Are you suffering from anxiety and stress?

When you can’t think straight or clearly and you react to life in a fight-flight pattern. You feel nervous or anxious often, you feel brain fog and have a hard time concentrating. You are having gut issues. You have mood swings, can’t sleep well, you start feeling aches and pains, lack of energy, get sick with a cold frequently, you feel down and out or depressed.

We all experience all kinds of challenges these days due to different global situations we have been living the past couple of years. The economy issue, hopelessness, feeling survival patterns of uncertainty. With the holidays we also tend to feel stressed and overwhelmed. We react to what’s happening outside of us, traffic in the stores when we go shopping and on the road. There are ways to manage stress and take control of it. I would like to share some information that has helped me manage my stress and anxiety.

Stop letting stress impact your life

Stress is a normal part of everyday life. Some levels of stress are even healthy and can contribute to keeping us alert and functioning at our best. Many of us, however, have difficulty managing our stress. Some stress disorders can be caused by imbalances of the chemicals that help the mind and body communicate. Many stress disorders are caused because of what the body considers a threat and what the mind considers a threat aren’t the same thing. For those of us who have survived accidents, combat, or other extreme and real dangers, stress disorders can come from having a hard time adapting to life outside of high levels of stress.

Whatever the cause of your stress, whether it be a personal concern or a diagnosed disorder, stress shouldn’t control your life and there are certain things that you can do to take control of it. If you are already seeing a medical professional about your stress, these tips may help to supplement the help that you are already receiving. If you are not talking to a medical professional, these tips may still help you, but they are not a substitute for other forms of intervention.

Breathe

It’s actually harder than it sounds, because studies show that we’re used to take in shallow breaths rather than the long, belly breaths we should be taking in. Breathing forces, you to focus on the present because it’s here with you. You have to mentally tell yourself to breathe in through your nose, feel your lungs fill in with clean air, then exhale through your mouth and let it all out. This technique lowers stress hormones, calms you down when you’re anxious or agitated, and helps you focus on the present with more clarity and attentiveness.

Breath-work Exercise explained

It can be done anywhere, anytime. Don’t take breathing for granted. It is a natural method that helps with stress, anxiety, trauma, and more. It is a practical tool if used efficiently and conscientiously. The diaphragm is the primary breathing muscle. During normal inhalation it contracts and moves downward, increasing the space in your chest, giving your lungs room to expand. When exhaling, the diaphragm releases and moves upward and the lungs return to their neutral position. When you inhale, the heart gets stimulated to beat faster and when you exhale, the heart gets a message to slow down. There is little change in the heart rate at this point. This lets the brain support the shift by turning on the calm and rest mode of the nervous system, which goes from the brain to the body. The heart can send feedback to the brain and convince it that things are calmed, even when there are stressors or anxious thoughts circulating in your mind.

This is important when in your day to day internal and external stressors are constant even though there is no physical danger. It is impossible to talk about breathing without looking at the autonomic nervous system, which connects the brain to the body. If you are stressed or anxious by an event or even a thought, the brain, via the nerves of the autonomic nervous system, will turn on the sympathetic part of the system, (known as the flight or fight response). When you are in a relaxed or calm state, your autonomic nervous system will turn on the parasympathetic part of the system, (your relaxed and calm mode).

This is why it is very effective to use this tool when you feel stressed or anxious. It can help calm you faster so you can function well and take control and manage any situation effectively. Find a quiet place and sit on a chair or the floor. Set an intention, place your feet on the ground, hip distance apart and take a deep breath in through your nose, count to 4, hold it for a count of 4 and exhale for a count of 6-8 seconds. Inhale through the nose, hold for 3-4 seconds, exhale through the mouth for at least 6 seconds letting all the air out. Repeat at least 5 times or more. You can also inhale through your nose as long as you can and then exhale as long as possible through your mouth, with discomfort. Repeat at least five times. It is important to feel the lungs fill with air and inflate while your belly moves outward making sure you are breathing from your diaphragm and not the chest.

Get in touch with nature

Nature is an amazing therapist. Just walking barefoot on the grass, dirt, or sand, allows your body to soak up the negatively-charged electrons from the earth, that help you relax. It can help reduce inflammation, an underlying cause of many dis-eases. The Earth’s electrons clean up and neutralize the positively charged electrons, the inflammation causing electrons, and help you create balance within your personal electrical circuit. Our bodies are designed to work with a negative charge. Thankfully this opposite charge is very simple, and very easy to resolve. Grounding is a way of helping your body revert back to a negative charge; the way nature intended it. Mother Earth’s natural heartbeat rhythm is the frequency of 7.83 Hz, also known as the Schumann Resonance. That’s the Earth’s resonance and your body and brain work with this frequency. Our bodies are literally designed to work that way.  Interacting with nature does a lot for your mental health, even if you only take a walk once around the park. It inspires positive emotions, boosts your mood and makes you aware of your place in the here and now.

Get some exercise

Choose your most comfortable venue and go for it. Running, kickboxing, swimming, strength training, group fitness classes – the choices are endless. Opt for a workout that keeps you challenged enough so that you’re focused on the different moves. Push yourself a little bit further each time. If you feel the weather doesn’t allow for outdoor exercise, you can exercise in the home. There are a lot of stretches and exercise videos on the internet available.

How Your Mental Attitude Determines Your Actions and Results in What You Do

They say a positive attitude can shape the trajectory of your life. People spend time and money trying to learn the ins and outs of positive thinking. In fact, the need for mental wellness has expanded into a multi-million-dollar company. People everywhere need help shaping their attitude. The truth of the matter is, your mental disposition greatly influences your actions. Even during situations of joy, a negative thought can turn that joy into despair. The power of one simple thought is strong. Because of this, it’s important to take note of your mental attitude so as to manifest positive actions. Let’s consider how.

Your Perspective Shapes Your Outcome

Perception is often times the most honest form of individualized reality. Whatever you perceive a person or situation to set the entire vibe. For example, if you dislike going to work because you think your boss is rude, likely you will always consider your boss to be rude, even when he or she isn’t. This impacts your performance because you will likely not be as productive or confident as you should be. The reality of perception is both powerful and manipulating. Thoughts, feeling and emotions are all powerful and have a frequency. They can create harmony or chaos within our body and our surrounding.

How to fix this: When you have a negative perception, your actions are faulted. Therefore, shift your perspective into something positive. If you perceive someone to be rude, try and find out what their strengths are. Then, control your reactions. Remember, you can’t change someone else or a situation, but you can change your perspective towards it. Practice reversing negative thoughts by replacing them with a positive one. You can say I cancel (the thought), 3 times and then replace it with another thought full of love and gratitude

Your Thoughts Mold Your Confidence

If you are consistently telling yourself that you are ugly, stupid, worthless or faulted, your behavior will reflect that. You won’t have the confidence needed to pursue your goals and everyday tasks. The same is true with your thoughts on your circumstances. If you view your current situation as negative, you may not take the necessary action towards changing it.

How to fix this: If you are constantly moping in your emotions, you will not make the progress needed. Therefore, approach your circumstances from a diligent attitude. Outline a plan of action towards changing your situation and living the life you want. By taking action as opposed to drowning in sorrows, you will live a happier life.

As you continue to work on shaping your thinking, it’s wise to develop positive coping strategies along the way. One common method is meditation. If you set aside some time to sit, relax and focus your mind of your current state, you will notice a clearer mind. Other methods are, you can hear a motivational video or podcast, read a book that will give you hope and motivate you. Practice affirmations that empower you. You are unique, brilliant, worthy, you are enough. You have the power to change negative thoughts or emotions.

Another positive coping strategy is journaling your positive affirmations. This involves writing down things you are grateful for and aspects of your personality that you like. This written description will serve as a constant reminder of positivity. By keeping this as a reference, you can visually see all that you have to be grateful of.

Finally, practicing mindfulness and gratefulness, will help shape your mind towards thinking positively. Mindfulness revolves around living in the moment without trying to mold or change it. Gratefulness helps you focus on the blessings you have. This will help you to accept people and the situations you are in as opposed to changing them. This habit will help you to see the positive and not focus on the negative. Since the mind has such an influence on behavior, it’s key to take control of your emotions and thoughts so as to live a healthy life. By doing so, your behavior will soon reflect your encouraging thoughts.

Use the Power of Your Mind to Make Things Happen

Wishful thinking is more than just sappy daydreaming – it’s real. It’s the first step to turn your ideas into reality. As Walt Disney himself believe, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” And we all know the dreamer he was. Each one of us has the power to reach great success, just like Disney, but it’s the subconscious that sabotages all this because of negative experiences, doubt and certain ingrained beliefs that we are not good enough.

But only sitting at home dreaming won’t get you anywhere. You have to be proactive by making a mental image of what you would like. Then take it a step further and imagine you already have it. Your mind is a very influential tool and its ability to focus is what makes it unique. And it’s up to you – you can choose to put a spotlight on the positive and make things accessible and attainable; or you can focus on the negative and hold yourself back with your fears and anxieties.

Thoughts create emotions; emotions impact real change which brings about the physical experience you desire. Meditation, mindfulness and gratefulness are three examples of how we regain destiny by nurturing positive thoughts and suppressing the doubts, fear and negativity. This way, we can actually alter the way our subconscious works, which then affects our overall attitude and how we see the world and everything in it. It’s very similar to reprogramming your computer so it can function more efficiently.

This all depends on the intensity of your thoughts as well as the power and stability of your emotions. Working together, they can either bring about illnesses by increasing stress hormone levels which curb the healing process, or they can be implemented to boost your health by stimulating the natural healing powers of your body.

So, the first step is to focus your thoughts on what you want to achieve, and clear away the clutter of unwanted or negative thoughts. The second step is choosing what you want. This may sound simple, but it actually requires a lot of self-reflection and decision-making which may be difficult for some people.

Many people procrastinate rather than boldly decide what they want for their lives. This procrastination comes from a fear of failing miserably which none of us wants to happen. But not even having a clear image of how you want your life to be just because you’re afraid of what might happen is not very productive, or healthy. In order for anything to work in your life, you have to make a conscious decision on what it is you really want. And once you realize the importance of what you’re focusing on, then your mind starts working on ways to reach your goals. It’s only when you doubt the importance of your goals that the clarity of focus weakens and things start to fall through the cracks.

The third step is to have a sustained focus which in simpler terms means defining your long-term goals. These go hand-in-hand with your short-term, every day goals, like getting through your meetings, finding time to exercise, answering emails. Alongside that, your sustained focus on losing ‘x’ pounds by a specific time frame, having a certain amount of money in the bank, or learning how to be happier and more content.

Ok, now we’ve gathered our thoughts, focused them into a meaningful purpose, what do we do next? Well, mental energy needs a push from our emotions to get the universe to move in the direction you want. So how do you get your emotions involved? By getting excited, inspired and confident in your abilities to do what needs to be done. Write down your 5 main goals on a sheet of paper and hang it up where you can see it each day. This technique keeps your goals fresh in your mind which bolsters your determination and excitement about the things you want to achieve in life.

By tying in your emotions to your thoughts, they work together to create a physical energy to help you get things done. The great thing is that if you believe in it long enough, your actions will slowly move you closer to achieving everything on your list, sometimes without even realizing it. As the Hawaiian saying goes, “Continuous thought is the chief, action is the follower.”

Conclusion

If you find yourself experiencing one or more of the symptoms above with increasing frequency, it is time to take a step back from the burden you have placed on your shoulder. Sometimes, a short vacation, weekend getaway or just a simple trek in the great outdoors can do wonders for your wellbeing.

Practice meditation, prayer, journaling, breathwork, grounding, a favorite hobby, listen to uplifting music, exercise, spend time with a loved one.

If you are interested in learning how to get a grip on your stress and anxiety levels and control them instead of them controlling you, send me email, coachzaida@gmail.com and we can create a plan for you.