How A Daily Dose of Kindness Can Protect Us
Modern life is stressful. We know this. All we have to do is look at the numbers of people diagnosed with mood disorders. Those numbers have been skyrocketing. Even our children are stressed; mood disorders and other symptoms of stress such as school refusal have been increasing among school aged children for years.
Stress hurts us physically and emotionally. It wears down our ability to cope, to find solutions, to look forward to positive outcomes. It weakens our hearts, and impairs our ability to burn fat and use food as fuel in a healthy and balanced way. It dampens our creativity and keeps us focused on the negative. Stress, especially long term stress, erodes the quality of our lives.
But we do have tools available to us to combat all of this stress and its symptoms. Simple things that we can do that end up having a profound effect on our ability to protect ourselves from the symptoms of ongoing stress are available to all of us are at our fingertips. A simple but powerful technique to help combat stress and protect ourselves is to create an environment, as best we can, of positivity. This includes the environment around us and also the environment in our own minds.
We begin creating this positive environment by spending time each day taking caring notice of ourselves. We can check in with ourselves to see how we are feeling and see if there is anything we can do to take care of ourselves. And we can say kind things to ourselves.
Seems simple, doesn't it? Yet giving ourselves a little kindness each day in the form of truly being present and checking in with what we need and giving ourselves a positive self statement can have profound effects on the quality of our lives over time.
Check ins reduce stress by allowing us to become more in tune to what we need, and so allowing us to take action to meet these needs. How does this work? How many times have we found ourselves working through lunch? Or racing from one place to another either at home, at work, or out doing our errands, and suddenly realizing we haven't had any water or a break all day?
This is stressful. Ignoring the signals our bodies send to us to try to get our needs met sends messages to our minds and to our bodies that are negative and stress inducing. Taking one minute to take a deep breath, be present, and see what we need and what we can do about it starts to turn this around.
Maybe, when we pause to check in with ourselves, we find we need some lunch, a drink of water, or we are cold and need a sweater. Maybe we need to get up and walk around for a few minutes, or sit down and rest. Taking one minute a few times a day to be present, check in with ourselves and address our needs as we are able goes a long way to reducing the daily stress that builds up in our lives.
Aside from Check-Ins, a daily positive self statement helps reduce stress, too. We can be so negative with ourselves in our own minds. We predict doom, tell ourselves we aren't enough, tell ourselves to not expect so much. The problem is, our minds believe us. What we believe, we set about making true. Creating an atmosphere of positive thought in our own minds is the antidote to negative self talk.
Think of a positive thing to say to yourself each day, and say it in the morning, and also when you notice your thoughts turning negative. Some examples of positive self statements that people have used successfully are:
Every day I do my best.
I am capable, beautiful, and loved.
I am good enough, I have enough, I do enough.
Every day I live in the quiet expectation of good.
I can be happy.
I am a good, kind person and deserve to feel well and live a good life.
Every day, we can use these simple tools to help combat stress and lift us up, protecting us from the negative effects of modern life.
Remember to check in, a few times a day. Some people find that checking in before meal time really helps them to be better in tune with their appetite and what food their bodies really need. But do whatever works for you, try to find three times a day to check in and see what you need.
And give yourself one positive self statement a day. Notice, as time goes on and you practice these two simple steps, how much better you feel. Notice how the symptoms of stress start to reduce.
Stress hurts us physically and emotionally. It wears down our ability to cope, to find solutions, to look forward to positive outcomes. It weakens our hearts, and impairs our ability to burn fat and use food as fuel in a healthy and balanced way. It dampens our creativity and keeps us focused on the negative. Stress, especially long term stress, erodes the quality of our lives.
But we do have tools available to us to combat all of this stress and its symptoms. Simple things that we can do that end up having a profound effect on our ability to protect ourselves from the symptoms of ongoing stress are available to all of us are at our fingertips. A simple but powerful technique to help combat stress and protect ourselves is to create an environment, as best we can, of positivity. This includes the environment around us and also the environment in our own minds.
We begin creating this positive environment by spending time each day taking caring notice of ourselves. We can check in with ourselves to see how we are feeling and see if there is anything we can do to take care of ourselves. And we can say kind things to ourselves.
Seems simple, doesn't it? Yet giving ourselves a little kindness each day in the form of truly being present and checking in with what we need and giving ourselves a positive self statement can have profound effects on the quality of our lives over time.
Check ins reduce stress by allowing us to become more in tune to what we need, and so allowing us to take action to meet these needs. How does this work? How many times have we found ourselves working through lunch? Or racing from one place to another either at home, at work, or out doing our errands, and suddenly realizing we haven't had any water or a break all day?
This is stressful. Ignoring the signals our bodies send to us to try to get our needs met sends messages to our minds and to our bodies that are negative and stress inducing. Taking one minute to take a deep breath, be present, and see what we need and what we can do about it starts to turn this around.
Maybe, when we pause to check in with ourselves, we find we need some lunch, a drink of water, or we are cold and need a sweater. Maybe we need to get up and walk around for a few minutes, or sit down and rest. Taking one minute a few times a day to be present, check in with ourselves and address our needs as we are able goes a long way to reducing the daily stress that builds up in our lives.
Aside from Check-Ins, a daily positive self statement helps reduce stress, too. We can be so negative with ourselves in our own minds. We predict doom, tell ourselves we aren't enough, tell ourselves to not expect so much. The problem is, our minds believe us. What we believe, we set about making true. Creating an atmosphere of positive thought in our own minds is the antidote to negative self talk.
Think of a positive thing to say to yourself each day, and say it in the morning, and also when you notice your thoughts turning negative. Some examples of positive self statements that people have used successfully are:
Every day I do my best.
I am capable, beautiful, and loved.
I am good enough, I have enough, I do enough.
Every day I live in the quiet expectation of good.
I can be happy.
I am a good, kind person and deserve to feel well and live a good life.
Every day, we can use these simple tools to help combat stress and lift us up, protecting us from the negative effects of modern life.
Remember to check in, a few times a day. Some people find that checking in before meal time really helps them to be better in tune with their appetite and what food their bodies really need. But do whatever works for you, try to find three times a day to check in and see what you need.
And give yourself one positive self statement a day. Notice, as time goes on and you practice these two simple steps, how much better you feel. Notice how the symptoms of stress start to reduce.
