REAL Relief For Everyday Stressors

We all wish there were a magic pill we could take that would instantly and effortlessly give us the relief we want from the things we don’t like. In today’s lesson, explore the strategies you’ve tried to help you get relief and discover the magic pill of mindfulness to bring awareness to their effectiveness.

How familiar are your everyday stressors? Have the same kinds of things been stressing you out for most of your life? Have you found that you’ve been using the same coping mechanisms for years now? In this lesson, explore the habit of habits as we explore what causes stress, how we respond to it, and if we are actually getting what we think out of it.

We’ve been talking about habit loops and the process of using curiosity to bring awareness to what you’re really getting out of holding on to your everyday stressors. By now, you might see that you are really ready for REAL Relief instead of just glossing over the depleting emotions that keep you from feeling free, being happy, and living a healthy life. Let’s dive deeper into how to use curiosity to get real relief.

When you experience an everyday stressor, there's some kind of depleting emotion underneath. This leaves you feeling drained and keeps you from being present. Today, we'll use curiosity to explore what's happening in your body when you feel three depleting emotions.

Now that you’re paying attention to your habit loops and experiencing sensations in your body, it’s time to really dig in to the core of getting REAL Relief - discovering what you get from your behaviors and seeing if those results are actually as beneficial as you might think they are.

This week, we’ve looked at the causes of everyday stressors and how our ingrained habit loops keep us reacting the same way, time after time. Today, we will look back on this week’s learnings and chart our course for the next two weeks of implementing REAL Relief.

By now, you’re understanding that the only way you are going to feel better from any depleting emotion is going through the body, from the inside-out. We will discuss this in detail throughout the course, but what you need to know today is that nothing outside of you is ever truly going to make you feel better. No one else can return to you to balance, no outside action or behavior can truly create the love and peace you desire. Let's dig deeper today.

As we prepare to go deep into the four-step process of getting REAL Relief, we will begin to anchor our mindfulness practice, so we can always feel grounded and centered in our bodies and connected to our hearts. In this lesson, I’ll teach you my seminal meditation technique, Head To Heartspace Breathing, as a tool you can use throughout the course and in daily life.

When your check engine light pops on and you pull over and pop the hood, do you know exactly what’s wrong? Oftentimes, you don’t and you have to call a mechanic. With a special device, they read the codes and recognize the problem. In this lesson, learn to read the codes of your body, so you can accurately recognize your stressor in a moment of dis-ease.

Even if you’ve never actually considered exploring Mount Everest, there’s been some place you’ve been brave enough to check out, even if it felt daunting. As you made the trek, you experienced all kinds of sensations in your body. Are they still there? Not unless you’re listening to this while on a journey! Use the magic pill in this lesson to brave the wilderness inside to find the path to REAL relief.

It’s easy to turn away from things you don’t like. You can curate your newsfeed to unfollow people you disagree with and if some news comes on that upsets you, it’s easy to reach for the wine or ice cream instead. When you resist and turn away from things that cause you to feel off-balance or dis-ease, you hold yourself back from the full experience of being human. This lesson will teach you the wisdom and practicality of allowing it all.

Do you remember the freedom you felt when you were little and the bell rang, signifying school was out? You let go of all your worries and ran out the door, perhaps back into the arms of a loving parental figure. Learn to be that free again and to tap back into a sense of loving-kindness in this lesson.

Stress can creep up at work, at home, or even in the grocery store. No need to let it get the best of you. Today, we’ll experience the REAL Relief practice to bring some ease and calm in a moment of stress and anxiety.

No matter who you are or how much you try to suppress it, you feel anger. Learning to keep it from becoming harmful to yourself or others without bypassing it is paramount to living a mindful life. Experience the REAL Relief practice to diffuse your frustration and find your center in a moment of anger.

We all get scared, and the pandemic has given us ample reasons to fear even more of the unknown now. When fear arises, it doesn’t have to take over and keep you in fight or flight all day. Experience the REAL Relief practice in calming down your body and mind in a moment of fear.

Dealing with physical pain can be exhausting. You might feel hopeless, helpless, angry, discouraged, or even guilty. No matter the cause of your pain, it doesn’t have rule your life or make you miserable. Experience the REAL Relief practice to discern the difference between pain and suffering and bring ease to your body in a moment of physical pain.

Humans are hardwired to crave. Everyone is addicted to something, whether its exercise or your smartphone, or ice cream. Just because you have created an addiction doesn’t mean you have to give into it every time the phone pings or you open the fridge. Experience the REAL Relief practice to ride out a craving and bring balance back to your mind and body in a moment of strong craving.

You’ve learned how to apply REAL Relief in a number of situations, but what happens when something comes up that you haven’t prepared for? Experience the framework of REAL Relief without a specific focus in mind, so you are confident you can implement it anytime you need.

So far, you’ve learned how to get REAL Relief in all kinds of situations. But did you know this practice works with positive emotions, too? Experience the practice of REAL Love to harness, cultivate, and strengthen your natural capacity for kindness and love.