Helping You Love Yourself into Success and Less Stress! CPR for Stress Relief by Ilenya Marrin, DSS HOME FREE NEWSLETTER PRODUCTS SERVICES ABOUT ME TESTIMONIALS RESOURCES CONTACT Does stress have you in a head lock? Are you frazzled, frustrated, or too wired to enjoy your life? If you're running from one activity to another, multi-tasking and still feeling overwhelmed, it's likely that you are experiencing physical, emotional and mental stress. For a radical, potentially life-saving shift to stress relief, use my formula. It isn't as fast as when paramedics use chest compressions for a heart attack victim, but when you use this approach, you should get definitely noticeable results. CPR in this case stands for Create, Play and Rest -- for both speedy and long term stress management. This article will look at my personal philosophy related to creating, playing and resting as antidotes to stress. Future articles will go into specific how-to suggestions. Create Too often, we think of creativity as solely the realm of artists, writers, musicians, inventors, and so forth. Creativity is really about bringing into reality something of value with your mind, your hands or your heart. To enjoy balance and ease (instead of conflict and stress) you need to create, to produce something of value in your life. Your energy needs a positive and productive outlet. The energy of life needs to flow through you for balance and harmony. The following questions can help you to check whether you need to renew your creative energy in life: Are you stressed because you are in a job that doesn't feel worthwhile, doing work that has lost its meaning? If so, you may have lost the experience of creating in your work. You probably spend about 40 hours a week doing work for pay, so it's important to feel you are contributing (creating value) in your work. Is there another area of your life in which you are able to create, to produce value? Parents, you may be creating great value with loving but firm guidance for your children. Home do-it-yourselfers, you may be creating beauty and usefulness with your home improvements. How are you using your skills, talents and gifts? When you are creating, whether at work or having a heartfelt conversation supporting a friend or your child, your energy is flowing in the moment. You feel good about that activity and your contribution. When you are actively engaged in the present, right now, there is no underlying conflict and you are balanced (not stressed out.) Play Yes, play can also be creative. Many of you who are stressed out at work find ways to "play" by bringing forward your creative talents with crafts, cooking, building, gardening, volunteer work. For you, that is part of playing. True play keeps the energy of your life "flowing upward." It lifts your spirits. It gives you a boost into well-being. The laughter that often accompanies play is healing in and of itself. If an activity helps to completely shift your focus away from what stresses you, and if it is engaging and fun, it can qualify as play. This could include sports or nature walks, or self-nurturing such as hot relaxing baths. If your activity feels like a "should," an obligation or duty, it is probably not play and will end up adding to your feelings of stress. Ask yourself what you can do that you will truly enjoy. What is fun and relaxing that will give your mind and emotions a break from your stress-filled day? What activity engages you so fully that you forget about everything else for a while? For some, relaxing with friends is play. For others, quiet time alone is more regenerating and fun. Discover what play really means to you and build it into your routine. Rest To find real stress relief, you need time to rest and regenerate on all levels -- physically, mentally and emotionally. Rest allows your life energy to renew itself naturally. Your physical system works faithfully to release unneeded chemicals and to restore balance while you rest. Your emotional and mental systems get a break from the stressed out "overload" status. Are you getting enough sleep? If you are yawning through the day, falling asleep in meetings, falling asleep in front of the television, or (horrors!) in your moving car, you need more shut-eye time. Are you getting rest at key points during the day? Do you take a lunch break at work? Do you take fifteen minute breaks or one minute stretch breaks from monotonous tasks? Do you ever take a short nap in the afternoon? Find ways to build restorative rest into your life more consistently. Natural Cycle of Energy for Balance and Harmony Creating, Playing and Resting are part of a natural cycle of life energy that helps you to live with balance and harmony instead of conflict and stress. As you create, you give energy with meaning and value into your world. As you play, you uplift with your energy. As you rest, your energy is balanced and restored on many levels. This kind of balance is a natural, holistic approach to stress relief. Which aspect of CPR for Stress Relief calls to you today? Commit to exploring one or more of these approaches to bringing your life into balance and harmony. Each time you succeed, even a little bit, the overwhelming stress will back off and you'll feel more empowered to manage remaining stress successfully. Back to Welcome Page and List of Recent Articles CPR for Stress Relief

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