Posts Tagged ‘reduce stress’

I think of health and wellness through a simple lens…what am I giving and receiving that nourishes me, what am I giving and receiving that depletes me? I need people, activities, and ways of being that fill my cup to be greater than those that might deplete me. I have never been great at math (with the exception of a grade 12 math course that I aced for some unknown reason!)  Our optimal health – in mind, body, heart, and spirit – requires some math, or requires attention on the ratio of choices, time and attention that we give to the things and choices that ultimately are in service to our highest possible health, well-being and fulfillment in all areas of our life.

For example, here are some of the questions I ask myself on a regular basis…

Do I eat a healthy diet? Is the percentage of good, nutritious food that feeds my body greater than the junk I might choose to put into it? For example, do I drink more green smoothies and less white wine?

Do I move my body regularly? Do I choose to get up, move around, go for a walk, stretch, do yoga… enough to gain the benefits of regular exercise in relation to the hours I sit at my desk?

Do I book regular date nights with my husband to create enough time and space to listen attentively, relax together, dance in the living room such that it balances all the time we are on as parents to our two young sons, running two businesses, and keeping up with the demands and responsibilities of daily life?

Have I nurtured what feeds my soul? In the past month? The past week? The past 24 hours?

What questions do you need and/or want to ask yourself as check-ins regarding how you are filling your own cup?

How does your health and wellness math add up?

The holiday season tends to be a time of traditions, rituals, celebrations and expectations, whether shaped by religion, family, or other aspects of your life.  Some of these elements happen by choice, some of them occur out of habit (because it is the way you have always done it), some might result out of pressure from others, and some are choices based on family norms and perhaps your religious affiliation, if relevant for you. 

Many traditions evolve over time and are often brought forward from our childhood experiences of the holidays.  For example, in our family we always opened one gift on Christmas Eve and to this day, I still like to honour this tradition.  As a child, I always went to Christmas Mass (a religious celebration) and now as an adult, no longer a member of the Catholic Church, I create other rituals that have meaning to me and my family – including gratitude blessings, connecting with nature, and bringing people together to share their stories, gratitude and dreams during the holiday season.

Take a few minutes now to reflect on these aspects of the holiday season in your own unique circumstances.  Self-reflection is a way to reduce stress and stay aligned with your authenticity and truth.

Here are some reflective questions that you can answer and contemplate within your journal or simply take a few moments to consider…

1.  What are the traditions, rituals, celebrations, and expectations that you participate with during the holiday season?
2. Which ones of these traditions, rituals, celebrations, and/or expectations mean the most to you?
3. Which one no longer serves you?  (maybe you have outgrown it, or it is no longer important to you, or you simply want to do it differently)
4. If you are apart from your family and those you love during the holidays, what do you need and want to do to feel connected with some aspect of the holiday season that brings you joy, peace and love from afar?
5. What feelings do you want to have and create during the holiday season?  How can you create these?  What do you need to do or not do, to cultivate these desired emotions and experiences over the holidays?

What are some of your ideas for staying grounded, centered and stress free this holiday season?  Share your comments below!

Two of the most commonly reported reasons that many people put self-care on the bottom of their “to do” list is because they “do not have enough time” and they “do not have enough money“.  To help you overcome these obstacles of no time and no money, I have created a list of ten effective things you can do for self-care and stress reduction in less than 15 minutes a day (and they are free):  

1. Write in a journal – write about your thoughts, feelings, ideas, gratitude, etc. – reflective, expressive writing is a powerful tool for greater well-being.

2. Meditate – sit quietly, as Van Morrison sings “listen to the silence”, simply sit, notice your breath as it enters and leaves your body, still your mind, simply be.

3. Go for a brisk walk – be mindful while you walk, notice your feet meeting the surface beneath you, notice your left and right step, be present.

4. Stop multi-tasking – give yourself permission to focus fully on just one thing at a time.  Yes, a novel idea (one I am trying to practice right now).

5. Connect with nature – take a 10 minute break from your work and step outside, breathe with awareness, notice the trees, sky, and any other nature that surrounds you

6. Visit an art gallery – art and beauty nourish our souls (if you can’t afford admission the art gallery, go someplace where art is displayed for free…a store that sells art, etc.)

7. Read a poem or an inspiring quote book – words are powerful, they shape our mood and our mind.

8. Stretch your body – take a few minutes to reach your hands over your head, bend and touch your toes, lean to the left and right, do what feels natural…be aware of your body as you reach and stretch.

9. Throw a rock into a stream, a river, the ocean, a puddle…and take a moment to watch the ripples until the water is calm again, imagine any stress in your mind or body rippling out of you until it disappears.

10. Drink a glass of water – feel it offering you a clean, fresh, moment of replenishment. 

Bonus:  Unplug – give yourself 15 minutes a day without texting, tweeting, updating Facebook, answering the phone, no TV, shut off the radio, you get the idea.  Plug into yourself for a few minutes, it is a rich and interesting place – your inner life.  Take a break from the outer world and turn inward – even doing this for 5-10 minutes a day, can yield huge results – help you relax, shift your perspective, nourish you – from the inside out.  Enjoy!

Feel welcome to share your ideas for effective, time efficient, and free – self-care tips – add a comment below.  Thanks!!

When we are feeling overwhelmed, our stress goes up and it can become a vicious circle – overwhelm leads to stress leads to more overwhelm, etc.  If you are feeling overwhelmed - pause right now. 

Try this: 1) rate your feeling of overwhelm on a scale of 1-10 (1 being not much – 10 being over the top – feeling very overwhelmed)

2) Take a deep breath, fill your belly, exhale.  Again.  Breathe with awareness for ten seconds – big deep inhales and exhales (this is called power breathing). 

3) Get a big piece of paper and do a brain drain – write down all the things that are making you feel overwhelmed.  Take a look at what you have captured on paper and start picking areas you can get a handle on and get back in the driver’s seat to start reducing overwhelm. 

For example, 1. look at the list of things that are causing you to feel overwhelm 2. circle the items that you can do something about (either release, complete, delegate, drop it, etc.), and 3. pick one area and commit to addressing it.

When you take action with the intent of reducing stress and overwhelm, this simple and profound act of taking charge of your life starts to create relief and spaciousness, this in itself can reduce the overwhelm you are feeling. 

How do you feel now?  Rate your feeling of overwhelm on a scale of 1-10 again.  Has anything shifted?  Check in with yourself and just notice.  You are a powerful agent of change in your own life.

“When we persevere with the help of a gentle discipline, we slowly come to hear the still, small voice and to feel the delicate breeze, and so to come to know the presence of Love.” ~ Henri Nouwen

If you think of self-care as a practice, a path for returning to yourself over and over again to reflect, replenish and renew…what shifts for you?  How we think about self-care impacts our capacity to nourish this aspect of our health and wellness.

If self-care is exciting, gentle, rewarding, compassionate, non-judgemental, guilt free, necessary, vital…how does this support you to give more permission to nurturing this calling from within?

What do you need to make your self-care a priority? Something at the top of your ”to do” list versus at the bottom (we all know that we don’t get to things at the bottom of our “to do” list)?  

Try this: for one week, each and every day, book self-care dates – put them in your calendar just as you would an important appointment with a client, a dentist appointment, lunch with a friend, make your self-care real by putting it in time.   Notice how you feel honouring these dates with yourself…allow them to be fun, inspiring, nourishing times, opportunities to relax and renew.

What are you going to do (or not do) during your self-care dates?  Share your ideas here.  I am going to my daytimer now to do this same exercise…writing in my journal at Beddis Beach is going in my calendar right now.  Have fun!