Chapter 4: Reduce stress & increase resilience
To reduce stress, take deep breaths and rub your fingers together.
Being mindful can reduce stress. There are several ways to be mindful. I focus on two in this exercise.
Read the exercises below.
Exercise:
Being mindful is being present to your body, mind, and spirit. It’s awareness. To become mindful, you can do many things, but I’ll focus on two exercises here.
Breath: take a deep breath. Notice your inhale, as your chest and/or stomach expand. Notice your exhale, as your chest/stomach retract. Just notice. We breathe regularly, but when we take an intentional deep breath, we become mindful of our body, mind, and spirit. Go ahead and practice by taking multiple deep breaths.
Touching fingers: rub your hands together or rub your thumb against your fingers of one hand. Notice your fingers. Feel them. Notice the ridges of your fingertips. Notice the roughness or the smoothness of your fingers. Just notice. By paying attention to the touch and sensations, we become mindful of our body, mind, and spirit. Go ahead and practice by rubbing your hands or fingers together for 1-minute.
By being mindful of your body, mind, and spirit, you can then tap into how you’re really feeling. Are you feeling stress in your shoulders? Are you feeling tired? Are you feeling anxiety? Are you feeling calm? What are you feeling?
Once you know how you’re feeling, you can assess it and question it and then choose a new thought or a positive action.
Being mindful is the gateway to choice.