How to relieve stress and achieve your goals, Part I
I just read the Sunday newspaper for the first time in months! As I sipped on my coffee and turned the pages I could literally feel my mood and energy level diminishing. Even though I try to keep my exposure to the media at a minimum I still manage to see and hear more than enough to be aware of the number of challenges we all face. It was quite a shock to experience what I felt as I read page after page of problems, doom and gloom! The worst part it all was the hopeless feeling of being unable to change anything I read about. These are challenging times we are living and the resulting stress can be mentally and physically detrimental to our lives. As our society moves faster and faster it seems we are less likely to be in a supportive atmosphere at the very time we need it the most.
Think about this list on a few of the generally agreed upon health problems stress is believed to be related to:
· Lack of sleep, energy and concentration
· Anxiety, neck and back pain
· Quick tempers and a lack of tolerance for even minor upsets
· Headaches, mood swings, anger, sadness and even depression
· Autoimmune diseases
· Eating too much, too little and usually the wrong things
· There is research lately that links stomach bloating to stress
Clearly relaxation and relieving stress would be extremely beneficial not only for our health but also for our happiness. Surely most of us will agree feeling tired, depressed and full of anxiety is not conducive to finding happiness or achieving our dreams and goals. It doesn’t sound like a state of mind that would be beneficial to creativity either! Since I am not immune to these feelings I set about discovering ways to alleviate these thoughts so I could be in a better position to find and do the things that are important to me. I started with my two pearls of wisdom in my mind:
· The one person I know I can change is me.
· If you look for something long enough and hard enough you will find it. So why not look for something good.
I looked long and hard and I found what I think are some really helpful and powerful tools. I hope you find them useful as well!! The first, below, is for relaxation. Maybe it’s because I live in the desert but I find the sound of rain can put me in a peaceful mood quicker than anything. The video below is a full uninterrupted ten minutes of it. Ahhhhhhh.
Secondly, I’d like to share an outstanding booklet written by Doc Childre, founder of HeartMath, a leading stress research institute. De-Stress Kit for the Changing Times is compassionately written and provides a number of simple practices to help anyone who is experiencing an emotionally challenging time. Register for a site account, if you don’t already have one, and download a PDF of this 15 page booklet for F.R.E.E. I found this to be the kind of inspirational tool I know I will refer back to on those occasions when I find myself feeling overwhelmed or discouraged. It really is good. I read my copy while listening to the rain!!!
I hope you find this information as helpful as I do and will check back next week for Part II of this article. I will share with you a VERY interesting tool I found to help you visualize and achieve your goals!!
Until then….
Warmest regards,
Deborah
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Deborah Hayes, CTA Life Coach
Empowering women to live a life of consequence, a life without regrets that is your own unique version of the life you love. About Deborah
deborah@womenintransitiononline.com
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