5 effective ways to reduce anxiety and stress

Stress and anxiety are sneaky, especially as we are growing in awareness, and we can all use some different techniques to better deal with both the storage of this stress and the ongoing freedom from it.

Do you think you have any anxiety or stress? Some of the signs I’ve dealt with are:

• Feeling a bit of overwhelm when making decisions.
• Going over and over a schedule.
• There’s less fun and spontaneity in your world and a bit more control.
• You’re looking for a place of peace.

There’s a bit of a formula that I follow when dealing with stress and anxiety which allows some initial clarity and I’m going to expand on these points here.

• WHERE does anxiety sit in your body?

• RECOGNISE it for what it is

• CREATE ways to divert yourself

• GROUND yourself gently

• CHOOSE different responses, different scenarios

WHERE

Take some time to really FEEL into where your own stress shows up. Also think about how you feel when stress from outside affects you. If you are a journaling person this is the time to write stuff down.

Acknowledge what you discover about yourself and once you KNOW where stress and anxiety show up in your body then you can begin the next step.

• What does it feel like for you?

• How does it show up in your body?

• Do you get pressure in your shoulders?

• Does your tummy get tight?

• Or does your solar plexus feel pressured?

RECOGNISE

Aim to recognise your stress points as quickly as possible. Once you click on where you stress indicators are then you can teach yourself to ‘see’ that stress point more quickly and you can move into clearing that spot and seeing the way forward with a more relaxed view.

CREATE

Create a new habit. Once you recognise that you’ve created some anxiety then:

STOP what you’re doing, even if it’s just for a couple of seconds, 5 minutes, a day. Aim to come back when you have a different feeling about the situation.

Stopping what you’re doing indicates to your brain and your body that you’re aware and ready to neutralize the feeling as much as possible.

I use this stopping time to fill myself up with LOVE which neutralizes lots (if not all) of the negativity in that stress spot.

Recognising stress point and anxiety areas is super powerful and the ‘moving away’ idea doesn’t always have to be physical, it can be a small mental adjustment which alters your ongoing thoughts.

In a work situation you can use a toilet break to give yourself the space to build the balance and the love back inside you so that when you re-enter the office you carry different energy.

Journal Time: make a note of where your stress comes from currently, then create a plan of action for how you can recognise the stress and for what you CAN do in any one moment to alleviate and neutralize the negativity.

GROUND YOURSELF

Grounding yourself alters your energy on all levels and allows a new flow to reside inside your energy field.

Every time you CHOOSE to recognise the signals and then do some small thing towards balancing yourself again you gain inner strength, inner awareness, inner growth.

When you remove yourself from the anxiety creator and settle (even a little bit) that ball of stress in your body, you shift the energy all round you, you are the change creator and this magic quality gains power as you refine your skills.

In a perfect situation we’d all be able to walk in a park, on the grass or by a fountain, but mostly we need to deal with stress in the moment so this is where I wanted to assist.

Just in case you don’t have a quick solution to Grounding - I have some that I share and use all the time.

BREATHE using counting breathing.

Counting breathing is quite sneaky as it gives the brain something to do (ie count) while you are oxygenating your blood and steadying your body.

- BREATHE IN slowly for the count of 1 2 3 4

- HOLD your breath here for 5 4 3 2 1

- BREATHE OUT slowly for 6 5 4 3 2 1

- HOLD your breath here for 3 2 1

Repeat this breathing until you find yourself yawning, this shows oxygenation and that is a sure sign you’re back on track.

BEING IN THE CIRCUIT

This quick method links up your meridians and connects you to above and below. You can use this anytime and especially after you’ve done a breathing exercise to check in with your inner balance.

If possible, do this with your eyes closed but I’ve used it quite successfully (and surreptitiously) in office and public transport situations.

Rub your fore finger gently across the base of your nose, on the gristle between your nose and your upper lip. Do this slowly for 5 seconds.

Now gently massage the outer edge of both ears for a similar amount of time, from top to lobe then back up again, repeat.

From here, rub your coccyx, the little mound at the center top of your butt.

Now feel the difference and have appreciation for this feeling.

You’ll probably yawn, this shows that you’re on the right track.

CHOOSE

Choosing change is freeing and, Yes, I know that even considering change can be a bit much at times, but let's look at this . . .

- Change doesn’t have to be scary

- Change doesn’t have to mess with your life

- Change can be really subtle and quite small and still have impact.

Remembering your choice is what you need to focus your intention on, not the change itself. This is really about the ripple effect and incremental shifts which move and change in small ways to ripple out into your chosen life.

Journal Steps: Write down one or more things you'd like to change. We're not doing anything about these directly, this is just a gentle heart intention for change.

Reminding yourself regularly

Choose to keep reminders and Joyful articles or things around you to keep you on track. These things can be really small if you need to intersperse them into your office desk busyness.

They can be photos, stick it notes in your car, a small memento in your pocket. There are many ways in which you can remind yourself of your chosen course of action.

Choosing to find more Joy in your world is another (seemingly) simple way to reduce stress and anxiety. But how can you even consider this JOY aspect when your brain is running on automatic, covering all of the stuff that actually makes you more stressed? The simple step is the best one and those reminders that we spoke about above are subtle, yet powerful prompts so begin there.

E-book and Journal

I’ve created an e-book based around this topic with journaling prompts and space if you’d like to expand your thinking on the subject. I share this freely as I know it can assist. Stress and anxiety are sneaky, especially as we are growing in awareness, and we can all use some different techniques to better deal with both the storage of this stress and the ongoing freedom from it.

If you’d like to download it immediately then use the link below. (I use Captcha on my site)

https://www.neutralizingwithlove.com/stop-sneaky-stress

Wishing you a new sense of Happy on your journey, LINDA