What Really Works to Ease the Stress You Feel? Day 2 Reclaim Your Calm Challenge: Meditation & Calm

Hi, welcome to day 2 of the Reclaim Your Calm Challenge. And today is day 2, as I mentioned. So yesterday I talked about what stress is, and there's 2 types of stress to really be aware of. There's eustress and there's distress. And the next part is, once we are aware of what the stress is, is how do we release it? Here's a cat. Says hi to you, bring some calm to you. So just to talk about what stress is, we did that yesterday. But for me, healing really began when I was able to, to release that tension on purpose. Like I had that tension in my body, but I needed to release it mentally, physically, and emotionally. And then once that happened, then I was able to, to calm down. And one thing about that is there's a body and stress connection, really. So we can't just think our way out of being stressed. We have to tell the body or explain to the body how to release that stress as well. Because I might be saying to myself, don't be stressed, don't be stressed, but if my body is tight, if it's tense, If my heart rate is up, it's not going to release it. I'm not going to feel calm. One way that really helped me is I started doing meditations. One app that I used is called Insight Timer. It's a free app. There's a paid part to it if you want to download meditations, but if you're just doing the meditations, there's literally thousands of them, or maybe millions of them, because people can just add them. You just do them and see what works for you. If you want to take a course on that, then you have to pay for it. But I don't— you don't need the course. You just do the meditations, which are kind of courses in themselves. And one kind of meditation that I wanted to recommend for you is called the Body— the Wheel of Awareness Meditation. It was meant by Dr. Daniel J. Siegel. And that one I really like because it goes through all different types of Things to be aware of. For example, your breath, what you smell, what you are feeling, your tactile senses, like the sensations maybe you feel on your skin. And when you are more aware of the different kind of sensations that you could feel, it kind of brings back a feeling of being within yourself, not being so much in the mind. Because the mind is really the root of all evil, you could say. Because your thoughts are what cause you to feel a certain way. So if you can find a way to release it, then you start feeling better. And that's how I found my way to be feeling better. And it's really important to kind of be aware of that the body, it has like a parasympathetic nervous system. And in doing these meditations, You can kind of train the body to then release the tension that you might be feeling. Once you start to release the tension that you're feeling, then you start to feel better, better about life, better about everything. You kind of calm everything and not feeling so tense, whether it's at work, being so pent up about what happened, or you're kind of thinking about My body is not working as well, I'm not feeling good. It causes you to have more tension in your body and in your being to not feel so good. So if you want to really kind of feel more calm, you have to find a way to get that done. And meditations have been amazing for me, and I recommend them for you as well. Let me know in the comments Maybe you've tried a meditation that I've not tried, found one that really works. Let me know if it works for you. I'm curious too, and I could share maybe some. I'll share a link to the Insight Timer app on the App Store and then on the Play Store so you download and see it. I don't get any commissions for it. This is a no, no, no whatever thing. Just saying I really like the app. And if you come back tomorrow for the 5-day challenge for day 3, I'll talk about how to rewire your thoughts because your thoughts just happen. And if you change the way they think, maybe then you'll start feeling even more calm. So meditation is important, but the next thing is how do you change what you're thinking? Because your mind needs to support your calm instead of you basically fighting it. Because your mind is going to have the negative thoughts coming to it. I'm not doing this, I'm not doing this, I'm not feeling this, I can't do this as much as I want anymore. I can't present as well as I want to. But if you are able to change the way you're thinking, then you're going to start feeling better. And that is kind of the next stage out of getting to calm. You're meditating, you're changing the way you're thinking, you're recognizing what is causing the problems, and then you start to feel better. And that's how you return to calm. So hang on, come back tomorrow, and I'll give you more information about all this stuff. Take care.