No WAIT!! Try Chill'in a moment

Stop everything, and take a breath!

Okay, must admit it was a L-o-n-g weekend.  Lot';s of time indoors, a "to-do" list a mile long, oh and did I say the grand kids were here?   So I guess I was feeling a little stressed after putting them to bed tonight.  Then I decided to take action.  To try a 15 minute "Mindfulness" exercise I learn in an 8 week course through adult ed classes.  Just go to a quiet room and lay down on the floor....

 Let me walk you through it.  First of all close your eyes, acknowledge all the thoughts you have racing through your head.  For the next minute just focus on b-r-e-a-t-h-i-n-g.  Breath in, then breath out.  Notice how your breath sounds.  It always reminds me how the palm trees sounded in Hawaii when the wind would just barely blow.  Keep breathing noticing how your breath sounds.

 Next, expand your awareness from your breathing to your body.  Start noticing how your chest moves up and down while you breath.  I liken this to when I look across a field, I first notice the foreground (fence), then the grasses, then the conifers in the background and last the sky.  I go through my body the same way moving from my breath to the tingle of my toes.

Paying attention to yourself in this way gives you the room to see the questions you're really asking yourself, only with less urgency.  I always see things from a different perspective when I am done, laying there alone and in thought.  If the waves of rushing and worry start to flow in, just calm yourself and take a moment to choose to mot worry but to seek a new and more thoughtful perspective. 

I have to really try to stop and take a moment for myself.  I accept that I'm a worrier by nature and need to take time to accept the challenges and move forward.  How do you keep your worrying in check?

Pictures courtesy of Kelsey Norton