How to Recover from Sickness Mindfully

While recovery from an illness is principally in the hands of medical persons and medications, there is also a spiritual side to recovery that is often overlooked to the detriment of the person recovering. It is just as important to feel connected socially, to feel as if there is hope at the end of it all and to restore a sense of oneness with the world after being ill. This article provides some suggestions to assist you with regaining your health in a mindful way.

Part 1 - Boosting Your Own Morale

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→ Be aware that you are a precious person. Sometimes illness can cause you to feel that the whole world is against you and that you don't matter much. This isn't at all true. You matter a great deal and it is vital to remind yourself of this fact.

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→ Take care to avoid telling yourself that you deserved the illness or that you brought it upon yourself; in recovery, there is no point berating yourself. Instead, realize that it has happened and that you now have an opportunity to move on in health again.

→ You can certainly learn lessons from prior to your illness, such as ditching fast food and replacing it with healthy and nutritious foods instead, and so forth. Improve your diet to match your body's needs and makeup.

→ You may find fasting helpful. It's not for everyone but some people enjoy it.

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→ Take charge of your own life again. During an illness, it is often the case that many others direct your life, such as doctors, carers, family members and even visiting do-gooders. In recovery, you can restore your sense of self by taking charge of your own recovery process and self-care.

→ Get plentiful sleep. Sufficient sleep isn't something to exchange for other activities in life. Sleep underpins all of your other strengths and keeps you healthy.

Part 2 - Adding More Relaxation to Your Life

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→ Visualize good thoughts that make you feel-good! Sit under colored light panes with the sun streaming rays through them while setting down. The colors red, blue and green help to release stress if used at least once a week. Even a soft lamp with colored light can be used.

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→ Enjoy easy living as a rule now, not as an exception. The resulting calmness and newness of being in you will stimulate feelings of coping and contentment.

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→ Seek contentment. What sorts of activities bring you a feeling of contentedness? There are many possibilities, such as meditation, yoga, walking in the woods, swimming laps, reading fairy tales, people watching, spotting shapes in clouds, taking trips or making things. Whatever brings you a deep-seated source of contentment is worth putting more effort into, to keep your spiritual side in better shape.

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→ Hug a tree with both hands. A full embrace will release all your negativity that you don't need. Let the tree be a source of strength for you. Stand using the soles of your bare feet on the roots, pushing your toes into the ground. Absorb the Earth-energy along with the tree's life-force by visualizing that you are an extension of the tree and you are drawing all the good things your body and mind need to heal, from the depths of the Earth, coming up from the roots, trunk and your own limbs to you. Imagine the 'heart of the tree', now pressed to your heart, beating as one. Try it, you may find it extremely relaxing.

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→ Read a good book. Choose easy reads when retiring to bed. Even children's fairy-tales could be suitable, or legends.

Part 3 - Using Exercise to Keep You Centered

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→ Exercise your mind and body. Sit quietly in a place that makes you feel peaceful and happy. Close your eyes or keep them open as you please, breathe slow inhale. Hold in the air for a while, feel full and slowly exhale. Make the exhalation long and slow. Imagine the air as a purifier that you breathe in, cleansing your insides wholly and expelling all negativity out through your nostrils. Keep the mouth closed. Do this for about 30 minutes, once a day. Sit in the rays of the early morning sun, facing it for at least half an hour daily.

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→ Do some slow exercises to expel the negativity from the body. Here is a range of self-healing and calming exercises to try:

→ Stand up and stretch up your hands to the sky. Extend your whole body upwards on the soles of your feet slowly rising on the toes––breathe, come down, hands down and exhale. When the muscles stretch a bit and you feel good, that is the proper way to continue the exercise.

→ Then do the same with your legs––stretch out on the ground and sprawl like a cat stretching its limbs. Enjoy the stretch and muscle release. Curl your toes in as tight as you can, breathe, hold, release.

→ Then each muscle of the body from the head to the toes––rigid, breathe-in, release, breathe out,the whole exercise of crown, forehead, eyes, cheeks, lips, neck, shoulders, back, chest/breast/abdomen, rep-organs, hips, seat of the pants, thighs, legs and angles till the toes should take a good one hour and sleep will be peaceful and refreshing.

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→ Exercise regularly without fail. Perhaps in the early morning or in the evening. Going out in the open near the seashore or on a hill or in the park will give you the right ambiance.

Part 4 - Making Beneficial Changes

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→ Find new ways around old problems that added to your illness. Were you always busy and ever in demand prior to your illness? Now may be the time to find ways to be less busy, more focused and less needy of the validation of being the "go-to" person. It may also be the time to seek new ways of sharing your abilities, talents and skills with the world, so perhaps a transition is in order, to something you feel suits you more now.

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→ Be here now. If you were constantly focused on the past and the future before your illness, try concentrating on the now instead. Being in the present can help you to stay mindful of what really matters, and reduces your stress about what could have been or what could be. What matters is now.

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→ Change your mindset where others are concerned. Let go of all grudges you may be holding against the world. Let them be and you'll be free. By letting go, you'll feel lighter and let go of all resentments that may have contributed to feeling worse internally. Embrace others with more love and understanding. Treat everyone with respect and wish all people well. Treat family with respect and gentleness.

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→ Visualize yourself staying well and healthy. Treat yourself kindly and be thoughtful of your needs. In turn, it'll be easier to treat others more kindly too. All of these feeds into mindful well-being and good health, as you create virtuous circles of kindness and caring around you. Having a healthy mindset can keep you well, and visualizing this as your normal self is a positive step into ongoing good health.

→ Dream of being healthy and alive and well, along with other great things that manifest in your life, your health will be regained totally!

TIPS

→ Seek yourself and find the true you.

→ Live healthy, be happy and be free from fear.

Warnings

→ Always take medication under medical supervision.