Can i ask you a question?
Have you ever found your self in a situation where you’re late for an appointment or meeting and you find your self rushing? I know I have! And what’s worse, you actually create even more problems for yourself because of how stressed you feel…
Last week, I left home for an appointment 2 minutes late. As all of us have experienced at least once in our lives. All of a sudden my journey was blocked.
Blocked by learner drivers, tractors, cyclists and of course red lights.
You often see people in their cars screaming at the top of their lungs, swearing at people and generally causing more grief for themselves than anyone around them.
We’ve all be there, haven’t we?
What’s worse is the journey home. There is no time limit, no rush and no panic. The journey is calm and serene. The roads are clear and there isn’t an obstruction insight and suddenly you feel guilty.
You realise how ridiculous you had been ( and all for the sake of 2 minutes ) I am a member of TUT.com . An email subscription that sends you messages from the Universe every day.
At random times in the day, I read them and try to re-centre. Reminding myself that I am loved, I am strong and I am moving forwards.
We are not taught how to deal with emotion.
How to bounce back from troubles in our lives – so I write to you today from my office in Germany.
A beautiful Saturday afternoon – to connect with you. To remind you that no matter what you are going through, there is always a chocolate in every land.
What I mean by that is;
However you feel today or at certain parts of your day, remember that you can take the bad from it, the good from it and the lessons from it.
If you are open to this, then you will find your chocolate in every land. As you go through various motions and emotions that seemingly take us into different lands or emotional states.
One therapy that has helped me through stress is detailed below. I do it every day. And just like my emails from TUT, it also enables me to re-balance my thoughts, my body and most importantly, my mind.
It stops me in my tracks and I believe that sometimes, we all need to be halted, to gain control again and move forwards. Breathing exercise 4 – 7 – 8
I follow Dr Mark Hyman and love his books and podcasts.
Before I knew who he was, I was listening to him being interviewed on a podcast.
He talked about breathing and how
”stress is a thought” – that’s it.
No more, no less
And he is right. We have total control over our stress’s because it is something that happens inside of us as appose to around us.
When you are stressed, a multitude of stress hormones flood your system. In turn this raise’s your heart rate, your temperature, blood pressure and increase’s the body’s fat storage.
As Mark explained, there are many ways to cope with stress. One that I like to do is a breathing exercise. Mainly because when I find myself in a state of stress, I can quickly have a word with my subconscious brain and take a moment to breathe.
An exercise that I am very fond of is as follows: Inhale for 4 seconds Hold for 7 seconds Release across 8 seconds Repeat four times In the beginning I found it difficult. Not only to breathe in for four SLOW seconds but also, to control it and repeat the exercise four times in a row.
However, it’s much like growing a muscle or reducing fat from your body, the more you do it the stronger you get.
Try it and see if it helps to relax you at times when you think stress is overwhelming you.
I am someone that lets my emotions get the better of me from time to time. And this has helped me find comfort, control and the ”sweet chocolate” as I call it, in every stressing situation.
I would be so interested to know what you do to find comfort within yourself at times of stress. Please let me know your favourite coping strategies by commenting below:
