How some anxiety and stress can make you stronger...

Stress and anxiety are not pleasant feelings to experience are they?  Most people know that long term, they are not good for our health.   

Fortunately most forms of anxiety and stress can be turned around and used to make us stronger.

Anxiety is a build up of energy, coming up in response to something going on around us.  We might feel we are not coping and this brings up fear, shortness of breath, and other physiological responses.   

I am always interested in the different ways people deal with anxiety and stress, and recently I watched a video by Kerwin Rae which had an interesting take on it. He says:

1.  Breathe deeply and slowly.   This calms our nervous system and enables oxygen to get to all our organs.   It helps us to get back into a calm and even flow.    I have noticed when I give massage how often people breathe in their upper chest with shallow breaths, as soon as they start breathing deeply, right down into their bellies, they start to relax.   It helps them get back into their bodies.

2.  Kerwin says that we need to neutralise what is causing us to be anxious by asking these questions:

• What is the benefit of this?
• How is it serving me?
• What is this giving me, that I didn't have before?
• What lessons am I going to take from this experience, which will allow me to be better what what I am going to do to move forward?

Through answering these questions we start to feel more in control, learn new ways of responding to situations and become stronger.

Please feel free to share this with your family and friends.

Elayne

Note:  If you have long term anxiety, it doesn't have to be this way.  There is lots of professional help out there and most people start by visiting their GP, a Counsellor or Psychologist.

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