Friday, March 5, 2010

Economical Stress-Relief

As I recall, my physical body and remaining brain took months to relax after the rigid catatonia of autumn 2008. The term "stress relief" wasn't even amusing, much less helpful until the flinching stopped.

Eventually (1) my daughter began getting the treatments she so desperately needed, and (2) I noticed that so far, I wasn't homeless. Plus my survival strategy had included stocking up on a whole lot of various dried beans. So I wasn't going to starve either. And I discovered I had an inborn ability to hunker down.

But it took several more months to admit that the remaining high stress was still bad for my health. I was too work-driven to take time out for renewing daily walks, but I would sporadically treat myself to a 30-minutes meditation time (more or less) between the end of my work day and beginning of Brian Williams. Not that I was able to stick to a regular schedule. My free-style meditation times would come in three or four-day chunks, then be superseded by business networking or grandkids' visits. I now know that an erratic relaxation schedule is far better than none. (At the time, of course, I beat up on myself for not sticking to A Plan.)

I've now added another thrifty stress-relief remedy to my repertoire and have vowed to do one or more of the three every day. So far, so good. They are:
  • A walk outdoors. Even 15 minutes lifts my spirits and turns my focus from anxious enterprise to bird-watching.
  • Meditation time. I don't follow a formal method, often simply doing a self-guided meditation to a place in nature, real or imagined.
  • A long Epsom salts bath. My personal rule is 20 minutes or longer. (I warm up the water after a while.) The package says to use 2 cups per tubful, but 1 to 1 1/2 seems to work fine. Making a gentle effort to stop thinking, I try to get to a floatie-zone mentally as my hands float in the water.

If I weren't still budget-watching, I would add an occasional massage and a Reiki treatment. (Hey, even a seasoned Reiki Master appreciates being a receiver sometimes!)

Happy relaxing ~

Linda