3 PROVEN, SIMPLE TOOLS TO REDUCE STRESS!: While most of us know we are stressed, few of us realize just how stressed we are because we don’t make the connection between our stress level and the emotional, physical and behavioral symptoms we have learned to live with.
Our goals at WellnessWithin are to help people:
* learn to recognize the symptoms of stress (the assessment identified many common ones);
* understand the “real” causes of stress;
* grasp its harmful affects, and most importantly;
* apply strategies to reduce or eliminate its destructive and, potentially devastating,
consequences.
By taking the Stress Assessment, you began to realize how stress was impacting your daily life. Here are three proven mind-body tools you can use immediately to prevent further accumulation of stress in your life.
1. Pivoting: When thoughts of what you do not want pop up into your awareness, do what basketball players do on the court to thwart their opponent – pivot. Make a 180 degree turn by bringing your thoughts, attention, and conversation to focus on what you DO want. This switches the negative to a positive, elevating emotions and releasing stress.
2. Play the What If…? Game: Worry is one of the biggest stress inducing emotions and one that many of us get caught up feeling. When thoughts of “What if…(something bad happens)?” crop up, consciously change those thoughts to “What if…(something positive happens)?” When we worry about possible negative outcomes, that worry feeds itself and we get stuck in a spiral of negativity. By thinking about and expecting positive outcomes, we engage in an upward spiral of possibility, and we feel better. (Note: Beware! The default of the subconscious is to focus on the worst case scenario. That is why this tool is so important.)
3. Appreciation: What we tend to pay attention to daily is the negative reality that surrounds us – dramas on our TV, toxic news, work demands, financial concerns, family responsibilities, rush hour traffic or that ever-long grocery line, etc. We forget there is positive and good that is also a part of our reality. By bringing to mind what it is that you appreciate in your day, you dramatically change your chemistry and how you feel. Making a habit each day of listing 10 – 20 things you appreciate is a powerful tool that helps increase emotions such as gratitude, happiness and enjoyment, thus reducing stress.
When your attention is on what you appreciate or brings you pleasure, you feel better, and thus create more of what pleases you. The same is true when your attention is on what you do NOT want. Simply focusing on the fact that you do not have what you want, or that something just “isn’t working” is negative attention and creates more of what is unwanted.
So, we at WellnessWithin invite you to choose to utilize these 3 simple yet proven tools to Stress Less and Thrive!