Talk: Completing Stress Cycles

This track gently guides you through releasing built-up stress so your body can actually finish the stress response instead of holding onto it. It focuses on reconnecting you with your body, settling your thoughts, and helping you feel more steady and in control. By the end, you should feel lighter, clearer, and more emotionally reset.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to today's talk, Completing Stress Cycles. Do you know anybody who is not stressed these days? It seems like ever since the pandemic, The stress in our lives has become prevalent. And I'd like to ask you, How do you know when you're feeling uncomfortable and angsty and on edge? What are the little things that you do that cue you to let you know that things aren't quite right? Perhaps it's, I know one thing I do is I check my phone a bit too much. I look at my phone to see what I can grab onto. Maybe it's going to the fridge and opening the door and seeing what's there. And we don't even know that we're really doing these things. There might be little habits that we cling on to. It's important to pay attention to these cues because they're telling us something. And have you ever noticed that gap, Which creates tension within ourselves, The tension that we hold, Where does that come from? What's the source of the tension we carry? Well, Sometimes it is that gap, The gap between what we think should be happening, What we expect of ourselves and what is. And so when we keep pushing and striving for something other than what is here, We begin to experience tension. When we think that someone should have said something differently, That creates tension. So how can we begin to find out the source of our stress and tension? Because once we do, We can start resolving the stress cycle. So instead of living in a state of chronic stress, We can find moments of peace throughout the day by asking ourselves simple meditation coaching questions. And I'll come to that in a little bit. A big part of noticing is also noticing what we're focused on. There are physical ways to resolve stress cycles. So you might choose to take a bath or sweat it out by running a few miles or going to the sauna. And that is an effective way to release stress. But so much of what people experience as stress, Anxiety, And tension actually comes from managing difficult emotions, Not knowing how to deal with challenging dark emotions and feeling that we should, Thinking that we should feel one way, But we feel the opposite way, Right? When we have conflict within ourselves, Like I shouldn't be feeling this kind of rage. I shouldn't be feeling upset about that. But you are. I shouldn't be questioning what this person's doing. But something about what this person's doing is causing me anxiety. So it's the small conversations, It's the little slights, It's the offhand comment at work that we keep thinking about that we can't quite resolve. It's bothering us. It's irking us. It's sort of eating us up inside, But we don't know what to do about it. And here's the thing. You need time. And this is something that we don't know how to give ourselves. We need time to process life. Life is stressful. It's full of weird struggles that we have to go through. And oftentimes we're going from one thing to the next thing to the next thing. And we kind of feel off from one event and it carries through into the other days in our lives. So what we actually really need is time to complete stress cycles, But also have resolution. We need to process, Resolve, And integrate stress. And I would say not just stress, But life. So oftentimes we think about the bad traumatic things that happen, But there's even good things that can happen like having a baby or getting married or having a great new job. And these kinds of life changes also require time to process. It's that time to digest what's actually happened and integrate it into your being. And this is something that we don't talk about or give space for or really recognize. And it's really important that we give ourselves this kind of space. It's not just about fixing stress and finding ways to let it go, But finding a quality of time and space that allows you to return to a new balance, A new center. So again, Time to process, Resolve, And integrate. So collectively, We went through the pandemic. Collectively, We're still kind of feeling the residue from that stress. So what do you need for resolution? But first, How do you know that you need that resolution? How do you know when you need to resolve stress? One of the things is that you feel like you're living outside of yourself. It's like you're doing one thing, But your mind, Your energy is somewhere else. That is a big sign. It's a state of disassociation, Of disconnection, Of distance within yourself that you start to experience. Also, When you feel like you're just going through the motions and you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, But it's not really coming from a place of, I want to do this. And this is what's inspiring me. This is what feels right to do right now. It's just like you're going through the motions of your day, Not really connected. Also, If you feel absent and you're forgetful, You are making a lot of mistakes. You are losing things. Basically being very ungrounded is another sign of just a high stress residue. When you're really focused on superficial things and the business of everyday life. So when you're just involved in just being busy, Busy, Busy and consumed in that, And then if you're not, You feel anxious. If you're not latching your time and your focus onto something, It makes you feel anxious. That's another sign. So it's important that when you start feeling and seeing these things, Like you've kind of lost yourself, A part of yourself. And you're not feeling rooted in your center, Connected to your physical body, Feeling that sense of enthusiasm, Excitement or energy. Then that's time to stop. So stop can be taking time to meditate. But if meditation is too far of a reach, It's just like sitting in a room where you can stretch and breathe and open up your body. Journaling and writing about the things that are on your mind and heart. That's a really great way. And journaling consistently is highly effective in expressing your emotions and getting clear and also in helping you make important decisions. And lastly, Talking through what's happened. So often people internalize what they're going through. They don't share. And a lot of people feel that they don't have someone that they can talk to. And if you feel this way, I think journaling is a highly effective way to get your emotions out. And it's very cathartic and healing. So what are some basic questions that you can start to ask yourself? Well, These meditation coaching questions can guide you towards resolution. The first is, What am I stressed about? That could be what's bothering me. What have I been obsessing over? What's keeping me up at night? So just first acknowledging and outing the truth. When you say the truth, There's immediate sense of relief. And then allow yourself to feel what you're feeling. So if you're angry, Let yourself feel angry. And even if you can't reason with this anger, Let yourself feel it. Because emotions are a guide. They're energy in motion. They're telling you something. That something isn't sitting right with you. And then ask, What is the source of this stress? What is the source of this stress? So it could be a belief. It could be a story. It could be someone did something. And then ask, What would allow me to shift this? What would allow me to shift this stress? Say you had a project and maybe it's expressing, I need more time for this project. What could I do to shift the stress? So asking these three questions, Letting yourself feel what you feel, Can help resolve stress cycles. And we go through things every day, Whether we would call them stressful or not. But giving ourselves time to rest and digest our life experiences is one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself. And that might be spending time alone, Committing to a meditation practice. Walking in nature is very healing. So small moments of reset. You don't have to go away on a huge meditation retreat, Even though that's really nice. It might not be accessible to a lot of people. So finding those moments, Asking questions, And allowing yourself to integrate life's events is key to completing stress cycles. Thanks so much for listening.

Reviews

This was great. I often feel like there’s something wrong with me because I require so much integration for every day life experiences. This track, validated my current practices and reminded me to get my pen out and journal.