How 3 Little Life Hacks Can Change Your Mood, Your Day, Your Life.
Stress. Anxiety. Negative thought patterns. Social media envy. National catastrophe. Let’s face it, American living in the 21st century is fraught with daily supplies of people and circumstances that can be negative for our well being, to say the least.
As if it wasn’t already bad enough, fate felt like throwing in a global pandemic just to keep things interesting. Grief, loss, financial fears.. Social and political upheaval. The list of reasons to feel down is daunting to say the least.
As a licensed hypnotherapist, I am constantly working with my clients to help reduce stress, alleviate anxiety and meet depression head on. It seems as though we are all seemingly suffering in some type of way. I do have 5 pillars on which I build lasting transformation, but that’s an article for another time.
Through my own personal journey, my education and my professional practice, I’ve discovered 3 simple methods to immediately calm the nerves, settle the emotions, clear the mind and leave you in an overall better state within minutes. Adopting these techniques into a daily practice can lead to a sense of calm, less anxiety, and more love in your overall life.
Breathwork
Everyone knows that taking a few deep breaths can be a fantastic way calm the nerves and lower the heart rate immediately. Three deep breaths is a method used by most of us at some point. What I am advocating is taking that concept to the next level. Make it a daily practice. Set aside a time somewhere in your day, preferably when you know your highest tension points could occur. This could be in your office on your lunch break, putting the kids down for a nap or maybe even after your evening workout. Whatever works best for your individual schedule and lifestyle. Set aside 10 minutes, sit comfortably, close your eyes and let your mind become quiet and go as clear as possible.
Place one hand over your heart and the other hand over your diaphragm. Begin by taking a big breath in, filling up your lungs entirely, then releasing it slowly until the lungs are completely depleted. Be sure to be mindful, consciously focusing on the movement and rhythm of the breath as it flows naturally in and out. Continue the practice for ten minutes, varying the depth and speed of your breaths when you notice your mind drifting.
Rapid Forgiveness
Yes forgiveness. Forgiveness may be the least discussed, yet most effective manner of healing, restoration and wholeness. It’s true that the deeper works of forgiveness require a much deeper dive and longer periods of work. However, you can cultivate the spiritual practice of forgiveness every single day. Simply take 5 minutes of your time. This can be done at an airport, the mall, sitting in traffic, the local coffee shop, or my personal favorite, the DMV (aka hell on Earth). It doesn’t matter. Somewhere public where you can take a few moments and see multiple people.
Take time looking at each person that crosses your field of vision. Look at them, without judgment, take them in and simply say ‘I forgive you’. Why would I extend forgiveness to a complete stranger, you may ask. There are a few reasons: First, forgiveness isn’t about the other person. It’s about you. Forgiveness is bringing yourself to a mental and emotional state where you can accept people and circumstances for what they are and extend grace. It opens you up to flow, clears blockages of resistance, anger and stress and releases the negative emotions of the heart and the negative thoughts of the mind.
We all make mistakes, we all struggle, we all need help. Looking at complete strangers through the lens of forgiveness puts you in the posture of grace, understanding and compassion. This, in turn, opens you up to being more loving, releasing higher levels of serotonin and oxytocin (feel good chemicals) in the brain.
This always leads back to ourselves. At the very end of the practice, we turn to ourselves, looking at our own guilt, our own negative feelings, our own levels of stress and anxiety. We then extend grace and compassion to ourselves, knowing that we are human beings trying to do the best we can. Self-love in the regard of self-forgiveness cannot be overrated.
Calm Surrender
This one can be done as an extension to rapid forgiveness or as a standalone. When life hands you stressful circumstances, when people act in ways that annoy, anger or hurt you, when you fee your inner resistance begin to rise up. In events such as these and others like them, developing a practice and lifestyle of surrender can be game changing.
How do we do this? You simply take a moment, go into yourself and make peace with the present moment and circumstance and allow it to unfold naturally, however they may be without infusing your desire to control the outcome. now, it must be said that i am not talking about times of abuse or personal/professional responsibility.
Obviously we have to be safe, caring responsible adults. But rather, i am talking about the everyday . Interactions with people, traffic, setbacks that arise. I am not talking about inaction here, nor am i talking about a general apathetic attitude. I’m talking about growing in faith and trust that we don’t need to be in control of everything and we never need to be attached to any one specific outcome. Stay open, live in the flow. Yes, work, play and live diligently and responsibly, but also know when to take the worried hands from the anxious reins and simply let go. Let go of the details. Let go of the outcome. Let go of what other people think or say about you. Work honestly about showing up as the highest version of yourself and letting life provide the details. You’ll be amazed at what can happen when you stop trying to live and start letting life live you.
Remember, take time. Breathe. Forgive. Surrender. Take the lighter way of life. Adopting these practices into my daily life has lead to more understanding, less stress, more acceptance and much more. These qualities bring an unbelievable amount of peace and joy to my overall life. I hope they do yours as well.