How to Make Stillness and Deep Breathing a Habit

Have you ever said, or heard someone say, "Deep breathing doesn't work"?

This got me thinking about habits like say, brushing your teeth. If you only do it occasionally you could say that it doesn’t really work either.
 
Why is it so hard to develop a new habit?
 
There’s a lot of information about how to change a BAD habit but what about building a new one from scratch?
 
Let’s face it, we already know what’s good for us.
 
Try this:

Think about a new habit that you’ve been trying to add to your repertoire.
Got it?
Now see if the journey below sounds familiar.
 
We know how to do the thing.
We can even figure out when.
We sort of know why.
 
But still we don’t do it, at least not regularly.
 
Here come the excuses…
No time.
Too tired.
Forget.
Too hard.
Not urgent enough.
 
Then…
We feel guilty.
We feel defeated.
We’re okay without it.
We forget about it all together.
 
Until…
We realized we need it.
Something’s got to change.
 
AND WE START AGAIN!
 
YAY! WE START AGAIN!
 
This is so important that you need to say it out loud, tweet it, Instagram it or throw it up on Facebook, but share the message loud and proud:

“It’s okay to start again!”

Life’s a journey, you’re on your path, enjoy each day as it comes, try and try again…I know, you’ve heard it all before.
 
My all-time favourite way to fire up a new habit is to anchor it to something I’m already doing.
Let’s say you want to remember to practise your deep breathing. Maybe anchor it to when you get into bed, or just before you brush your teeth, or when you park car, or just before the first sip of your morning coffee?
 
Stress is going to wear you out!

Deep, diaphragmatic breathing triggers the parasympathetic nervous system which boosts the immune system, digestion, your pre-frontal cortex, where you have access to deep thinking, new ideas and more compassion. Click here for my infographic on the benefits.

Now back to the quote at the top of the page, “Deep breathing doesn’t work for me.”

 If we only try to breathe deeply during a crisis of anxiety or extreme stress, there’s a chance deep breathing won’t help. The calm deep breath we’re talking about here, is best used as a preventative tool.

We want to build up our emotional resilience and actually change our brain so that the challenges of our life don’t overwhelm us and set us up for stress, illness, worry and suffering.

The more you use this calming tool, the more you and your body will benefit!

Helping you smooth out your day!

Michele

Calm Down with Animals

"You got to get away from words if you want to understand any animal. It thinks in pictures, it thinks in smells, it thinks in touch sensations - little sound bites like, it's a very detailed memory." 

Temple Grandin

My daughter started a new job this week and it just so happened that there was a beautiful 12 year old senior dog in the office.

Needless to say, the first day at a new job is a little STRESSFUL. You're meeting a ton of new people, you have to get to know the tech, procedures and log in's. Everything is new.

Guess where the dog, named Shorty, chose to hang out for the day?

Yup, under the new employee's desk! What a gift it was for my daughter to have this beautiful animal to connect with!

So, once a week, this office has a dog hang out with everyone. I know it's not a new idea to have pets in the workplace but this example really emphasized how ANIMALS CAN HELP us humans to DE-stress. They can teach us to live in the moment and love unconditionally, and they're great, non-judgmental ENERGY readers, with the ability to sense the FEEL of a ROOM and the PEOPLE in it.

Count yourself lucky if you live with an animal family member. My beautiful Labrador Retriever crossed the rainbow bridge years ago but I can find comfort connecting with the memory of her. 

There's no doubt about it, patting, holding or having a pet nearby can be calming and comforting. Therapeutic Paws of Canada, Caring Canine: Toronto Therapy Dogs and St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog Program all offer a variety of programs that connect a dog with seniors, adults, teens and children. These programs help with everything from stress reduction, autism, pain management to helping children read. Pet Partners list many studies supporting the benefits of the human animal bond.

So what happens if you don't have direct access to a pet? 

Well, getting out in nature, and listening and observing the wildlife around you, will certainly help to increase your odds of experiencing some calming mindful moments.  I love to watch the way animals and birds interact and communicate.
Once you start noticing, you'll see even more interactions and then you might find yourself looking forward to those moments. 

Of course you could go to the zoo or aquarium or a dog park, and who doesn't love those funny Facebook pet videos. Careful with this one because once you go there you might not be back until tomorrow!

The next time you're near a pet or out in nature, check in to your body and notice your tension levels and your breathing.
Do you start to let go and relax?
Can you gently slow your breath?
Are you able to connect and just BE with the animal? 
Does your heart soften or a smile come to your lips?

If this resonates with you and if you discover that your MIND gets a break from all the CHATTER, then you can use the memory of these experiences to access this positive feeling later on, when you need it. A positive memory can go a long way to putting a smile on your face just like the memories of my yellow Labrador can.

Helping you smooth out your day!  Michele

click the image below to start meditating today!

How NOT to Make a Decision

"Be wary of any decisions in the 'zag' of life. They are almost sure to be wrong. They will be too coloured by our anger or depression or doubt or discouragement."  Rev. Dr. Walter Welch, The Zig Zag of Life, 1980.

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How many times have you had to make a decision and you feel stuck? AFRAID to make the wrong decision? WHAT IF this happens or that happens? You pound away at it. You make lists, weight your pros and cons, walk a way, survey your friends, sleep on it, and you still can't move on it! We've all been there!

When Rev. Dr. Welch speaks of the ZAG in life, he's referring to your circumstance and the feelings and emotions in that present moment. Trying to make a decision when you feel less than your best self is really tough. The decision may be rushed, or lead by outside pressures. I like to feel good about my decisions and try to avoid "Ya, but..." self-talk, which is almost always fear based.

So, after you check in with your present feelings, you can do 2 things:

1. Find something to APPRECIATE and let that feeling flow through you. It could be a memory or shifting what you're doing.

2. This may be a little harder to swallow but here it goes, ACCEPT that both decisions are offered to you for your growth. You can't NOT grow. With acceptance you'll find a shift in your stress about the decision and, as you'll begin to relax, clarity can seep in.

Either way, give yourself a little space from your decision.

Finally, and you could do this first if you're ready, you can slow your breath and meditate. I didn't mention if first because sometimes when you head is overflowing and super busy with thoughts the idea of being still and calm is met with a huge amount of resistance. Resistance will just bring you more of the same and add to your stress, so by shifting your mood first you can then find a way to allow stillness.

Be sure to grab my printable meditation cheat sheet HERE.

You know the drill it's time to get still! Ha, ha, ha!

Nice rhyme but you've just got to go there. Like it or not, a calm mind is a clear mind and it's easier to hear that inner voice giving you answers.

Helping you smooth out your day.-Michele

WiFi Detox?

"Concerning matter, we have been all wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. There is no matter." Attributed to Albert Einstein

We live in an 'ENERGY' SOUP. Electromagnetic energy is everywhere: radio and TV signals, modems, cordless phones, cell phone signals, smart meters, baby monitors, Bluetooth enabled devices, computers, satellites, tablets and let's not forget the Sun and stars all give off energy, electromagnetic radiation, and are all part of our lives.These energy signals are hard to avoid, especially in urban centres. Our CARS are even pulling in these signals and young children are exposed to them in WIRELESS CLASSROOMS as well as at home. It's getting hard to escape them.

For the most part, we SEEM to be doing okay.

BUT

When all the electromagnetic energy gets to be too much or too chaotic-picture a tangled mess of wires-our energy can become off-balance and scattered, our stress ramps up and our ability to heal is stifled. It's hard to be calm when our energy is scrambled and bombarded.

Living organisms strive for HOMEOSTASIS; we strive for BALANCE and equilibrium.

So what should we do?

Turn OFF the modem? Go back to wired devices? MAYBE, yes.
What about my bluetooth speaker and whatever will I do without Netflix...and should I turn off my cell phone? I just cut my landline!

RESEARCH: I started scouring through the online research, which was tricky because most of it is really out of date. I eventually found a very thorough report at bioinitiative.org, so if you want to investigate updated (2007, 2012 and 2017) and COMPELLING RESEARCH head over to that website.

Some of it was way over my head as far as interpreting the results, but the overall message was pretty clear-we need to demand the maximum allowed exposure levels (from towers, phones, our devices) to be much LOWER frequencies, and reclassify these radio frequencies as a human carcinogen.

CBC’s Marketplace TV Show

Wendy Mesley of CBC's show Marketplace aired a documentary On March 24, 2017, The Secret Inside Your Phone: Cellphone safety and testing. Here's the link, I highly recommend you watch it.  The bottom line-keep your cellphone off your body.

With technology changing so rapidly and the internet of things continually expanding I feel the need to pull back and take a CLOSER LOOK at the effects it might have on all living things.
For now, I'm going to pay a little more attention to my exposure (especially while I'm sleeping) and TURN OFF more devices. 

My big take away? The SECRET for EMF health is PROXIMITY (to the source) and DURATION (of exposure). Try to get some distance and turn it off, or maybe get out in nature-away from cell phone towers if you can.