What, would you say, are the biggest challenges facing you right now? What is stemming your life flow? Building up tension in your body and your mind?
The shifting sands of our personal lives, our families, our communities, our planet – it is challenging our roles, our identities and what truly matters to us.
There is an outright wrestle between the old and the new – comfort in the old but anxiety in the unknown new, stagnancy in the old and liberation in the new. Our old scars are surfacing, old patterns pulled out from under the rug. We’re being asked to reinvent, to start anew. Understandably we’re feeling stress, anxiety and overwhelm arising in our bodies and minds.
How do we navigate through these times? These times of uncertainty and change?
Pure + simple has always made most sense to me. When life gets complex, get back to basics.
Sleep
Sleep is often one of the first to suffer when stress starts to build and overwhelm sets in. Finding ways to soothe our stress levels and get the quality sleep we need significantly improves our mental health and our resilience to the higher stress in our daily lives. Try to make sure you’re getting enough sunlight during the day, avoid screens (blue light) at least an hour before bed, establish a rhythm for going to sleep and waking around the same times. Rising with the sun is a great way to connect with the Earth which improves our mental health.
Movement
Our bodies thrives on movement. Stress and unprocessed emotions have a tendency to become stuck in our bodies creating pain and stiffness. Slow and gentle movement in the morning, and even before we sleep, helps to keep these toxins moving and supports our lymphatic system to release the build up of ‘ama’ in our muscles and joints. Movement also helps us to process our experiences – e-motion is really just ‘energy in motion’ – walking, running, swimming, dancing, gentle stretching give our bodies an opportunity to move cleanse and reset. Movement in nature is doubly healing.
Nourishment
Stress and overwhelm frays our energy which can make us feel unbalanced and frazzled. Our energy has a frenetic upward movement that needs slowing and grounding. Supporting our bodies with nourishing foods is a potent way to bring that anxious energy down – root vegetables, oats, eggs, berries, salmon, nuts. Equally, minimising the usual offenders – caffeine and alcohol – can promote a more peaceful environment.
Another vital source of nourishment is a peaceful connection with the world around us – seek out friends or family you feel good being around. A good laugh or being safe to be share vulnerably do wonders for self care and remembering who we really are – underneath the stress and uncertainty.
Stillness
Stress, by default, is very clever at convincing us that EVERYTHING is urgent. We may find ourselves in a spin in our heads, moving fast on autopilot and thinking the only way to win is to move faster! The most powerful antidote to this state of affairs is to become still. Like an intensely swirling pool of water, allowing space to become still reveals a peace and clarity that the busyness was masking. Proactively taking time for stillness each day supports us with prioritising and making good decisions. Develop a daily practice of becoming still and checking in – listen for what matters and that which does not. And any time you notice you’ve started running in circles again, challenge yourself to stop mid-circle and breathe.
Learning how to respond to the needs of your body and mind during times of stress, transition and change is key to living an empowered and love infused life.
Read more here about my transformational 12-week Cultivating Inner Peace Mentoring Program designed from my heart to support you to find the peace and relief you have been looking for.
Please reach out if you would like my support to build greater stability and inner peace in your daily life.
