3 Effective Ways for Staying Calm and Grounded

 

Hey there, Mary Sheila here from BioYouth Labs. 

 

Today I’m in my garden pruning back my thornless Blackberry vines. This is something I do at the end of every season. 

 

I cut them all the way down to the ground so that next year it's all brand new growth. This action is such a metaphor for our own lives; what can we cut back, what can we change, do differently, and what can we follow through and finish so that we create less stress in our own lives. 

 

The seasons change and so can we. This time of year is a real opportunity for growth, for acknowledging what's important to us and how we want to lead with into the next season of our life. 

 

I want to share with you some ways to approach this opportunity. 

 

This is a time of year for follow through. This is something that I learned from my Ayurveda teacher and it’s the idea that this is the season when things are going more dormant and a time of completion. What do we need to finish that's on our plate? 

 

Can we follow through by saying “I'm done, I'm giving this back to you, this project is no longer serving me?” Is it finishing something and then being complete with it, or is it, maybe that we don't need to finish it and we are complete with where we're at, wherever that is. 

 

Following through doesn't have to mean. “Oh my gosh, I have to stay up the next two weeks until 3:00 in the morning to finish this project.” It’s more about acknowledging what we can finish to completion or intend to finish and continue with, a conscious choice we can make. 

 

The next thing I want to say when it comes to this season of completion and tapping into what we want to change and what we want to be different, is to make sure we're not leaving out nourishment. My advice here is to make sure you start your day with a good, nourishing breakfast. You don't always know what's going to happen for the rest of the day, or how everything's going to unfold. 

 

A good breakfast builds that good foundation, giving you the strength to navigate more unknowns with nourishment. Breakfast provides that grounding cord of blood sugar balance and stability.

 

The next tip I want to share with you is to remind you to take time for yourself throughout the day to reconnect, ground, and breathe. A lot of us are still working from home, with no space between the different hats we wear. Take a few breaths in between the different tasks that you have, like between work and eating, between eating and parenting, between parenting and caregiving, between driving your car and stepping out to do something. 

 

It could be a 5 minute or 2 minute breathing break, it could be 3 breaths, it could be a five, ten, or fifteen minute walk. Just breaking it up to be able to reconnect to ourselves and remembering that space of, “here I am”, is so key because that's how we tap into our resilience and stay connected to ourselves. We can be busy, but we can be busy with space in between.

The next and last tip I want to give you is that the word “NO” is a complete sentence.

 

It is OK to say NO!  “No, thank you.”

 

Feeling comfortable with “No thank you, I'm not going to make the 12 dozen cookies like I usually do because it's not going to serve me.” Or,  “No thank you. I don't think I could make it tonight or next week because it just doesn't feel right.”

 

It’s okay to say no when your yes is just out of obligation, or annoyance. 

 

We could also suggest changing it up, if that feels better to our own personal growth. “Hey, instead of meeting at the bar or bakery, maybe we could meet for a walk, or we could meet at the picnic table and I'll bring some hot tea?” 

 

You can change it up to make it work for you, and know that “NO”  is a complete sentence. 

 

Whenever dessert was offered, my mom used to always say, “Oh no, thank you. I've had enough sugar in my lifetime.” Nobody ever argued with her or pressured her into eating the sugar. 

 

I have another client who has learned to say, “No thank you. I love that, but I don't love how it makes me feel.”

 

 Again, it's something people can't argue with. Saying NO is respecting yourself enough to know and it's allowing other people to respect your choices. 

 

To wrap it up, this is the season of follow through. I'm following through with my beautiful thornless blackberries and cutting them to the ground to support them in their growth for next year. Where can I follow through in my own life?

 

 I'm going to wake up each day and nourish myself because I don't know what the day is going to hold and I'm going to build my strong foundation each and every day.

 

I’m going to take breaks with my breath, with my feet moving about if I need to, maybe sometimes just stepping outside. 

 

And finally, I know that it's OK for me to stay connected to my goals, and that means sometimes I have to say NO, and that NO is a complete sentence.

 

I hope that's helpful. Thank you so much for reading this and being a part of the community. If you have any other tips or things that support you in staying connected to yourself, I would love to hear them and I'm sure others will too. Have a wonderful day. I'll see you soon.