As the Pandemic ebbs....how is your stress level?

Hi, Steve Barnes here with fire dance, tai chi and life writing and the other technologies that we're bringing to you. And really what I wanted to know was, what can I do for you? As the pandemic ebbs, I noticed that people are coming back to life. There are gatherings, parties, people are coming back to restaurants, concerts. So much in life just seems to be returning to its former state. I think that's beautiful. It's absolutely wonderful. And I hope that you're in on that, man. I hope that you're starting to grab life again. You're starting to ask yourself what you want to be, what you want to do, how you want to live. Those questions can drive your behavior. Those questions can help you to decide who is the person who can do the things that can stay on the path that'll help you live the life that you want and deserve. So what happened to your stress levels during the pandemic, and what are you doing right now to get back into your life? I just wanted to have a couple of suggestions for you, but one of them, like I said, is I wish that you would, in the comments section, you would tell me, what is it that you want and what is it that I can do for you? There are three major arenas of life. There's your career, you know, your mind, the way you navigate the adult world. In that sense, there's your body, your health, your aliveness, and there's your family, you know, your. Your love for yourself and your love for the people that are close to you. Those are your three basics. How did the pandemic hit those three things, and what is it that you want now that it's, you know, it's. It's kind of in the rearview mirror. It's not completely disappeared, but we're moving on, you know, and I think it's a beautiful thing. It's a wonderful opportunity, and I'd really like to know what it is that you have planned, because if you know what you have planned, then you can figure out what resources you're going to need. I can tell you for myself that the Hollywood game, you know, writing for television and movies and things of that nature, you know, it's. It's so much hurry up and wait, you know, and so we're working with that, and we're also working on the things that we can influence directly. The pandemic was chaotic in that sense. Sealed into your home, can't go out, and we're still kind of shaken off. But that is, in terms of physical health, there are definitely things that I have there, because at least one thing is that the fire dance Tai chi program requires me to really look into my movement and look into the discipline itself and see what I can do there to get better, to sink more deeply into it, to embrace that aspect of myself once again. You know, the pandemic kind of sealed us in to that. So I was. Because I work out at home, I was able to do a lot, but I wasn't able to go take any classes. I was only able to take a couple of them in a couple years. It was less training than I've ever done in my entire adult life. And in terms of relationships, seeing friends and reconnecting with people's relationships have shifted. Some relationships aren't as tight as they used to be. Others are tighter. You know, some are not as good as they used to be. Others are better. So trying to ask myself, you know, I want healthy, dynamic, loving relationships. I want a dynamic physicality, and I want to move my career to the next level. What resources do I need? Well, I've got a call with a coach. Yeah, I have coaches, too. And I'm gonna have it on Wednesday, and I'll tell you all about it. It's one of my favorite people in the world, one of the most evolved human beings that I know, and I've got a Zoom call with him on Wednesday, and I am so happy about that. In terms of health, I had a Covid shot up in this arm. That's right. A covert shot on Saturday knocked me on my butt. It's the first time that's happened. The other Covid shots didn't really do much to me, but this one was like, whoa. I just felt it. You know, it's like this. I feel like being inoculated with a little bit of death. I mean, it was really strange. And in terms of family, you know, I'm trying to. To bear down, be a better father, be a better husband, be a better friend, be a better brother. Gonna have Thanksgiving with my family. For the first time in. In years and years, I'm gonna have all my family together in one place. House. And it feels. It feels wonderful. It just feels wonderful to be with these people who are. My heart are. You know, everything inside me says that if I'm connected to my family, my family is okay, then my life is good, my world is good. You know, if I'm able to connect with Larry Niven and. And, you know, write with him, then I know that the writing part of me is on tap. If I'm able to connect with my physicality, my karate, instruct my friends in that arena. I know that that's okay. So I want you to be okay. I want you to thrive. I want you, you know, we've got a month and a half, just a little under two months left in this year and I'm going to start asking you to step out of the person that you were. Step into the person that you're going to be in 2023. We're going to talk about what you can do to do that. I, I desperately hope that you will ask questions. There are things from the martial arts and yoga and meditation and so forth. Oh, wait a minute. Marion Moore said my stress probably went down during the pandemic because I had less direct interface with stressful people. Stress is returning now, so I'm trying to work out more. Excellent, excellent work out. Take those five short breaks during the day, just 60 seconds to do some Hindu squats or Hindu push ups or yoga stretches or just breathing during the day so that the stress stays within the envelope of what you can address healthfully. This is really, really important to be able to turn stress into power. You could take those five 60 second breaks. And if there's a skill that you want, like when you take a look at your exercise, if you look at exercising as practice, if you're working on the form of the thing rather than just the intensity, then your capacity for intensity will go up. Because as your form improves, you can handle more and more stress without the form breaking down. Okay? And so you do that and you can take more stress, more intensity without the form breaking down. That means you are safe, you're staying within safety. That is when fitness starts becoming something really interesting. You're going deeper and deeper and deeper. So it's really good to not just work out, but to practice something that you want to get better at, something that you know, if you could get excellent at this thing and actually that ties in with the thing that I call a perfect template, that the exercise that you're doing is something which you kind of figure if I could do this and I could do this right, I'd be in the kind of physical condition I want to be. So like, you know, the Tai chi is like that, martial arts are like that, yoga is like that, dance is like that, gymnastic is like that. It's like if I could move that way, I'd not only be making my heart happy, but I'd be as fit as I want to be. So at any rate, thank you very much for the question. This is just a short conversation today. Just wanted to touch base with you, and I hope that everybody out there is going to ask themselves, who do they want to be next year? What do you want to be now that the pandemic is over and we're getting back to our lives? I know I'm getting back to mine. I got a ton of stuff to do today, but I just wanted to reach out, say hi. You take care. You can go over to my website at www.steven-barnes.com or you can get into the Fire Dance Tai chi program@www.firedance taii.com. take care everybody.