Stress and Patterns of Thought
IF YOU’RE NOT DOING SOME FORM OF STRESS MANAGEMENT, YOU WILL SABOTAGE ALL OF YOUR BEST EFFORTS WITH DIET, EXERCISE, AND SUPPLEMENTS.
If your physician or other healthcare provider says you must reduce your stress, ask what methods they recommend. Perhaps they’ve heard of heart rate variability, Valerie is certified in Heart Math and has an active practice particularly with referrals from doctors. Christopher’s holistic life coach training mentorship is a natural for stress relief, be it situational or life stress.
Your brain is not the boss of you.
Sometimes we let our thoughts get away from what is best for us— maybe you compare your health or wellness with others based on what you see on social media. Find your own path of thought and positive perception, you can achieve more than you think.
Your patterns of thought affect your perceptions of stress.
Consider these different strategies for decreasing the stress you experience:
Reframe the situation. Look for a more positive light. For example, if you find yourself stuck in traffic, can you enjoy a podcast or use it as an opportunity for contemplation and solitude. Heart Math practice in traffic (eyes open and alert, of course) is a great blood pressure reducer.
Lower your expectations and standards. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Let good be good enough.
Practice acceptance. Learn to accept the things you can’t change. Maybe this will resonate with you: “Didn’t cause it, can’t control it, can’t change it.” Let it all go and reap benefits of less frustration and angst.
Be grateful. Try keeping a gratitude journal and writing down three things from each day that you are grateful for, and how your actions contributed. Click here to learn more about gratitude journaling.
Cultivate empathy. More on this soon in another blog post!
Manage your time: Setting careful boundaries for your time can be helpful. Have you tried turning off all screens (TV, computer, phone) at 9pm? Try it for a week. Activate If you’re concerned about missing a loved one’s call, on iPhone settings go to “Focus/Do Not Disturb/Allow Notifications/People and set who you will allow through while you are on the “Do Not Disturb” setting. Other phones, tablets and computers have similar settings.