and are certainly not meant to be exposed to light and stimulation without chances for rejuvenation.  The eyes need periodic times of rest and relaxation--just like the rest of the body does-- in order to recharge and function properly for us throughout our lives.

Thanks to banoootah_qtr for the great photo - just close your eyes...and dream