With all the chaos and commotion over the last couple of years, mindfulness has become a trending topic. The world underwent unfathomable transformation within an incredibly short amount of time, and it’s thrown everyone for an unexpected loop. Many of us struggled to adapt and as a result, levels of anxiety and depression skyrocketed.
Though from what we’ve seen at our medicinal and recreational marijuana dispensary Greeley Gallery, cannabis has been a sanity saver for many during this transition, thanks to its benefits like calming anxiety and improving sleep quality. Mindfulness practices have similar effects, so it only makes sense that combining them will strengthen your skills.
What Does Being Mindful Mean?
Mindfulness simply means having the ability to observe your emotions and thoughts without judgement. It means being aware of yourself from an objective standpoint. Being aware of your fears, limitations, and habits and knowing they help create who you are.
Benefits of Being Mindful
There are several physical and mental benefits of cultivating mindful habits. The three primary areas where you’ll find these benefits are within your personal well-being, physical health, and mental health.
Mindfulness helps enrich your life by making it easier to savor life’s simple pleasures in the moment. You may find yourself becoming more fully engaged in social or physical activities, while also remaining calmer during confrontations. Staying in the moment helps you worry less about future events or regrets from the past. And the best part is, all of this naturally enriches your relationships and connections with others.
Physical benefits include decreased stress and chronic pain, helps with digestion, treats heart disease, and lowers blood pressure. Mentally, mindfulness habits have been shown to help depression and anxiety, obsessive compulsion, and eating disorders.
How Can Cannabis Help?
This all sounds amazing, so why isn’t everyone and their mom cultivating mindful habits? Because simple isn’t the same as easy, and unfortunately, it can be a bit difficult at first. This is where marijuana comes in.
Cannabis has been used for thousands of years within civilizations all around the world as a spiritual aid. If you’re familiar with the effects of cannabis, then you’re familiar with the mental shift that can arise, where your body relaxes, and your mind begins to wander. Maybe you feel elevated in a way. This is a great state to be in to try meditating.
It’s true that too much cannabis can bring forth unwanted side effects such as anxiety or paranoia which is why it’s important you discover the right dosage before attempting this. Remember, achieving mindful results doesn’t require getting totally stoned. In fact, just a small amount is enough to calm your nerves and help you enter a calming state faster.
How to Do It
The nice thing is, it doesn’t really matter which cannabis product you choose. Dry marijuana flower, cannabis concentrates, vapes, and edibles can all help you. Dosages may vary based on product and tolerance. If you’re ever unsure about how much to take, one of our staff members at Greeley Gallery dispensary will be happy to help.
To help the process along, it’s good to start off with an intention while you consume your chosen cannabis method. Maybe you just want to find a comfortable place to rest and observe your thoughts while listening to some music. Maybe take a shower and don’t think about your to-do list, just focus on enjoying the feeling of hot water or the smell of your shampoo.
If you don’t feel like sitting still, you can try journaling. Sometimes while high, your defenses come down and it’s easier to convey how you feel. Become one with the pen and paper and see what flows from your fingers.
Final Thoughts
In short, there are dozens or even hundreds of ways you can incorporate mindful habits into your experience with cannabis. Before long, you might even notice some of the habits become easier to achieve while you’re not high!
No matter who you are, everyone can benefit from mindfulness. It’s not always easy to sit with your thoughts or to let go of your attachments, but it’s worth it—and marijuana can help you achieve it.
