Stress and Anxiety? Is there opportunity to become empowered? I teach clients that the valuable skill of moderating their reactions to stressful events and effectively self-soothing themselves to a more agreeable state. Changing thought patterns and relaxation processes can alleviate the distress and immediately imact on an individual’s sense of control and wellbeing. A constructive way to deal with stressful life events and resulting anxiety.
A frustrating set of circumstances culminating in spending 4 hours in my car awaiting a tow truck because the ignition had failed, taught me a very important way of ‘going beyond’ moderating emotions and reactions to stress. As time progressed, pressure to co-ordinate and change planned events escalated and I observed my responses. Irritation arose and I started to become negative. It lasted a few minutes as I have taught myself to be positive and appreciate that I alone am responsible for my experiences and negative thoughts make me feel and act negatively. So I slowed my breathing, relaxed, reframed my thoughts to enjoy the opportunity to just sit still- then I chose something new.
Normally, relaxation and redirection of thoughs is sufficient – anxiety and stress abating. This time I consciously chose to enjoy the creation that was possible within my world at that given moment. I decided to be ecstatic and in stepping into my remembered experience of this, I suddenly felt more significant, substantial and empowered. I had created positivity out of adversity – now – and the present is really all we have.
What else is possible if you adopt this stance and create something completely new and highly enjoyable and positive in the moment?
Isn’t amazing how the greatest inconveniences, that may even seem catastrophic at the moment of their happening, turn out to be the very things that remind us who we REALLY are? I appreciate the post.
Yes! Like the saying ‘every cloud has a silver lining’, everything is as it is! Next time your plans don’t go to schedule, instead of despairing, ask ‘What is right about this I am not getting’? The answer doesn’t have to be logical or come immediately. However, this questioning mode opens you up to other possibilities that might arise from the lost opportunity.