Meditating is one way to help minimize stress. Image: RelaxingMusic via Flickr CC.
Stress can be a good thing in small amounts; getting that extra push can be invigorating every once in a while. When it becomes a habit to always be feeling anxious it can cause problems for both your relationships and your body. But there are things that can help, like meditation. Meditation is learning how to still your mind because the racing of the mind is what can leave us feeling anxious. At Cultivating Culture, we’ve written about how art therapy can help eliminate stress and anxiety. Now, here are a few apps that can also help:
Use the app Headspace. It has a nicely animated interface that is soothing for those of us who need it. You start on level one of the app with just 10-minute meditation sessions and then you try to advance in ten days of meditation straight. It makes it easier to carve time out of your day to try meditation and gives you tips on how to get started on your practice. The app can send you little motivating phrases throughout the day If you choose so and reminders to meditate.
Happify can help you conquer your negative thoughts and stress. Image: via Happify.
Happify is a way to make a game of all the positive psychology tricks you know may work but you feel silly when you actually do them. The app starts by telling you areas of happiness you could work on. The app can help you conquer your negative thoughts and can teach you to leave with good feelings.
Muse is another meditation app but it has its advantages like the very futuristic “brain-sensing” band that uses electroencephalography (EEG). In the lab this feature is used to measure different types of brain waves, which can help distinguish when the brain is up to during sleep and while you, are awake. The app gives you a meditation tasks and the headband will measure how well you are doing.