Welcome to day three of our
series to live a more meaningful life. By now if you have been following the
series, you have forgiven your wayward mother in law and quit your job…no? Not
quite?
Today we will be talking
about something much less life changing but life affirming all the same. We
will be discussing five things you can do in the week to significantly reduce
the stress in your life.
Stress is one of the biggest
contributors to burn out and living an unhappy life. Even as you are enjoying a quiet moment, being
subconciously stressed can consistently undermine your peace.
Here are five ways to lower
your blood pressure and have a more peaceful week:
5.) Make your work and play
space enjoyable. Spend one hour per week organizing your physical workspace.
Living and working in a chaotic environment day in and day out may not feel
stressful, but your subconscious is picking up on the subtle stress. Spend one
hour Friday afternoon organizing your up coming week, cleaning out your old
worthless notes and deleting irrelevant files. Do this one hour spring cleaning
on your home or car as well. You will be surprised how comforting a clean work desk
is to come in to the following Monday morning
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| Mentally check in to your peaceful place- this is mine |
4.)
Practice balance in all
aspects of life. Too much of a good thing is still always…too much. Our
rule is
that when something new comes into your life, something old must leave
to
maintain balance. If you invested in yourself this week and got a new
pair Louboutins (jealous) take last season’s favorite pair and donate
them to
Goodwill or give to a friend. Make enjoyable things more enjoyable by
practicing them in moderation.
3.) Find a routine
you enjoy.
Many people say going to the gym can be cathartic, I am not this person.
However, I do acknowledge the benefit of a positive, stress relieving
routine.
Mine is turning out all the lights in the house and lighting candles.
One hour
of candlelit chores does something to help me re-focus and center
myself. Other
positive routines include going for a daily walk, talking with your
spouse,
gardening, cooking, meditating or visualizing yourself in a serene
positive space. Anything that feeds your soul and gives you peace for a
few
hours.
2.) Remember a time you were
successful. Sometimes when stressful situations feel insurmountable it is
comforting to remember a time you overcame a struggle and reflect on the
personal tools you used to do so. Relive a successful moment- over and over and
over. Remind yourself that you overcame
a stressful situation in the past and have the life experience to do it again.
One time when I was overwhelmed and at my wits end in my personal life I
complained to a social work friend. She asked me to assess the situation. I did
and still felt terrible. She asked me to reflect on something “hard” that I had
done well. After thinking for a moment I said I felt I was good in my career.
If I was great in my work she said, then I have the same tools to be great in
other areas of my life. She told me, that you cannot be great
in one area of life and terrible in another. The same skills I have at work are
ones I can use to simplify my personal life. Any skills that I have used to
successfully navigate stressful situations are skills that I can fine tune to
use to be successful in every aspect of my life.
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| Grateful for long, sunny drives |
1) Find daily moments to be
grateful as many times as you can. Make it a mental game- every time you would
otherwise complain think about the small moment in the otherwise frustrating situation
that can be positive or affirming. My son missed the bus today, this is
frustrating because now I may be late for work or have to rearrange my
schedule- BUT I get ten unstructured minutes in the car with an otherwise busy,
hard to pin down guy. I will make these ten minutes together worthwhile and
affirming. Make a conscious decision every day to find gratitude in mundane
situations and you will be impressed to see the subconscious stress dissipate.
Do you have any tips or
tricks we didn’t cover? Please post to our comments section or email to
joni@choicenetworkohio.com
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