Life can easily become a routine of constant stress. Whether it’s your daily commute, paying your monthly bills, managing relationships at work and off the clock, or dealing with the demands of your home life, all of these small stressors can pile up and leave you feeling overwhelmed. Over the long term, this accumulation of stress can have major effects on your physical, psychological, and behavioral wellbeing.
Stress has been linked to a wide range of symptoms including fatigue, headaches, insomnia, depression, and anxiety—just to name a few. Stress also triggers inflammation, a known instigator of dis-ease.
Stress is everywhere, even though we can’t always see it. I love the analogy
of stress is like dust. Dust is always sifting around us and piling up—and it usually isn’t until there’s a thick layer of it on our coffee table or under the sofa that we finally do something about it. But if we choose to de-stress every day, it’s like tidying our soul by giving it a daily Swiffer! Choosing to be mindful and creating healthy choices can help dissipate stress. Here are five simple tips to help you move away from reacting to the challenges in your life (which leads to more stress) and build new patterns of responding create, and de-stress. to what life sends your way (leading to more harmony, poise, and centeredness in your life).
MEDITATE: The practice of going inward by bringing awareness to your breath has hundreds of benefits.
Even practicing just a few minutes a day can restore calm and inner peace to your life. Meditation and mindfulness are daily practices that help you stay present in the moment.
JOURNALING: Writing is how our emotions speak to us, especially in those moments when we are confronted with a challenge and don’t know how to deal with it.
Allowing the pen to glide across the page has been shown to increase clarity on difficult decisions by connecting us to our inner voice. SPACE: Every time you look at a cluttered area, all that stuff can trigger your stress and anxiety. Your outer world reflects your inner world. A recent LA Times investigation found that the average home has anywhere from 100,000 to over 300,000 items, most of which are not even being used! Simplicity is not just a word but an action of internal and external peace. Items have energy and that energy takes up space. Cleaning the clutter creates more space to focus, create, and de-stress.
NATURE: It’s nearly impossible to escape stress when it follows you everywhere. Unplug from stress so you can plug into the world around you. Listen to the birds sing or the trees whistle. Listen without judgment or attachment. Just feel gratitude in the presence of a beautiful landscape.
SLEEP: This is the most important tip I can provide. Sleep is the elixir of energy. Sleep is how the body, mind, and Soul coalesces into one. It’s how we recharge and collect wisdom from our infinite Self. When our mind is not clear, we make choices that are not in alignment for our highest good. When we are tired, we lack patience and focus. Rest is the re-set. Simple things, like a warm bath before going to bed, a cup of hot tea (chamomile is my favorite choice before bed,) and even listening to music can create the ambiance of peace.
Stress doesn’t have to ruin your life or your health. If you can add any (or all) of these tips every day for a month, and hopefully longer, stress will begin to take the backseat and the transformation in your life will begin.
Kudos Magazine Volume 5.1
By Avianna Castro