We’ve all felt it: STRESS. It’s both “good” and “bad.” When we feel stress, we spin with emotions like excitement, anxiety, and turmoil, and it’s hard to experience anything else! If we’re angry, we may not notice that it’s a beautiful day. If we’re worried and someone says “I love you,” we might say “thank you,” but be too distracted to fully receive the love they’re sending. And if we’re excited or desirous of something, we might be so focused on getting what we want, that we “tune out” the people who try to talk sense to us! Same goes for intuition. Although it may be “speaking” to us regularly, we may be so caught up in our stressful thoughts and feelings that we are unable to get the message. In today’s article, we’ll take a closer look at stress and ways to free ourself so we can receive intuitive guidance.
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Stress is like static
Like the sound of static while trying to tune in to a radio station, stress is the static that blocks our ability to clearly receive intuitive messages. When we allow thoughts of worry or fear to inundate our mind, and feelings of inadequacy or doubt to fill our bodies, we say to intuition, “I got this. I’m doing everything I can. I’m working on this situation by stressing. I don’t need your help. I’m busy.” Whether this is conscious or not doesn’t matter—this is what we emanate. Meanwhile, although we’ve blocked our ability to receive, intuition continues to provide information to us, should we choose to relax.
What is stress?
Stress is when we believe that something should be different than it is. Stress happens when we believe that we should be farther ahead, that we should be going faster or slower, that someone (or we) should be behaving differently than they (or we) are, that something shouldn’t be happening. We are stressed when we are not accepting ourself, others or Life, as it is.
Acceptance
When we completely accept ourself, others, and Life, we will seldom be stressed, except for dire circumstances like a natural disaster. Acceptance doesn’t mean that we become complacent or lazy. It doesn’t mean that we stop growing or making ourself and life more beautiful. It does, however, mean that we can choose to kindly accept ourself for who we are now, and also accept who we are becoming as we transform. No need for harsh, critical words to ourselves or others for where we are now, when we accept that we are doing our best each step of the way.
Are we ready to reduce stress and receive more guidance?
If we’re ready to let go of stress and start receiving more intuitive messages, we can begin by taking just three steps. Choose the ones that draw your attention the most. I started with the first three, then added in the other steps when I was ready.
Ten ways to reduce stress and become more open to intuition.
Step 1) Learn to relax.
Yes, relaxing is a choice and can be learned. Easier said than done, if we are judging that we’re not enough. Although stress may creep into our lives, a life lived without regular regard and support for the choice to relax and experience life without stress can lead to major health problems, unfulfilled dreams, misery, and escapism through addictive behaviors. Instead of stressing ourselves out, we can relax. How? Say this mantra every day, as often as you can remember. “I willingly release the need to hold stress in this body.” Say it, then wait a minute or so to feel what happens. Often, an area of the body will “release” and relax where it was previously holding stress and feeling tight. Sometimes, we don’t realize that we are holding stress, and we learn more about ourselves and our bodies as we continue saying this mantra as often as possible, enjoying the results. After a while, we may even be able to stop stress as we begin to feel the stress and tension as it begins building up in the body. This allows us to release the stress before it builds further.
Step 2) Choose to trust life and ourself
Seriously, we got this far. Why worry? It doesn’t fix anything. It just gives us a false sense of control. It makes us feel bad and it blocks our ability to receive intuitive guidance. Those are reasons enough to choose trust.
Step 3) Be grateful for life and ourself
Gratitude cures many maladies, including stress. There’s no time to focus on worry, doubt, hurt, or anger when we’re being grateful. And there’s oh-so-much to be grateful for! It can be helpful and inspiring to make a list. We might include things like breath, air, food, water, heat, breezes, beauty, health, or the ability to love, learn, read, etc. We can also restart fresh every morning before getting up, and every night before sleep, by naming at least five things we’re grateful for.
**** And here’s a bonus: by being internally grateful, we also radiate this gratitude onto everyone and everything in our world. As we begin to receive more intuitive messages and courageously act on them, we will also become beacons to others for stress-less, intuitive living.
Step 4) Eat healthfully. We can choose one way that we can do better and start today.
Step 5) Sleep enough and well. Give ourself the gift of learning what makes our body work best.
Step 6) Exercise in ways that we enjoy!
Step 7) Do a cleanse, detox and/or get “clean.”
Step 8) Commune with nature and touch the earth.
Step 9) Allow quiet time once or more daily to focus on breath and awareness, meditation/prayer.
Step 10) Do what is best, so we can live without regret.
That wraps up the ten steps that help me and my clients reduce stress and receive more intuitive guidance. Which steps will you implement and why? Let us know in the comments section below. And after a month or so, let us know what’s working, we’d love to hear from you!
Something to consider
Do we believe that we are worthy to live without stress? Could we be punishing ourselves by burning the candle at both ends? The more we can forgive ourselves for the past, the more worthy we will be to allow ourselves to receive intuitive guidance. Said differently, we will be ready to receive guidance when we believe we deserve it. If we’ve done things that we knew were wrong, judged ourself, and now believe that we aren’t worthy to be guided, we can learn to forgive ourself.
What say ye about this topic?
Please share your thoughts and feelings so we may grow in strength and willpower together …
Q & A
Q Why are we so stressed all the time?
A You’re not going to like this answer, but it’s because we choose to be. We could choose to experience less stress. Most everyone can think of at least one way that their life could be less stressful. The question is, are we choosing the more peaceful way? Or do we get something out of all our stress and overwhelm? Does it make us feel busy, needed, successful, or important? When we do things often, they become a habit. When we grow up in stress-filled households, stress becomes our “norm.” And since our bodies are not meant to live in chronic stress, after a while, they begin to break down and we may develop high blood pressure, adrenal fatigue, thyroid and hormone irregularities, and a host of other maladies. No matter how much stress we may have experienced in the past, it IS possible to change our perspective and experience a more peaceful life. We mustn’t wait until we have a heart attack. We can do something about this today!
Q What’s the quickest way to release stress?
A Haha! It’s different for everyone. But for most of my clients, adding more healthy joy to their life automatically reduces stress. Joy and playfulness provide balance to our system and we become more receptive.
I met with Angelique, and she is an “Angel on Earth” she visited with me and coached me and helped support me by reminding me that sometimes it s important to “just be”