Recent studies have discovered that there is a strong link between experiencing constant stress and a variety of physical disorders, such as but not limited to nausea, high blood pressure, anxiety, strokes, depression, vomiting, heart attack, weak immune systems and the further development of many other serious illnesses. Life in the world today can be stressful, we understand, but stress isn’t something we are defenseless against.
There are many beneficial and useful techniques used to relieve, reduce and release stress, and the more you can find and integrate into your daily life, the healthier you’ll be able to become. People today successfully use Yoga, relaxation meditations, listening to peaceful music, physical exercise, massage, therapy, and listening to peaceful music to balance stress in their daily lives.
Another potentially wonderful way to relieve stress has been a practice in Japan for centuries and is known as Shiatsu; a form of therapy using the same principles as acupuncture, in which pressure is applied to certain points of the hand to relieve stress and open the body.
According to this technique, each finger is connected to specific emotions and feelings, and by applying pressure or massaging them, we can relieve stress and the associated health conditions.
The Thumb can help you deal with anxiety and worry.
The Index Finger is believed to help you overcome fears.
The Middle Finger helps control the feelings of anger and bitterness.
The Ring Finger helps to treat sadness, depression and melancholy.
The Little Finger supports optimism, boosts self-esteem and helps manage overall stress.
There are two main ways;
1. Hold each finger applying gentle pressure until you feel your pulse, and then move on to the next one. After going through all five fingers, apply gentle pressure on the center of your palm with the thumb of your opposite hand; for 30 seconds up to 1 minute. This method helps to relieve stress and to relieve the associated feelings, giving you a deep state of relaxation.
2. If you are working through a certain feeling, choose the associated finger and massage it thoroughly for 1 minute, focusing on the muscles of the finger, and also on the tender areas between the joints. Then hold the entire finger applying a gentle pressure for 1 more minute.
After you’ve completed this exercise, notice your emotional state. You may notice a bit of relief, your mind may have brought its attention to your body, and you may experience a sense of calm. Please enjoy using this technique to brighten your day, may love and stress relief be with you.
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See Also: Massage these stress points to immediately relax a fussy or crying baby
“When you love someone, the best thing you can offer is your presence. How can you love if you are not there?” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
In this digital age, smartphones are easily the most entertaining device we carry around with us on our day to day. We can use them to text, surf the web, play games, watch videos, and most importantly… to take selfies. Yet are our close relationships suffering when we choose to be on our phones rather than communicate directly with the one we’re standing next to?
Genuine listening and reflecting back what one has heard brings people together, and being together is what loving relationships are all about; whether it’s with a partner, parent, grandparent, sibling or friend.
Not listening to someone when they’re speaking can leave the other person feeling not cared about, and pretending to listen to them can be even worse.
Smartphones have many wonderful and useful abilities, but they can also be very distracting.
In much the same way that T.V. became a somewhat unhealthy addiction by keeping people holed up inside of their homes while sitting on the couch, smartphones can act as mental boxes in which people seem to be wearing horse blinders while reading their phones and tuning out the outside world.
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If we stop and consider the message we are sending to the human beings in front of us when we are busy on our phones, it may help us to take care of those we love when we’re with them.
Communication is key, so take a minute to put the phone down and listen to your loved ones when they talk to you. If you’re not sure if being on your phone bothers them, simply ask.
A healthy balance can always be achieved; one in which your need to check your phone is met and where also those closest to you feel loved and their needs have been met by being heard.
The eyes are windows to the soul, and when you meet eyes with your loved ones, the two of you are sure to connect.
Listen to what they have to say, and then repeat back what you heard in a gentle way. Reflecting content and feelings back to the speaker really helps them to ‘feel heard’, and is one of the sure ways to help your loved one feel loved by partaking in what is actually the foundation of all counseling related psychology.
Turn off the T.V. and put away the phones for a few minutes.
A smile is an act of love, and those around you will surely appreciate receiving one from you. Showing your interest in what your loved one has to say can really help to keep you both connected in a loving way.
You are Loved.
The great zen philosopher Alan Watts taught us that life is like a song, and the sole purpose of the song is to dance. He taught us that when we dance while listening to a song, we don’t dance with the goal of getting to the end of the music; we dance to enjoy it.
Yet many of us often don’t live this way. We rush through life, thinking that after we’ve attained a certain level of success, that then we will finally relax and be able to enjoy life. We compare our current lives to the ones we’d rather be living, and we set goals for more and more things that we need to achieve. The reality is, happiness can only exist right now, in this present moment, because whether it’s now or in the future, it will really only ever be this present moment when you choose to start enjoying your own happiness.
“If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you’ll spend your life completely wasting your time. You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living; that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing, which is stupid,” Alan Watts famously said in one of his live lectures.
“Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way,” Watts explains. And better yet, why not have a long life full of what you enjoy doing.
When we reach a certain age and are reflecting back on life, we may realize that we wasted too many of life’s precious moments striving to attain extra wealth and materialistic things, and that we worried about too much about things that never even ended up happening. While having symbols of success can serve our ego, when we come to know our own hearts a bit better, we realize that there are certain things in life that, on a deeper level, are much more important to us; the well-being of our loved ones, our health, and how much love we were able to share with others during our lifetimes.
We can’t take anything material with us after we leave this world. We can only take with us the life experiences that we’ve packed inside of our hearts. Knowing this deep truth, it’s important that we start recognizing it now and building our lives in ways that will truly please the love in our hearts, and to let go of the distracting ideas of acquiring more and more unneeded wealth and material goods.
“Existence is meant to be fun. It doesn’t go anywhere… it just is,” Alan Watts said.
Life serves as a way for us to enjoy ourselves and to live from our hearts, in the full abundance of love and happiness. Take time to enjoy yourself, spend time enjoying and appreciating the small things in life. They often truly are the big things.
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“The whole point of dancing is the dance… This is the real secret of life; to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now, and instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”
The purpose of life is not to work hard in order to enjoy it later. The purpose is to enjoy it now. Often our minds get so caught up trying to achieve something that we are unable to enjoy the happiness that life is offering us today. Take a second to stop, to breath, to look around you and to appreciate something beautiful. Your happiness exists now, not later.
“You live life by analogy, a journey with a pilgrimage to get to the end success, heaven, whatever. You missed the point, you were supposed to dance.”“I must survive means you are not playing.”
We all usually work to survive, but life is about much more than just surviving. We usually think we have to do many things as we’ve been culturally educated to do, but in reality, we need to find the best way to make ourselves happy and to help other people along the way. It can be easy to use the ‘sticking to the status quo’ as an excuse to live a boring life that does not fill your heart with passion. But when you look back later in life, you want to make sure that you actually lived YOUR life, not the prescribed life of working every day a job you dislike to only enjoy a few years of retirement when you’re very old. Dance with enjoyment every step of the way, as much as you can, as far as you can.
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“So many people of wealth understand much more about making and saving money than about using and enjoying it. They fail to live because they are always preparing to live.” Watts explains. “Your purpose was to dance until the end, but you were so focused on the end that you forgot to dance.”
What’s the point of preparing a delicious meal to eat for yourself if you never get the chance to eat it? Or what if the food spoils before you’ve taken the time to sit down and to taste your lovely meal? The only certainty in life is that life is impermanent; everything changes, and we cannot predict the future. Take the time now to do the things that are truly important; give your kind love to others, smile and live the life you’ve always dreamed. If you’re not happy where you’re at now, consider moving to a new town or a new country even where you feel loved, accepted, and excited about life. There’s too much available to enjoy to spend another second not enjoying your life.
“Enjoy the little things in life… one day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things.”
Enjoy letting life be easy and fun. You can do it, follow your heart, it knows the way.
Canadian Philosopher John de Ruiter is a master of transformation and an innovative voice for spiritual evolution, teaching that life’s meaning can be known and lived through “core-splitting honesty” and “living from the heart.” In his teens, John awakened to foundational levels of existence and a truly beautiful way of living from the heart. Ever since, his life and teaching have been informed by that direct knowing from the heart, a true inspiration that he encourages in others.
You can read more from John de Ruiter here.
You are Loved.
