Marasm is, in the medical sense, the destruction of the body, but in common it is a state in which we feel tired, apathetic, bored with our current life: work, everyday duties. We want to change something, but we don't know how. Check which exercises will help you overcome this condition!

What is apathy? Definition of marasmus

Malaiseunderstood as indifference, lack of enthusiasm in life, willingness to take on challenges can be overcome by implementing appropriate techniques of working on oneself. It is useful to distinguish this condition from depression, which is a disease that may require the help of a psychologist or psychiatrist.

Let's go back to apathy - how to fight it? Here are the ways - try it yourself!

Marasm: How to increase your motivation in life?

There are simple and effective ways to improve both your well-being and your quality of life. We have many of them at hand on a daily basis, but in moments of doubt we do not necessarily remember them.

A way to relieve stagnation: the practice of being present

One of the effective methods of restoring the quality of life is consciously directing your attention to the present moment. The feeling of stagnation is not a state related only to what is happening in life now: lack of motivation, attractions, interesting perspectives.

Paradoxically, it is rather the result of the inability to contact everything that the present moment brings! If you learn to live "here and now", you will start to have contact with your feelings, with the environment, you will gain access to the inspiration flowing from the present.

Marazm: an exercise to start with

Take 10 puffs. Let the inhalation be energetic, but not exaggerated, and the exhalation relaxed. Then focus your attention on your thoughts. Scan them, but don't let them take you away. You are the observer.

Then shift your full attention to the emotions. Try to feel them and name them.

Now find the place in your body where you "feel" your emotions the most. Breathe, focusing all your conscious awareness on this spot.

The entire exercise takes approximately 2 minutes. Do them several times a day and observe the effects. If you are interested in this practice, I recommend you a book by my mentor, New Zealand psychologist Colin P. Sisson, "Inner Awakening".

Remedy for apathy: focusing method

This is a close-up methodto the feelings from which we usually try to cut ourselves off. Rarely does anyone like to explore what is related to a bad mood. It is easier to look for escape routes, but it is not an effective method. What we run away from usually catches up with us sometime.

Here is an explanation from one of the founders of focusing, the American psychotherapist Eugene Gendlin.

"What is cut off, not felt, remains the same. When it is felt, it changes. Most people don't know about it. They feel that if they don't let themselves feel the negative part of themselves, they will remain good people. Conversely, the negative aspects continue for years. A few moments spent on feeling them in the body make it possible to change them. If there's something bad or sick about you, let it be inside and breathe. This is the only way it can develop into the form it needs .

A big advantage of this method is that it can be used as an auto-therapy on its own. However, you can also ask for help from a loved one or a psychotherapist or coach who uses this technique at work.

Exercise 2

Step one - relaxation

Get comfortable, take a few deep breaths, make yourself comfortable in your body and feel it. Breathe for a few minutes as if you are breathing in and out through a specific part of your body, from your toes to the top of your head.

Inhale one by one, then breathe out through your toes, then through your feet, ankles, calves, knees, and so on. Once in your upper body, focus on your shoulders, neck, and then on the different parts of the face and head - chin, lower jaw, cheeks, temples, eyes, forehead, ears, top and back of the head. Feel how all of these points respond to you inhale and exhale.

Then re-scan your body. If you still feel any tension in it, relax the selected places with your breath again.

Step two - look for feelings

Imagine your worst sadness. Take 2-3 minutes to do this. Focus primarily on what you feel and the parts of your body where this tension is accumulating.

It may be, for example, a weight around the chest, a tightening in the throat, or maybe a squeezing around the stomach or other …

Step three - identify how you feel

Now try to find words to describe what you are feeling in your body. Maybe you can say that you are "stuffy", maybe you can describe the feeling as "heavy" or something else.

Step four - check if the words match

At this stage, moreonce again check if what you named your feelings really fits them. To do this, go back to what the body tells us and "try on" the name given to them again.

Step five - queries

Now ask yourself, "What's the worst thing about what I feel?" "What would this load, say, if it could talk?"

Sixth step - receiving

Receive all the pleasure and relief of new experiences now. Enjoy them. If the tensions have subsided and you are feeling better, appreciate your ability to change the quality of what you feel. Don't try to analyze it intellectually. Be content with the feeling of change.

Of course, the full focusing process requires a lot of additional explanations. I am presenting it here in a nutshell by necessity. However, even this short exercise, performed every now and then, can show you the way to change. Practice makes perfect.

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A way to relieve stagnation: start keeping a diary

Write down your states, emotions, thoughts that you have been going through so far. It can be very inspiring and will allow you to find your own way out of stagnation.

A way to relieve stagnation: look for contact with nature

Depending on your abilities, walk in the forest or park, look at the sky, meditate by the water, contemplate mountain landscapes. This is a very important element of spiritual reconstruction.

A way to relieve torpor: go to a breathing session

It will allow you to safely contact the emotions you have avoided so far.

A way to relieve stagnation: try to communicate with people honestly and openly

This honesty will help you feel supported.

Worth knowing

The text comes from the book "Don't Put Your Life Until Later" by Joanna Godecka (Muza Publishing House).

The author is a therapist, consultant and commentator on issues related to the practice of presence, relationships, self-esteem, and women's self-esteem.

She graduated from the 4th Collin P. Sisson Seminar with the title of Practitioner of Integrating Presence, as well as the New Breathing School with the title of Diploma Master Practicioner.

He is a member of the Polish Association of Therapists TSR (Solution Focused Therapy).

Category:

Psychology