Image: morning meditation 2, courtesy of Agata…

Do you keep a cool head in the face of adversity? Would you like to become more calm and centred in times of uncertainty? This short article will give you some ideas for making the most of your (hopefully!) daily shower, and improve your ability to temper your soul and your body.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger

The first thing you can do is turn the hot water off at the end of your shower, and let the cold water run for a few seconds. Stand under the cold shower while you slowly count to five. If you make it to five, you can then turn the cold water off. Practicing this short routine will be easy as long as you enjoy cold water running over your body. But for most of us, this sounds like self-imposed torture. Why do it?

Because as the title of this paragraph explains, what does not kill you will make you stronger. Think back to any recent achievement. Now look at the path you took to get there. Do you notice any difficult times? I thought so. According to some people if there is No pain, then there is no gain. I don’t believe it has to be that drastic, but I do believe that adversity has been one of my most effective teachers - and it has often taught me the most important lessons in life.

Yet this does not explain why you should actively SEEK discomfort, does it? Sure, make the most of adversity; but why torture yourself by creating it in the first place? The reason for it is that a little discomfort will teach you a lot about yourself. If you spend those precious seconds being aware (and I mean truly aware!) of what you are going through, you will learn a lot about yourself. Does your competitive edge come up and challenges you to stay under the cold water for just a little longer? Or do you procrastinate and avoid the discomfort because it is just too hard? Do you get distracted and let your attention wander? Just observe yourself as an external spectator during these few seconds, and you will learn more about yourself than ever before.

Know yourself through self-massage

The second thing you can do while in the shower is to put to good use the time you spend soaping yourself. How? By giving your sore and stressed-out muscles a well-deserved mini-massage. Do you remember the last time you went for a professional massage? Wasn’t it wonderful to walk away from the session with that special after-glow that comes from being fully relaxed from an hour of good quality therapy? (And please vanquish from your memory that one time when you came across the inexperienced masseuse who thought a good massage was one of unbearable pain for your muscles!)

This is how you can experience that relaxed feeling on a daily basis: massage yourself for a couple of minutes every day, and you will achieve the same state of bliss every day of your life. As you get the soap ready to clean yourself, lather some of it on your hands, and start massaging your toes. Work up through the calves, the thighs, your tummy, chest, arms, hands, fingers, neck and face. If you want to go the extra mile, develop the flexibility to get to those hard-to-reach places in your back and apply some pressure while kneading the muscle tissue. Feel like spoiling yourself? Get a face cleanser (you know the girlie-type sold with names that end in “Spa”). Keep it in the shower, and give yourself a cleansing mini-facial for 10 or 15 seconds under the hot, steaming water.

Developing this small ritual of self-appreciation will not only allow you to relax your body; it will also subconsciously reinforce your feelings of self-worth by reminding you that you are worth the extra minute or two that this ritual will take. And besides, you will come out of the shower cleaner than ever before!

A little love a day keeps depression away

So there you go: Spoil yourself with a micro-session of self-massage every day, and use a short spray of cold water at the end of your shower to take you out of your comfort zone. These 2 small rituals will increase your sense of self-worth while tempering your spirit, increasing your self-awareness, and making you more cool-headed.

Happy cleaning!