9 Tools For Managing Stress

Your perspective and approach will remove the effects of stress. Practice these 9 tools with joy and fun and free yourself from the hold of stress. Meditate, of course. Move your body in joyful ways. Be mindful. Set intentions for how you will look at circumstances and events. Play! Read for pleasure. Laugh, for any reason or no reason. Take time for self care. Serve.
Stress can be hard and painful, or it can be an opportunity for clarity, growth and learning. You get to choose.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this episode of the How to Choose Happiness show where we teach you how to claim your power to manifest the money,

Success,

Health,

Happiness,

Freedom,

And joy that are your birthright.

We're talking about how a great relationship with your body will help you harness your creative power and begin to create a life that you're the boss of,

That you are in charge of.

This is one of the most important relationships that you have is with your body.

What kinds of things do you say to yourself when you look in the mirror?

What kinds of things do you say about yourself when you're talking to other people or just what stories are playing in your mind regarding you and your body?

It's so important to remember that you have a body.

You are not your body.

And no matter what is going wrong in your body at this time,

Trillions and trillions and trillions of cells in your body are operating just exactly as they're supposed to be.

And you can choose whether to put your attention and your gratitude and your appreciation on all the things that are going right in your body,

All the ways that your body is serving you with loyalty and trust and love and faithfulness,

Or you can focus on the few little things that are going wrong.

All ways you get to choose and this is where your power lies.

In this week specifically,

We're talking about stress.

Stress is a perception.

It's our idea,

Our reaction to things that are happening outside of ourselves.

And again,

This is where your power is in choosing how you're going to view stress and how you're going to manage stress.

A lot of people will say that stress is unavoidable.

It's just a part of life.

And that is essentially true because things are happening around you all the time that you are choosing how you respond to.

Your body has physiological reactions to stress that are designed to help you survive your fight or flight reactions.

And those are healthy.

But when you stay in that state perpetually,

You're constantly in fear of losing your job.

You're constantly in fear of making your boss mad.

You are feeling powerless and like a victim in your life and therefore are in a state of fear all the time.

And this wreaks havoc on your body and on your life.

What we're going to talk about specifically today are some very precise and practical tools for managing the stress in your life.

I'm going to list them and I'm going to tell you why they help and give you resources for how you can get help in getting this to happen.

The first of these is meditation.

Now there's lots and lots of scientific information about how meditation benefits your life.

So I encourage you to Google that and look that up.

If that if you're interested in the why and the science behind it,

Please go and make yourself happy by learning about it.

Otherwise just do it.

Just make up your mind that for 30 days you're going to spend at least five minutes just sitting in silence with you and you and you with your mind,

Your body and your spirit all in a state of nothingness or Wuji is the Chinese term for the highest state of nothingness.

So what meditation does is it teaches you that you are in charge of your mind,

Not the other way around,

That you get to pause anytime you want and say,

OK,

I'm going to look at this circumstance and I'm going to either go ahead and panic or freak out or cry or I'm going to look for the gifts.

I'm going to look for ways that this stress can challenge me and help me grow and provide opportunities for me to create something new in my life that I have not yet done.

Always remember this is the most empowering statement that there is that I can share with you that you can keep as your mantra is that you are in charge.

You are the powerful,

Magical creator of your life and you always get to choose and feel that the confidence that you get when you really convince yourself of that instead of believing that life is happening to you,

Believing that you are a victim of circumstances and that there's nothing you can do about it.

Get started today reclaiming your power over your time and your attention and your perspective.

And meditation is like exercise for this practice.

If you spend some time deliberately acknowledging your thoughts and going,

You know what?

Not right now.

I'm not really interested in you right now.

I know that you're happening and I know that thoughts are being created in my mind all the time,

But I get to choose whether I believe you.

I get to choose whether I pay attention to you.

And as you exercise this muscle,

Then you can bring that out into your world.

And when something happens,

You can say,

You know what?

I choose how I'm going to respond to that.

And you have the power to do that because you've you've practiced this in your in your daily meditation.

David G,

My meditation teacher,

Wants us to work up to 30 minutes twice a day.

Your bookends so that you're starting your day in this state and you're wrapping up the end of your day and starting into your evening in the state that you choose for that night as well for that segment of your day as well.

A second way of managing stress is to get your body moving.

The act of exercise.

And believe me,

This is not all of the techniques that I'm teaching you are not things that you can just put on and be done with it.

My relationship with exercise is continually evolving and I'm continually and still in search of the ways of moving that I really love and enjoy and can do with joy.

And that,

You know,

I'm 54 years old.

So the trick is to just keep trying,

Keep trying new things,

Keep putting on new ideas and seeing how they feel to you.

Maybe it's yoga,

Maybe it's running,

Maybe it's walking,

Maybe it's hula hooping,

Maybe it is Zumba.

There are so many ways that you can get your body physically going and a body in motion tends to stay in motion,

A body at rest tends to stay at rest.

Getting,

Getting moving and even like a walking meditation.

If you can find a safe surface that you're walking on and,

You know,

Feel your steps,

Count your steps,

Use that time that you're walking to really tune in with your body and connect with your body and see how it feels and see how your body feels in your environment.

Getting moving,

Walking,

Moving your body any way that brings you joy.

Mindfulness.

Now,

Mindfulness is a way of bringing yourself back into the present and really paying attention to whatever it is that you're paying attention to and doing things on purpose.

This can be as simple as what clothing are you wearing?

What is on your mind and what is your goal when you get dressed in the morning?

Now I have built my life around comfort so I can almost always be absolutely perfectly comfortable and not pinching or twisting or binding myself in any way,

Form or fashion.

But there's,

There's even more to that.

My sister is getting ready to move away and I am already anticipating missing her.

So this morning I put on the earrings that she bought me and I put on the dress that she bought me.

And then once I had all that together,

I'm like,

Okay,

So I'm teaching today,

I'm speaking today,

I'm trying to reach out and help people today.

So what,

What can I do to magically increase my power of communication through my throat chakra?

So I put on a turquoise necklace that happens to match the earrings and you know,

I read up a little bit.

I'm by no means an expert on stones and crystals and chakras and things like that,

But they interest me and they intrigue me and they focus me.

So I read about the qualities of turquoise and the way that they bring power and luck and increase your ability to communicate.

And because I did that on purpose,

That's where I'm focusing my intention.

That's where I'm focusing my attention and the way that I want to manifest in the world.

Do you see how that happens?

It's like turquoise isn't magic,

But turquoise is magic.

Everything so you can think of life as being that there are no miracles or that everything is a miracle.

And to me thinking that everything is a miracle is way more fun.

Anything that you can do that will capture your imagination and get you focused into what it is that you are wanting to manifest is an awesome thing that you know,

Have fun.

Okay.

And then intention setting.

What kind of relationship do you want to have with your body?

If you start every day saying,

You know,

Today I'm going to be my body's best friend and I'm going to treat my body like I treat my best friend.

And how do you cultivate a friendship like that?

You spend time communicating,

You spend time getting to know one another,

You relish the fact that you know your best friend's favorite color and you know if she's a morning person or a night person.

And you know that tequila makes her mean,

You know,

Whatever it is that you know about the people that are closest to you,

You know by communicating.

Develop this relationship with your body in the same way by having a conversation,

Finding out what your body has to say to you and sharing beautiful,

Loving thoughts and positive thoughts and positive food and positive beverage.

If you eat and drink and engage in activities that you believe are bad for you,

Then they are and your body is going to respond exactly the same way.

We've always said that it's way better to have beer and pizza and an attitude of joy and sharing and community with your body and your and your actual community than it is to have broccoli in a place of that you're not enjoying yourself.

You're not having fun.

No matter how healthy anybody says broccoli is,

If you can't have it in joy,

Then you've kind of defeated the purpose.

Set your intention for whatever it is that you mean to accomplish in relationship with your body and in relationship to everything that you're wanting to do in your life.

Engaging in play.

So many of us are using all of our mental energy on work and worry and fear and regret,

And we don't take the time to play mental games or better yet,

Play physical games.

Throw a Frisbee with your dog.

Find a neighborhood kickball tournament that you can engage in.

Anything that will get you in a mode of playing and enjoying yourself is going to be awesome.

And if you happen to do that with other people,

Then you have the added benefit of strengthening your social connections and the health benefits and longevity benefits that come along with having strong community,

Having strong friends.

Reading for fun.

What could be better than letting your imagination run wild in a book that is totally just for relaxation and enjoyment and imagining different things?

And at the same time,

You're strengthening your brain,

You're strengthening your vocabulary,

You're doing great things for yourself all while you're having a great time.

Laughing.

They say that laughter is the best medicine for very good reason.

Dopamine and all kinds of other awesome chemicals are released in your body when you laugh.

And it's so easy.

Just look around for things that are funny.

Turn something funny on TV.

Engage with people who make you laugh.

Watch your pets.

My pets make me laugh hundreds of times every day.

Look for things that are funny.

Look for things that are amusing.

And then finally,

Schedule time just for yourself and honor that time.

Make an appointment where you're going to do things that are just for you,

Whether it's taking a long hot bubble bath or getting a massage or just hanging out and reading or meditating or anything that is just for you and hold that time sacred.

There's great power in saying,

No,

I don't want to go and do that because this is the time that I've set aside for me and I'm important.

And you send amazing messages to yourself and to your own psyche when you place yourself first and you let yourself and your body know that you're important,

That you matter,

That you are important to each other.

And then you have so much more to bring out into the world,

Which is our final suggestion for today and how to manage stress and get outside of yourself.

And that's to find ways that you can serve.

Now this is last for a reason,

Because if you are not taking care of your relationship with yourself,

If you're not taking time to fill up your own vessel,

You have nothing to give.

But if you've done all of this and you've put yourself in a place where you are in charge of your intentions,

You're in charge of your perspective,

You are showing love and honor and respect to yourself and your body into all the parts of you,

Then suddenly you are a vessel that is overflowing and you will automatically add this joy into the lives of everyone who touches you.

Everyone's lives that touch yours will be positively affected by your joy.

And you can amplify that even more by doing this on purpose.

Find ways that you can share your joy.

Make eye contact with someone in the grocery store and smile at them.

Be the person that speaks a compliment if it comes to your mind.

Never hold back words that are kind and loving and complimentary and appreciative.

The world needs them so very much.

Better it gets,

The better it gets.

If you come back every day and you make these intentions every day,

It's like starting a snowball.

At first,

You have to give it some attention and it's a little bit slow and it's a little bit tedious.

But as you learn and as your skills grow and as your perspective gets sharper and sharper,

That snowball gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

And pretty soon you've developed some momentum and so that you are watching things in your life happen so quickly that you will amaze yourself.

But you have to start.

You have to start with the little snowball and get going and promise yourself that you're going to keep showing up and you're going to keep setting your intentions every day and that you are going to make claiming your own personal power to create the most important thing in the world to you.

Be sure to like our page and come back and visit with us again and again.

Until Thursday,

Remember that happiness is a choice and you can always choose to be happy first.