Firstly, it’s important to discuss what spiritual alignment means and why it is of value to individuals.
Take a pause to think about your own life, and really evaluate how you feel overall about yourself and your attitude towards life. Don’t consider how you feel in this particular moment, or just today, or even this week, but how you feel as a whole about your life, where you are, and how things are going. Consider how you feel when faced with challenges. Are you positive, empowered, determined? Do you procrastinate, avoid difficulties, and let problems pile up without dealing with them?
Often, if you are feeling unable to cope, it’s because you aren’t managing to balance the different elements of your life effectively. It means that the important things are getting lost, and the unpleasant things are being allowed to take over. When your equilibrium is off, it can be difficult to get back on track and keep your life under control.
If you aren’t feeling yourself, and you’re struggling to keep up with everything, it’s time to take a step back and adjust your focus, re-prioritize, and take some time to rest. There are a few things you can do to get yourself back on track when things are getting out of hand.
1. Focus On Balance
Look at all the different elements of your life, and explore how much time you are dedicating to your work, to your hobbies, to your relationships, and to your own sense of self. If work is taking up all of your time, you may start feeling irritable and frustrated with everything, because all the other elements of your life will suffer. Looking at how you spend your hours will give you a better idea of whether you are achieving balance, and whether something is consuming too much time. If it is, consider how you can address this and restore balance, making sure you devote time to yourself.
“You should avoid scheduling all your hours, and allow yourself some freedom to be spontaneous and decide on the spur-of-the-moment what you will do. This leaves you some flexibility and lets you take time to recuperate when you need to” explains David Donelson, a spiritual writer at Boomessays and Academized.
Try our 7 Days of Balance course »
2. Embody Gratitude
There is a limit to how much you can control in your life. No matter what you do, you will encounter problems and pain, and the only thing which you can really do is to embody a positive attitude. If you face your problems while being grateful that they aren’t bigger, you will find that they seem less overwhelming and more manageable.
Being grateful changes your overall attitude, making you recognize the many ways in which you are fortunate. It doesn’t mean you can never complain about any aspects of life, but instead means that you generally focus on the positives rather than the negatives, and you see the silver linings when clouds appear. This sort of attitude takes time and practice to cultivate, but don’t be discouraged. Keep a journal of nice things that have happened, adding to it every day, or write these things out on strips of paper and add them to a jar. When you feel like you need a boost, get out your book or jar, and look back on the noteworthy moments – no matter how small they are.
Try our 30 Days of Gratitude course »
3. Care For Yourself
Remember that mental health is closely linked to bodily health. Taking care of your body will do a great deal to improve your self-esteem and resilience, and will make you more capable of dealing with problems when they occur.
Make yourself a manageable daily exercise routine, and ensure it fits in with your lifestyle so you can stick to it. It doesn’t need to be strenuous, but exercising regularly has been proven to make you feel better, and helps keep you at a healthy weight.
Another important element of self-care lies in getting good sleep. Establish a sleep routine which you are capable of following, and try to stick to it as much as possible. Work out how much sleep you need every night, and then organize your life accordingly.
“Don’t allow work hours to eat into your sleep hours, and try to remove distractions from your room if they will keep you awake. This might mean turning off your computer an hour before bed, or leaving your phone downstairs, as screens can prevent you from sleeping, and constant notifications from your phone might disturb you when you are actually resting. Getting good sleep is key to feeling capable of dealing with challenges” says Patricia Schacher, a Yoga blogger at Essayroo and UKWritings.
Eating well is the next step in self-care. Keep a food diary if it helps you balance the different elements of your diet, and try to identify any deficiencies. A lack of certain nutrients can have a major negative impact on your mood and energy levels, so check that you are getting what you need from your meals. Eating consciously makes you feel better, and ensures you have everything you need to stay healthy and happy.
Try our 30 Days of Love course »
4. Practice Meditation And Breathing Exercises
Taking a bit of time to breathe and relax when you are feeling stressed can seriously improve your ability to re-centralize and calm yourself. You should practice meditation on a daily basis – or at least implement a few minutes of quietness, in which you sit and reflect. You could combine this with the gratitude exercise, encouraging yourself to think positively, or just consider what has happened over the course of your day, or what you hope will happen, and enjoy existing in the current moment. These periods of calm intersperse the chaos of everyday life, and can help you restore your spiritual alignment.
Taking care of yourself, guarding your equilibrium, and reviewing the different elements of your life to ensure they reflect the life you want to live are essential to spiritual alignment. If you neglect yourself, you will find that you struggle to deal with problems and challenges, and that your mood is constantly low, even without obvious causes.
Try our 30 Days of Mindfulness course »
