Seriously, this last couple of months I wanted, no needed, two of me, or perhaps three if you include the one who just wants to ‘do tea’ and doddle in the garden, but I’d settle for two.  Well there I was, mid yoga stretch (relax, breathe into the pose, let it go…) when it hit me, I could fret it or fight it but ultimately what I really needed to do is turn stress on its head.

Relax and breathe into that daily stretch called life.
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Most of us want to make our lives more flexible, relaxed, and harmonious but it can feel impossibly hard to do that with all the daily pressures, challenges, demands, not to mention the constant ‘time squeeze’ we all feel.  Truth be said we cause lots of our daily stress by going too fast, cramming too much in, jumping when everybody else clicks their fingers, and stretching in too many directions, way too many directions.  Lots of times, however, life just gets in the way of life!  Hello stress, like right now when I’m trying to finish this article for you all and the property management firm has arrived to check on our move in.  Ah Life you got to love it!

Now in the past my reaction to the pressure would have been to get all tensed up, annoyed, worried, and pressured.  I would respond by furiously attempting to get more focused, work faster, add another task to my list (go figure that one!), in short dig in and push harder.  Hey, that’s what made me the perfect Burnout Queen!  Naturally none of this proved remarkably effective, instead it simply added to my sense of overwhelm.

Imagine replacing resistance with harmony and peace.
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I love the idea of breathing into life; deeply inhaling all life has to offer (yes stress and all, that is why it’s called life) then letting it all go on the exhale. Imagine (seriously sweetie, close your eyes and imagine) not feeling the  tension or the resistance, not feeling the pressure, not feeling squeezed.  Could it be that you could actually stretch further, be more flexible, experience more flow in your life and at the same time gain in strength and resilience?  Now that’s turning stress on it’s head and that’s exactly what comes when you accept that life can be simpler…more breathable so to speak.

So go ahead, next time you are feeling all scrunched up with stress take that full breath in, breathe out and let your body, mind and soul fill and flow and let it go.  Bye bye burnout because you defy ordinary.

You know how to be cool with life.