By Karyn Lawrence-Vivier
Our times are tense and turbulent, due in part to the sophistication of our 21st century media. The constant barrage of colors, sounds and minute details are in our face daily. We live high-octane lives, often unaware of how stress levels are sabotaging our health. The American Psychological Association reports that 31% of Americans identified their stress levels as having shot up in the past year. Those stomach knots, headaches and eye twitches are the body’s way of warning us that we need to address our stress levels. If left untreated, stress can lead to serious illness, but here are some helpful tools to help you to slow down your life.
1. Practice gratitude. In the field of Positive Psychology research, gratitude is strongly associated with greater happiness. Expressing gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity and build stronger relationships.
2. Deep-belly breathing. There are surprising and calming benefits to deep breathing. You will experience a happier mood, deeper sleep, less anxiety, a healthier heart and better air intake.
3. Give back. Whether that’s through your house of worship, a community organization or just in line at Starbucks. Generosity has an incredible influence on our emotional health. When we experience feelings of generosity we’re happier, more optimistic and have a lower risk for depression and anxiety.
4. Practice self-care. Self-care is important to maintaining a healthy relationship with yourself, as it produces positive feelings and boosts your self-confidence and self-esteem. Also, self-care is necessary to remind yourself and others that you and your needs are important too.
5. Be mindful. Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to what is happening to you from moment to moment. To be mindful, you must slow down and bring awareness to your thoughts, feelings and actions, without attaching judgment to them. When we feel stressed, it is easy to focus solely on problems and simultaneously be blind to any positive experiences. Taking notice of simple sensations, like taste, helps stop this line of thinking.
6. Get in touch with your spirituality. Regardless of your religion, evidence shows that being spiritual can improve overall wellness. Many spiritual traditions have a long history of using contemplative practices (activities that guide you to direct your attention to a specific focus) to increase compassion, empathy, and attention, as well as quiet the mind.
7. Moderation. Don’t go overboard with sugary treats, alcohol and/or caffeine. Consuming too much can impact on your mood, which can add to unwanted stress. Your mind and body are connected.
8. Let go of perfection. Anxiety and perfectionism go hand in hand. We tend to set unrealistically high standards for ourselves because we have a deep desire for an impossible level of control over our lives. Settling for “good enough” in certain situations enables us to let go of guilt and anxiety.
9. Learn to meditate. New research shows that meditation can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, slow Alzheimer’s and curb tobacco cravings. Meditation also helps to relieve anxiety and depression, improve attention, concentration and overall psychological well-being.
10. Discover relaxation techniques. Relaxation is our body’s natural antidote to stress. When we feel stressed, our bodies can be flooded with chemicals which trigger a “fight or flight” response. In real emergency situations, where we really need to be alert, stress can actually be useful to us. However, if someone is experiencing so much stress that these chemicals are constantly being activated, it wears down the body, depletes your energy and compromises your ability to cope. Using relaxation techniques can bring your system back into balance. Relaxation techniques also help you to deepen your breathing, reduce the stress hormones, slow down your heart and blood pressure rates and relax your muscles.
Everyone handles stress differently, so exploring which techniques work best for you is essential. Throughout my career I have studied ways to help people balance their lives, and while I don’t claim to be the inventor of these strategies, they do reflect the common sense and wisdom I have gained from others. Hopefully these practices can lead to a more balanced and less stressful 2018 for you!
Karyn Lawrence-Vivier is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who specializes in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Dialectical Behavior Therapy DBT and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in her strength-based approach that explores the roots of depression and anxiety to help her clients understand their nervous systems and improve the mind/body balance.
