HOW TO DESTRESS

Hello...

How are you doing today? 

How to destress is what I'd like to discuss this day.

One of the most popular search phrases for my website is 'how to destress,' and so I thought I would write just a little bit about how to destress ;)

Got several questions for you ;)

Do you believe in God? 

I mean, believe in God deep down in your heart?

Do you believe that He is there for you and answers your prayers?

Do you have faith?  Faith that He is in control and will take care of you?

Man, oh man, I wish I was a Scriptorian. I would cite every verse that tells us to believe that God will answer our prayers and take care of us. 

When I was a young single mother, I struggled with money.  When my son was around 8 years old, I had barely enough money to survive, and I happened to be challenged with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

I was having anxiety attacks and crying with depression all the time.  My stress level was so high my blood sugar was dropping as low as 35 (80 to 120 is normal).

It was a long time ago but a very desperate time for me.

I am telling you this because it is helpful to know how to destress in the most desperate times.

My faith in God and that He would always care for me got me through my difficulties.

What I used to do, and still do sometimes, is every night, I would kneel on the side of my bed, put my forehead on my folded arms on my bed, and I would imagine that I had my arms and forehead on His lap, like He was right there, listening, and supporting me.  It may sound crazy, but it totally works. Meaning, I show my faith and comfort and strength comes.

One thing I know about my faith in God is that it is REAL!!!  It is not the superficial FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY, only when I am at church or when I can serve conveniently.  It is REAL all of the time!!!

My most excellent teacher is God, and my next most fantastic teacher is stress.  Believe you/me, I have had some severe stress in my life, and I know that I live a destressed life because of it, no matter what is happening.  Sure, I get stressed, but it is a fraction of what it has ever been because I learned how to deal with it through my faith, patience, trust, and relationship with God.

So, how to destress yourself?  Do you REALLY, TRULY believe in, and turn to God? If you have faith and are having difficulties in life consider trying the prayer described above, down on your knees, with your arms and head on His lap. He is listening, He loves, and He is there for you. I know this with all my heart and soul.

Another thing you may think about is spend some time daily with Heavenly Father. Sit, walk, and talk with Him like He is by your side. Use your imagination and you will see what happens to your faith in Him, in life, and in yourself. After all, faith is shown in thought first, and then action. 

I truly believe that the exercises proposed above will help anyone destress their life, especially if turned into daily habits.

But please, please, don't believe me, try it yourself.

That's all I got...

Have a great day, and don't forget to have fun and be playful.

Elizabeth Stanfill

If you love what you read here, you may find my books by clicking, books by Elizabeth Stanfill.

HOW I DESTRESS MYSELF

 Hey!!!  Hi!!!  How are you this wonderful day?

Just want you to know that I am so grateful for you and I appreciate all you do!!!

There is a question that has been handed to me over and over via email and that is, "Elizabeth, what do YOU do to destress yourself?"

Well, I try my hardest to practice everything I preach, and every morning I do specific things for my stress prevention.

Every morning I wake up, the first thing I do, when I get out of bed, is get on my knees and pray.  I pray with gratitude, I pray for forgiveness, and I pray for blessings upon those who are in need.  The gratitude helps me remember all the wonderful things I am blessed with, the forgiveness helps me remember the weaknesses that I need to improve on, and the blessings for others are something that is very important to me.

After my morning prayer, I do four things to help destress and prevent stress in my life and they are clean, exercise (yoga), meditate, and read my scriptures.

These are my morning habits, every morning, and they help me prevent stress by starting the day right and feeling good.

The cleaning helps me keep my house decent.  My house is not immaculate but, I am not embarrassed to invite guests in when they pop by.  When I have a dirty house, I do not feel good about myself. 

Our lives are busy and sometimes a clean house is not a priority, I understand that.  But for me, what joy it brings to have a decent home because my home is my Heaven on earth. 

After I clean, I do yoga, which has been a part of my life for about nine to ten years.  Although I use to attend classes, I now know enough to do a routine of poses that stretch nearly every part of my body.  This practice helps me feel 25 years young.  People my age (which is 45 btw), or younger, are always complaining about their aches and pains and yoga is a great cure.

After my yoga, I meditate.  Meditation is absolutely the most important thing we can do for our minds.  When we practice meditation, we quiet our racing thoughts and find joy in the moment, no matter how stressed we are. 

Just about every person, who comes to me about their stress, or other related problems, I encourage them to meditate.  Unfortunately, this is the hardest thing to get people to do.

Finally, the last thing I do is read my scriptures.  This is a spiritual practice that keeps me and my faith alive.  All of the other things I do before I read my scriptures, I do for at least 15 minutes but, I read my scriptures, usually, for 20 to 30 minutes a day.  I want to be close to Heavenly Father and I love having the spirit with me as much as possible.

Now, I understand some of you may say, all of this sounds a bit silly and why would I want to start my day with so many things?  I ask you, what is the alternative?  Getting up, getting ready, and going to work, school, or where ever you have to go? 

Doing all of these things helps me create and start my day with focus and intention.  Yes, I love to live my life with intention.  I intend on having a healthy and clean home, body, mind, and spirit. 

Just getting up and going lets us run our lives on auto-pilot and remain in the constant state of going nowhere. 

The goal is to find things that will help us feel good.  When we create habits that help us feel good about ourselves and life, we are much better at handling stress that comes our way.  Healthy habits replace stressful ones and when we have habits they become a part of our blueprint for our life.

There you have it!  The things I do, every day, that destress me.  Every day, I take care of the most important things to me, my home, my body, my mind, and my spirit.  All of these things keep me emotionally stable and it helps me help others. 

Have a wonderful week!

Until the next post, don't forget to have fun and be playful.

Elizabeth Stanfill