News from Colorado Association of Psychotherapists

De-Stress Kit for the Changing Times
from Doc Childre, founder of HeartMath®

This information applies to anyone who is experiencing extra stress due to the cascading effects of the financial meltdown, natural disasters, the ongoing wars, or for any reason through these rapidly changing times.

The financial meltdown marks a significant turn of the spiral in the global changes taking place. Global consciousness is being called on to shift from the pursuit of self-gain at the expense of others-to a more balanced system of care for the rights and needs of the people. Systems and societies have veered far from the heart and the core values of cooperation, fairness and care for each other and the whole. For many people, hope is fading; yet many feel that things are being turned upside down to become right-side up.

Unfortunately, this realignment is causing increased stress and tremendous economic fallout that affects us all. When a crisis occurs, there are different emotional stages that people go through: shock, anger, blame, despair, grief and more. This process is painful, yet it helps to clear out the shock-overload in our mind, emotions and nervous system. After this phase, it's easier for the heart to reopen. Then, with some self-effort, people can start to rebuild their coping capacity as they gain more clarity and confidence to move forward. The process of recovery won't be the same for everyone because of different situations and differences in individual makeup. But be encouraged that you can create a psychological turnaround along the way and increase your ability to cope effectively-especially if you work through this with others.

When we are experiencing increased stress, it's often hard to hear some of the points that can most effectively help us. For this reason, I will repeat a few different themes in this booklet that I feel could be the most useful.

Here are some practices to help cope with stress and reset our system to move forward in these changing times.

1. Communicate and interact with others.
One of the most important things that you can do is to communicate your feelings to someone or to a community of people sharing the same experience. Then engage in caring about others and offering emotional support. Some people may have a resistance to being around others; but in times of crisis and stress, I would urge you to reconsider it. Often it can prevent the acute stress overload that puts your health at risk.

2. Practice appreciation and gratitude.
A very helpful exercise for reducing the stress load and restoring emotional balance is to commit some time each day to sending genuine feelings of appreciation to someone or something-be it children, pets, family members or whatever you can feel sincere appreciation towards. It's important that the appreciation is genuine (heartfelt and not just mind thoughts), as this activates the body's biochemical systems that help to diminish stress and stabilize your psyche.

3. Decrease drama.
Here is another effective way to help stop the energy drain and reduce the anxiety: Practice not feeding the tendency towards "drama" during this critical time. As we constantly spin thoughts of blame, anger and "doom and gloom" projections about the future, this increases drama which always makes "tough enough" worse. When you catch your inner dialogue looping with excessive worry or fearful projections, or when in conversations with others that constantly dramatize the downside of things, gently tell yourself: "That's not helping to change something that's already done; it can only make it worse." Then, make a genuine attempt to realign your thoughts, feelings and conversations with ideas that support your needs and action plans.

4. Manage your reactions to the news.
In this time of economic and global instability, it's important not to compound our stress by projecting worst-case scenarios as we watch the news. That's why it's so important to practice listening to the news from the state of neutral. Being neutral means not reacting too fast to each story, not jumping to conclusions without all the information, and managing the temptation to emote and obsess over the negative downsides of each issue discussed.

5. Sleep.
Sleep is especially important during times of increased stress. However, many people can't sleep well because of increased stress. More are turning to prescription medications than ever before, but it's worth checking out alternative methods prior to that, in case something simple helps. You have to decide what you need based on the seriousness of your sleep problem. Breathing the attitude of calm and relaxation for five minutes or so before bed has helped many people get more restful sleep.

6. Exercise.
it's convenient, you'll find exercising very beneficial through these challenging times. Often when experiencing anxiety and emotional pain, we don't have the initiative to exercise. . Exercise won't take away your reasons for getting stressed, but it strengthens your capacity to manage your stress with less energy loss. You don't have to do a total workout to help clear your thinking and stabilize your emotions.

7. Engage with your family.
Have open communication within your family about the stress that each of you is going through. It's important not to bottle up your feelings and repress the stress, as this only multiplies it. Make agreements to give more allowance and latitude to each other, or if someone is snappy or irritable at times not to take it as personally. Especially explain this to your children, because they usually can't understand the depth of what the adults are experiencing. Be as positive around children as you can and reassure them that although times are tough now, we can work things out in time. Just keep communicating with your family, even if it's hard at times. It does help.

8. Don't blame yourself.
Don't blame yourself for the crisis, as this only adds stress without any benefit in return. Try not to keep replaying in your mind all the things you could have done to prevent your situation. We have all been caught off guard by unexpected events and changes, so be easy on you. Moving forward is easier without carrying baggage and guilt from what you could have or should have done.

Don't underestimate the inner strength and emotional management capacity that you have, once you put genuine heart into your commitments. A little practice is a small price to pay for accessing the connection to the caretaker within. Realize that thousands are in similar situations during these changing times. Together we can all move through this and help create a world that is more fair and balanced for "we the people".

This article was edited by Suzy Walz and reprinted with permission from Doc Childre. To read the entire "De-stress Kit", follow this link.