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Category: Controlling Stress

A very successful approach to controlling stress and achieving a lasting peace and calm is to live an embodied life by creating an inner peace and calm through learning to recognize and embrace your inner experience in an honest and curiosity-filled way. It means you’re aware of your total mind/body/spirit connection and you do things daily to nurture it.

The Remedy for Burnout is Not Recreation but Sustainability

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress, Dream Big - Start Small, Health and Wellness, Life Skills, Somatic Coaching.

The traditional approach to burnout goes something like this: Push hard, reach exhaustion, take a break, repeat. It's a cycle that might seem manageable in the short term, but it's fundamentally unsustainable. Each cycle tends to require longer recovery periods and produces diminishing returns.

“Exhausted. Totally drained.” “No motivation.” “Feeling disconnected.” “Can’t focus. Can’t keep up.” “Overwhelmed.” “Don’t want to do it anymore.” “I can’t do it anymore!” These feelings are not isolated. They’re becoming the common language of high-achieving women who have been carrying a great deal for a long time. When my clients describe how they’re feeling, the conversation often turns to finding a remedy for burnout. However, I’d like to share something profound that I’ve learned from this…

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Permission to Slow Down, Relax and Unwind Even When Things Speed Up

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress, Dream Big - Start Small, Life Skills.

Rest isn’t the reward for finishing everything; it’s the foundation that makes everything in your life sustainable. It’s what fuels your energy, creativity, and clarity.Fall has a way of pulling us into its whirlwind. The long, lingering days of summer give way to calendars packed with deadlines, school schedules, family events, and the unspoken pressure to keep up as life speeds up around us. Sometimes it feels like we have to force ourselves to relax and unwind, which causes more stress, rather than relieving it.

Slowing down feels like a luxury you can’t afford. Rest becomes the reward for checking everything off your list or something you earn after the work is done.

But here’s a new way of looking at it: rest isn’t the reward for finishing everything; it’s the foundation that makes everything in your life sustainable. It’s what fuels your energy, creativity, and clarity. Without it, you’re running on fumes.

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Time Management Tips that Reduce your Stress and Increase Productivity

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress, Dream Big - Start Small, Handling Change.

Seven easy time management tips that reduce your stress and increase your productivity by encouraging you to choose a state of mind that supports you.

Do you feel like you’re always battling against the clock and there’s not enough time to do what you need to get done, let alone what you want to do?  And since your long to-do list is never finished, maybe you’re always nagged by a feeling of failure. Here’s a secret that can help: the best time management tips are built not on being task oriented but upon creating a mindful state of mind.

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How to Stay Calm under Pressure. It’s Easy When You Practice This…

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress, Dream Big - Start Small, Emotional Intelligence, Life Skills.

If you suppress your feelings so that you look calm on the outside, but inside you feel like you’re ready to explode, learn how to stay calm under pressure.

Have you ever tried to calm a room full of excited children waiting for a treat? The more you shush them, the more they wiggle, giggle, and chatter. But if you channel their energy into an engaging activity, they settle down. This is a key takeaway for learning how to stay calm under pressure.

Because our adult emotions work the same way! Trying to suppress anxiety, stress, or frustration is like forcing those excited children to sit still — it’s exhausting and ineffective. Suppressing emotions often leaves you feeling like a powder keg, ready to explode.

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The Body Remembers: Surprising Ways Family Dynamics Affect You

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress, Dream Big - Start Small, Transform Your Life.

Because the body remembers, visiting relatives may flood you with emotions and physical reactions that you can release through somatic exercises.There’s something profound about returning to the places and people that shaped us. Recently, I went back to Italy to visit my family, spending time with my mom and my brother—who holds a special place in my heart. Being back in the home I grew up in was a comforting experience, but it also stirred up a mixture of memories, both joyful and challenging. I felt firsthand how deeply the body remembers, holding traces of these formative experiences even when we aren’t consciously aware of them.

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