An Excercise in Relaxation and Control-Don't Allow Stress to Run Your Life

Image by bossbob50 - via Flickr

Take a time out! When life overwhelms, and upsets your balance, find a place to relax for a few moments. No, it doesn't have to be the Hilton or even a view of the sun setting on a gorgeous beach. For this exercise, one must tap into those creative images locked away in your mind. Yes, they are there, trust me! Maybe you can use your car, a quiet place in your otherwise chaotic house or find a secluded park in your neighborhood. Get into a relaxed position and begin an awareness exercise, feeling your toes, feet, calves, knees...all the way up to your shoulders, arms, fingers--pay special attention to places that you tend to hold stress, for me I tense up my feet and my neck. If you are unable to relax these parts of your body then tense them up as tightly as you can then slowly relax. Keep this up until you feel completely relaxed. With your eyes closed, envision colors, blues-all shades and tones, greens--all shades of green. Keep your eyes closed and just allow colors and images to freely enter your mind. This complete exercise should take about 30 minutes and you should slowly begin to return to reality with a more composed frame of mind. Takes some practice but I promise you that it can work to rejuvenate you! Another thing that you can do is to write down some of the imagery that you see during your down time. Sometimes very vivid colorful pictures are present and other times, it tends to be darker black & white shapes. It is interesting to try and make sense of it later. Like a dream, the important thing is how you interpret these thoughts and images because that are originating from a semi-conscious state, and they are significant to you for some reason.
I recommend that you practice doing this each day, whether it is after work, before bed, in the morning. It allows a more intimate relationship to develop with ourselves which gives us more control over our emotions. Instead of reacting negatively to certain stressful moments, try to get ahead of them, so you are prepared and have the ability to view as a part of life--it too will pass.