Tag: stress management

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Stay Hopeful

Stay Hopeful

There is a lot going on in the world, and in your own life. Now is a great time to focus on taking care of yourself — from the inside-out. It is essential to connect with what is most important for you. But right now, with all the uncertainties, do you even know what that is? Let’s focus on the basics.

Hope

Now is the time for deep and connected hope. Hope is the core foundation to build on. Let’s start with powerful self-care ideas. Creating ‘me’ time is essential, find what works best for you.

  • Carve out a private space of solitude (inside or out)
  • Slow Deep Breaths — this simple practice can do wonders
  • Close your eyes and imagine a place of comfort and beauty
  • Actually see it and feel it in your soul. Imagine how it smells, sounds, feels etc
  • Connect with a trusted power beyond yourself (God, Spirit, Universe, Higher Self…)

When you are grounded into nature or your personal power source, you can work together to translate fear, worry and anxiety into faith, trust and hope. This is not silly hope, this is the deep knowing that together, we can all get through our challenges — one step at a time, one day at a time.

Do this again and again, because it should not be a once and done activity. Make this a regular part of your daily life, like eating or brushing your teeth. We are being invited to quietly go within to find the answers we have been searching for all over the place. Guess what? The best place to find those answers is within you. You just need to slow down and ask the really primal questions that you may have been afraid to ask. This is not a scary dark place to fear, that will re-open all the pain from your past. This is like opening yourself to your own super-powers. You need to take the dedicated time over and over to peel through the many layers of the ‘onion’ of your life, to discover the gourmet variety of choices and flavors that you can choose from. All you need to do is believe in yourself and take the first step.

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Tapping Into Your Imagination To Get Through The Pandemic

Stress and exhaustion can wear on the strongest and most mentally healthy of us.  Especially now when all of our normal routines and ways of dealing with stress are not readily available to us while we are cooped up in our homes.

Things that people normally do to fight off the blues such as going to the gym, meeting up with friends for coffee, and going out on a date night may seem impossible now. 

The old ways of doing things might not be available, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t do all the things you need to do from the safety of your own home.  It just takes a little bit of imagination and creativity.  As a kid, you could go anywhere from your bedroom by reading, coloring, and imagining for hours and hours. 

Tap into what you were capable of when you were younger.  For example, if going to the gym was your stress relief, set up a workout regimen in your home.  No equipment, no problem.  Use body weight exercises to get you through this tough time.  There are loads of videos online about how to use your body weight and small areas of your home to get a really good workout in. 

Miss meeting up with your friends for coffee?  Have a virtual coffee catchup online.  There are apps and programs like Facebook Messenger and Facetime that allow virtual chats from anywhere, and group programs like Zoom that allow for multiple people to chat with each other.  Brew a cup of joe, your favorite tea or chill a glass of wine and sit down with a group of your friends online and catch up.  It will do wonders for your mental health.

Missing date night with your loved one? There are loads of options available to spend time together virtually.  Many museums and parks are now offering virtual tours that the two of you could take together, even if you aren’t in the same house. You can go online while talking on the phone or video chatting and take the tours together.  Or do something fun together like playing a video game or starting a movie at the same time and discussing it while you play or watch.  You can even set up virtual dates in some games like Animal Crossing online where you invite your beloved to your in-game museum or watch the sunset together at the beach in the game while you talk or video chat at the same time.  Bonding together in these ways can be surprisingly romantic and will give you memories you can look back on after all this crisis is over.

The important thing is looking out for your mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing and being kind to yourself and those you love while we all work on protecting each by staying safe at home.