3 Stress reducing strategies that you can keep in your pocket!
A lot of us feel stressed on a daily basis. The pandemic, well that pretty much cemented stress into our everyday life for the majority of us. There are now studies that are starting to be released that show that many of us are really struggling to cope as the pandemic rolls on. The true results, well, we may not know those for some time.
Mindfulness can feel for many, out of reach. One of my passions is breaking down just how accessible these practices are, and how powerful. I work with a lot of mums and this is great as it challenges me to work out bite-sized but efficient ways to introduce mindfulness activities to stressed out and very busy people. Why bother though? Is it really that useful? Yes. If you consider how it can feel to move through our busy and sometimes frantic worlds with a little more ease. Considering quietening down a whirling chattering mind that can dampen down and shake self-worth, hey there imposter syndrome! These are the things that often stop us from seeing the beauty in our worlds or even worse, keep us feeling very small.
Mindfulness is a beautiful tool to quiet and get to know that crazy, chattering monkey mind! We can become aware when it is gathering steam and running wild so that we can start to make decisions based on a calmer space. A kinder space that is based on intuition and not fear. We get to see and feel our emotions, thoughts and feelings. We can gain control of our creativity and problem solving (making us smarter, wiser and less reactive). We get to lose the distractions that stop us from actually living our lives - it’s an opportunity to jump back into the driver’s seat, so to speak!
STOP.
Ok, so step one. Start to listen to your body and your spirals. Each time you feel your emotions start to rise, that you feel you’re about to spiral that things are out of your control - stop. Take even a couple of minutes to just become aware and notice what is going on.
Ask yourself - what is happening right now. How do you feel? What is physically happening to your body right now?
As you start out doing this, it maybe that you do this towards the end of your spiral. Know though, that the more you do this, create a practice of this, the better you’ll become at noticing what is going on for you. Once you notice, you can then ask the ultimate question …
What do I need right now?
I recommend to my clients that they don’t just wait for the spiral to happen. Piggy-back this practice onto other habits that you have so that you can do little temperature checks through the day. I use:
the shower
my first coffee
before lunch
before dinner
before bed
Each of these are a quick 2-3 minute check in. It’s not complicated or time consuming. Doing this, will save you so, so much time in the long run. You won’t end up losing yourself in mindless tasks or going down a funnel of negative chatter.
ACTIVATE THE SENSES!
You may have guessed that knowing how to activate the senses and their importance that I place on them when it comes to mindfulness. Scent is probably the one that I lean on the most. I use different scented oils to evoke different memories - and therefore different states of mind. I also use meditation oils when I need to calm myself but can’t meditate immediately (I carry a roller bottle in my handbag at all times!!) and I’ve even started to use solid perfume.
For you, perhaps it is sound, music. Or touch, taste even! What is your strongest sense? What is the one that once activated, it can calm (or you can perhaps discover it because it triggers!) you nervous system. This is a beautiful and exhilarating journey so have a little fun with it. Once you’ve got it, you can then start to experiment with things that can quickly help you when you need it most. Hence, my handbag oils!
HAVE A TRIGGER ROUTINE
Ah, the trigger response. It’s so, so easy to get lost in a whirl of trigger emotions. You know that huge rush of energy that floods your body. I created a quick practice that I could use when I get triggered, it’s been especially important with kids, sleep deprivation and low energy levels that are often to perfect storm for trigger episodes! I’ll share mine with you, but feel free to tweak it to work for you.
When you feel flooded by an emotion, take a second to close your eyes. Take 3 big, deep breaths.
Now, turn your awareness to your body (eyes still closed, you want to be in your internal world). What is happening? What’s going on for you right now?
Name it. Give a running commentary to what is happening. You can do this silently or out-loud. It could be something like “racing heart. Flushed, hot face. Sweaty palms. Stomach flip. Chest tight. Moving. Tingly.”
You will find that your attention, focused on what is going on helps because you are separating yourself from the emotions and the thoughts. They are not you, it’s energy moving through you. You are literally giving yourself space to allow the feelings to dissipate. Leaving you with space to then act in a way that is conscious, calm and deliberate.
What are your mindfulness-on-the-go practices that you use on the regular?
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