Nearly everyone is inundated with loads of stress and anxiety, and there is overwhelming and undeniable medical evidence about the impact on our emotional, mental, and physical health. According to the American Institute of Stress, 75-90 percent of physician visits are due to stress related complaints.
As healthcare professionals, you face special demands because you are expected to fix other people. No doubt, you give your best. But remember that you are not an emotional ambulance who is supposed to stop and rescue people from their own self-created dramas. The crazy part is that people keep doing the same things that cause stress and act as if there is nothing they can do about it.
Indeed, most people try to deal with the effects of stress, but they rarely address the underlying causes. Not to mention, many of us become accustomed to the continual stimulation of stress, tension, and worry. It just seems normal.
Our biggest challenge is a lack of understanding about how to address the emotions that contribute to the stress epidemic. Most people think that the mind rules our actions, but the fact is that emotions determine most of our choices and behaviors.
Stress affects different people in different ways, and too much stress can cause creativity, clarity, and problem-solving abilities decline. It often starts with feeling tension, irritation, or worry. If unchecked, these feelings escalate into stronger emotions like frustration, anxiety, or anger—leading people to either explode or implode.
You accumulate stress when you carry around concerns that go unresolved. Unfortunately, people don’t like to acknowledge feelings because it might make them feel incapable, incompetent, or even crazy—so they ignore it, hide, or take it out on others.
Most people have read about ways to reduce stress, including:
- improve your diet
- consume less caffeine and alcohol
- exercise
- stop smoking
- meditate
- spend quality time with friends and family.
Yet, they rarely get around to doing any of them because of the nagging feeling they feel that changing habits is a hassle, and there is never enough time to slow down, let alone catch up!
Now for the good news: One solution to managing stress lies not in the head but in the heart: the HeartMath Approach. This simple protocol, called the Quick Coherence Method, can be used in the midst of any given situation to help you learn to:
- put a halt to emotional energy drains
- let go of judging yourself and others
- stop trying to live up to others’ expectations of you
- gain new energy and vitality
- experience more joy and stress-free living
- be the person you really want to be.
Imagine accessing more of your creative intelligence to communicate more effectively, resolve challenges easily, and gain respect from your colleagues instead of doing things the old way. You only need to do three basic things:
- Heart Focus: Focus your attention on the center of your chest. Remember: where attention goes, energy flows. You are ready to stop giving so much significance to doubts, disruptions, distractions, and drama—and turn your attention within to your wisdom center.
- Heart Breathing: Imagine breathing in and that with each inhalation, your heart expands. Each time you exhale, you let go and take the charge out of any emotionally charged situation.
- Heart Feeling: Take a moment and think about the good things in your life and breathe in a feeling of care and appreciation. What’s more, get connected to the feelings of love or care and breathe in that feeling and out of the heart continuously. Then, notice how your state shifts. You should notice a quieting of the mind and a deep sense of calm. Thus the saying, “A change of heart changes everything.”
One of my favorite quotes is by James Allen, a British philosopher and writer who said, “A man cannot travel within and stand still without.” In other words, when we turn our attention from the outer things of this world and get connected to the intelligence of our heart, it shifts our neurological system, our hormonal body, pulse wave, and our energetics (or electromagnetic) field.
Try it. Really try it. Be okay with steeling away for a few moments with yourself and notice how clean and clear your head becomes just from a few minutes using this simple technique.
For more tools for handling stress, join me August 13 for the webcast: Letting Go of Negativity and Drama Can Be Fun.
