Winter is Coming – 6 Ways Mindfulness Practices Can Light Your Spirit

If you’re like others who face seasonal depression, the cool breezes provide a nasty reminder that a long battle may await you.

However, you can lessen the struggle with a good strategy.

Although winter is coming, there are several ways mindfulness practices can help to lift your spirits. By tweaking your current lifestyle in preparation for winter, you can take a proactive stance.

Learn about six ways mindfulness practices can provide you with the positive boost you need to endure this winter.

How Mindfulness Practices Light Up Your Spirit

Practicing mindfulness can help you:

1. Boost Your Immune System

If a sick bug is going to strike you or your household, there’s a pretty good chance it’s going to be during the cold months.

Mindfulness practices can strengthen your immune system and help keep it functioning at its highest potential. Should the flu or another bug happen to sneak into your system, recovery time is significantly diminished.

This boost helps you to feel good and be at your best even with an onslaught of germs.

2. Keep Things In Perspective

Mindfulness practices help to keep you thankful and help to put things into perspective.

It can be very easy to let negative emotions take control and spiral you down into depression. Mindfulness practices remind you that this too shall pass. You have the ability to step away from the situation and see the big picture rather than letting even the dark days get you down.

Mindfulness provides you with a voice of reason and helps you to see things more rationally.

3. Maintain a Healthy Self-Care Routine

Mindfulness practices help you to take care of your body by being aware of your body’s needs and helping you stick to a healthy self-care routine.

During the winter months, it’s easy to get a little lax with caring for yourself. You’re mostly bundled up anyway, so you might not think of taking care of your body like you do when it’s warm.

Being mindful means being aware of your environment as well as your physical being. When you feel down, it helps to listen to what your body needs to stay happy and healthy.

4. Effectively Battle Depression

Depression usually starts small and can overtake you if given enough leeway.

Mindfulness practices help to change your frame of mind when you sense it to be a little off-kilter. When you’re sensitive to your own headspace, negative thoughts don’t have the chance to spiral out of control.

Mindfulness is like a good friend checking in on you. It helps you swing the pendulum back towards the way of positivity.

5. Attain Relief For Stress

During the winter months, stress has a tendency to influence you more severely than usual.

Aside from the regular work and home stress, you’ve got holiday and inclement weather stress as well. Plus, your fuse is already short because of the dark and gloomy days.

Mindfulness practices can help to relieve stress by activating your parasympathetic nervous system through deep breathing techniques. This deep breathing tells your body that everything is okay and turns off the notorious “fight-or-flight” feelings.

6. Adjust To a New Routine

Changing your summer routine to your winter routine might cause you to feel especially blue. Summer is an active time for most people. A time where positive simulations abound.

Mindfulness practices help to prepare you for the change in routine by making you aware of the activities that you need to replace. For instance, rather than going to the pool, you might decide to read a new book instead. While it’s not the same activity, it’s still a positive and enjoyable activity.

Although the cold season is typically unavoidable, you can still feel good and be happy during those months. By incorporating mindfulness practices into your life, you can lift your spirits and boost your mood no matter what the weather is like outside.