Don’t you hate it when someone tells you to “Just relax!”? For me it is the same fleeting annoyance as when someone orders me to smile.

But what if you really would like to relax or distract yourself for a few minutes, and go beyond scrolling Facebook or Pinterest? What if you just had an incredibly explosive argument with your partner? What if you really would like to take your blood pressure down a notch?

Not only is there an application for those tasks, there are about a bazillion of them. Where do you begin? You can go to iTunes and browse, and of course some are free, and some have a minor cost. It is a good idea to make sure whatever you choose is supported and works well on your smart phone. Check out the user comments for evaluation. There is definitely a difference, and many that work well on the smartphone, but are not quite as stable on your tablet or iPad.

I have three recommendations for you to begin if you feel overwhelmed by the choices. The first is Virtual Hope Box, pictured above with the red star. It has a variety of tools to choose from ranging from breathing meditations, puzzles and simple games, inspirational quotes and coping cards you can customize to suit yourself. Its best feature is the amount of effective choices, and it is free.

The second app I highly recommend is called Relax and Rest, the one shown with the face on a background of green. The voice on this guided selection app is very soothing with just the right amount of pausing and inflection. It has 5, 13, and 24 minute selections of guided meditations with soothing, zen-like background music that allow you to take a mental break and come out of it at a gentle pace. It is $2.99 by Meditation Oasis, and they have several additional package options as well.

The third one I suggest is just called Breathing, and allows you to customize your in/out breath pattern to match your own while providing a central colorful image that expands and contracts as you breath in and out. Very simple, very relaxing.

We are such a mobile society that we need to have options for wherever we may find ourselves when needing a moment to regroup. I encourage you to explore, but I know the few options I have presented here are pretty good. One last app I like is called Rainy Mood, and is just the sounds you might imagine, with some adjustability on sounds and the option of adding your own music. I take this one on airplane flights to shut out the general surrounding engine noise and use it with a high quality Bose headset, especially to try and nap.

Find your own pleasure in the search, and let me know if you find any that really do it for you. I love to collect them and recommend them to others.