Alleviating Overwhelm. Moving away from the impacts of our 'full' lives.

"That that you resist, will persist"

Overwhelm can get you stuck. But here's the good news.... You can easily 'unstick' yourself...

Is your life full? Are there a myriad of things you need to give attention to? Your family, your partner, your friends, what to eat for dinner, work, getting better, moving your body, eating well, doing your tax, finding your zen, cleaning out the garage.... Apologies, I don’t mean to remind you of all the things that may be flying through your head of ‘should’s, ought’s must’s, have to’s... But does this all sound familiar to you? Do you get overwhelmed easily?

As you can see and perhaps are experiencing, it’s easy to do. Our beautiful minds are the cognitive engines that stack information of things to ‘get done’ and for some of us, there can be way too many things in there. So, it’s important to stop for a moment and take stock. They say that a large portion of what you think about today, you will think about tomorrow and the day after and the day after.... But as we know, repeating to ourselves the ‘to do’s and then checking in with this thing called ‘time’ we can get overwhelmed easily. And that’s before even getting anything done - because we’re ‘stuck’ in our heads.

So, a fundamental tool we need to be blessed with is sifting, compartmentalising and then letting go. For most of us it’s the letting go and trusting that can create the discomfort. So, here’s your golden tool for today...

APPLY 1: Grab a piece of paper and write down in point form all the things that you’ve been running through your head with the ‘to do’s’. This process is about dumping the multitude of thoughts and creating the space to let go and be back in the flow of life. Do this process with the intention that once you’ve written it on the paper, you can let it go. But more so with the intention and knowing that you are in exactly the right place at the right time in life. And life will only give you the lessons or as I call them, expansion points that you are ready to receive.

Consider this as your perspective. Up until now, you’ve managed life quite well. You’ve had food, shelter, generated an income, or at least your guardians have supported you. You’ve not had to fight for basic survival. So in essence, you my friend are a huge success. With this perspective in the forefront of your thinking, choose to let go of all that you ‘believe’ you have to get done. Let go and trust that all that is required will fall into place just as it is supposed to. With grace and ease being you wings. Remember, your mind will create false stories, which in turn will create an emotional response base on fears and the physical, physiological result of that will be overwhelm.

And what do we do when we’re overwhelmed? We stop. We ‘feel’ heavy and bogged down. It’s all too much. However, just look at your perspective on the chain of events. All the pressures that are there are created by you. The fears are created by you. The overwhelm is created by you and finally, the stuck is yours too. I know, not necessarily what you wish to hear when you’re ‘in it’. But here’s a cool tool to get you out of it.

APPLY 2: You’ve dumped the ‘to do’s on that list. Now take the perspective that all will fall into place. You can only do what you can do and you cannot do any more than that.

1. Take a moment to be still, close your eyes. Remember a time when you felt peaceful, present and life’s events were simply easy.

2. Decide how that makes you feel. Energised, happy, organised, present, empowered. And decide where in your body you may feel that. How does it feel? Relaxed in the shoulders, peaceful in your heart, stillness in your tummy.

3. Really sit with this sensation in your body. Own it. Be it.

4. Sit here for as long as you can, then return to the points that you wrote down in part 1 and see how different you feel when you see what’s before you. The intention is that you become detached of the ‘to do’s’ and go about chipping away at what is to be completed in a relaxed state. All the while holding “I can only do what I can do and I’m doing it”.

5. Now you are in a more collected, peaceful space, choose just one thing from your list that you are going to focus on. Just one, and no more.

"Be where you are, not where you need to 'get' to."

You’ll no longer be stuck in overwhelm, you’ll just be living, breathing and moving along just the way you should be. And remember, "that that you resist, will persist"...