The A-Z of Calm

In honor of #internationalcalmday, here are my A-Z tips to be more calm.

Allow. Allow your emotions. Burying them or overpowering them makes them last longer

Breathe. The stress response increases your respiratory rate. Intentional breathing techniques such as a 4-4-4-4 box breath can calm you right down.

Curious. Get curious as to what you were thinking that led to the strong emotional response of stress

Drink water. Dehydration causes stress and vice versa.

Efficient. Be efficient with your time. Overthinking, procrastination and buffering emotions is not an efficient use of this most precious resource. 

Feel. Feel the sensations in your body that are a result of feeling stressed or of calm. Some of them are quite subtle.

Grow. How can you grow today? Learning something new stretches the mind and helps us find meaning. 

Hug. Hug someone…even if it’s yourself. There is lots of research out there that says hugging someone reduces stress.

Intentional – Be intentional about how you want to feel each and every day. Then look for evidence that it’s true.

Joy – How can you bring some enjoyment to your work and life?

Kind. Be kind to yourself and to others. Judgement leads to stress.

Limit – Limit the input that you allow into your brain. You have enough to think about it without all that noise.

Measure. Measure your level of calm and set goals for where you want it to be

Nature. Get out in nature, especially around running water if you can. The running water puts off negative ions that will calm you down. That’s why it’s so amazing to be at the beach!

Open. Be open to all possibilities. It’s amazing how many opportunities we get that we just don’t see.

Present. Be present in each and every thing you do. Multitasking causes stress.

Question. Question your thoughts and beliefs. They are creating your current results. If you don’t like the current result, you must change your thoughts and beliefs.

Relax. Life is not a race. You have plenty of time to do everything you want to do.

Serve. Get outside your own head. How can you help someone else today?

Trust. Trust yourself. You have all the answers. You just need to ask yourself and quit worrying about what other people think.

Understanding. Be compassionate and understanding with yourself when you make a mistake. How can you learn and grow from it?

Validate. Validate yourself. You don’t need approval or permission from anyone else to follow your dreams and live your best life.

Walk. Take walks when you want to calm down. 

Xerox. Find the things that calm you down and copy them into other areas of your life.

Yoga. All forms of yoga help you to become more aware and connected to your emotions.

Zeal. Find your passion and go do something about it. You will be much calmer if you are doing what you love.

If you just can’t find your way to calm, we should talk. It is possible and I can show you how. Click here to schedule a call.