Category Archives: stress

An Emotional Salve

Human Beings. We are flesh, blood, and bone.We are emotions and physical strength. We have abilities and desires. At the center of us though is our breath. The breath is ever present. And a good anchor for us in our physical bodies. We (at least in this country) rarely if ever pay any attention to that- we are too inclined to be busy, to move our bodies to think and do stuff.

These days, given the current world situation, we are more apt to begin contemplating more internally simply because we are forced to slow down. Slowing down our external activities forces us to be more introspective. And this is uncomfortable for most of us. Perhaps it is time to change that. Little by little when we decide to allow this slow down, this introspection, we begin to become more familiar with ourselves. We never realized before that we have been operating generally on autopilot. We never realized that inquiry into who we really are was never a “thing”. Now it is.  So who are we really? What are we all about? Is there more to us than our jobs, our family responsibilities, our activity? OH YES. And is there something we can do for ourselves to help us navigate these turbulent waters more effectively, soundly, and peacefully? a resounding YES!

Now don’t get scared this is going to go off in some woo-woo direction. This is about being in conscious contact with our bodies, and what makes our bodies run so magnificently (or not). And how to make our bodies and our mind more efficient and effective when we are under stress. And we are ALL under stress right now.

What if under all this stress we decided to try something new to help relieve the intensity of what we feel all around us today? Committing to 10-15 minutes per day- first thing in the morning, and perhaps when the anxiety starts amping up? It’s super simple, but you have to DO it. My recommendation is to sit down and just consciously breathe. Sit, get still, no distractions, silence, and stillness, and focus on the breath. Not so easy to begin with because the mind goes ballistic. Don’t care about that. When you realize the mind has gone ballistic, take a breath (no judgment) and bring your attention back to the breath- over and over and over again. I am not asking you to make this a marathon. Start with 10 minutes. If you make it 2 minutes on the first day- awesome! Try for 3 minutes tomorrow. Commit to doing it every day, say for a month- and see what happens. See how your mood stabilizes. See how little things don’t ruffle your feathers or ruin your day. Notice how your activities become more relaxed, more accomplished. Realize that you feel better.

What happens next? This becomes habit, this becomes something you look forward to, this becomes something you do every day before you even think of leaving the house!

And guess what? It’s called MEDITATION

Meditation is the single most important tool for living a happy, stable, effective life. Now more than ever, we need this tool!

Please feel free to contact me with questions or if you need help with this- more to come!

~Peace~

Penny

Stressbuster #2- Nature’s Cure

Here is something to think about. Nature is a stress buster. Remember when you were a kid spending all that time in nature? Remember feeling sooo happy and alive and worry-free? There is something to that. More than you realized as a kid. Being in nature is like taking a happy pill with only one side effect- feeling better. Add it to your list of anti-anxiety tools you use to bring down the angst. Make it a habit to realize the full benefit of spending time in nature.

There is a lot of talk about energy. Here I am talking about our energy meaning the Spiritual part of us- the prana, the qi- and the energy of the Earth. It may sound fluffy but it’s REAL. We are energetic beings. More so than the physical part of us, the body. And we all know the Earth has an energetic field. Trees have an energetic field. The ground has an energetic field. The air has an energetic field. Energy is at the root of our living and breathing. And there are an infinite number of frequencies to this energy that pervades everyone and everything. Lower, denser frequencies create stress and dis-ease. Higher, lighter frequencies promote health and well being.

Think about how you feel on a crowded freeway versus how you feel in a forest. Just the thought of being on a crowded freeway creates chemical changes in the brain and you can FEEL the stress and you are not even on the freeway! Same thing with being in a forest- just the thought of it for a few moments is actually relaxing. Just stare at this picture for a few moments.  It’s relaxing, isn’t it?

~Give yourself the gift of being in nature everyday!~