As women we are all runners. Literally and figuratively running through life fast, even if it comes from the confines of the home.
We fly through our never-ending to-do list and support an army of colleagues, children and families in a cycle of balancing act that is always about work and life.
However, how often do we stop studying the effects of this high level of stress and speed on our emotional wellbeing? How often do we really feel inside ourselves?
When we are stressed, we return to short termism. Our pictorial “stress switch” remains in the “on” position for days. The alarm bells are ringing; we may feel exhausted, anxious, unhealthy, or unhappy, but often it takes far too long to register how we feel.
In a blur we realize that we have forgotten ourselves, our own health and our own feelings. Our empathy radar is completely lost and we just keep running.
In my new bestseller & # 39; Softening The Edge & # 39; I'm talking about stress, like a "thick fog that quickly appears on a bank, a silent body of emotional heaviness that creeps in without us noticing it, until we suddenly realize that it is us, our hands can no longer be in front of ours Eyes see. “Stress is a monster that far too many of us overcome, but the good news is that with a little more focus on our empathy, we can clear the fog!
What we know about our brain is that focusing on a more positive state has a direct and immediate impact on replacing the stress cycle mindset with a more expansive, restorative, and generous one.
By actively focusing on our self-esteem, we can improve our emotional well-being and our attitude.
Research shows that this is an extremely beneficial change. One study showed that …
The more self-confident or self-critical people were in highly stressed situations, the lower their cortisol levels and the higher their heart rate variability. In other words, the higher their self-esteem, the calmer and more physiologically balanced they were.
3 steps to put empathy on your agenda to reduce stress
1st perspective
Take the time to reflect on your present moment.
How do you feel?
Where is the stress in your body?
When you have registered this, take 10 minutes to actively focus on deep calming and rhythmic breathing or on a short meditation that physically and emotionally surrounds this area.
Using an app on the go can be very valuable.
2. Prioritize joyful activities
Joy is both contagious and healing.
Focus on finding the things that make you really happy and that require little effort.
Paint a picture, work on a project, take photos, go swimming.
Find joyful activities that require deep concentration and you will soon find that you feel very different.
3. Give yourself permission to live your values and goals
When you find your purpose, life becomes more effortless.
Find out what is important to you.
What are your values
Does your daily reality correspond to these?
When you are in alignment with your goal, your self-esteem and confidence will naturally increase and this will help relieve stress.
It is an unsustainable decision to put yourself in the shoes of life and to put yourself in everyone but ourselves.
It is neither emotionally nor physically good for us and the resulting stress has become a critically dangerous "disease" plaguing the planet today.
Focus on flipping your stress switch off, putting your own self-esteem in the foreground in daily actions that support you and watching you shift to a whole new way of thinking.
