What creates the most stress for you? The demands of your work? Your boss? That guy in the cubicle across from you?

When your hubby doesn’t put the toilet seat down?

What is it about these things that cause you stress?

Have you really dissected the underlying reason why stressful thoughts arise because of any one thing?

When I first started my job at LAPD, there was a particular supervisor who I felt was always gunning for me.

She saw me as someone who didn’t care to follow the rules, and took it upon herself to teach me a lesson.

And I gave her ample opportunity to take my ass back to school.

I played the victim for years – “She’s out to get me! WTF!” – and seeing her would make my skin bristle.

Until I stopped identifying with the story.

I dropped my complex web of thinking that made her out to be the enemy, and me, the victim.

Without the story, she is just a supervisor doing her job.

If there’s stress as a result of her actions, which are actually the result of my actions, well then, I can change that.

So often there is a simple way that can lead to less stress. A way to change our viewpoint.

And we can arrive at this simplicity by taking a breath, seeing things as they are instead of how we think they are, and moving forward without making it personal.

When it’s personal, it’s very complex. And it’s rarely, if ever, personal.

We just think it is.

Stress Release Tip

Do less today. But make it a conscious decision. Choose to space out your tasks so that there is breathing room. Simplify your life with one less trip. And do it without guilt. The work will be there tomorrow. It’s ok push it to the next day. Remember to breathe. Long and slow, noticing each breath. Noticing how nice it feels to not have to rush.

Mindful Homework

Check in with your body right now. Feel your feet on the ground, the chair beneath you, your hands wherever they are. Imagine your body relaxing. Allow your face to relax. Your eyes, the area around your eyes, your jaw, your lips, allow your tongue to rest gently on the roof of your mouth. Draw your breath into your lower belly, and let it be even and gentle. Feel how peace and stillness comes over the body when we allow for it. When the body is relaxed, the mind is also relaxed.

Quote From Adam

“Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.”
– Frederic Chopin