Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts

Friday, December 10, 2010

SOS: Stress Rescue Meditation

Relieve stress in 5 minutes
The first step to move away from stress and head toward success is to just STOP!  The Breath Rescue Meditation is a perfect tool to stop stress in its tracks and to create a path of least resistance. It allows your mind to clear, your body to relax and will help you get refocused on your intended goal.  Practice this meditation if you find yourself feeling tense, overwhelmed or irritable.

Find a quiet place where you are not likely to be disturbed. At home, you may shut the phone and find a comfortable chair. At the office, you might slip into an unused office or conference room. Even sitting in your car will do the trick. The most important part find place where you can sit in a comfortable position. Preferably, your feet should flat on the ground with your back straight to prevent your mind from becoming sleepy.

Gently close your eyes and turn your attention to your breathing. Just breathe naturally. It is best to breathe through the nostrils, but it is more important not to attempt to control your breath. As you bring your focus to your breathing, try to also notice the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. This sensation is your “object” or focal point of the meditation. It will keep you from being distracted by external noises. Optimally, awareness of your breath should be to the exclusion of everything else.

Initially, your mind will be very busy, and you might even feel that the meditation is making your mind busier. In reality, you are just becoming more aware of how busy your mind actually is. There will be a great temptation to follow the different thoughts as they arise, but you should dismiss this and remain focused specifically on the sensation of the breath. If you discover that your mind has wandered and is following your thoughts, no harm, simply return your attention back to the breath. Repeat this as many times as necessary until the mind settles on the breath.

Do the Breath Rescue Meditation for at least one minute, but five to ten minutes would be better. As you regularly practice this exercise, you will find that your tension subsides more easily and you experience an immediate sense of inner peace and relaxation. You will notice that you are calmer, refreshed and more focused. Your attitude naturally feels uplifted. You will find that usual problems or difficult situations will become easier to deal with and you will once again be back on track with success!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

STRESS OR SUCCESS MEDITATION


The first step to move away from STRESS and head toward SUCCESS is to just STOP!  

The STRESS OR SUCCESS MEDITATION is an easy and effective tool to stop stress in its tracks and to create a path of least resistance toward achieving your success. It allows your mind to clear, your body to relax and will help you get refocused on your intended goal. Practice this meditation if you find yourself feeling tense, overwhelmed, irritable, or if you just want to be more relaxed and centered. 

Find a quiet place where you are not likely to be disturbed. At home, you may shut the phone and find a comfortable chair. At work, you might slip into an unused office or conference room. Even sitting in your car (or a bathroom stall) will do the trick. The most important part is find place where you can sit comfortably without interruption. Preferably, your feet should be flat on the ground with your back straight to prevent your mind from becoming sleepy. In any case, make the best of wherever you are to get comfortable.

Gently close your eyes and turn your attention to your breathing. Just breathe naturally. It is best to breathe through the nostrils, but it is more important not to attempt to control your breath. As you bring your focus to your breathing, try to also notice the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. This sensation is your “object” or "focal point" of the meditation. It will keep you from being distracted by external noises. Optimally, awareness of your breath should be to the exclusion of everything else. But don't worry if it is not.

Initially, your mind will be very busy, and you might even feel that the meditation is making your mind busier. In reality, you are just becoming more aware of how busy your mind actually is. There will be a great temptation to follow the different thoughts as they arise, but you should dismiss this and remain focused specifically on the sensation of the breath. If you discover that your mind has wandered and is following your thoughts, no harm, simply return your attention back to the breath. Repeat this as many times as necessary until the mind settles on the breath.

Do the STRESS OR SUCCESS MEDITATION for at least five minutes, but ten to twenty minutes would be better. In an immediate crisis, simply close your eyes for a moment and take a cleansing breath or two.

As you regularly practice this easy meditation exercise, you will find that your tension subsides more easily and you experience an immediate sense of inner peace and relaxation. You will notice that you are calmer, refreshed and more focused. Your attitude naturally feels uplifted. You will find that usual problems or difficult situations will become easier to deal with and you will once again be back on track with SUCCESS!

Spreading the Joy,

Mags

www.attitudelift.com


Friday, February 27, 2009

Ever-Present PEACE

“Make Peace with where you are.”

This is one of the most important things we can do says Abraham-Hicks, a teacher of co-creating the life you desire. One of the key points she makes is that the Universe is like an ever-flowing river and everything we ever want is downstream.

When you make Peace with where you are—even when you are in debt, in anger, in a bad relationship, in an unfulfilling job, in an unpleasant situation—you disarm yourself from what is happening and engage in the power of the stream of potential in that moment.

Making Peace with where you are means simply to let go of the struggle. You don’t need to control anything. You just need to trust in the current. It is not necessary to do all the work. It is not necessary to paddle upstream. For one, nothing you really want is upstream, everything is downstream. Two, you feel better when pull in the oars and simply float to a better feeling place.

Making Peace with where you are is to recognize what is happening without judgment on anyone or anything. You ride the storm; let the wind and rain blow through like you are a lighthouse. By embracing the sunshine and the rain, the blue skies and the fierce winds, you allow life to unfold in a natural, effortless way.

When you make Peace with where you are your perception shifts. You expand your awareness and experience life authentically. Something wonderful happens to you. A light goes on inside you that cannot be turned off. Healing occurs. Growth takes place. Like a Lotus flower, something beautiful emerges from deep within you. A glimpse of joy, compassion and forgiveness appear. Standing beside the worry, the fear, the angst, the powerlessness is a feeling of calm, a pillar of stillness.

Peace is not a destination; it is a state of being.

When you find yourself out of the moment, stressed out, in a bad spot, saddened, frightened, worried, lost…stop yourself. Breathe in and out with awareness. Accept what is happening. Become an observer of yourself. Feel the emotion, but don’t become the emotion. Make Peace with where you are. Say to your self, “Here I am. I am here.” Acknowledge your position. “Okay, I am angry.” “I am worried about the future.” “I am afraid of the outcome.” " I am overwhelmed in the situation."

You will be surprised to find that although the circumstance is the same, your perception will dramatically change. By purposefully acknowledging your position and your state of being, you get unstuck, you allow an opening so that you can now take appropriate action.

One of the greatest perks to practicing this powerful exercise of making Peace with where you are—and it does take practice—is that once you experience this new state of being, this profound insight; once your heart and mind are opened to the ever-present Peace, you can never go back.

Oh, you might slip into the abyss; you might spiral down to misery, you might jump onto the bandwagon of doom and gloom, you might get sucked into negative patterns, you might get all caught up into the demise of a situation. But I guarantee that the new found Peace in you, like a Gorilla in the room, cannot be ignored for long.

You may not be able to avoid challenges or unpleasant circumstances, but by making Peace with where you are, you will find that instead of dwelling in your despair, you recover more quickly.

For me, everyday I get better at making Peace with where I am.

I am here. Here I am. And you know what, the Joy is always there!

Keeping the light on,

Mags

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Stress and Brain Tumors

“If I am the creator of my own reality, then why do I have a brain tumor?”

As someone who believes that we do create our own experience, this question might be asked of me by my mother and my sister, both of whom have found themselves with brain tumors. At the age of fifty, my mother’s life was taken after about ten years of debilitating seizures from an inoperable benign brain tumor. It was as devastating blow to our entire family, but it was especially traumatic for my younger, triplet sisters, who were only nineteen at that time. Even more shocking was that just a few years later one of the triplets also developed an inoperable brain tumor, however, hers was malignant. No explanation, no cause, no clue from doctors as to why a healthy 23 year old girl would have a brain tumor. It’s been over fifteen years since of testing, radiation, chemotherapy, a variety of drugs and the constant interruption in the quality of her life with seizures.

Science has not yet figured out what causes Brain Tumors or the origin of many other diseases for that matter. Nevertheless, people find themselves with illnesses like brain tumors, Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis and even the common Canker Sore. Theoretically, however, most doctors do concluded that STRESS is a key factor to a long list of medical ailments, especially in woman.

From a medical perspective, Wikipedia encyclopedia defines stress as the disruption of homeostasis through physical or psychological stimuli. In other words, outside world forces impinge on each and every one of us. Stress is a normal part of life that can help us learn and grow. Conversely, stress can cause us significant problems when we don’t take appropriate action. When outside stimuli causes us to feel stress, we release powerful neurochemicals and hormones that prepare us to take action (the fight or flight response). If ignored, prolonged, uninterrupted, unexpected and unmanaged, stress can cause damaging health issues.

Metaphysically speaking, the law of attraction, along with other universal laws, demonstrates ways in which cause and effect are related, as well as guidelines for behaviors that will enhance our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual growth. Its core premise is that our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions produce a certain energy or vibration that attracts like energies or vibrations. In other words, with all of that, we create our own reality.

Considering the lead question, one might conclude that impacting stresses my mother experienced early in life could have resulted in certain thoughts and feelings, like fear or low self-esteem, which held a certain vibration that over time attracted a physical result in a brain tumor. And then one might further conclude that if my sister’s focus was so intently on the fear of getting a brain tumor or, even worse, dieing from one, could have been the ultimate reason she has one. Of course, fear based thoughts and feelings are not conscious ones, but are hidden in the shadows of our subconscious mind. If asked, I am sure both would agree that they would have never deliberately asked for this condition. However, the significant conclusion here is not that they didn’t choose a brain tumor but that they did not deliberately choose health. The illness was, therefore, by default.

Perhaps if more people knew this it would inspire them to pay attention to their thoughts and feelings, especially when under stress. Knowing how important thinking and feeling good meant, they would take appropriate action to relieve stress, like exercising regularly, eating more healthfully, doing meditation or other relaxation techniques, taking structured time outs, and learning new coping strategies. In the end, creating a fulfilling and healthy lifestyle depends totally on the willingness of a person to make good choices with clear intent, to make any changes as needed, including managing stress, and most importantly, to trust in the process.

The chain of pain can be broken. My mother’s death, and even my sister’s current condition, is not in vain. It is the catalyst for my spiritual awakening and my journey into understanding life and death. It has fired a passion in me to learn and grow and to teach and help others to be empowered. My mom may be gone, but I have hope for my sister.

In my workshops, the main question I ask is, “What’s your attractor factor–stress or success?”