sarahwilliamsandco

It’s self-care Thursdays, guys. We skipped last week (for my own self-care/getting bevvied with some friends) but we’re back going strong.

I think taking a moment to be mindful each day is really important. That could look like many things. Reading a book. Baking. Having a bath. Staring at a wall. Going for a walk. It could also be meditation. I find meditation takes things a step further than other activities because you are directly focusing on actually exploring what it is to be mindful. Whereas sometimes reading a book is just what you need and it relaxes you but you don’t always get to think about why you wanted to take a minute to begin with.

I mentioned I think it’s something we should strive to do each day. I’m definitely very far off that goal right now. For meditation specifically, I can do a good little four day streak and then I go the pub one day and then I do nothing for a fortnight.

But it’s just ten minutes. Ten simple little minutes is all I’m asking myself for. Which I think is very reasonable. So it’s something I’m gonna be working on for the next few months.

Something that is helping me with this goal is the app Calm. I love it. I presume a lot of you have heard of Headspace? It’s similar. I think it’s better. It’s a slightly cheaper version (£60 for an entire year, or £24 if you got it on Black Friday last year like me!) and it doesn’t have the voice of a man that unfortunately sounds like he used to narrate the bitesize revision videos on BBC. Do any of my UK millennials feel me there?

Basically the app is hundreds of hours of guided meditations, sleep stories, calming music, ASMR and more. It focuses on helping you with relaxation, happiness, anxiety, stress, confidence and sleep. To name a few.

The function I’ve been using the most is the Daily Calm. Each day the app provides a new unique ten minute meditation that has its own subject matter. Could be anything from trust to business to procrastination to monkeys (seriously, that’s today’s!) I’ve found them a great place to start if you’re new to meditation.

You can choose from many different backgrounds within the app and each comes with a sound, for example light sparkling into the blue ocean with a calm rippling of water accompanied by an almost ethereal tune. This will play alongside your videos for added relaxation and you can even close your phone and go about your day just with this calming background on.

There’s so many features I’m yet to explore! But I’d definitely recommend it for any of you looking to explore mindfulness and meditation.

When you open Calm it has a calming blue screen and simple white text that states ‘take a deep breath’. I find this very soothing and I know I’m in good hands.

Try – Soccer Mommy