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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 any more.” “I can’t do it any more!” Many of my clients are expressing sentiments like these when I ask how they’re feeling. Then our conversations center on finding a remedy for burnout. However, I’d like to share something profound that I’ve learned from this…

We live in times of great opportunities, but they come with monumental responsibilities and challenges. High achieving women manage the work/life juggling act for a while. But something has to give. And what usually gives is your spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical health. Then it’s a long, hard struggle to recover.

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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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Have a Happy Holiday Season — 5 Ways to Manage Emotional Land Mines

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress, Dream Big - Start Small. No Comments on Have a Happy Holiday Season — 5 Ways to Manage Emotional Land Mines

You can have a happy holiday season, despite what people say or do, by mindfully practicing these five emotion-managing somatic exercises. The year-end months are hectic, but I’m so grateful for a happy holiday season, aren’t you? It’s a time for reconnecting with family and friends. From October onward, I intentionally use my time to relax, reflect and assess how I’ve done over the past year.Then I can make course corrections as needed. 

Of course, not everyone feels joy for a variety of reasons. For example, the added pressures from crowded stores, roads and airports can put a damper on anyone’s spirits. Plus there may be many internal pressures — we get caught up in trying to meet expectations of providing the perfect holiday experience by being the perfect daughter, sister, wife, and mother. The house has to be just so. The meals must be absolutely delicious. We may find ourselves pushing to perform on a lot less sleep and a lot more stress. Or this holiday season may be marked by sadness because a loved one is missing or it reminds you of a traumatic event.

It doesn’t have to be like that! Start planning a strategy now that will make you proud of the way you handle yourself at all times. Here are a few self-leadership suggestions that can help.

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Manage Self-Sabotaging Thoughts to Empower a Life of Freedom

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress, Fearless Mindset, Life Skills.

Self-sabotaging thoughts change your body chemistry and the way you move, yet you can become more open and joyful by adjusting your thought patterns.Which would you say is more stressful and damaging to your health — stress from a car accident or from a messy house? — a breakup with a romantic partner or a friend who makes you crazy because she never follows through on what she promises? — a harsh comment from a friend or self-sabotaging thoughts?

We’re well-equipped to handle short-term stressors or life-threatening situations. We deal with it, then we’re free of it. But if there’s constant, long-term, nagging stress, we suffer deeply. 

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The Antidote to Panic — Mindfully Reducing Fight or Flight Response

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress.

Mindfulness is Key to Reducing Fight or Flight Stress Response

If you’re hiking in the woods in Oregon and you see the glowing eyes of a cougar, will your heart start racing? Of course it will! The fight or flight stress response kicks in with a vengeance and panic makes you want to run! However, your life depends on getting a grip on your panic and courageously standing your ground, maintaining eye contact, and raising your arms to make yourself appear bigger and noisier to scare the big cat off.

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