Calm and Centered Blog

How to tap into nature’s peace to cope with stress, isolation, and healing during the Covid-19 pandemic

Feeling helpless about alarming long term care problems? Five frightening problems affecting residents’ quality of life plague long term care today. You CAN advocate for change, get help for long term care residents, and help burned out staff.

This crazy world certainly makes it difficult to remain centered. Connecting to what we find meaningful is centering. Living meaningfully balances the chaos around us. When it’s hard to recall what is important, contemplative prompts help. Be centered by learning 3 simple steps to recall what’s meaningful to you – by using contemplative prompts.

Healthcare job stress ravages all medical care settings during pandemics. But you CAN sleep better, work better, and survive pandemic job stress. Rest.Work.Survive www.LymanCenter.com/courses is a free* online program offering healthcare employees effective, easy-to-learn and quick to use strategies for stress and sleeplessness. Read more https://lymancenter.com/?p=1814

Work from home frustrations abound and keep you from finishing what you need to do. Professionals are working from home with less tech support and without their colleagues – but with their families and roommates. Family caregivers are trying to work while caring for children or elder parents. What is the antidote to frustration?

With so much closed and cancelled I am trying to remember that nature is always open. With so much fear and stress I am trying to remember that nature is grounding and often soothing. Walking or otherwise exercising outside is especially good for stress but noticing and admiring nature from a window is good too. …

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Create an Extreme Self-Care Plan to protect your health

“The lungs are a major target of COVID-19” according to the American Lung Association Covid 19 FAQs, and everything you hear from the media.  There is so much stress related to the coronavirus Covid 19 pandemic. But suggesting someone with respiratory challenges take a deep breath is downright cruel! And yet, often guided meditations suggest …

Do you live alone, or does your aging parent live alone? Amidst all the many posts, problems, and stories around COVID-19, this question posted by my friend Sarah (a pseudonym) really resonated with what I have heard from so many of you.  How can you stay safe, and who will take care of you, if …

Is your brain overheating from too much thinking and worrying? Mine is! I can’t recall a week in which I had to change my thinking about so many things. With the COVID-19 constraints of social isolation and shortages of food and supplies, everything we do needs to be reconsidered and often done differently. A passionate …

Blog #9 in the Soothing Series: Gentle ways to regain your composure and find some inner peace One year, one special week, the final week in January, temperatures were 20 to 40 degrees warmer than usual. This was a very generous January thaw; usually we in New England are grateful for a stretch of 40-degree …

Blog #8 in the Soothing Series: Gentle ways to regain your composure and find some inner peace. I find sunrises captivating, especially the anticipation and mystery of continuously changing colors.  If you are lucky enough to have a panoramic view, the sunrise is a gentle reminder of how small we are in the big scope …

Blog #7 in the Soothing Series: Gentle ways to regain your composure and find some inner peace “Now is the time to shore up your practice of harvesting the light.” – Teo Bishop Might harvesting the light offer an option to my usual resistance to the coming darkness of winter? I often say I can …

Can it be so simple? Count, and you relax?  Yes! Five minutes is all the time you need to feel more at ease. Is your peace of mind worth five minutes of your time? Yes! You are worth it! The guided meditation in this blog is free and available to you whenever you need it. …

Blog #6 in the Soothing Series: Gentle ways to regain your composure and find some inner peace The haunting, sweet song of loons calling across a lake needs no back up singers, no musical accompaniment. It is in perfect harmony with the world, and never fails to sooth my soul. I miss them. Loons live …

I do love to eat, and I do love nature. What could be better than combining the two? This year I’m delighted to have space and time to have a garden.  A bit of stress comes from my lack of experience growing vegetables, but I’m getting lots of advice from family and friends. Staying calm …

One of my favorite ways to become calm and centered is with breathing meditations.  This one takes only four minutes. That’s all the time you need to feel more calm and centered. The guided meditation in this blog is free and available to you whenever you need it. Quick, easy, and free! Your well-being worth …

Blog #5 in the Soothing Series I woke early today, a little grumpy as I generally do better on 8 hours of sleep especially on vacation. Out I went with my morning tea and my dog Sammy so not to disturb my fortunate sleeping husband. What a treat Mother Nature offered! Today was one of …

Creating a bit of inner peace in this crazy world takes a bit of effort on my part. Here are three of my favorite contemplative practices for peace. Each of them are simple and require nothing fancy or expensive. Breathe – Love – Pray! Breathe When I say ‘breathe’ I mean meditatively focusing on my …