Anchoring and Stress

The holidays are fast approaching and this is typically a time when people get stressed out.  It seems we generally feel stress arising when we have a plan in mind (like preparing Thanksgiving dinner) but are faced with limited time.  In a previous class theme, we talked about how time is based on perception, which is why it seems to go faster when you are happy and slower when life is a struggle.

Steve Maraboli wrote:  "Release the stress. You were never in control anyway." How's that for the truth?!  If you can allow yourself permission to let go of this crazy notion of control, how much easier would life seem?  

And Dan Millman wrote:  "Stress happens when your mind resists what is."  Isn't that true, as well?  We seriously do let the mind get riled up because of things we cannot change; because of what is.  Let that go.  I gave an example in class about cooking the Thanksgiving turkey.  Let's assume you told the crowd of ravenous people at your house the  dinner would be served at 3pm.  But at 3pm, the turkey isn't done.  And at 3:30pm, little hungry people are coming up to asking when will the food be ready? And you glance at the turkey and it is still not done and you feel your stress level start to rise.  The level of anxiety seems to mount within the confines of your house and at 3:31 the turkey isn't done, or 3:32 or 3:33 (because now you are hovering over the oven, right?!).  But, the turkey has no perception of time. The turkey is either cooked or not cooked.  You would prefer to eat a cooked turkey and its level of being cooked just IS. Do not allow your mind to fight against that concept.  People will get fed eventually and life will go on.  Stay in peace mode.

We used the concept of anchoring in class to teach the brain what relaxed feels like. Simple put, you allow yourself to become extremely relaxed, allowing tension to slip out of every cell in the body. And you say to yourself, I am relaxed.  Then you create a trigger or anchor, like squeezing a thumb or your wrist.  Breath in and, as you breathe out, squeeze this trigger and say I am relaxed.  You are teaching the brain that squeezing this trigger means relaxation and for your body to go to the state it associates with relaxation. This may take a little practice to teach this cellular memory to your body but, seriously, what do you have to lose?!  Time? LOL!