Life's Stresses

Life is always going to give you trials and challenges. The twists and turns, even though sometimes unenjoyable have something to offer us.
I have a tendency to get  stressed easily.  I think many of us do. Stress can if we let it negatively impact our health. Stress can cause weight gain/weight loss, high blood pressure, digestive issues just to name a few. So how do we handle life while minimizing the impact it has on our health?
A couple things to note: Did you know we have a 2nd brain in our gut? Did you know that your thinking greatly impacts how stressed you are and how well you digest your food?
Here is a couple examples from my own life.
Lately, life has felt turned upside down in our house. I went to the doctor for some routine stuff . They took my blood pressure, as they normally do. I am usually very low like 98/60 however this morning I was 130/78. That was a sign to me that I am letting my body internalize too much of this stress. So my remedy:
1) Meditation: Spending time doing a daily meditation. Even if it is just for 10 min makes all the difference. I sit comfortable and clear my thoughts and focus on my breathing. The amazing part about this is that my husband and kids notice when I do this and when I don't.
2) Working on Thoughts: Some times I journal my thoughts on paper and other times I just do turn- arounds in my head. What is a turn-around you ask? Well, Have you ever heard of  "The Work"  by Bryon Katie? It is really powerful and will change your life!! For example, let's say I am thinking.." Life is so hard. My stress isn't going away." A good turn around might be, " I'm being hard on myself. My stress wants to go away if I let it." or "Life is as hard as my thinking. Life is easy if I release my stress and negative feelings about it."
3) Gratitude and Positivity : I keep several journals. One is taking note of everything that good happened throughout my day. What am I grateful for? I try and name several before I go to bed. Another thing I do with this is try and learn and grow and be positive about a situation. For example, my husband is out of work right now however it has given us some quality family moments. It has provided us time to become better at managing money, communicating, having faith and developing patience. By no means do I want him to be jobless forever just to receive these blessings but you get the idea.
4) Exercise : Exercise helps us in so many ways and it does here as well. Exercise is one of the best anti-depressants. It changes our hormones and internal chemistry allowing us to release the stress and tension from life.
5)Our 2nd Brain: When stressed I have been programmed over the years to emotionally eat. However, when we eat and are stressed our food doesn't metabolize as well. So to help with this when stressed it is important to do some deep breathing exercises while sitting at the table before you eat. This will help activate the parasympathetic nervous system so your body can rest and digest properly. I usually do 5 to 10 deep breaths before eating and clear my mind of negative thoughts.

There are many more ways to get through hard times and stress but I thought I'd take a moment to share my favorites with you today. I hope this helps you enjoy some stress free living in this crazy stressed out world we are in.