inner peace

Understanding Energy Absorption: Tips for Empaths

/ Eric Dickson / Leave a comment

Have you ever woken up feeling heavy, anxious, or unsettled — without knowing why? Sometimes it feels like the emotions in your body don’t even belong to you. For empaths and sensitive people, this is more common than you might think. We’re wired to pick up on the energy of others, and if we don’t learn how to recognize it, we can end up carrying weight that isn’t ours to bear.

The good news? You can learn to tell the difference between your own emotions and the energy you’ve absorbed from others. And with awareness comes the power to release what isn’t yours and reconnect to your true self.

Why We Absorb Energy

Humans are social beings. Our brains have what scientists call “mirror neurons,” which help us empathize by reflecting the emotions we see in others. This is beautiful — it’s what makes compassion possible. But for empaths and spiritually sensitive people, this ability is turned up extra high.

It means you can walk into a room and immediately sense the mood. It means when a friend is upset, you might leave the conversation feeling just as heavy as they do. Over time, this can blur the line between your energy and everyone else’s.

The Cost of Carrying What Isn’t Yours

When you unknowingly carry other people’s energy, you might experience:

  • Sudden anxiety or sadness without a clear reason.
  • Feeling drained after social situations.
  • A sense of being “off” or disconnected from yourself.
  • Physical tension, especially in the chest, stomach, or shoulders.

The danger isn’t just the discomfort — it’s that you can start making decisions based on emotions that don’t even belong to you. Instead of living from your authentic center, you’re living from borrowed energy.

Practices to Discern Your Own Energy

So how do you tell what’s yours and what’s not? Here are some powerful starting points:

  1. The Daily Check-In
     Pause throughout the day and ask yourself: “What am I feeling right now? When did this feeling start?”
     If you can trace the emotion back to a conversation, a crowded room, or even scrolling social media — chances are it’s not fully yours.
  2. Ground Through Breath and Body
     A few slow belly breaths with your hand on your heart or stomach can reset your nervous system. Imagine roots growing from your feet into the earth, releasing any energy that isn’t yours.
  3. Journal for Clarity
     Writing down how you feel, and what might have triggered it, helps you see patterns. Over time, you’ll notice what feelings belong to you and what you’re picking up externally.

How to Release Energy That Isn’t Yours

Once you’ve noticed what doesn’t belong to you, the next step is letting it go. Try one of these simple practices:

  • Visualization: Imagine gathering the foreign energy like smoke in your hands, then releasing it into the earth or into a cleansing light.
  • Water Ritual: A shower, bath, or even washing your hands can be symbolic of rinsing away what’s not yours.
  • Affirmations: Speak words like:
    “I return to myself. I honor my own energy. I release what does not belong to me.”

These practices don’t just protect you — they bring you back home to yourself.

Final Thoughts

Being sensitive to energy is not a curse — it’s a gift. It allows you to empathize, connect, and support others in ways not everyone can. But that gift only works if you also protect your own well-being.

The next time you feel heavy, anxious, or unsettled, pause and ask:

  • “Is this mine?”
  • “Where did this come from?”
  • “Do I want to carry this?”

Remember: awareness is power. When you learn to discern your own energy from what you’ve absorbed, you step into clarity, peace, and freedom.

You deserve to feel the difference between what belongs to you and what doesn’t. And when you release what isn’t yours, you make more space for your truth.

How to Decode the Hidden Messages Your Body Sends Every Day

/ Eric Dickson / Leave a comment

Eric Dickson | Mindful Mountain Wellness

Discover how to reconnect with your body’s wisdom. Learn practical steps to interpret physical sensations as emotional signals and create lasting mind-body harmony.

Your body has been speaking to you your whole life.
It whispers in subtle tightness, sighs in deep exhalations, and sometimes shouts in headaches, fatigue, or a racing heartbeat.
But in our fast-paced world, we’ve been trained to ignore it — to push through discomfort and numb the signals. What if those sensations aren’t inconveniences, but messages? What if they are your body’s way of guiding you back to balance?

The Mind-Body Bridge Explained

The “mind-body bridge” is the living connection between your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations.
Neuroscience confirms that emotions aren’t just in your head — they’re stored and expressed throughout the body via the nervous system, hormones, and muscle memory.  Sometimes, anxiety might show up as a tight chest.  Unresolved grief can feel like a heavy weight on your shoulders.  Excitement might make your stomach flutter.

When you learn to recognize and interpret these sensations, you create a bridge — a two-way channel of understanding between your mind and body.

Why We’ve Lost Touch

Many of us learned early on to “toughen up,” “walk it off,” or “get over it.”
Modern life reinforces this disconnection — endless screen time, constant notifications, and the pressure to stay busy leave little space for stillness.
We’ve been conditioned to treat symptoms instead of exploring their root cause, silencing the body’s voice in the process.  So often these days we are steered towards medications, instead of being guided to reconnect to ourselves and our bodies.

How to Reconnect with Your Body’s Messages

1. Start with Stillness

Even a few minutes of mindful breathing can quiet the mental noise and let the body’s signals emerge. Try placing a hand over your heart and breathing slowly until you feel your body soften.

2. Scan Without Judgment

Close your eyes and mentally scan from head to toe. Notice sensations — warmth, coolness, tension, tingling — without labeling them “good” or “bad.”

3. Name the Sensation and Emotion

Once you’ve identified where you feel something, ask yourself: What emotion might be linked to this? Sometimes the answer comes immediately; other times, it emerges slowly.

4. Respond with Compassion

Instead of ignoring discomfort, ask: What is my body asking for right now? It might be rest, movement, hydration, or an emotional release like journaling or talking to a friend.

The Benefits of Listening to Your Body

By reconnecting with your body, and really listening, you can reduce stress through faster recognition of tension and triggers.  It can also help to improve emotional regulation by finding and addressing the root cause of these emotions.  Taking the time to sit, scan, and listen to your body will help you gain a greater level of self-trust, and help you learn your body’s unique language.  The more you work on reconnecting with your body, you will gain better physical wellness through proactive care, instead of always dealing with crisis management.

A Simple Daily Practice

Each evening, take 2–3 minutes to reflect:

  • Where did I feel the most tension today?
  • What might have caused it?
  • How can I care for that part of my body tomorrow?

Over time, this small habit rebuilds the mind-body bridge — turning physical sensations into allies rather than obstacles.

Closing Inspiration

Your body is not your enemy.
It’s not a machine to be pushed until it breaks — it’s a wise companion with a language of its own. The more you listen, the more it speaks in clarity instead of crisis.
So pause. Breathe. Feel. The bridge is already there, waiting for you to cross.

Spirituality Without Labels: Find Your Peace

/ Eric Dickson / Leave a comment

By Eric Dickson | Mindful Mountain Wellness

What if I told you that your spiritual path doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s?

No white robes. No crystals. No yoga mat required.
Just you—and whatever helps you feel more connected, more grounded, more you.

Spirituality isn’t a checklist. It’s a relationship.
And the more we try to force it into a mold, the further we drift from its truth.

Let’s break the illusion that there’s a “right” way to be spiritual—and explore what it might look like to reclaim that word on your own terms.

Spirituality Doesn’t Require a Label

You don’t need to call yourself “spiritual” to live a deeply spiritual life.  The most important thing is to find the activities in your life when you feel most connected, at peace, and in a flow state.

Some people feel most connected when they are hiking through the woods or watching a sunset.  For others, it’s when they are creating, whether that looks like drawing, journaling, making music, or woodworking.  Sometimes it may just look like sitting silently in the morning with you coffee after doing some breath work.

You don’t need a guru, a doctrine, or a certain set of beliefs.
You just need to listen—to your own inner world, and the way life moves through you.

You Don’t Have to “Look” Spiritual

Spirituality doesn’t come with a dress code.

You don’t have to wear flowing clothes, chant in Sanskrit, or meditate for 2 hours a day.
You can be tattooed, messy, skeptical, and still be deeply connected to something greater than yourself.

You don’t need to change how you look to validate what you feel.

You don’t need anyone else’s approval, or for them to even know you are spiritual.
You don’t have to perform peace to earn belonging.

Real spirituality is lived, not displayed.

Your Practice Can Be Private (or Loud)

Some people pray out loud. Some journal. Some dance, cry, or walk barefoot in the rain.
Some never speak a word about their inner life—and that’s okay too.

Your practice doesn’t have to be public, perfect, or structured.
It just has to be authentic.

If your version of spirituality is lighting a candle and sitting in stillness for 5 minutes before bed… that counts.
If it’s blasting music and losing yourself in movement… that counts.
If it’s tending your garden or holding someone’s hand with presence… that counts.

It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of your spiritual practice, all that matters is that it feels good to you.

You Don’t Have to Be Calm All the Time

There’s this idea that being spiritual means being serene and blissed-out all the time.
But healing is messy. Awakening is uncomfortable.

You’re allowed to have bad days, anxiety, anger, grief.
You’re allowed to feel confused, lost, or doubtful.

None of that disqualifies you from being on a spiritual path.
In fact, those moments are the path.

The spiritual path of healing is not linear, it’s a spiral.  It can bring you back to tough situations and emotions, and will most likely keep bringing you back until you learn the lessons you need from those situations.

Your emotions don’t make you less spiritual. They make you human.

Your Path Will Evolve (Let It)

Who you are spiritually at 25 may look nothing like who you’ll be at 45.
And that’s a good thing.

You’re meant to grow. To outgrow. To question. To return.

Spirituality is a relationship with yourself and the world—it’s supposed to shift as you do.
You don’t have to cling to old beliefs out of obligation.
You’re allowed to let go of what no longer resonates and make space for what does.  In fact it is important to take inventory of your beliefs, and really analyze whether those are really your beliefs, or if they were taught to you before you were old enough to question them.

Trust the ebb and flow. Trust yourself.

Final Thoughts: Your Way Is the Way

There’s no handbook. No single truth. No checklist of rituals or rules.
There’s only this question:

What helps you feel connected, alive, and at peace?
Do that. Follow that. Trust that.

Your spiritual path is valid, even if no one else understands it.
Even if it doesn’t fit in a box.
Even if it’s still unfolding.

You’re not behind. You’re not missing anything. You’re already on the path—your path.

And that is enough.

5 Ways to Build a Mindful Life (Even When the World is Loud)

/ Eric Dickson / Leave a comment

In a world that never stops buzzing with constant notifications, 24-hour news, and the pressure to keep up, creating a mindful life can feel almost impossible. But it’s not. In fact, it’s not only possible… It’s essential.

Mindfulness isn’t about escaping the noise.
It’s about learning how to return to yourself within it.

Here’s how to build a grounded, mindful life even when the world feels loud.

Start Your Day Without a Screen

Before checking your phone or turning on a device, take a few moments for yourself.  A single breath. A sip of tea. A stretch. A moment of stillness.  Step outside and take a deep breath of fresh air.

The first thing you do every morning sets the tone for the day.  If the world gets your attention immediately, you will be chasing it all day.  Checking your phone or the news will immediately start to make your day feel stressful, and take all of the focus off of YOU.  But, if your initial attention for the day is on you, and self-care, you will carry that with you all day, which will help keep you centered.

Practice Presence in Small Moments

You don’t need an hour-long meditation to be mindful.  Mindfulness lives in the micro-moments within the things you already do on a daily basis, the goal is to focus more on these small moments.  This could look like focusing on the feeling of the water on your hand while you are washing dishes, or stopping and noticing the breeze on your skin when you walk outside, or even making a routing of taking three deep breaths before replying to a text.

These moments compound throughout your day. They change your nervous system. They rewire your relationship to the present.

Protect Your Inputs

Your attention is sacred — treat it that way.  The news, and especially social media, can steal your attention, and wreak havoc on your nervous system.  Technology itself can be very detrimental to your mental health if you aren’t conscious of how you are using it.  One of the easiest things you can do is curate your social media feed to be uplifting, positive, or motivating.  Unfollow accounts that drain or distract you, and start following artists, creators, and people that will motivate you, and bring you happiness as opposed to stress.  The second thing you can do is turn off all non-essential notifications on your phone.  These notifications will distract you from your day, and keep you focused on your phone and not the real world happening right in front of you.  The third major thing you can do is take intentional breaks from news and media.  Set a time period within the day to not look at your phone or any media.  Over time, you can even set an entire day to unplug from technology and let your mind really refresh.


Mindfulness is easier when your nervous system isn’t in a constant state of alarm.
Choose peace over urgency where you can.

Create Anchors Throughout Your Day

Creating anchor points help you return to yourself.  Doing this multiple times throughout your day can help you keep from getting overwhelmed, and give you a moment to refresh and regain some positivity.  One example of an anchor you can use is to set reminders on your phone throughout your day with just a simple reminder to “breathe”.  An anchor can also look like a crystal bracelet or an object you carry in your pocket.  Every time you feel stressed or overwhelmed, you can touch that object, take a breath, and mentally recenter yourself.  This could also look like having a journal check-in after lunch, and using that brief journaling time to refocus on what you need to make the day positive and productive.

Think of these like spiritual bookmarks that pull you back to presence.

Make Peace with Imperfection

You won’t always be mindful. No one is perfect.  That’s part of the practice.  The goal is not to eliminate all stress, distractions, and negativity.  The goal is mentally condition yourself to better deal with situations and prevent things from ruining your entire day.  Imperfection is part of the process, and an important part of life.  Its important that we normalize:

You’ll lose your cool.
You’ll scroll for too long.
You’ll forget to breathe.

The win isn’t in never drifting — it’s in noticing that you have, and choosing to return.

Mindfulness isn’t about perfection.
It’s about coming home, again and again.

Final Thoughts

The world may stay loud. But your inner world doesn’t have to match its volume.

You have the ability to slow down, to soften, to root into presence — even in chaos.

Building a mindful life isn’t about escaping the world.
It’s about learning how to stay whole inside of it.

Share a comment with your go to mindfulness activities so others can benefit from them.

Return to your breath.
Return to your truth.
Return home.

The Art of Letting Go: Embracing Non-Attachment for a Free Spirit

/ Eric Dickson / Leave a comment

We all know what it feels like to hold on too tightly. To ideas. To people. To expectations. To outcomes we can’t control.  We also know the pain of losing these things, whether it’s a sentimental item that gets lost or broken, losing a loved one, or even losing your own assumed identity.

It’s human nature—we want security, certainty, and connection. But sometimes, this tight grip becomes the very thing that causes us pain.

Non-attachment isn’t about not caring. It’s about caring wisely.

What Is Non-Attachment?

Non-attachment doesn’t mean you stop loving, dreaming, or trying. It means you release the need to possess or control what isn’t yours to hold.

It’s the art of being fully present with what is, without demanding it stay the same.

Non-attachment says:

“I can love you and still let you go. I can want this outcome without being destroyed if it doesn’t happen.”

It is appreciating things while you have them, knowing that nothing lasts forever.  People, possessions, who we are in this moment, they all come and go from our lives.  Non-attachment is understanding that we do not have total control or possession over anything.

Why Letting Go Frees You

When we let go of clinging or attachment, we free up space in our minds and hearts.

We let go of any resentment we may have over something not working out the way we wanted it to.  We can let go of the fear of losing the things we have.  We can eliminate the exhausting need to control everything.

What replaces this attachment? Peace. Openness. Room to receive new blessings.

Letting go is not giving up. It’s giving yourself permission to be free.  It’s always important to remember, we are born with nothing, and we die with nothing.  The more we obsess over having things while we are here, the more pain we experience when we lose them.  If we can make peace with the fact that these things are only in our lives temporarily, we will not only mourn them less, but learn to appreciate them more while we have them.

Signs You’re Holding On Too Tightly

Here are a  few questions that you can ask yourself to assess if you you are too attached:

Am I obsessing over outcomes I can’t control?

Do I get anxious when things don’t go exactly my way?

Am I afraid to lose people or things—even if they no longer serve me?

Do I replay past hurts or disappointments?

These can be gentle cues that it’s time to loosen your grip.

How to Practice Letting Go

Letting go is a practice—not a one-time decision.  Use these 5 steps to start your journey to non-attachment.

1. Become Aware
Notice what you’re clinging to. Notice the things that you feel you need to control. Awareness is the first step toward freedom.

2. Feel Your Emotions
Letting go doesn’t mean suppressing. Allow yourself to grieve, rage, or cry if you need to.  Suppressing your emotions will only lead to more pain later on, they will either resurface as more extreme emotions, or turn into a physical illness.

3. Reframe Your Perspective
Ask: What lesson is here for me?
Instead of loss, see it as an invitation to grow.  It could be an opening for you to receive something new that may even bring you more joy.

4. Use Breathwork or Meditation
Ground yourself in the present moment. Techniques like deep breathing, guided meditation, or HeartMath coherence exercises can help calm the mind.

5. Trust the Process
Letting go is an act of trust. In yourself, in life, in the unseen possibilities waiting for you.

It is something that takes practice.  It is easy to start with small things like personal items you own but know you don’t really need.  A good first step is to go through your living space and find things that maybe brought you joy at one point, but you never really think about anymore.  Try to sell or donate these things, and be at peace knowing that at one point, that thing brought you a lot of joy.  Be happy that you had it in your life, but recognize that it is time to give it up.

Closing Reflections

Non-attachment isn’t cold or indifferent. It’s a deep act of love.

It says: “I trust life enough to let it unfold. I trust myself enough to handle whatever comes.”

When we let go, we make space.
For peace.
For joy.
For the unexpected gifts of life.

May you find the courage to release what no longer serves you and embrace the freedom of a truly open heart.

If this resonates with you, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

How do you practice letting go in your own life?

Feel free to share in the comments or connect with me. Let’s walk this mindful path together.

Unlocking the Power of Genuine Gratitude

/ Eric Dickson / Leave a comment

By Eric Dickson | Mindful Mountain Wellness

We’ve all heard it: “Just be grateful.”

It’s one of those well-meaning suggestions that can sound a bit shallow, or even irritating, when you are struggling.  But real gratitude-embodied, felt, lived gratitude-is so much more than polite manners or a throwaway “thanks.”

It’s not just a social nicety.  It’s an energetic state that changes us at the deepest levels of mind, body, and spirit.  Today, let’s go beyond the surface and explore why gratitude has real energetic power, and how you can begin to truly experience it in your life.

What Do We Mean by “Energy”?

When I say energetics, I’m not talking about anything necessarily mystical or woo-woo.  Although it can feel spiritual, it’s really just biology and science.

Think of it this way: everything is energy.  Our emotions are really just a form of energy that flows through us.  Our thoughts not only influence our mood, but also our entire biology.  Even our posture and our breathing can change the energy we carry into a room.

We have all felt it before, whether it’s walking into a room and feeling tension in the air, or coming home and feeling instantly relaxed once we enter our own personal space.

Gratitude isn’t just a word, it’s an energetic frequency you can learn to tune into.  When you hold gratitude in your body, your nervous system, your heart, you’re literally shifting your state of being.

The Science of Gratitude’s Energy

Let’s talk practical.

Research shows that gratitude lowers your stress hormones, like cortisol.  Being in a state of gratitude can also increase the levels of dopamine and serotonin our body produces, which are the chemicals that make us happy and feel good.  It has also been clinically proven to improve your heart rate variability, which is an indicator that your nervous system is in balance and functioning properly.

This isn’t magic.  Its biology responding to emotion.  When you truly feel gratitude, your body moves into a state of safety and connection.  Your heart rhythms smooth out, your breathing slows, and your brain shifts out of hypervigilance.

Gratitude isn’t passive, it’s an active shift in your internal landscape.

More Than Words: Embodying Gratitude

Here’s the thing.

Just saying “thank you” without feeling it doesn’t create this energetic shift.  We can autopilot through those words all day and never change how we feel, or the energy we give off.  But when we slow down enough to embody gratitude – to feel it in our chest, our breath, our whole being – something changes.

It’s like your heart says “I see this gift.  I let it in.”

That moment of genuine receptivity has a vibrational quality.  It radiates outward.  People can feel it.  You can feel it in yourself. It creates a sense of comfort.

Practices to Access the Energetics of Gratitude

You don’t need anything fancy to start.  Here are a few simple ways to move from thinking gratitude, to feeling it.

Pause and breathe.  Place a hand on your heart.  Take a long slow inhale, and an even longer exhale.  Let yourself settle, gratitude needs space.

One thing, deeply felt.  Choose one thing you’re grateful for.  Not ten, just one.  Close your eyes and really see it, think about what it feels like, or smells like.  Notice how it makes you feel.  Warmth?  Relief?  Joy?

Let it land in the body.  Where do you feel this gratitude?  Chest?  Belly?  Face?  Breathe deeply into that area.  Allow it to expand.

Daily ritual.  At the end of the day, ask, “What today felt like a gift?”  Don’t rush, let it land before you move on.

Gratitude is less about listing blessings than about letting blessings change you.

Why This Matters

We live in a world that encourages constant wanting, comparing, and consuming.  Gratitude disrupts that cycle.  It says, “This is enough.  I am enough.”

That simple energetic shift has ripple effects:

  • Better health
  • Calmer mind
  • Deeper relationships
  • Greater creativity
  • A sense of meaning

You’re not just being polite when you practice gratitude.  You’re rewiring your nervous system.  You’re tuning yourself to a state of receptivity, connection, and peace.

Closing Invitation

Gratitude isn’t about ignoring what’s hard.  It’s about finding what is still good, even in difficulty.  It’s not a denial of pain, It’s a widening of perspective.  I invite you to try it – not as another task to check off, but as a gift to yourself.

Breathe.  Feel.  Let it in.

Return to your breath.  Return to your truth.  Return home.  You always have a place here on the Mindful Mountain.

If this resonated with you, I’d love to hear about your own gratitude practices or experiences.  Share in the comments, and let’s support each other in living more deeply, more energetically, and more gratefully.

7 Easy Self-Care Tips You Can Actually Do Every Day

/ Eric Dickson / Leave a comment

The world is a crazy place right now.  Life is busy. Stress is real. And let’s be honest—self-care can feel like one more thing on the to-do list.

But the truth is, self-care doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to be expensive. It just has to be intentional and consistent.

Here are 7 simple, realistic self-care tips you can start weaving into your daily life right now—no spa day required.

Start Your Morning with Stillness

Before you grab your phone, before you check the news, give yourself 2-5 quiet minutes.

Sit in silence.
Take a few slow, deep breaths.
Set an intention for the day.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just give yourself permission to arrive before the world demands your attention.  These few moments of silence to yourself will help your mind stay clear and focused, and give you the ability to start your day without being bombarded by media and society.

Drink Water Like You Mean It

It sounds too easy, right? But hydration is foundational self-care.

Keep a water bottle nearby.
Drink a full glass first thing in the morning.
Use herbal teas if you need variety.

Your body, mind, and mood all function better when you’re hydrated.  Use these water breaks as a pause in your day.  Intentionally stop everything you are doing and focus on that water break.  Feel the coolness of the water.  Notice the taste.  This is an easy way to add some quick mindfulness into your day.

Move Your Body (Even a Little)

You don’t need a gym membership or a 60-minute routine.

Take a walk around the block.
Stretch while your coffee brews.
Do ten squats before you shower.

Movement helps clear mental fog, reduces stress, and reminds you that your body is your partner—not just a machine.  Moving your body throughout the day will also help keep your joints healthy, and prevent soreness from sitting at a desk all day long.

Create Small, Sacred Pauses

Schedule tiny moments of calm throughout your day.

A mindful minute at your desk can make a huge difference in your day.  Set an alarm, and take just one minute to close your eyes and take some deep breaths.  This can help you reset your mindset when you are starting to get stressed or overwhelmed.

A quick walk outside can get your blood flowing, prevent soreness from sitting all day, and help dissipate mental fog.  Be mindful with your walk, notice the sights, sounds, and smells around you.  Use this time to remember you are not your job, you are human.

Listen to a song with your eyes closed.  Music is one of the most powerful and quickest ways to change your mood.  Put on your favorite band and relax and just enjoy the music.  This can also help lower levels of cortisol that are produced by the stress of a busy day.

These mini-breaks help you reset and respond rather than react.

Speak Kindly to Yourself

Notice your inner voice.  Pay attention to how you talk to yourself.  Your body listens more than you know.

Would you talk to a friend the way you talk to yourself?

Replace criticism or negative self-talk with compassion.
Try affirmations or gentle reminders:

 “I’m doing my best.”
“I deserve care too.”
“One step at a time.”

Nourish Your Body Without Rules

Self-care is feeding yourself well without punishment or guilt.  Just because you grew up eating three meals a day at specific times, doesn’t always mean thats what is right for your body or situation.

Listen to your body’s cues.
Make meals that feel satisfying and nurturing.
Eat regularly.

Food is not just fuel—it’s comfort, culture, and connection.  Pay attention to how different things you eat make you feel.  Food should not make you feel heavy and sluggish, food should energize you, and help you keep going.

End the Day with Gratitude

Even on the hard days, find one thing you’re grateful for.

Write it down. Say it out loud. Hold it in your heart for a moment.

Gratitude shifts your focus from what’s lacking to what’s present. It’s a simple practice that rewires your brain for hope and possibility.

If you want to take it a step further, keep a gratitude journal by your bed, and every night spend 5 minutes writing down everything you are grateful for.  This is a huge step in changing your mindset, and helps curb the desire of always wanting more and more.

Final Thoughts

Self-care isn’t selfish. It’s survival. It’s how we remember that we’re human—not robots.

These tips aren’t meant to be another checklist to stress over. They’re gentle invitations to come back home to yourself, one small moment at a time.

Because you deserve care. Every single day.

If this resonated with you, let me know in the comments—or share your own favorite self-care rituals. Let’s keep the conversation going.

Overcoming Trauma: The Power of Telling Your Story

/ Eric Dickson / Leave a comment

How Telling My Story Helped Me Heal (And Gave Others Hope)
 By Eric Dickson | Mindful Mountain Wellness

For a long time, I believed healing meant getting as far away from my trauma as possible. I thought that if I just buried the pain deep enough, covered it up with accomplishments, or distracted myself with busyness, maybe it would eventually fade. But as many of us who’ve walked through trauma come to learn—pain doesn’t disappear just because we stop looking at it.

I went to war at 19.  As an infantryman, I experienced intense firefights on a daily basis.  Explosions, ambushes, and snipers were around every corner.  It was a game of life and death.  Not only did I get shot, but I watched many friends, many good men pay the ultimate sacrifice.  Following my deployment, I had 5 back-to-back surgeries, and I was medically discharged from the Army, with absolutely no life plan ahead of me..  So I did what any normal infantryman would do, blew all of my money on tattoos, alcohol, and guns. 

It wasn’t until I became a peer support specialist and later a health and wellness coach that I began to truly understand the power of my own story. Not just in my own healing, but in the healing of others.

At first, telling my story felt like tearing open a wound every time. I’d brace myself before speaking. My heart would race. Sometimes my voice would crack, my hands would tremble, I was constantly drenched in sweat.. But over time—after dozens, maybe hundreds of times repeating the same experiences—the story lost its sharp edge. It no longer had the power to hijack my nervous system or drag me back into the past.

Telling my story over and over was like releasing pressure from a valve I hadn’t even realized was about to burst. Each time I shared, something shifted. The emotions became more manageable. The memories felt less like chains and more like chapters. I stopped being afraid of what happened and started learning from it.

Yes, countless years of therapy, mindfulness, yoga, and acupuncture have done amazing things to help me heal and come back to myself, but being able to share my story with so many other veterans and people living with PTSD has brought me more inner peace than anything. 

There’s a strange kind of alchemy that happens when you turn pain into purpose.

When I sit with a veteran or a client who feels like they’re drowning in shame or anger or grief, I can look them in the eye and say, “I’ve been there.” And I mean it. I have been there. And yet, here I am. Breathing. Growing. Loving. Serving. That simple truth—that survival is possible, and that growth is even probable—is often all someone needs to keep going one more day.

That’s the gift of peer support. It’s not about having the right answers. It’s about showing someone what’s possible when you refuse to give up.  I have learned that the gift of hope is by far the most profound gift you can give to someone.

Helping others has become a cornerstone of my healing.

There’s something incredibly grounding about using your scars to light the path for someone else. When I coach others through breathwork, or lead a sound healing session, or guide a veteran through coherence techniques, I’m not just offering them tools—I’m offering them a part of myself. And every time I do, I reclaim a little more of my own wholeness.

Healing, I’ve come to learn, isn’t a straight line. It’s a spiral. Sometimes you circle back to old wounds, but you meet them from a higher perspective. You’ve got more tools, more wisdom, more strength. And often, the weight you carried for so long begins to shift—not because it vanished, but because you’re no longer carrying it alone.

If you’re holding onto a story that feels too heavy to tell, I want to encourage you: You don’t have to share it all at once. You don’t even have to share it publicly. But finding safe spaces to speak your truth—even if it’s just to a journal or a trusted friend—can be profoundly liberating.

Your story has power.
Not because it’s perfect.
Not because it’s resolved.
But because it’s real.And someone out there needs to hear it.
Just like you once needed to hear someone else’s.

-Eric

What is Mindfulness? A return to the present moment.

/ Eric Dickson / Leave a comment

Today, we’re exploring a simple yet life-changing question: What is mindfulness? And more importantly — how can it transform the way you think, feel, and live? Let’s dive into it.

In a world that constantly demands our attention, mindfulness is a quiet rebellion — a conscious return to the present moment. But what does it really mean to be mindful?

Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention, on purpose, without judgment. It’s the art of being rather than doing. When we practice mindfulness, we choose to fully engage with whatever is happening right now — our breath, our thoughts, our surroundings — without trying to change or resist it.

It doesn’t mean having no thoughts, It means noticing your thoughts, your emotions, your physical sensations, and your surroundings… just as they are. Not fixing anything. Not analyzing. Just observing — gently and honestly.

The Origins of Mindfulness

Rooted in ancient meditation practices, especially within Buddhist traditions, mindfulness has now been embraced by modern science. It’s not about escaping reality — it’s about meeting life more fully, exactly as it is.

Why It Matters

When we live on autopilot, we miss the moments that matter most. Mindfulness invites us to:

  • Reduce stress and anxiety
  • Increase focus and clarity
  • Deepen connection with ourselves and others
  • Cultivate a sense of peace, even amidst chaos

Research shows that consistent mindfulness practice can reshape the brain — enhancing areas related to compassion and regulation, while calming the fear and stress centers. Now here’s where it gets fascinating — mindfulness isn’t just a concept. It literally changes your brain and body chemistry.

When you practice mindfulness regularly, studies show it can do 4 major things:

  • Shrink the amygdala, the brain’s fear center — thus reducing stress and reactivity
  • Activate the prefrontal cortex, helping you regulate emotions and make clearer decisions
  • Increase gray matter density in areas of your brain related to empathy, memory, and emotional regulation
  • And it boosts parasympathetic nervous system activity, which lowers your heart rate, slows breathing, and triggers the body’s natural rest-and-repair mode

In short — it calms the chaos and strengthens the systems that help you feel safe, grounded, and connected.

Everyday Mindfulness

In a world that constantly pulls us into distraction, pressure, and over stimulation — mindfulness brings us back to ourselves. It teaches us that peace isn’t something you find “out there” — it’s something you practice right here, right now, in your own body and breath.

The beauty of mindfulness is that It doesn’t require hours of meditation, fancy gear, or a perfect lifestyle.

You don’t have to sit cross-legged to practice mindfulness. You can find it in the breath between thoughts, in the rhythm of your footsteps, or in the way sunlight filters through the trees. Mindfulness is available to you in every moment — all it takes is your attention.

Begin Here

Whether you’re brand new or returning to the practice, start small. Try this:

  • Take three slow, conscious breaths.
  • Feel your feet on the ground.
  • Let go of the need to fix or analyze.
  • Simply notice.

This is mindfulness. And this is your invitation to come home — to your body, your breath, your truth.