1. Movement. Take a walk. If you can’t walk, move your body in another way. Even consciously moving your breath can be a form of exercise/movement. It all gets the qi and blood circulation moving. If you are more vigorous, have a regular workout routine.

2. Rest and Sleep. Not the same thing. You can sleep 8 hours and wake up tired. You can end your day and rest in meditation then (and) rise relaxed and rejuvenated. (It does not need to be) Meditation need not be complicated. Simply finding some time during the day for a moment of rest, resting the body, resting the mind, finding the space between our thoughts has great health benefits. Regular periods of rest, maintaining a sleep schedule can have a positive influence on the quality of our sleep.

3. Grounding. The human form was not designed to sit all day and walk on concreate. Taking a moment to feel the Earth beneath our feet (bare foot is great) can reconnect us, ground us, and clear out what we no longer need.

4. Be aware of what you take in and give back to the world. That is not only the food we take in, but also what we see, what we read, what we breathe in, what we hear. We can choose what to let in and let out, choose that which nourishes us, sustains us, calms and centers us, choose your life, not simply react to life. They that look outside dream to be something more, they who look inside and choose awaken to who they are. Even when resources are scarce, we can choose how to respond, how we take in what is available to us.

 Life lived in awareness is a matter of how we take it in. Life is a matter of nourishment, physical and mental, psychological and spiritual. Are we eating consciously, or simply taking in whatever is closest, is most desirable? Are we getting caught up in the news, in social media, can we be aware of the happenings without being entangled by them even when they are happening directly to us?

Consciousness is choice. We all experience times of stress, but we have a choice to meet it with anger and frustration or with compassion. What vibration do you want to send out to the world?

5. Practice gratitude and compassion for yourself, for life, for others. Even when we do not feel well, are in pain, are caught in our suffering, it will pass as all things do.