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    27Jul, 2022
    Reducing Stress & Staying Balanced – Coherent Communication

    This week, the focus is on communication. Life experiences had shown many of us that the most sincere and effective form of communication is connected communication where it comes deeply from our heart. Sadly, the pace of life these days, causes our interactions to lack the heart warmth of connected communication.

    Connected or Coherent Communication implies genuine listening and speaking in a tone that reflects care and non-judgement. Practising this is effective for transforming much of the communication distortions we often experience daily. 

    It is important for our mind and emotions to be aligned with our heart’s care which sets the tone for true connection.

    As a exercise, try this Coherent CommunicationTM Technique from HeartMath

    1. Shift into a heart coherence state i.e. a heart-felt, caring attitude, before sharing and receiving information. 
      Suggestion: Set an intention to be respectful of each others’ views or situations.
    2. Listen for the essence of what is being said without prejudging or getting pulled into drama before the communication is complete.
    3. Speak from a genuine tone and consider what you are going to say and how it may impact others. 
      Suggestion: Remember to re-centre in your heart if you start to overreact or lose emotional composure.
    4. It is effective to reflect or mirror the essence of what you hear and be open to refinement to confirm mutual understanding. A rushed communication often overlooks this step.

    Practise this “Coherent Communication” technique anytime you are communicating – to prepare before phone calls, meetings and giving or receiving instructions. Shift back to your heart if you become reactive, aren’t listening, or are interrupting.

    We all know how it feels to be on the downside of communications that are not heart connected. Use this to inspire deeper connections in your communications and interactions going forward.

    20Jul, 2022
    Reducing Stress & Staying Balanced – Attitude

    Many of us have old attitudes and perceptions that we want to change for the better. We recognize these attitudes include being judgemental, getting edgy with others, being impatient, and often unforgiving and self-critical about others and ourselves.

    If we replace these undesirable attitudes with more positive ones, it will minimize the accumulation of stress. 

    This week, I would like to introduce you to the “ATTITUDE BREATHINGTM” technique.

    Once again, we can reach into our HEART to alert us to all those unpleasant old habits and patterns that don’t support our personal well-being. Use this technique when your heart intuition alerts you with uneasiness.

    Practise this exercise:

    1. Recognize the feelings or attitude you want to change and identify a positive replacement attitude. Example: If you are over-reactive and easily frustrated with people, the replacement might be increased patience and kindness.
    2. Focus your attention in the area of your heart. Now, imagine your breath is flowing in and out of your heart or chest area, breathing a little slower and deeper than usual. Find a rhythm that you are comfortable with.
    3. As you continue this heart-focused breathing, practice increasing the feeling of your new replacement attitude. If you can’t find a replacement attitude, just breathe a feeling of calm, neutral, or the beauty of nature through your heart or chest area. This accumulates the feelings that lift our attitudes and perceptions.
    4. Practise maintaining your new feelings and perceptions as you move through your day-to-day interactions to strengthen them.

    Use this “Attitude Breathing” as often as needed to integrate your new feelings so that they become your new attitude. In enhancing it further, use “Attitude Breathing” to inject positive feelings whenever you experience uplifting feelings such as kindness, gratitude, compassion, etc., as the practices will make them return more often.

    With a little practice of “Attitude Breathing”, you will surprise yourself with increased inspiration and heart power to remove many unwanted feelings, emotions, and mindset, and ensure you enhance your energy, resilience, and your ability to feel good.

    13Jul, 2022
    Reducing Stress & Staying Balanced – Anchoring

    Central to many things in our life is our HEART. With good heart qualities and positive renewing emotions, we can shift our personal life and the life of those around us, into one filled with love, patience, compassion, and kindness. Accessing those heart qualities inside us takes practice and will get easier over time.

    This will also help you feel more at ease, less anxious, and more resilient as you navigate life with more peace, balance, and less drama.

    Let me introduce you to a simple concept called “ANCHORING“.

    Reflect on those occasions where you were inspired and motivated by new information, videos, tools & techniques that helped you manage your well-being, anger, frustration, or other energy-zapping habits. Remember how speedily you embraced it. Many times, this initial inspiration and excitement fade away very speedily as well. It is soon forgotten, and you start experimenting with new toolkits again.

    Inspiration is magical as it drives us quickly into action – you were inspired enough, and your intention was strong enough to get you started. As you practice it initially, you gained new insights and perspectives. Unfortunately, old habits come back to slowly move you away from your new discovery.

    This is where ANCHORING is important. It is beneficial for you to anchor or hook into those specific tools or exercises that you find helpful in eliminating and preventing stress while supporting your health, well-being, and clear thinking.

    Important steps to remember:

    1. Step into inspiration and insights soon after experiencing them.
    2. Then revisit those insights throughout the day and breathe in the feelings and memories that are associated with your intention.
    3. Daily, practise this with deep intention. This will really help you anchor it in.
    4. Appreciate any positive benefits from your practice of anchoring the insight. Enhance that spirit of commitment with regular reinforcement.
    Inspiration is a spirit-filled moment, As we move forward with the first nudge of inspiration, we can beat the human tendency to waste that intuitive gift from our heart. Sometimes it is many months before another inspiration returns. Anchoring it will ensure it does not slip away after the first pass, especially if it works for you!
    1Jul, 2022
    Managing your Stress

    Stress affects us all in a number of ways, physically, emotionally, mentally, and in varying intensities too. Stress, when short-lived, is positive as it makes us more alert and helps us perform better in certain situations. However, excessive stress can lead to illnesses such as heart disease and mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.

    We all experience stress but when it is affecting our life, health, and wellbeing, it is important to tackle it as soon as possible. All sorts of situations can cause stress. 

     

    Stress is a natural reaction to difficult situations in life, such as work, money matters and relationships with friends, partners, children, or other family members. It is therefore important that we manage our stress and keep it at a healthy level to prevent long-term damage to our bodies and minds.

    When you are feeling stressed, try to take these steps:

    • Realise when it is causing you a problem. You need to make the connection between feeling tired or ill, with the pressures you are faced with. Do not ignore physical warnings such as tense muscles, over-tiredness, headaches, or migraines.
    • Identify the causes. Try to identify the underlying causes, and then sort the possible reasons for your stress into those with a practical solution, those that will get better on their own, and those that you can’t do anything about. Now, let go of those in the second and third groups as there is no point in worrying about things that will sort themselves out or those things that you can’t change.
    • Review your lifestyle. Ask yourself whether you are taking on too much? Are there things you can delegate? Can you do some of them at a more leisurely pace? Try to prioritise things that you are trying to achieve or organise your life so that you are not attempting to complete everything at the same time.
    • Eat healthily. There is growing evidence that the food we consume affects our mood. Feelings of well-being can be enhanced with a healthy diet with adequate amounts of brain nutrients such as essential vitamins and minerals, as well as water.
    • Exercise. Physical exercise can be very effective in relieving stress. Get out more often for fresh air and some light exercise such as walking.
    • Take Time-Out. Take time to relax as it is better than being forced to take it later through ill-health.
    • Get more restful sleep. Sleeping problems are common when you are suffering from stress. Try to get more sleep. For more information on sleep, read this article on Resetting your Insomnia / Sleep Disorder
    • Don’t be too hard on yourself. Try to keep things in perspective. We have all had our bad days, so don’t be too hard on yourself.
    • Speak to someone. If you feel that you are struggling to manage on your own, it is okay to ask for professional help. Try to get help as soon as possible or contact me at health@quahassociates.com