Tag Archive for: practices

Feeling Overwhelmed? Try This.

We all have times when things feel overwhelming. Whether it’s a specific part of our lives or life in general, it can feel like more than we can handle. During these moments, it’s hard to know where to start or if we’re even capable of getting through it.

True Radiance Healing Arts with Tips for How to Cope When Feeling Overwhelmed

This sense of having more to deal with than we can manage can come from a major life event or just from seeing the whole scope of a project and all there is to do at once. In response, our brain goes into survival mode, where creativity, resourcefulness, and the ability to strategize are sacrificed.

When it feels like it’s all too much, here are a few strategies to help make it manageable:

1. Breathe
Focusing on the breath is a simple but effective tool when you get caught up in the enormity of something. Attending to your breath helps you to relax. Physiologically, when your breathing deepens and you relax, it sends a message to the brain that you are safe. It also brings more oxygen to the brain, allowing you to think more clearly. Bringing focus to your breath returns your attention to the present moment, where you can identify your next step.

2. Capture and Contain
For many people, writing down all the loose ends vying for attention can help create the mental space to actually think. Try jotting down all the things swimming around in your head that you “need to do.” Don’t stop there; once you’ve captured everything on paper, try drawing a box, circle, or other closed shape all the way around it. Our mind responds to visual information, and putting a container around these tasks sends a signal to the mind that this is a “complete set.” Otherwise, your mind will likely keep searching for—and offering up—more things you “need to” deal with. (Are you still breathing?)

3. Take Stock
Give yourself a moment to acknowledge the action you’ve already taken or set in motion. Make a quick list of the resources and skills you have available to you that will help. In some situations, it can be helpful to focus on what’s known right now (instead of what might happen).

4. Find a Bite-Sized Chunk
If you made a Capture and Contain list, you might have noticed that not everything on the list can be done now. Because of the natural order of things (this must happen before that) or because of where you are right now (for example, sitting in front of the computer and not out running errands), it’s likely that some items on the list aren’t ready to be done right now. For the moment, let those go. What’s one small thing you can do right now to take a step closer to getting one thing done? It might be finding a phone number, sending off a quick email, identifying a piece of needed information, or some other relatively small task. It’s OK to start with something easy.

True Radiance Healing Arts with Tips for How to Cope When Feeling Overwhelmed5. Focus on the Very Next Step
There’s a bit of mental discipline required in staying with the very next step. Our mind can race down the path far ahead, noticing all of what must be done, the entire sequence, all at once. When you notice that your attention has wandered into the future, gently bring yourself back to the present by again returning to your breath. What’s your very next step?

6. Tap Your Resilience
Take a moment to think of a challenging time you’ve been through. Maybe it’s a situation where you or others were surprised at what you were capable of handling. Acknowledge yourself for having accomplished this, taking note of the skills and abilities you brought to the situation. Remember that you are capable of handling tremendous feats and difficulties.

Still breathing?

We have the capacity and strength to overcome great obstacles and accomplish miracles. These strategies can help.

Black and White Thinking: Good or Bad?

Black and White Thinking | True Radiance Healing ArtsI was talking to a client a few years back. She was feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. She said to me, “Everyone I know is in chaos right now.” Knowing how our thoughts can impact our emotional state, I asked her, “Is that really true? Everyone?”

She paused, running through her family and friends in her mind. “No, not everyone. Actually, just 5 people.” She let out a breath and started to relax.

Dichotomous thinking, sometimes called black and white thinking, is seeing things as all good or all bad. It lumps the whole world or an entire spectrum together in one big generalization, increasing our chances of feeling overwhelmed.

We miss the complexity and subtlety in situations because we can’t see multiple perspectives or allow that there might be more than one acceptable way of doing things. This can add pressure to our relationships.

It’s fairly common for all of us to do this once in a while, especially if we’re already feeling stressed, but for some people this thinking style is more pervasive. Unfortunately, dichotomous thinking can make us feel even more stressed out. A habit of dichotomous thinking has also been associated with depression and other mental illnesses.

These kinds of all-or-nothing thoughts are also associated with perfectionism, telling us that if we didn’t do it perfectly, it was a complete failure. It robs us from a sense of satisfaction with our life because it’s not possible to meet the expectations we set for ourselves and others. It can also keep us from even starting a project, because we’ve been told, “if you can’t do it right, don’t do it at all.”

There’s an old story about the farmer and his son. The farmer had a horse. One day when the son was trying to break the horse, he threw off the young man and he broke his arm. All the people in the town said to the farmer “this is terrible!” but the farmer shrugged his shoulders and replied “is it good or is it bad?”

Soon after this, some men from the army appeared in the town. They drafted all the young men who were able to fight. They didn’t take the farmer’s son because he had a broken arm. The people of the town exclaimed “you are so lucky that they didn’t take your son—it’s a good thing his arm was broken.” And the farmer replied “is it good or is it bad?”

Then the farmer’s horse got out of the field and ran away. The people said “this is awful news” but the farmer replied “is it good or is it bad?”

The next day the farmer’s horse returned—and brought several other wild horses with him. The townspeople remarked “you are so lucky! This is great!” And the farmer simply said “is it good or is it bad?”

Black and White Thinking | True Radiance Healing ArtsThere are very, very few events in our lives that are inherently good or bad. When we look back at even the most challenging of times in our life – events we would never have chosen – this is often when significant growth happens. Gifts can ultimately come from dire circumstances. Judging things as good or bad oversimplifies our experiences.

Given that black and white thinking skews our perception of reality and can take a toll on our health, relationships, and productivity, what can we do to catch it and change it?

We can think of dichotomous thinking as a habit of the mind. Like any habit, it can be changed over time when we put a conscious focus on it.

The first step is to notice what you’re saying to yourself – particularly when you’re feeling stressed. Be on the lookout for anything you might be saying to yourself or to other people with words like “everything,” “everyone,” “always,” “never,” or “nobody.” Even the words “good” or “bad” can signal that we’ve fallen into black and white thinking.

When you notice you’re making this kind of generalization or judgment, ask yourself, “Is that really true?” There isn’t much in our lives that is absolutely true all of the time or with all people.

Now ask yourself, “What might be more accurate?” See if you can be more specific. Challenge yourself to see from someone else’s perspective or come up with other ways of looking at a situation (even though you may not believe they’re “right”).

In some cases, this exercise can immediately help to lower your stress level. If dichotomous thinking is common for you, it will likely take some practice before you reap the full benefit. It’s within your power to choose to think differently – and feel better because of it.

Clearing Yourself or a Space with Sage

shutterstock_205579396 burning sage

Many Native American cultures have a practice of smudging, or cleansing with smoke. In fact, smoke is used in many spiritual traditions around the world as a vehicle for carrying prayers up to the Divine.

You can smudge yourself, another person, or a space. Smudging yourself or someone else can help to clear away negativity, anxiety, heavy thoughts or unwanted energy. This can be helpful after an argument, a bad dream, or a rough day at work.

Smudging a space can help to clear the energy of the room, for example after a visitor, as part of a “spring cleaning” to enliven the space, or after moving into a new home or work space.

Different cultures have different traditions about which herb, or a blend of herb, to use for smudging. In Central and South America, a Palo Santo wood stick is used for this purpose. The most common herbs used in North American traditions are white sage, sweet grass, tobacco, and cedar. These are also four of the most sacred plants here in North America. They are considered to be gifts from the Creator.

As with any cleansing ritual, you will get the most benefit if you are fully present, holding your intention for clearing, and focused on what you are doing.

Place the herbs in a clay bowl (one that you can easily hold without it getting too hot). Thank the spirit(s) of the herbs and Creator for their assistance in cleansing. Light the herbs on fire. It doesn’t need to have an open flame for long–just long enough to get a good stream of smoke going.

Using your cupped hand or a feather, bring the smoke to your chest to clear your heart first. Next bring the smoke over the top of your head. Take a deep, relaxed breath and let the smoke clear you inside as well as out.

Continue to “wash” yourself with the smoke, including both arms, the front of your torso, your legs, the bottoms of your feet, and up your back. If you have long hair, you may want to hold it up to make it easier to smudge the back of your neck.

Once you have smudged yourself, you can go on to smudge the space or other people.

To clear a space by smudging it, you may want to start by opening a window. This allows any energies you are clearing out of the space a way to leave and helps to freshen the room. Move clockwise around the room, using the feather or your hand to move the smoke into the corners, under and around furniture, inside of cupboards and closets, finishing at the open window. Now you can close the window. If you like, you can put a line of salt along the windowsill to help “seal” the newly cleansed space.

As you move through the room, you may also want to give thanks for the space and ask that it be blessed for the use you want it to have.

When you are finished smudging, extinguish the smoke by pushing the burning end of the herbs into the bowl.