Tools for Relieving Stress

Our lives are have become so fast paced that we found an art to keep ourselves busy and not really deal with our vulnerabilities and emotions. Stress piles up and can make our bodies, minds and lives explode with no warning. It's important to learn tools to notice stress, identify its source and take a moment to help bring the nervous system back into balance.

Here are a few tools that I have found helpful during stressful times:

-Take time to dive deep into a project for 27 minutes. Set a timer and work on this space only. Ignore phone calls, emails, texts, etc. until your time is up. Once your time is up, take a break and decide to come back to the project or move on to another.

-Refocus your stressful thoughts into something you enjoy doing. Go for walk, draw, color, start a long thought about project or watch your favorite movie. All these help get you out of the situation or thought pattern that is making you stressed and reconfigures the brain to focus in a new way.

-Detach yourself from technology! Stop yourself from scrolling on social media, turn off the tv or step away from the computer screen. Even doing this for 15 minutes will give your brain a rest and time away to reconnect to living a simple life. Social media has a way of showing us what we are missing out on, longing for or don't have in our lives. This can trigger unneeded stress and why add more to your already full plate!

-Take time to focus on your breath. Learning to fully breathe into your body helps you calm the nervous system and bring fresh oxygen into unconnected parts of our body. It's simple, can only take a minute or two but the benefits will last a long time. 

I encourage you try a few of these this week to find a balance and allow yourself to not let stress overcome you! There are many more tools to explore, but starting out simple helps create a wellness practice that lasts. I love to hear if there are any other tools that work for you or if any of the above helped you this week!