Self-improvement and mindfulness practices have been increasing in popularity as many celebrities and successful business people reveal the secrets of their success and seemingly insane productivity. While we can’t say for sure if these practices will guarantee you success, they have been shown to have numerous health benefits which will pay dividends to your health and happiness regardless.
Whether you're looking to improve your overall well-being, reduce stress and anxiety, or simply live a happier, more fulfilling life, incorporating self-improvement and mindfulness practices into your daily routine can help to achieve the perfect work/life balance. This is where Sapphire Spas may be able to help.
Self-improvement is the act of taking deliberate steps to shape and grow your personal and professional life. This includes deliberately creating good habits, breaking bad habits, developing valuable skills and planning a lifestyle that makes you happy and fulfilled. Everyone’s destination is different, so your self-improvement journey will be your own, but the overarching theme of becoming the best version of yourself is the same for everyone.
Mindfulness, on the other hand, is a mental state of awareness and present-moment focus. It is the art of paying attention to your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations, it allows you to become more in tune with yourself and to make decisions that reflect your actual intents and desires. As a bonus, mindfulness practices, such as meditation and yoga, have many other mental and physical health benefits.
One of the main things that can prevent a self-improvement and mindfulness journey is a poor environment. If you have literally nowhere in life that is quiet and distraction-free it will be hard to sit in silent meditation. If you want to play an instrument but have nowhere to dedicate the space to the instrument and a music stand you will find it hard to play. If you want to get fit but don’t have a gym nearby or a dedicated space at home then it will always be easy to find an excuse not to get in shape.
If your environment doesn’t allow you to make the changes that you want to make, then the place to start is changing your environment. Renovate your house to have a new room, build a dedicated bungalow or pool room out the back, or hire a landscaper to redesign your backyard with a zen garden or quiet space.
Peninsula PODrooms can crane in an additional portable outdoor room to give you some more space when your house is bursting at the seams, to give you a quiet place to enjoy mindfulness practices.
Create a dedicated sanctuary that is free from anything that prevents you from beginning your journey.
There is a famous saying that the hardest part of any journey is to take the first step. This is true, and often this is hard because you don’t even know what the first step is. The great thing about both mindfulness and self-improvement is that there’s almost nothing that you can do wrong. A single push-up every morning is the start of a self-improvement goal, staring at an analogue watch face for just 1 minute without thinking about anything else is a simple way to begin your mindfulness journey.
So, if you are ready to start your journey to positive change, just start, start anywhere, and start right now. Don’t wait until the morning or the new year or any other excuse. You will be surprised at how quickly your life will start to change.
If you can start large, feel free to start large. But for most people, this doesn’t work, and it leads to avoiding the goal entirely or burning out before you get there. Starting small makes it almost impossible not to start. Is your goal to do 100 push-ups a day? Are you failing to even bother doing one each day? Set a goal to simply lie down on the floor and get back up, be sure not to have any expectation on yourself that you must do anything more. It is so simple and so easy that you have no reason not to do it. If this is too hard, make the goal to simply sit on your knees, with no expectation to go any further. If you do this repeatedly, eventually, the idea of going a step further seems stupidly easy, so you can do that with no expectation to do anything more.
The point is that you can always choose to do more, but you never expect anything more. You make it so easy that your brain will find it hard to provide an excuse not to do this one small thing, whatever it is. This is a powerful secret to beginning new habits, especially if those habits seem too scary or confronting.
While some people may view mindfulness practices as little more than a placebo or topical remedy, they have been shown to have several real-life benefits:
It will come as no surprise that a key goal of mindfulness practices is to reduce and manage stress. Further, many self-improvement practitioners make stress reduction one of the first things they work on in their lives. Many such practices, especially mindfulness exercises with their roots in Buddhism and Stoicism are highly effective at reducing stress and anxiety. They encourage awareness of one’s own emotions and thoughts and assist in understanding why you feel or think the way you do. In most cases, the goal is to find peace in the process, and simply understanding yourself and your emotions eliminates much of the stress and anxiety felt in day to day life.
Physical health is another common benefit of both self-improvement and mindfulness. While in self-improvement, physical health is often a deliberate goal, such as going to the gym 3 times a week or going for a 1km run every morning; the physical benefits of mindfulness practices can be equally astounding. Practices such as yoga are usually undertaken for relaxation and meditation reasons, yet can provide incredible health benefits. Regardless of the activities that you do that improve your health, the benefits and rewards are abundant. For example, regular exercise improves cardiovascular health, boosts the immune system, and reduces the risk of diseases like heart disease, and diabetes. Additionally, physical exercise and mindfulness practices have both been linked to improved sleep quality, lower blood pressure, and even increased brain function.
Another important benefit of self-improvement and mindfulness practices is that they can help to improve overall wellbeing. By taking an active role in your own growth and development, you are more likely to feel confident, capable, and fulfilled. Additionally, mindfulness practices can help individuals to cultivate a sense of gratitude and contentment, which can lead to greater happiness and satisfaction in life.
Mindfulness and self-improvement also have excellent general well-being benefits. When you actively work to improve yourself, either physically, mentally or in other ways, two things happen. First, the simple act of choosing to work on yourself will increase your confidence and sense of purpose. Second, as you begin to see results in your life, you will feel more capable and fulfilled as you witness the fruits of your efforts producing desirable results in life. Both of these generally increase gratitude, contentment and satisfaction too, as your life becomes a journey that you are actively choosing to take rather than a story that you watch pass by from your armchair or cubicle.
The options for mindfulness and self-improvement are as varied as your imagination, while there are common choices such as yoga, studying philosophy, going to the gym, getting up early and learning to manage your time better. What is important is what resonates with you personally. Mindfulness can be as simple as sitting in a quiet place away from your phone, away from books, TVs or any outside distractions. Self-improvement could be learning to talk to people easier, or if you’re a socialite learning to be comfortable in your own presence.
The two practices, mindfulness and self-improvement, when combined together, can make you unstoppable. Mindfulness can help you to see the path you are on, choose the path you want to follow and identify what is important to you. Self-improvement then steps in to help you take actions that move you closer to your goals.
No matter what your goals are, incorporating self-improvement and mindfulness into your life can have a profound impact. From designing a life that is free from stress to managing anxiety or improving your physical health, self-improvement and mindfulness practices are powerful tools to get you where you want to be.
A Spa Can Help
One great addition that can help to complete any relaxing environment and make it an ideal place for mindfulness practices is a hot tub or spa. Luxury designer spas are an integral part of modern lifestyle design. The warm water, and massage jets, combined with the peaceful surroundings of a designer backyard can create a relaxing and rejuvenating environment that is perfect for self-improvement and mindfulness. Whether you want a spa pool for meditation and relaxation, a swim spa for yoga or self-improvement or have a spa simply as a relaxing addition to an existing outdoor entertainment or pool area there’s a spa option to suit your needs.
If you're looking to create the ultimate self-improvement and mindfulness environment, consider a hot tub from Sapphire Spas. Our high-quality, energy-efficient swim spas and spa pools are designed to provide the ultimate in relaxation and wellness, and they come with a variety of features and options to suit your individual needs. So why wait? Take the first step towards improving your well-being today, and visit your local Sapphire Spas store to learn more about how a Sapphire Spa can be the perfect addition to your self-improvement and mindfulness journey.