Whether it’s muscle tension, anxiety or an upset stomach; each one us has our own signs that let us know we are reaching or have already reached our body’s tipping point of having done too much.
BUT, while it is definitely helpful to know what these tipping point signs are, the real question is what are you putting in place long-term to stop this from being a regular occurence?
I was recently experiencing very strong signs that are definitely a trigger for me of life getting too much. My body was feeling tight from head to toe. I am still engaged in doing some massage therapy work but I had done too much and this was not good for me.
I felt overwhelmed!
What was my first way of dealing with this? Well, I’ll be honest. I had to scream and shout. I was basically having a major tantrum, and I’m really glad that no one had to see me :). It was late at night and I couldn’t get to sleep. I felt so uncomfortable in my own skin and I needed to scream and shout – so I did!
I will insert here that I am living on my own at the moment and there are heavy shutters on the windows, so it is easier for me to do this without disturbing anyone. An alternative option is to get in your car and scream, although please do it with caution while driving!
This letting out of emotion is not a bad thing. Society has this deemed as bad and that if you do this, there is something wrong with you. NO, delete this notion!
There is nothing wrong with releasing anger in a safe way, in fact it is an essential part of your health and wellbeing to release what you are feeling instead of suppressing it.
3 Practical Solutions
I would rather not have let my body get to this point of such mega tightness, however, when and if this does happen, I do have three strategies that I turn to to help me out and I highly recommend that you get prepared with these as well.
1. Create a pre-planned list of go to tools.
Take some time to write out a list of things that you know help to bring you back to balance, Part of my pre-planned list of tools includes:-
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- eft tapping
- doing a guided relaxation or yoga nidra
- doing a meditation
- doing hatha yoga or kundalini yoga
- listening to inspirational podcasts
- taking time alone to read, draw (zentangle art these days) or colour (mandalas)
- talking to a friend
- writing about how I am feeling
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Sometimes one of these things does the job and other times it’s a series of things that are needed to bring me back to balance.
2. Begin eliminating things from your life that do not serve you.
This one is definitely a process. Again, make a list of things that you know are not serving you, and approach things one at a time. Just begin somewhere and it’s ok if you start with something easy. Some of the things I have worked through in the past and continue to work with today include:
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- eliminating unhealthy relationships and/or friendships
- reducing and ultimately eliminating work that does not fulfil my soul
- not spending too much time on technology late at night
- not going to bed too late
- eliminating sugar, wheat, dairy, gluten, white flour from my diet
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3. Spend as much time as you can in “The Relaxation Response”.
Turning off the “fight-or-flight” response and instead turning on this relaxed state of “The Relaxation Response” (a term first coined by Dr Herbert Benson) is one of the most essential things to do in order to restore balance in your system.
As a reminder here,
our body’s do not heal and recover if we stay in the “fight-or-flight” state, they heal only when we are in a relaxed state, ie in “The Relaxation Response”.
Please breathe in the importance of this.
A lot of the things mentioned in my list in no.1 will get you into this state of relaxation and a lot of the things I mentioned in no.2 will help to get you out of perpetually being in the “fight-or-flight” response.
The most important thing is to pay attention to the signs and signals that your body is giving you, and get started today on making the necessary changes that you know your system needs.
Unitl next time, have a scream and a shout if you need to (as I did) and then calm that beautiful being of yours.
All my love
Lisa
