is now commonplace,
yet stress can be metabolized easily
with these natural remedies.
Anxiety has become an issue for many people in daily modern life. When we hear the word anxiety we tend to imagine it dramatically — it makes us think of panic attacks. In reality, it’s the low-level everyday stress that can often be the most problematic, because it sneaks up on us and erodes our quality of life in ways that might not seem obvious.
It’s important to understand that stress does more than just lessen our enjoyment: it kills. Stress impacts our body’s ability to function optimally — it can surpress our immune systems and increase our susceptibility to diseases and accidents.
by Dane Findley
working almost nonstop can create anxiety
3 Extremely Effective Methods for Metabolizing Daily Stress and Anxiety
The good news is, that there are solutions for lessening feelings of anxiety and the negative impact of stress on our everyday lives! Here are three of them.
StressBuster Method #1:
5-Minute Meditation
The goal of meditation, is to be here, now. It sounds so simple, yet when we take the time to actually witness our own thoughts as they occur, we recognize that they are often centered in the future or the past.
Chewing on the past or projecting into the future are usually not calming to the psyche and body. What is healing: being present, fully, in this moment. A meditation practice helps that occur.
I call this method “5-minute Meditation” because if you know that only 5 minutes is required, you’re more likely to actually do it; with time and consistency, however, you may find that you gradually enjoy meditating for longer periods. (You can have a peek inside my own meditation practice, which I usually begin with affirmations and a “brain dump.”)
StressBuster Method #2:
Positive Internal Dialogue
The soundtrack of our thoughts is what determines our ultimate health. How we speak to ourselves, those imaginary conversations we have inside our heads, the moment-to-moment mind chatter — all of these are hugely impactful to our longevity:
to be extremely healthy,
the talk that goes on in your brain
needs to be as positive as possible”
There are additional in-depth solutions on how to create a positive internal dialogue.
StressBuster Method #3:
Exposure to Nature
Nature is one of the best self-soothers out there. Fresh air, a little sunlight, a quiet walk — all of these have a subtle — but ultimately profound — effect on our bodies and minds. It’s easy to forget that for thousands of years our brains were accustomed to using nature as a way to recalibrate the central nervous system.
Slam-cut to thousands of years later: we receive only a fraction of the daily exposure to nature that we used to. The air is full of noise, signals, and synthetic chemicals that didn’t even exist before the industrial age. You better believe that has an impact on our psyches and stress levels (even if the impact operates outside our day-to-day awareness).
daily exposure to nature helps manage anxiety
As busy as most of us are these days, we still have time to get at least a few minutes of nature each day (and certainly each week). In order to find the time for this, we need to look carefully at our typical day and build it in to our schedule: make it a priority, block it out on your calendar, and say “no” to people and invitations that attempt to infringe on your own self-care or quality time with nature. If you don’t take it seriously, no one else will either.
StressBuster Bonus Method:
Monitor Your Beverages!
For pete’s sake, if anxiety is an issue with you in any way, please limit yourself to one coffee a day, only, at most!
I encourage you to experiment with these methods for smoothing out the rough edges of everyday living and improving your quality of life. Remember, however, that these methods are most effective when done consistently. I invite you to share with me in the comments section below, what other natural methods you’ve successfully used to manage daily stress!
Oddly, it’s the low-level stress we need to be concerned about, because it can sneak up on us.
Most of us deal with daily chaos in unconscious ways — namely, by self-medicating.
We watch crime shows on television, eat sweets, drink red wine, read celebrity gossip — in fact, there are a thousand ways to medicate day-to-day anxiety.
For many of us, the journey of personal growth begins with a series of successful replacements:
~ exchanging less healthy ways of self-medicating with more healthy ways!
I’m definitely going to work on #1. I have wanted to create a few minutes of quiet, reflective time each morning but still have not. This is a great list, thank you Dane!