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You’ve been practicing the first three steps in managing stress quickly when you’re on the run. BREATHING oxygenates your brain and body, having the DESIRE to deal with the stressful situation rather than hide from it shifts your energy into a more active state, and LETTING GO OF THE EMOTIONAL CHARGE of the situation helps you calm and center yourself; it also helps you obtain OBJECTIVITY. Now, let’s do something!

Feel yourself re-asserting control, and know that you’re in control of the elements of the situation that are yours to control. Picture yourself taking the appropriate action and dealing with the situation objectively, with impartial thoughts instead of emotional ones. See yourself getting the results you want; feel what that would feel like. You can do this is in the same way you imagined the water clearing the emotions from your body.

This is the point at which you move forward to TAKE ACTION - using what’s available to you for dealing with the situation in some constructive way. Remember, this is stress management on the run, so an interim, short-term improvement may be all that’s possible at the moment. That’s better than no improvement at all, and it’s certainly better than being drained by the mental/emotional/physical roller-coaster ride of stress!

This segment completes the series Stress 101 - Managing Stress on the Run. Use it in good health!

You’ve been making sure to BREATHE and face up to the situation causing the stress, and you have the DESIRE to deal with it effectively, thereby freeing yourself from its unhealthy aspects. What’s next?We’re generally not too effective when we’re letting our emotions run wild, and emotions are experienced by both mind and body. If you’re in a situation that’s putting you under severe stress you’re most likely experiencing emotions, even if you’re not consciously aware of them.

Anger, resentment, fear, guilt….any or all negative emotions can be running rampant through your mind and body, making you feel awful and having an unhealthy impact on you physically and emotionally. Also, thinking clearly and objectively is impossible when on an emotional ride, so LETTING THE EMOTIONS GO is step three in managing stress on the run.

How you let the emotions go depends on your relationship with your unconscious mind. Sometimes you can just ask it to release the emotions. Other times you need to give it a visual - a picture - to help it understand what you want. Try this while you’re taking some deep, lung-filling breaths: visualize light coming in to your body as you inhale, then when you exhale, envision the light coming out of the top of your head like a fountain, then falling down around your body, washing your body clean of emotion. Another technique is to imagine that you’re under gently running warm water that washes the emotions off your body and carries them away.

Create your own representation - it will be perfect for you. Do you think you can’t visualize? That’s OK - use your imagination to sense one of those scenarios, imagining what it feels like, sounds like, smells like, tastes like, to have your emotions washed away from you. Your unconscious mind will get the message.

Once the emotional charge is gone, notice how different the situation looks, and how much easier it is to consider solutions now that you’ve used the first three steps to move yourself toward a calm and centered state of mind, free of unpleasant emotional distress.

You now have 3 sequential steps to use in conquering the stress of the moment. BREATHE, take ownership of the issue and acknowledge your DESIRE to address it, and LET THE EMOTIONS GO so you can be calm and centered.

Part Four will let you know what to do next. Until then, practice handling your stress using these tips.

The first step of managing stress on the run is to BREATHE, deeply and fully, so brain and body are supported by the breath to function optimally. The next step is a little more personal, and it involves the DESIRE to resolve the stressful situation.It’s tempting to think that if you ignore something it will go away, and sometimes it even works that way, at least for a while. Not so much with stress. Stress may seem to go away if you ignore it, but what really happens is it goes “underground,” perhaps lurking somewhere in your body where it can cause long term damage. Like it or not, once you’ve become stressed, whatever the cause of that stress is now owned by you. There’s no way around it - you let it in, now you have to deal with it.

This is where DESIRE comes in. In order to deal with something effectively (note the word “effectively”), you need to want to handle it; it must be your intention to deal with the situation and put it to rest. To do this you need to acknowledge the issue, face up to it, accept that it’s real for you (regardless of what others think or feel), and know that you can handle it and find the best possible way to do so.

The next time you realize you’re experiencing signs of stress, stop and BREATHE, and open yourself up to the DESIRE to resolve the cause easily, effortlessly, and effectively, and save your mind and body from the unpleasant effects of stress.

A lot of my talks revolve around stress, its impact on the mind and body, and techniques for managing it. A few years ago I came across an article about stress that I share with my clients, and today, I want to share it with you.

How much does stress weigh? It depends. A glass half-filled with water weighs a few ounces, and if you held it in your hand with your arm outstretched for a minute or so, it wouldn’t feel heavy. Held like this for an hour, your arm will ache; hold it for a day, never putting it down to rest, and you’ll be making a trip to the emergency room.

Stress has the same effect - if you carry it constantly and never put it down, the burden becomes un-bearable and it’s harder and harder to move forward. You have to put it down, if not permanently, then at least long enough to give your mind and body a chance to rest and refresh.

Life is short enough as it is - and stress can shorten it further, and even end it in a heartbeat. Managing your stress so that it doesn’t manage you is a topic for another time. For now, here are a few thoughts to help you put stress in perspective and allow the light of laughter into the darker corners where your stresses lurk:

Accept that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue.

Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

Drive carefully. It’s not only cars that can be recalled by their manufacturer.

If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

Never buy a car you can’t push.

Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won’t have a leg to stand on.

Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.

Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

The second mouse gets the cheese.

When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.

Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty, and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

When your load is too heavy, let your friends and the Universe help you carry it.

In the near future, I’ll post a series of tips for managing stress that are quick, easy, and realistic. Until then, always remember to FOCUS ON WHAT YOU WANT.