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.

Manage Self-Sabotaging Thoughts to Empower a Life of Freedom

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

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.

The Antidote to Panic — Mindfully Reducing Fight or Flight Response

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress.

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.

Feel Hopeless? Keep Your Sanity By Doing One Real Thing Daily

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress, Handling Change.

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.” ~ Barack Obama

If you want to keep your sanity, make sure you do one real thing every day. That’s what the character Jethro Gibbs of NCIS and all great leaders teach us. When Gibbs needs to decompress and become grounded, he turns to woodworking in his basement. Think about it…Winston Churchill had his painting, J.F.K. went sailing with his family, Condoleezza Rice loves golfing, Maya Angelou danced, and Angela Merkel loves to hike. Do you see a pattern? Effective leaders make time to do something real, some sort of physical activity that makes them feel their bodies and minds connected within themselves and with the earth, to be grounded.

How to Live In Your Body — A Centering Practice Calms Emotional Chaos

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress, Life Skills, Mindfulness, Somatic Embodiment.

How to live in your body more fully, through a centering practice…

“If you are centered, you can move freely.” ~ Morihei Ueshiba

Do you really live in your body? Or are you so busy with life that you forget to connect with your senses and sensations? To cultivate more calm and presence, why not try a centering practice to reconnect with your body wisdom — to think, speak and act from your body, instead of reacting impulsively from mental chaos or confusion? Here’s what I mean…

Deepen Your Emotional Maturity & Trust Your Feelings When Under Stress

Written by Maria Connolly. Posted in Controlling Stress, Embodied Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Self-Leadership Skills.

“Who we are is how we lead. We can either lead from heart or we can lead from hurt.” ~ Brené Brown

Often people come to me to bounce off life experiences — to either feel validated or get a reality check. They’ll say something like, “Maria, does this seem right to you? Is it okay to feel what I’m feeling?” I really appreciate being in their life this way. And I love seeing how their mindfulness deepens and adds richness to their emotional maturity over time.

Being mindfully aware of how we feel in our emotions and in our body and then making intentional choices in response is how we manifest emotional maturity. We own our feelings and the path we choose, without complaining, blaming, or making excuses.

This process of emotional growth never ends, because you experience new situations and new feelings. And your current well-being plays a huge part — what you can handle one day may seem overwhelming when you’re overly tired, undernourished or dehydrated.

Category: Controlling Stress

Manage Self-Sabotaging Thoughts to Empower a Life of Freedom

The Antidote to Panic — Mindfully Reducing Fight or Flight Response

Feel Hopeless? Keep Your Sanity By Doing One Real Thing Daily

How to Live In Your Body — A Centering Practice Calms Emotional Chaos

Deepen Your Emotional Maturity & Trust Your Feelings When Under Stress

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