Stress Less – Breathe More

Let’s focus, now—we were talking about relieving bad stress, right? Remember we were breathing? Good! Okay, so once you are at the point where you are filling your body with that pure positive energy, imagine the energy transforming every single cell in your body. Like an internal massage, your organs will be touched with a renewed energy. Try and really experience this sensation. Embellish it and color it. Realize your creative energy, and let it work through you.

This whole imagining or visualizing process may not come naturally to some of you. I understand, because I used to think life was pretty serious business myself. And, the more I thought about how serious it was, it seemed the more life kept throwing me serious stuff to prove I was right. I used to watch other people—laughing, having a good time, and think they were pretty frivolous. It wasn’t long before my judgment turned to envy. Then, finally, I started to think, “Maybe appearing a little silly is not such a bad thing.” The more I played with this thought, the more I found myself smiling. Sometimes I even made myself laugh out loud, because of something stupid I imagined myself doing. I don’t think the people who saw me smiling knew I was just having silly thoughts; they actually thought I was being friendly—can you imagine?! If you knew me back then, you would know that this would have been quite a stretch. The funny thing is, when people started smiling back, I actually did become pretty friendly.

During this whole change of attitude, I did continue breathing. No, I didn’t forget. I guess the point is, bad stuff is bound to happen. What I would lovingly like to recommend is for you to take a few deep breaths before you react. The situation you are faced with will become a whole lot more manageable if you allow your imagination to take you to a positive place. And just as if you were approaching an angry person on the street and you looked at them straight on with a genuine smile, look at your undesirable situation with the same positive energy. Nine times out of ten, that angry person will be much less angry, and that difficult situation you are facing will be much less daunting.