“Feeling Overwhelmed? These Simple Shifts Made All the Difference”

Core Article: Feeling Overwhelmed? These Simple Shifts Made All the Difference.

Paragraph I’m Pondering: “Let go of melodrama…”

Powerful Affirmations to Inspire: “Your creativity knows no bounds…”

Book Review: The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Self by Michael Singer

Cool Stuff: How dogs may be able to smell your stress…

AI Info & Resources: One of the best prompt GPT writers for ChatGPT

Feeling Overwhelmed? These Simple Shifts Made All the Difference.

Have you ever been getting ready to leave for a trip that was in three or four days? All the things you have to do before you leave are basically swimming around in your head.

And sometimes it’s madly trying to get your attention, almost yelling at you to get x, y, and z done. Like a drill sergeant, “Get it done now, now, now!” Or maybe some other crazy thoughts to try to stress you out.

Well, that’s how I felt these past couple of weeks when I had back-to-back travel.

The first trip I shared with you was a fun weekend getaway with Alice and Emma to hang out with a friend who lives in Astoria, OR, which is way cooler than where we live at this time of year. The high temp while we were there was 67. (Yeah, in Redding, it’s been in the triple-digits – 104 and higher.)

The next trip, which I just got back from yesterday, was a work trip to Florida. Honestly, it is not my favorite place to visit in August, much less having to travel to Orlando ugh. (Screaming kids on planes…) Yeah, I’m sounding like a whiny adult with no kids right now – ouch, apologies…

My point, and I do have one, is how I was letting that internal voice start to boss me around. I mean, it was starting to get downright rude, as I mentioned earlier.

Through my mindfulness practice, I’ve learned how to slow down and even turn off that drill sergeant, which almost felt like a miracle.

So packing for the trips and getting ready to go was A LOT LESS stressful than it’s usually been. I was kind of floored at how some simple changes really made a big impact over time.

Let me share these simple mindful practices with you.

You may have heard about some of these before, yet I have my own little twist on them.

So, if you ever find you want or need to turn off that voice in your head that’s filling you with fear, doubt, and limiting beliefs, these mindfulness practices will help give you some relief.

Hugging Your Heart – When you wake up, you can do this before you get out of bed, you can do this in front of that bathroom mirror, or any time your heart rate is going up and your vagus nerve has kicked in for a fight or flight. Place your hands one on top of the other right on your solar plexus so you can feel your heart. Then take 3 deep breaths through your nose and out through your mouth, and then say to yourself, “I’m Okay, I am safe, and I am loved.” You can say this in your head or say it out loud. I think saying it out loud is best, and you should do it between your breaths. I also say out loud while looking at myself in the mirror, “I believe in you!”
Silent Walk – 10 – 15 mins – (I walk for 45 minutes, mostly cuz I’m walking Emma, and I love the early mornings watching the sun come up.) I’ve talked about this before in a previous email. Get out first thing in the morning if you can, before the sun or right after it comes up. This will help your body get into its normal rhythm and wake up more naturally. Remember, no phone (You can have it in your pocket, but no listening to anything, no texting, etc. It’s just for emergencies.) You can go with a friend, spouse, etc., except both of you practice the 10 – 15 minutes of silence together.
5 Senses—This is my favorite and has been helping SO MUCH lately now that I’m doing it every day. I find it best to do it on my silent walk. This way, I can get out of my head for a bit and just enjoy being present.

The benefit of this practice is the more you do this, especially when you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, it brings you back into the present moment. It gets you out of your head and crazy thoughts and belief systems that aren’t helpful during times of stress.

What I noticed is that I’m much more present and not distracted by my thoughts. That’s the benefit of doing it every day.

(Let’s face it, you’re not ever gonna get rid of your thoughts! The key is to simply notice and let them go. Don’t hang onto them. Talk back to them like I do – “Nope, we’re not gonna think about this right now. I’ve got more important things to accomplish.”)

How To Do The 5 Senses Practice: (Remember you can do this anywhere, in the grocery, the car, while watching something scary on TV, when someone’s upset with you, you’re feeling stressed, and more.)

Sight – List in your head 5 things you see (For example, I see my shadow, the dog wagging her tail, an owl, a deer, the shadow of the grass, a redwood tree, etc. Simple stuff.)
Feel – This is about physical feeling. List 4 things you feel. I feel my hand pulling on the leather leash. I feel my feet making a connection with the pavement. I feel my back stretch as I take a stride. My shoulders feel stiff.
Hear – List 3 things you hear. For example, I hear an owl, the sprinklers going off, the crickets chirping. (or the train’s horn, or traffic from the road, etc.)
Smell – List 2 things you smell. I smell the wet grass, the beautiful roses, etc.
Taste – List 1 thing you taste. This one’s usually hard for me cuz I do the 5 senses while I walk, so I usually taste toothpaste or my morning coffee. 😉

Meditate for 10 – 20 mins – Yep, I’ve talked about this one before too. The one thing I want to add is that I got the Balance App a while back when they were offering lifetime access. It wasn’t until I started the Mel Robbins Launch program that I started to use it – hah!

And guess what? It was pretty stellar. I’ve meditated for a long time, yet never with anyone guiding me. I just turned on my favorite music and did it on my own. Then, when I started the Balance App, my meditation got SO MUCH better and more beneficial. Why?

It has many different meditations you can do based on what you want to accomplish: better sleep, release fear and stress, help you get to sleep, energy, and deep focus.

It taught me how to breathe better, calm myself down, and relieve my stress. I’m finding that my breathing has improved, and so has being calmer and more present. And I have asthma, so this has been a big improvement.

And I just need to tell you that I’m not an affiliate and definitely not hawking the app. Just sharing, as I always do, what’s working for me. Please know if I ever was an affiliate of something, I would ALWAYS tell you. I’m always transparent with you.

Now for the big reveal—when I started, I didn’t do these altogether. It’s when I realized I’d save some time if I stacked them.

So, I started doing them all as part of my morning routine. They don’t take long to do. And you can hug your heart when you get up in the morning or anytime through the day when you need it. And you can do the 5 senses and your silent walk together. I meditate for 10 – 20 minutes when I get back from my walk, or sometimes I meditate before I go to bed.

Or, I’d recommend picking one that you will commit to doing for 1 week. If you’re an overachiever like me, commit to doing it for 30 days. 🙂

All of the above practices are part of many mindfulness teachings I’ve learned over the years. And I learned the 5 senses and hugging your heart from Mel Robbins. It was interesting because she had scientific research about the effectiveness of each of these.

So why do these? By creating more focus, calm, and being present, you will get so much more accomplished in your business, create better relationships, and continue to grow and be your best self.

Happy Practicing!

Let me know how it goes. If you have any questions or need more information about any of the above, send me a note. My hands are always at your back.

Paragraph I’m Pondering

Let Go of Melodrama In Your Life: “If you want to be happy, you have to let go of the part of you that wants to create melodrama. This is the part that thinks there’s a reason not to be happy. You have to transcend the personal, and as you do, you will naturally awaken to the higher aspects of your being. In the end, enjoying life’s experiences is the only rational thing to do.”
~Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul.

Powerful Affirmations to Inspire

“My creativity knows no bounds, and I am always discovering innovative ways to serve my dream clients and community.”
“I listen to my body’s needs and provide it with the love and care it deserves.”
“I attract opportunities for financial growth and seize them with confidence and gratitude.”

Book Review

The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Self by Michael Singer

Cool Stuff

This is a story about a man who turned architecture on its head.
I definitely know this is true – how dogs may be able to smell your stress. Hmm.
Guess what the 25 most annoying questions people love to ask…

AI Info and Resources

When it comes to AI and ChatGPT – it really is all about the prompts you give it. The better prompts you use to ask it to help you, the better help you will receive. If you have the paid version, check out this GPT – Prompt Engineer. It has helped me improve my ask and get more out of Chat GPT.
I’ve talked about this AI before, and now, after checking it out – I wanted to post it again. If you’re doing any buyer persona or any market research – this AI’s pretty amazing – Osum helps you perform deep market research in seconds to identify untapped growth potential…
Want to spruce up your presentations? This secret tool will help you create knock-your-socks-off presentations.

Weekly Photos

Spent this past week working with a client at his 3-Day Workshop in Melbourne, FL. I’d never been down there. There was not a whole lot for me to see as I was inside a hotel for many days! Yet, I managed to grab a few snapshots and some more from our trip to Oregon.

Emma sacked out in the back of the car in her dog bed. We were all tuckered out on the drive home.
What it’s like in our teeny airport that only has one gate. Heading to board the plane at 5:30 a.m., albeit the pic is a bit blurry. It’s kind of how I felt at that time of the morning if I’m being honest.
The bridge in Melbourne, FL, to access oceanfront beaches. I didn’t even know about Melbourne. I’ve been to almost every other city in FL for meetings and visiting family!
This was kind of cool – look to the top right. You can still see the shadow of the moon in the sky.
I and my amazing friend of over 15 years, David Walsh. We’ve worked together for a long time, and he’s definitely like a brother from another mother.
This was a very cool carved and painted owl outside someone’s home in Astoria, OR.
One of my favorite new pics of Mt. Shasta. Her snow is almost all melted, and you can really see the trees and the different colored ground cover.

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