People Who Have Mastered These 2 Tricks Can Literally Eliminate Stress In Their Life Within Seconds
These two simple tricks show how some people can calm their minds almost instantly.
ilya mondryk | Unsplash When your world crashes in and you can't manage the irritations, arguments, and aggravations for another minute, take a break. Withdrawing from everyday annoyances for just a few minutes can dramatically reduce the feeling of overload. By interrupting the patterns of disturbing interactions, thoughts, and worries, you benefit by improving brain function and relaxing the body.
Find a quiet place where you will be uninterrupted for five minutes. (Your retreat may have to be the bathroom, and that's okay!) Permit yourself to take a brief time out. Sit and relax. Try either or both of these effective mindful strategies to eliminate the stress in your life with your eyes closed if you're somewhere where that's practical and safe.
People who have mastered these 2 tricks can literally eliminate the stress in their lives within seconds:
1. The empty balloon trick
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Visualize an empty balloon. Now imagine filling the balloon by blowing all disruptive thoughts and feelings into it. Take your time, exhaling slowly into the balloon several times. Tie the balloon with all your concerns tightly contained and let it go.
Watch as it floats away into the atmosphere and off into the galaxy. See it disappear into space. Feel that all your negative energies are being released and re-forming into something else. Know that the debilitating thoughts are no longer needed and are now gone. Observe feelings in the body and thoughts in the mind without the burden of those old energies. Repeat as often as needed.
A study of mindfulness-based interventions for stress showed how mindful breathing helps to help to reduce reactivity to repetitive thoughts when combined with another meditation practice, such as progressive muscle relaxation or a loving-kindness meditation.
2. The sandy beach trick
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Imagine strolling along a sandy beach. In your mind's eye, observe massive ocean waves forming and crashing onto the shore, flowing toward your feet. The waves ebb back out into the huge expanse of sea and vanish. Another group of waves forms, and the cycle is repeated.
As the next waves come in, gather together all negative thoughts and emotions and dump them onto the waves. Watch as they get carried out and disappear into the vastness of the ocean. Trust that all hurtful thoughts have been absorbed and transformed by the ocean’s power. Open your eyes. You should feel a little lighter. Repeat this process several times.
Researchers investigating cognitive processes, thinking styles, and mindfulness examined the relationship between meditation and cognition. The results demonstrated that "long-term meditation is linked to improvements in attentional functions, working memory, and cognitive flexibility".
Visualizations work by actually allowing the mind to see the peace and calm you desire. The mind cannot independently decipher whether an experience is real or not. By visualizing the disposal of harmful thoughts, your experience feels authentic.
For those few moments, it is your truth. In this way, your mind is relieved and your brain signals the body to relax. Research on visualization and performance confirmed that the benefits are physiological and psychological. At the end of just a few minutes, you'll feel infinitely better.
Peggy Sealfon is a personal development coach who spends her time helping people overcome life's big and small challenges.
