Break free from the daily grind with a little help from your friends.

Think about the last time you were really stressed.

Feeling anxious and scattered, rushed and confused, the battle becomes a solo mission. We just keep our head down and “nose to the grindstone,” and hope that the worst is almost over.

We put off having fun. We delay our vacations. We wait until some other day to pick up the phone and call someone.

Right when we need it most, we isolate ourselves. This is the body’s natural reaction when stressed.

To become defensive and remove itself from possible threats.

Seeing this tendency, we can take new action. As the Beatles sang, we can get by with a little help from our friends!

This week, confide in someone. Reach out — we have so many ways of reaching out now! Email, Facebook, Twitter, a phone call.

You never know, a call from a friend may be exactly what your friend needs, too.

Stepping outside of the mindset of stress, quickly brings a workability to it. We can see more clearly. We can laugh about it.

And things become much lighter.

That’s something to breathe into.

Stress Release Tip

It’s always a great time to bring awareness to the unconscious patterns of stress that may be taking over your day. Do you yell at traffic (even just to yourself)? Do you frequently have to rush because you’re scheduling too many things to do?

Mindful Moment

Try a different approach this coming month. Take a breath and notice your frustration on the road, then let it go. Get up 10 minutes earlier, or say, “No” to something you’d rather not do. Create some space, and notice how the stress subsides.

Quote From Adam

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought that no one but myself..’ ”
– C. S. Lewis