In the past, like many, I felt stressed and anxious but got on with life, preferring to ride it out, feeling like there was no option. There were burnouts and difficult stages to navigate overtime.
Stress/anxiety/fear are all very depleting emotions which drain our energy and if unchecked will lead to real fatigue and depression. Cortisol and other stress hormones can manifest in physical illness or ‘dis-ease’ when constantly being released. Stress accounts for at least 80% of all physical ailments.
Conversely, appreciation, joy and love are all restorative emotions that not only feel better to us but are, in fact, good for us because the feel good hormones like DHEA are both rejuvenating and restorative to the body.
Feeling good not only ‘feels good’ but is healthy too!!! How cool is that?
The job I had along with many others is how to feel good….how can you change the way your emotions work?
You practice.
Bringing in a gratitude practice is the first step. Much is said about gratitude and journaling but research backs that gratitude is one of the most beneficial and healthy emotions for us and it’s the easiest to feel.
Writing down 5 things you already have every day first thing that you are truly grateful for and bring into your body feelings of deep humble gratitude, saying thank you for them from the bottom of your heart is powerful mind re-programming.
After a couple of weeks, additionally writing down 5 things that you don’t have but you want to bring into your life and be equally as grateful for those, is a great way to get into the mindset of achieving those new things and allowing them to be yours. (Allowing is how all achievement happens – Esther and Jerry Hicks (Abraham) ‘Ask and It is Given’).
Thinking is the start of all feelings and when we address what we are thinking about – we can go to the root cause of the issue and not just the symptom. Managing the physical body is just managing the symptoms.
Our thinking is always the root cause.
Change your thinking, change your outcomes.
You do really have a choice in how you feel.
In Psychology terms, we call this having an internal locus of control. You gradually bring more control back to your internal world, from your external world. There are many, many ways to do this but at a minimum, practising Gratitude and Appreciation plus bringing in a Meditation Practice is a massive step forwards.
Learning to practice self-regulation of our own thinking and emotions is rocket fuel for our mental and emotional wellbeing, plus having the benefit of conserving our own energy and therefore building up emotional resilience.
My mymonX is helping me do exactly this, managing my energy intelligently, enabling me to work on conserving energy and being more resilient. For 2023 this is a must have!
Even the small daily frustrations, irritations which linger in the mind, drain your energy significantly. When we intentionally process these quicker and go back to feelings of gratitude, love and appreciation…we are literally taking back control.
Here’s what I’ve been monitoring over the past two weeks with mymonX in addition to my regular early morning and intra day Gratitude practice and my meditation practices.
Using the wearable is enabling me to approach my wellbeing holistically – MIND, BODY AND EMOTION (SPIRIT):
1 - Monitoring Sleep
Good sleep hygiene is mandatory – no question. I love seeing the different stages of sleep, through light to deep and for how long I am there.
2 – Blood Pressure
Clear indication of stress or anxiety and other lifestyle factors, weight, alcohol, smoking. Mine is a little over normal consistently which I had no clue about – now I am aware and taking back control
3 – Steps
I attend 3 exercise classes a week and I power walk.
Because of my elevate Blood Pressure, I have upped my walking quite significantly – taking back control
4 – Glucose
My Blood sugar has dropped from over 7 to 6 and sometimes 5 in under 3 weeks since becoming aware of it– taking back control
5 – ECG
This is amazing – I love it. On demand I can take my own ECG – sooo cool.
I found it so reassuring to see my heart reading, especially since loosing my own sister from heart disease.
6 – HRV (Heart Rate Variability) – is a snapshot at your ECG Reading (tables available to compare against online). The higher the number the better (depending on age and other variables) because this means you are processing emotions more effectively between higher and lower, rather than constantly being elevated or down. When we have an ongoing harmonious number and can see it cycling up and down nicely rather than jaggedly and erratically, we are in the peak level of HRV.
The heart is then communicating really well with the brain – helping you focus and perform at your best.
Join me next time when I use the mymonX to measure my mediation practice!
By Nicola Adkin