Do you want your life to be more calm?

Do you believe your life can be more calm?

If you were able to manage your stress, and become more calm, do you believe you would feel better?

… do you believe your health overall would be better?

… do you believe you would sleep better?

… what about your digestion?

In this present world we’re living in, there are lots of stresses in our normal lives—big and small.  They all add up, but one of the things that make the most difference is that daily grind, being stressed, stressed, stressed day after day.

What are some of the major stresses?

Death of a spouse is the #1 stress, with

Divorce #2 for overwhelming stress in a person’s life.

Major injury or illness is another overwhelming stress.

And, Job loss.

Also Moving from one home to another.

After experiencing major life stresses, do you think there is a greater chance for you to develop health problems?  Yes.  There is.

During any of these major life experiences, our body responds instinctively to your “perceived threat”.  It reacts by releasing stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol to switch you into fight-or-flight mode. (This is according to University Hospitals Connor Health, Francoise Adan, MD, ABIHM)

We can recognize this at the time, and change our lifestyle to calm our system, allowing our body to get back to normal.  But…

1.     Do we usually recognize when this happens, and realize we need to gather ourselves back together again—and take a break??

2.     Will we discipline ourselves to make the changes we need, to calm our bodies and minds, to get ourselves re-energized?

Sometimes, we say, I can’t take a break…

Is that true?  Can you really NOT take a break?

Sometimes, we may say, I’m not sure these changes would even make a difference.

Maybe… You could try it for a short time… to check and see.

Experiment.

It just might work.  You might be able to actually be happy with the changes you make.  And you might feel better.  And you might be able to enjoy a calmer life.  It’s all possible.

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I thought I was stressed, raising my family, living life day-to-day.  That was before all the extra stressors began.

Then there was divorce.

I also switched jobs during this time.

Then I was in real estate;

Then my husband and I bought the company; I was principal broker.

So by this time, I experienced stress on the daily.

Well.  OK.  I’m ok with it.  I’m doing just fine with it.  I’m not stressed.  I just have a lot going on.  “I like being busy.”

Well.  I didn’t think I was stressed.  I have always enjoyed my work.  I was used to keeping all those balls in the air, and I felt I was pretty good at it.

But… I learned you don’t have to feel stressed for your body and mind actually to be stressed.  I liked what I did.  I felt healthy.

Until I wasn’t.

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My body tried to tell me.  First I had gall bladder issues.  I had to have my gall bladder removed.

Then I had a horrendous “blistery rash” that began with my hands.

Then I had a heart issue—had to have a stent.

Then my fingernails eventually began to come off from the rash issues.

My body tried to tell me.  In several ways.  That I needed to make some changes in my life. 

That I needed to rest a bit.  To stop and take in the good, and the calm that God put here just for us.

That I needed to eat better food—and not eat in town several times a week.

To get more sleep.

To exercise my body a bit.

I wouldn’t listen.  I didn’t have time to slow down, and it didn’t make sense to me that changing my sleep and exercise, and eating better food, would make that much difference—at all.  And anyway, I didn’t eat THAT bad. 

Those were my thoughts, when I took the time to think even that deeply.

That’s when, after much research, I discovered Functional Medicine.  I found Dr. Amy Myers, M.D., in Austin, Texas.

Her clinic introduced me to my life and health the way it is today.

We truly do have a choice in our health.  And for me, Functional Medicine showed me how.

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So after our stresses, and after we have our health issues… what do most of us do?

1.     Go to the doctor to see why we feel bad; why we have no energy; why we have these various symptoms.  Everything seems to be ok.

2.     We get blood work done.  Blood work is ok.

We don’t want the doctor to find anything wrong with us, but we also want to know why we’re not up to par.

But they can’t find anything.

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Stress weakens our immune system, uses up our energy (in negative ways), and helps us make wrong choices in our food, and in the way we live.

About autoimmune conditions, most doctors say there is “no known cause” and that there is “no cure” for autoimmune conditions.   At least that’s what several doctors told me.  I couldn’t find a traditional doctor that said anything different.

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So, what is a person to do??

What if you tried that experiment.  On Yourself.

What if you tried doing a few minutes each day of breathing exercises in a quiet place… or meditating twice a day.

What if you took a walk each day.  Not a long walk; short will do.  Outside is better.

What if you put your phone down and turned the tv off an hour before bed.

What if you dimmed the lights and let the house be more quiet as you go through a “night-time ritual” of the things you normally do before bed (personal hygiene, starting an oil diffuser, etc.)

It’s very possible that if you do these things for only a couple of weeks, that you would be able to tell a difference in your stress level.  And in your energy level.  And in your feel-good level.  I’d actually be very surprised if you didn’t see a great difference in all those areas.

A 2-week experiment.  What would be the down-side?

And if you tried this:

1.     Cut out all sugar,

2.     grains (includes all packaged foods like crackers, chips, etc.)

and

3.     dairy (except butter)

4.     for those two weeks, you’d no doubt be even more surprised at the result in how you feel.  Because getting these things out of your diet will help you on every level, including your stress level.

Some other things you can experiment on:

          Smile

          Practice Being Thankful

          Stop.  Take some long, deep breaths.  Pay attention to your breathing.

          Practice Loving People.

Then, there’s Meditation is proven to reduce stress (some say more than any other thing we can do). 

There are several meditation apps that can help you: Headspace, Calm, Muse, Soultime (Christian app), Ziva Meditations on line, and many others.  When you try it, you’ll probably be amazed.

Prayer.  If you truly want results, this is a must.  Ask our Heavenly Father for wisdom and strength to make those changes you want in your life.  He wants us to live a peaceful and calm life, and to help others to do that too.  He’ll help you.  And while you’re at it, read the scriptures.  He talks to us there.

Thankfulness.  When we’re thankful, those negative thoughts are not as apt to creep in and sabotage our hopes.

Exercise will reduce your stress better than any prescription you can buy.  And if you do it regularly, like daily, it will totally change your stress— AND your health.

Essential Oils can help you with stress.  Diffusing them into the room is very helpful. But choose good quality.

Spending time in Nature is a natural stress reducer.

Social time with Friends usually does away with your stress.

Intentional Relaxation. Like, sitting on the porch; being still and listening to quiet sounds; watching the sunset; taking a bit of time off from work to do something fun; a mini-vacation for even a day or two.

Goals.  Goals are something that can truly make a difference in your stress level.  Make the goals.  Write them down.  Write down some steps to start in that direction. 

Start with Step 1, Do it.  Then Step 2, etc.  This is a great stress alleviator, because you’re actively going where you want to go.  It changes your mindset from stress to the hope of getting to your goal.

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We’re going to have stress.

What our challenge is, is living peacefully with the stress.

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Things happen in our lives; some good—some terrible, and lots in between.

So many things we don’t have Choices about.

But we do have many, many choices in our lives…

and This is One of Those Choices that we can make, that will change our journey.

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Big stresses or Little ones, affecting us too often, can be a major hindrance to our lives.

Distractions and continuous daily stress keep us from making quick and sound decisions. Causing more stress.

All this keeps us from moving forward toward our goals—our forward motion stops.  Causing more stress.

We’ll always have problems, and always have stress.  The answer is in how we handle it all.

But let’s not forget, we can get a handle on our lives.

We CAN lessen the hold STRESS has on us, and have a more peaceful life.

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Choose just one change to make.

And DO NOT BE ANXIOUS, feeling you’re not doing enough to change!  Give yourself some grace, and accept whatever little steps you take.

Change one tiny thing, like have one meal that is mostly healthy.  Or walk for one day.  Then celebrate that win.  Then build on whatever you choose to.

It’s a Journey.

All sorts of Detours, good and bad.

All sorts of Distractions.

But You can change your mind, from Stress to Peace and Calm.

There is a Path…

We Build that Path ourselves.

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I will be happy to help you build your path.

One small change at a time.

It is totally amazing what a huge difference those small changes can make, when they’re done consistently.

Just give me a call as you need help; or email me at sharon@whereisyourcalm.com.

My Goal for your life is a Life of:

Less Stress

More Peace and Calm

More Energy and Enjoyment

Better Health.

Thank you for reading, and I pray for Peace, Healing and Calm for your life.

Sharon