Stress Management Archives - Lightwords - Life Coaching, Healing, Wellness

12 Sep

Live With Equanimity

Choosing to live with equanimity—or even-mindedness—is a great step that improves our life experience.

By taking a calmer approach to life we feel better; we deal with situations more effectively and open ourselves up to higher guidance.

Here is a message from Spirit that talks about the power of equanimity in our lives.

Spirit’s Message

“Dearest ones, the toils of life are transitory experiences that move you forward along the path. And as you move, episodes both joyful and sorrowful occur.

All is best taken with equanimity. Remove yourself from judging situations as to whether you are pleased with them or not and take all life experiences with equanimity. In this way you open yourself up to receiving guidance from your Higher-self. Your ego has less power and less control over you when you do not judge.

Stay calm, stay poised. Move deeper into the loving relationship that you have with Divine Love. Open your mind to the possibility of solutions to your problems.

Stay even-tempered, lessen ego control and you will receive guidance intuitively that will help you through all of life experiences.

Equanimity brings strength, peace, direction and serenity.

Blessings and Love,

Spirit”

Equanimity: Connect to the peace within

Whilst, at times, it can be hard to stay even-minded—particularly during testing times—a helpful technique is to focus on the breath. The following exercise restores a sense of calmness to our being.

It goes like this:

Pause for a moment… then take a deep breath—preferably one from your belly—and then hold the breath for a second or two. Now slowly exhale, ensuring that the exhalation of your breath is calm and very, very slow. Sink into the feeling of peace that emerges from the slow exhalation of the breath.

Repeat the process 3 times.

Taking time to quieten the ego and to disengage from the emotional body is a helpful strategy towards establishing peace, balance and equanimity in our lives.

Three-step approach to living with more equanimity

Next time you are faced with an upsetting situation, immediately recall the word ‘equanimity’ to mind. This will remind you to deal with the situation with a more even-minded approach. Then, do the above breath exercise which will help to settle the mind and reduce agitated feelings.

Once you feel calmer, take a moment to go inwards and ask for guidance on how best to manage the situation at hand.

This three-step approach is a simple strategy that helps work our way towards living life with equanimity.

This Month’s Video

This 3 minute relaxation video will help reconnect you to the peace and calm of your deeper-self.

09 May

Good Food For A Healthy Mind!

Have you ever thought about the food that you feed your mind daily; food in the form of thoughts? Peaceful, happy and kind thoughts are excellent food sources for a healthy mind and research shows ingesting these thoughts daily has a positive effect on our health.

Unfortunately, many of our daily thoughts are unhealthy—with stress and worry forming the main source of our diet. Whilst it’s difficult to eradicate troublesome thoughts altogether, it is possible minimise them.

Here’s how: Firstly, consider that every thought you think feeds your mind—so, in order to feed it well, a balanced diet is needed.

Each day:

Increase positive expressions as you converse with people. For example, thank people more often for the help and the services they provide. Gratitude is a healthy food source.

Reduce the habit of complaining and blaming. Both are energy-depleting. Also, reduce negative influences that keep your thoughts focused on ‘life’s dramas’ – media news is an example. If your senses are constantly bombarded by negative information, it is more difficult to generate positive thoughts.

Introduce positive statements into your diet such as, “Today I will worry less.” “Today I enjoy being happy.” “I feel good about myself today.”

Add supplements such as joy and laughter to your day. These essential tonics generate happier thoughts.

Assess all of the kindhearted actions that you engaged in throughout the day. Recalling them to mind generates both good thoughts and feelings.

If you catch yourself in ‘worry mode’, here’s a little trick: Liken ‘stressful thoughts’ to ‘fat’ in a diet. As with too much fat, too many worries will clog your system and weigh you down!

To stay in great shape, pay attention to the food you feed both your body and mind. Ensure kind-hearted thoughts are part of your daily diet!

Here is a fun video clip that that provides positive food for the mind! Enjoy.

08 Mar

Self-Love Time!

I held a retreat last month and part of the focus was on love—including self-love. Self-love is an area with which most women struggle. We spend a lot of our time giving to our partners, children, family, friends and work colleagues but when it comes to giving to ourselves—being kind to ourselves—that is more difficult.

A way to develop self-love is to engage in self-care. Self-care is an act of self-love. When we self-care well we attend to the many responsibilities in our lives with more enthusiasm; we feel better emotionally—feeling less resentful, frustrated and angry when managing life’s demands.

Care about your whole self

Most of us do not engage in good self-care with respect to our body, emotions and our spirit; we may care for one area of our being and forget about the others. However, all aspects of our being need to be nourished with love in order to feel whole and complete.

Therefore, we need to take good care of our body, as our body is the vehicle that carries us through life. Looking after our emotional wellbeing is very important too, for our emotions play a big part in our enjoyment of life. And giving attention and love to our spirit is essential if we want to live a balanced life. Self-care strategies that feed our soul are the ultimate acts of self-love.

Here are some examples of self-care acts that will help you to be more kind and loving towards yourself.

Physical self-care

Joining an exercise or movement class to keep your body in good shape

Eating healthily

Regularly treating your body to a massage, a Reiki session—or whatever therapy you enjoy—that will help to maintain or improve the condition of your body

Emotional self-care

Being honest to yourself about your emotional wellbeing and undertaking strategies that help you to feel less anxious and frustrated—more peaceful and content

Setting boundaries, knowing when to say ‘no’ to things—instead of taking on more commitments

Seeking professional help when your emotions get the better of you

Spiritual self-care

Making time for yoga, meditation, prayer or contemplation—quiet time that brings feelings of peace and balance to your life

Subscribe to an online course or attend a spiritual group where you can learn and have the support of like-minded people

Feed your soul with words of wisdom from inspirational reading material

Self-love is our responsibility

We have a personal responsibility to take care of ourselves. If we don’t ensure that we are in a good place physically, emotionally and spiritually, it makes attending to life—to all of its demands and responsibilities—much more difficult.

So it’s time to be aware of how to care… for yourself!

Action Challenge

This month make self-love your focus. What little things can you do that will help you to be kind and gentle to yourself?

We feel much better and we are able to give more easily when we have had a little top-up of love ourselves. So start loving your-self today!

To learn about my number one self-love tip, watch my 3 minute video.

19 Jan

Perfect Timing

It was the 5^th January, 2016, and in less than 7 hours of arriving home from our overseas holiday the phone rang. It was the hospital to say that my husband’s brother, Richard, had been admitted to the emergency department.

In our discussions with the medical staff, the news was not good. Taking into account Richard’s current medical condition it was apparent that his chances of recovery were slim.

Richard was managed by the medical team with dedicated care and attention. Sadly, 5 days later he peacefully passed away.

Throughout this difficult time, I kept thanking The Universe for ensuring that we were home in time so we could be there for Richard. There was no doubt in my mind that the timing of our return was perfectly choreographed by a greater Source!

The right moment

This recent experience reminded me how the timing of events is not something that we can control. Whilst we are busy making plans— particularly at this time of year when we work towards our New Year goals and resolutions—life has its own timing.

Often we place a lot of pressure on ourselves believing that things need to be completed within certain timeframes yet, the rhythm of life has a more perfect timeframe in-store!

My New Year’s Resolution

In view of recent events, this year I have decided that whilst I have a list of goals that I want to work towards and achieve, I am going to be mindful and trusting of life’s perfect timing. Whilst I have a plan in my mind of ‘when’ things should be completed, and I work towards completing that plan, I’m still willing to hand the completion date over to a greater Source—a Source which has a much better grip on the perfect timing of life than I!

Trust life’s timing

During 2016, set your goals and dreams, work towards them, do what you need to do in order to achieve your goals but remember: if the timing does not match your desired timeframe, there will be a reason as to why this is so.

This doesn’t mean that you give up, that you drop your goals or abandon them. It does mean that you need to be patient as you surrender to a timing that is perfectly scripted for you.

Over time, your goals will be achieved and when you look back on the timing of how your goals came to be, you will marvel at the perfection of it all!

Video

Here is a delightful video of a dog that’s instinctively in-tune with the timing of life!

08 Dec

Healthy Christmas Gifts

During Christmas, much of our focus is on buying gifts for others. Whilst it’s good to give to others, it’s also good to give to ourselves.

Here are some personal gifts that won’t break the budget and that’ll improve your health during the festive time.

The gift of Patience

Busy roads, crowded shops; we can’t get away from the fact that it is a hectic time of year but if we adopt a more patient attitude towards it, we will approach it in a more peaceful manner. Patience is a great gift to our blood pressure.

The gift of Forgiveness

The festive season means family time. Whilst it can be difficult to get along with everyone in our immediate and extended family units, focusing on healing broken relationships or tolerating them in a more open-minded way—instead of entrenching them deeper—is a huge gift to yourself.

It’s amazing what happens when our heart opens up to forgiveness. Forgiveness is a gift in emotional freedom.

The gift of Calmness

Tired of getting swept up in the Festive rush? Then why not commit to rushing less this year. You can achieve this by planning ahead and being mindful of creating an enjoyable time—without stress. Staying calm is a gift to your mind.

The gifts of Peace, Love and Joy

Start the season early by taking to heart this festive theme. Concentrating on the real meaning of Christmas time – peace, spirit of friendship, kindheartedness – makes us feel happier and it is a gift to our spiritual wellbeing.

The Gift of Moderation

This is the time of excess food and alcohol consumption. Rather than overload your body with extra calories enjoy the treats in moderation. Knowing when to stop is a great gift to your whole body and it will mean fewer calories to burn off in the New Year!

Indulge!

Gift yourself these treats this Christmas. They cost nothing and they’re good for your body, mind and soul!

20 Oct

Making Memories

The last few weeks, my siblings and I have been discussing a family holiday. We have decided that in 2016 we are going to visit the islands off the coast of Sicily—the birthplace of our maternal grandparents. The opportunity to spend time together as a family—to trace our roots and be immersed in the culture and heritage that has been so much a part of our lives is, indeed, exciting. Special moments such as these make lasting memories!

During discussions with my family, it made me think about life and the importance of creating loving memories. In our fast-paced world, often we’re busy making money—not memories!

Whilst work is an essential part of living, we need to balance life. Taking time to have fun, to be with loved ones—sharing, caring and enjoying moments together—forms a great part in the enjoyment of life.

Be Kind to Yourself

With our busy lives it’s easy to push ourselves too hard. Letting our hair down a little, attending to some self-care strategies are other ways in which we can create loving memories.

Life can change in a moment. Therefore, I believe that it’s best to live so that when it’s time to reflect back on our life, we can look back on it knowing that we have created lots of loving memories for others and for ourselves.

Call To Action

This week, go out of your way to create positive loving memories. Stuck for ideas? Here are some suggestions …

Spend quality time with your children, a friend or an elderly person.

Go ‘offline’ take a rest from emails and social media for a while and take yourself away—to the beach or a place that fills you with joy.

Spend time with your parents. Surprise them, treat them. Let them know how much you love them.

Be spontaneous. Most times, our spontaneous decision to do ‘this’ or ‘that’ creates great memories.

Be mindful in the present moment. It’s not always necessary to always be ‘doing’ in order to create good memories. Watching—observing—can create a special moment, a fond memory.

Long term goals …

Get together with family, friends or loved ones and plan a memorable event.

There are many things that you can do which will create pleasant memories. So start making some great memories today.

As the expression goes …Carpe Diem … seize the day!