Today’s world has created an overload of stress for many people. We all have stress in our lives as it is a natural part of living and it can be good for us as it will push us to improve. When we have excessive stress levels it can cause dis-ease in our bodies.
For me, when I was at my highest stress level, that was when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was working full time, finishing massage school, and preparing to take the national board exam, when I went for my annual physical and tada... DCIS.
Excessive stress can take a huge toll on our bodies and I was no exception. Today I am healthy and much wiser and I want my friends and family to be healthy also. My journey from dis-ease to health is still ongoing but I am happy to report that I am 65 years old and not taking any prescription drugs. I have learned a lot in the past decade and I love to share and help others on their journey.
Here are five tips to reduce stress in your life
Stop listening to the news.
Mainstream media is designed to excite and stress us, so most of what they report is sensational and since today most media is owned by the same groups all the news is skewed to send a message of fear.
Exercise every day.
Find your favorite way to move and incorporate it into your daily routine, walking, swimming, yoga, strength training, and dance, just pick one or two and make room for them.
Journal
A great way to process thoughts is journaling as it is private and can be a safe way to be honest with yourself as you process. Just grab a notebook and write away, or draw if that is a better way for you to process. Start where you are and work it out until you are able to release the negative and are at a place of peace.
Drink more water
Water is crucial to wellness including emotional wellness. Water is needed for every major body function, especially digestion. You may have heard that the gut is your second brain. Digestive health is crucial to emotional health as the stomach microbiome affects our emotions. If you are experiencing high levels of stress, you may need to add more water to your routine.
Sleep more
A shortage of sleep will affect our anxiety levels, it can cause depression, it will affect our digestive system, and create digestive problems. Be sure to get quality sleep routinely.
Take one or two of these tips and incorporate them into your life to reduce stress and it's negative effects.
Why would we want to control or influence our thoughts? Because they create our reality!
We think about seventy thousand thoughts a day, if we are not paying attention most of them will be negative, and even the same ones we had yesterday. Change is hard because we become addicted to the life we have, even if we don’t like or want some aspects of it.
We were wonderfully created to be able to observe these thoughts and choose to change them.
My first steps at changing were with Dr. Caroline Leaf. She has a program called the 21-day detox where you take time every day to think about the negative pattern you wish to change, then journal, and then you consciously choose to change the negative thoughts. It was a great way for me to start the change in my subconscious, by changing the thoughts in my mind.
Jay Sheety a popular podcaster, who was a monk for three years simplifies this process with three words Spot, Stop, and Swap. Focus on spotting the negative thought, choose to stop thinking about it, and then swap it with a positive one. A quick and easy process.
Robert Tennyson Stevens, author of the book Conscious Language, in this book he discusses how our words create our reality. He teaches us to speak only what we want to create. It can be challenging to change years of poor habits, but it is definitely worth the effort to create a life you love.
The Aroma Freedom Technique by Dr. Benjamin Perkus offers another way to dig deeper into our subconscious to make positive changes. AFT uses essential oils and a 12-step process to identify inner thoughts and feelings, then help to choose new thoughts. The constituents of the oils reinforce the new neural pathways to make lasting changes.
We can change our thoughts, which then changes our feelings and influences our actions, which changes our future.
