BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Stress Management Reducing Stress Just for 10 Minutes

How is everybody doing with their calming and destressing? Are you finding your world becomes more calm?

Just a reminder - once you find a calm place, go on to stop 2 which is setting priorities!

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Hi Lisa,

Just read the posts here about finding the calm in my life. I just wanted to mention that my calm place is praying to God. It is the only way I find peace by spending time with him. He gives me that calm and relaxation I need to make it through.

In times past I've suffered with depression and a whole host of other mental problems, but never been diagnosed or on medication. Meditation is my out of a stressful and chaotic world. Not yoga or zen or any of those sort of things. It's just a humbling of heart before my Heavenly Father. This is where I can get quiet without ridcule and not only do I come away more relax and at peace but I also come away with wisdom and insight into my life and the world around me sparking my creative juices to get going again.

At a seminar, we were given 1 minute to go on a vacation.

The speaker had us close our eyes and keep them shut until she told us to open them.

We were supposed to imagine a place that we loved to be. We were instructed to use our 5 senses - we should "hear" the familiar sounds in the area, we should "taste" any food that we had eaten, we should revisit the "feel" of anything we touched, we were to "see" everything all over again, "smell" everything that you remember.

For example, if a favorite memory is sitting in your grandmother's overstuffed chair eating chocolate pie, you would retaste and resmell the pie. You would refeel the way that chair felt. You would rehear background noises - maybe the ticking of a clock... You would resee the rug or the floor, the chair and anything else that helped bring back that memory.

If you were to stop doing what you are doing right now and set an audible kitchen timer for one minute - you would see it is a long time!

Perfect for a little mini-vacation.

Add to the list exercise (I love yoga especially), singing with people (especially in a spiritual/religious space), and doing CRAFTS!!! Whenever I get around to sitting down and knitting (badly) or making Christmas tree ornaments or whatever, I feel my blood pressure SERIOUSLY lower

thinking on Jesus
thinking on blessings
yoga and meditation every now and then...

I know it may sound intuitive, but I have been working hard to get my to-do lists all organized and to diligently work through them. I really find I am sleeping better and am feeling less stressed! Even if the list is large, just being able to cross off an item or two every day really helps. I highly recommend taking some time to organize your world.

Time to start again in 2009! Find a way to find a calm center for 10 minutes. Just ten minutes of your life can be calm, quiet and your own. Make that schedule for 10 minutes of your very own, so that you can then begin the priority process!

Once you are able to find that calm space, move on to the priority thread!

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Hi Lisa,

I hadn't put things into that perspective but it is an excellent idea. I'm like some of the others here in that 2008 ended with a lot of unfinished business. My daughter is separated from her husband and it is tearing my grandsons apart which in turn is tearing me apart. I left my job in Nov. to pursue other things that seemed so clear at the time but now all seem a little overwhelming. I have told my friends in the past over and over that God never closes a door without opening a window. Reading through all the responses I realize I need to calm down! Time for me to believe what I tell others and take 10 minutes every day for myself to calm down and put it all in perspective for that day instead of trying to make a lifetime worth of decisions in the 10 minutes before I go to sleep every night. Thanks for helping me see that I can't possibly solve all my dilemmas in one day! I once read the following but then apparently promptly forgot it!

For peace of mind, resign as general manager of the universe. ~ Author Unknown

Yes most definitely we need to keep ourselves healthy so we can help others. It's like we've said many times in here - on an airline, when the oxygen bags drop, you have to put your own on first. Only by having your own on can you help out others. If you don't put your own oxygen on, then everybody will fail. Start with yourself, get yourself healthy and then you can be 100% there to help others out.

Find a way to schedule in your 10 minutes of calm! Even if it's just while you sip tea in the morning, or as you prepare for sleep at night!

Amazing. With this thread, I can grow my mind about this.