Stress can be present even when the activity is in your favor. As you receive this week’s blog, my husband, 2 kids, and I will be moving into a new home. We will be leaving the only home my kids have known. We are setting forth on a new adventure.
About a month ago exactly while doing construction (actually demo) on what will be my husband’s new office space, we received the call that we would be receiving an offer on our house. While excited, what we didn’t expect was the buyer wanting to close in a month. We had nowhere to go?? How were we going to find a home, pack our home, continue construction on the office, work our jobs…oh and to top it off also be flipping a place for one of our businesses?
All good things to say the least, but man has it come with a lot of stress. Please don’t mistake my situation as a comparison to what so many are facing currently with COVID and the riots. Stress comes in many forms, many grades, and can be both good and bad.
Stress can be a hard beast to conquer. Hormones are releasing, your heart rate increases, blood pressure is elevated. Most of the time without you even knowing. At times, stress can serve us and motivate us, but it is when you are in chronic stress that negative impacts can-do long-term damage to your health.
HOW TO CONQUER THE BEAST
I have talked a lot about my morning routine in the past. My morning routine is a must. If I miss a day, I dramatically notice a difference in my mood, my productivity, and my happiness. So while my morning routine includes reading, journaling, and meditation, today I want to share the benefits of meditation.
Meditation has been a godsend to me, especially over the last month. I have found myself stepping away numerous times a day when I start to feel the anxiety bubbling below the surface. I will find a nice quiet place to sit or lie down and quickly do a 20 min meditation with some deep breathing.
Meditation has many scientifically proven benefits, so this is more than a subjective firsthand account. Meditation improves your immune system, sleep, the efficiency of oxygen use in the body, and the production of anti-aging hormone DHEA. While improving those areas, it decreases blood pressure & hypertension, cholesterol, anxiety & depression, insomnia, and the production of stress hormones.
If you are completely new to meditation or have not found a meditation preference, here are a couple of my favorite guided meditations.
20 Minute Guided Meditation for Reducing Anxiety and Stress–Clear the Clutter to Calm Down
20 Minute Mindfulness Meditation for Being Present / Mindful Movement
Give it a shot, try it on, whether stressed or not, it will work wonders. But one warning, don’t expect total Zen immediately. Then when you don’t achieve Zen say, “meditation doesn’t work.” Humans have monkey minds that jump from thought to thought. The act of medication is to slow those thoughts down and it takes practice.
P.S. we found a place! A complete gut job…we will live in it while we transform it. I am certain you will hear more about my life and times as they unfold.