As if life isn’t chaotic enough, March brings its own kind of crazy. As poet John Clare observed in the March entry of his “Shepherd’s Calendar”,
“March month of ‘many weathers’ wildly comes,
In hail and snow and rain and threatning hums.”
When the internal and external climates are swirling, we need a place to take shelter.
Insight Timer has lots of FREE* resources for meditation, motivation, yoga, and relaxation. With many different hosts, there should be someone that matches any mood, goal, or vibe. There are even live sessions, which creates an immediate connection that may be missing in our day-to-day.
* The only payments on Insight Timer are voluntary donations
Our lives seem to be getting busier and busier. There is much to do, and less time to do it in. Frequently that leads to stress and anxiety as we struggle to fit everything into our day. I know I’m not very good at prioritizing taking care of myself. Hopefully these apps will help make it easier to fit in time for self care.
1. Aloe Bud
Aloe Bud is an easy way to make sure you’re taking care of yourself every day. The app sends gentle nudges throughout the day, reminding you to drink water, eat, reach out to friends and more. Instead of guilting you if you aren’t doing well, Aloe Bud encourages you to celebrate even the small victories.
The ToDon’t app might sound like the opposite of self-care, but hear me out. The app works on getting you to procrastinate bad habits or what you don’t want to accomplish that day. ToDon’t could potentially help you avoid bad choices like checking social media or letting laundry pile up.
Whether you live with anxiety or just had a busy day, Calm can help you find a few moments in the day to feel peaceful. The app offers hundreds of meditations on topics including anxiety, stress, sleeping, forgiveness, gratitude and more. The sessions range from three to 25 minutes long. The app is free to download, but in-app purchases range from $15-$80.
If you play games to distract yourself or wind down from a long day, this could be for you. Lumosity lets you play games, learn and improve your mind all at once. The app includes puzzles, memory games, logic problems, meditation techniques and more. As you play, you can track your progress while learning your strengths, weaknesses and cognitive patterns.
The world we live in these days is full of virtual meetings and video chats. While there are definitely negatives to the absence of real world contact, there may be situations where it’s actually beneficial.
A recent study at Edith Cowan University in Australia suggests that VR therapy with realistic avatars may be more effective for some people than traditional in-person therapy.
Shane Rogers, PhD and lead author of the study, stated that fifty-two undergraduate psychology students from 18 to 53 years old rated their experiences communicating with an avatar driven by another person wearing motion capture technology.
They engaged in casual getting-to-know-you conversations and were interviewed about positive and negative experiences.
The researchers compared the avatar conversations to face-to-face conversations and found that about 30% of participants felt more comfortable disclosing negative experiences in virtual reality compared to face-to-face.
“This indicates that for a substantial proportion of people, this mode of communication might be quite useful for psychological therapy,” Rogers said. “We are currently doing more research to further investigate that.”
What do you think? Would it be easier for you to express yourself in a virtual environment?
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Ask The Dave 