7 Ways You Can Conquer Stress

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Posted on April 22, 2019 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Stewing in Your Juices

I’m normally quite a chilled person. Nothing phases me. Until…

I take on too much work
I get into my ‘yes’ mode and make arrangements and dates that clog my diary
I volunteer my services willy-nilly
My housework starts to mount
My ‘to do’ list grows around the garden (especially as I’m trying to do the whole sustainability thing)
I have awesome ideas but have to implement them (adding to the head clutter and time/schedule disaster)

I’m sure you can probably relate to most of the above. Then what happens is that chilled out person who thought they could take on the world in a heart beat starts to panic.

The Signs of a Meltdown

The walls of my diary close in and anxiety starts to rear its ugly head.

Panic attacks
Sweaty palms
Emotional outbursts (usually involving tears)
Temper whirlwinds
Depression
Feeling defeated and impotent
Losing it over the smallest things

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We can experience the above on a smaller or larger scale, depending on the level of anxiety and what looms ahead.

Okay, so what can be done?

Anxiety Be Gone!

Well, I’m trying to give myself a well-deserved pep talk here ’cause I suddenly realized the other day that I was slipping off the cliff of the ‘work’ I had piled up.

Amid my darkest moment, I came to the conclusion that it was going to be done whether I fretted about it or not. And what couldn’t be done was just not going to be done. It’s really quite simple.

So, on a practical level, try to:

Get what’s in your head down onto paper (this works a treat!)
Now you can make a priority list
Schedule your time wisely and you’ll find you can fit a lot into your day
Don’t stress about how much you’ve got to do by getting tangled up in the future tasks — concentrate on the task at hand
Read no. 4 again.
Yip…read no. 4 and 5 again!
As Yoda said, ‘Do or do not’ — in this context, do what you must do and stop whinging about it. Have you ever stopped to think how much time we waste worrying or bitching about what we have to do instead of doing it?

Example: I have a mountain of clothes to pack away. Every morning I get up and look at this mountain and feel despair. It affects me greatly. I don’t like a messy bedroom — that’s where I’m supposed to go to relax, not stare at a heap of rags.

What not to do: Whine about the job. Look at the heap in deflated impotence. Complain about how much other stuff you have to do. Sit and have a cup of coffee and catch up on your Facebook feed. Or, in my case, write a blog about it, whilst — out of the corner of my eye — I can see into my bedroom and the washing pile is staring happily back at me.

Solution: Do it. A 5 minute rant could have you half way done by now. You can have that cuppa AND pack the washing away (what a novel idea!).

There is actually plenty of time in a day when you use it wisely. The above example is small fish compared to some of the whoppers we have to face in life and prepare for. However, inevitably, we are remarkable creatures with an ability to squeeze a lot into our lives when our minds are prepared well enough.

Let’s go back to no. 4, 5 and 6 of the tips list. This tip has helped me exponentially over the past few days. I’m a Virgo and a control freak. When my schedule starts mounting up and I feel like I’m losing control — it’s a blood bath! I have the tendency of looking ahead at what I have to do tomorrow, the next day and so on into infinity. This makes matters worse.

All we have to concentrate on is what lays before us today. You can deal with tomorrow, well, tomorrow! If it’s really a pickle, then set aside 10-15 minutes of today to work out a game-plan for tomorrow so you can at least get some sleep.

If there is ever something to remember about anxiety it’s this: one step at a time! You’re amazing and you’ll do it all, only if you tackle what’s in front of you now. As my dear mother used to say, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’.

And now for something completely different…a little humour to liven up your stress monster:

Cherie Roe Dirksen is a self-empowerment author and multi-media artist from South Africa. To date, she has published 3 self-help and motivational books and brings out weekly inspirational blogs at her site www.cherieroedirksen.com.

Get stuck into finding your passion, purpose and joy by downloading some of those books gratis when you click HERE. Her ambition is to help you to connect with your innate gift of creativity and living the life you came here to experience by taking responsibility for your actions and becoming the co-creator of your reality. You can also follow Cherie on Facebook (The Art of Empowerment).

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3 Valuable Understandings to Help You Kick Fear Addiction

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Creeping in Through the Cracks

Fear is a mighty strong emotion. It could be said to be the driving force behind our collective impotence.

Why does it have so much force in our lives?

It get’s flung at us constantly via the media — TV, movies, adverts, the general public, etc.

And when we’re not ‘out in the world’ overhearing all the crime statistics and getting fed bad news from people on the street, we rush home to fall into the escapism of our daily Facebook feed because there’s nothing there to be fearful of, right?

Wrong! We get a slipstream of everything that’s messed up in the world (barring, of course, those sweet little kitty meme’s and quirky quote feeds — although even those are starting to take their toll on social media addicts).

One has even come to fear the next ‘Be Like Bob’ post or cradle in terror at the thought of another cat in a pot photo. All jokes aside…

Getting Down and Dirty

We need to take responsibility for what we give our attention to and for how we allow, yes allow, the media to manipulate our emotions and pervade the airwaves with such repugnant negativity.

We are the ones giving credence to and creating our own fears — we can literally asphyxiate ourselves with things to fret or find fear about.

Every time you give into fear you feed negativity and give it more power. Fear is a choice, like it or not.

Related article: How To Deal With Your Fear of the Unknown

The Different Types of Fear

There are, of course, many different types of fear but they are all grounded in the act of giving your power away.

When we come up against fear, we are presented with a chance to be aware, brave and face up to it. Get to the nitty-gritty and uncover the truth about why we are so afraid or uncomfortable (i.e. the fear of heights/snakes/natural disasters/terrorism/clowns/Uncle Sam/Aunt Betty/’fill in the blank’).

When we mine ourselves for the ‘why’s’ and ‘what-have-you’s’ of our own fears, we can face them and move through them.

If there is nothing we can do but send our love, compassion, empathy or prayers to a fearful situation, then do that! Stop giving rise to a tidal wave of negative emotions.

Either do something about your fear (fight or flight), make an effort to get to the bottom of why you feel a certain way (be it through meditation, inner-examination, therapy, etc) or stop thinking about it — turn your thoughts around!

What you think about you bring about — your attention, good or bad — always feeds the probability giving it more gusto. So stop gusting away at those fearful ruminations!

Incapacitating Fear

In order to work fear back into the light, we need to find its polar opposite — LOVE. When you inject love into fear it evaporates — it has no stronghold in the presence of love.

But how does one start projecting love when ones knees are knocking?

Well, let’s address what is called heart-centered living — I’m sure you’ve all probably heard that word by now. People are throwing it about a lot these days (including me — guilty as charged!). As airy-fairy and lace-clad as heart-centered living may seem — there is a nugget of gold in the finding!

Related article: How to Use Your Heart Wisdom

Quickening the Heart

When you work through your heart, based primarily upon how you are feeling about something (as opposed to working through your mind and how you think about something), you are guided by a more truthful resonance of picking up subtle nuances from your surroundings rather than being directed by what reason dictates.

So even though we are in need of our minds and pensiveness, we have been dominated by left-brain thinking for centuries. A shift is occurring, not to totally disregard our thoughts but to channel through the heart and then process through the mind. In other words, not just to go straight to the head and bypass our hearts or how we are feeling intuitively.

Rationality can be useful but it has, in some cases, left our instinctive abilities to wither in its stoic presence. Sometimes our ‘logic’ has actually hindered our bliss. This could be because ‘society dictates otherwise’ or ‘the norm is to be…’ — well, be careful of whose ‘norm’ you are conceding to.

It’s that age old conflict between science and spirituality (left-brain versus right-brain) — the solution to which is using both in balance.

“Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.” — Dorothy Thompson

3 Key factors to transmute fear are remembering to:

1. Spend Your Emotions Wisely

Don’t buy into fear. Think of all the things you have feared in the past — did any of those worries come true? If yes, did you survive it? I take it you did if you are reading this. The energy or vibration of fear draws that which you worry about into your life. Have you ever been with someone who is not afraid of dogs but you are. When a dog comes running at you both, it goes for you, my sweaty-palmed friend, not your companion! Why? Animals, as you probably know, can sense fear — so can the universe and the universe is impartial. It acquiesces to what it thinks you desire via your frequency output. If your emotions are dialed into fear, expect life to become frightening. The only thing you should fear is fear itself (thanks, President Roosevelt!).

2. Know That Love Conquers All

Get used to being tuned into your feelings and steering them to safer shores. When you are in fear, inject some love into your aura by thinking of someone you love, your favorite pet, the infectious chuckle of your child or grandchild or a blissful memory. Change your vibration! This is how you get to expand on the feeling of love in the face of fear. Show fear that you have too much love in your heart. Fear is a mental construct in the absence of love. Trust your instincts and obey your heart. Send love and compassion to all those who suffer or who are in situations you fear to be in. Even send love to the perpetrators of heinous crimes. Why? Because you won’t solve hate by chucking more venom at a situation. When you can send love to the victims and perpetrators alike, you are diffusing the energy and making a space for healing and learning to occur. The perpetrators of violent crimes will not ‘get better’ with negativity, hateful thoughts or jail sentences (that is not to say that they shouldn’t have to ‘pay’ for their crimes — we all have to face the music for our actions) but, in sending love and compassion, there may be a glimmer of hope that they will have a true awakening to spirit and show remorse or have a change of heart.

3. Take Control

Short, sweet and to the point. If you want to be self-empowered then the first things you need are awareness and the ability to take responsibility for your actions. These two fundamental principles are gateways for you to realize your inherent potential. You are a co-creator, take responsibility for that and take control from this point onwards.

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News

Let’s Talk About Green Stuff — It May Not Be What You Think!

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Green is the New Black

When I say ‘let’s talk about the green stuff?’ what does your mind spring to?

money? Show me the bunce?
marijuana? Totally far out dude…
sustainable living — doing your reduced carbon footprint kind-of-thang, all cool and hippy like? Or
jealousy? The green-eyed, envy monster awaiting in each of us like Mr Hyde or our own personal Hulk.

Well, cast aside all the above notions because I want to talk about pure green.

Going for Gold

I remember an old British TV comedy series called Blackadder. One character, Lord Percy, decides to try his hand at alchemy (you know, making gold out of base metal). He manages to fashion something he called ‘pure green’. Lord Blackadder — who was broke and rather counting on Percy’s success — was utterly disappointed when, after being told by Percy that he was triumphant in his pursuit, his eyes fell on the green stone and not a nugget of gold.

My written reenactment has not done the actual comedy moment any good, I fear, but the point I’m trying to make is we do have something in our world that is better than gold. And, as Lord Percy discovered inadvertently, it is green.

The colour of nature.

Why is Green So Important?

Why do you feel more relaxed in a park? Or on top of a mountain? Or lying under a tree on a bed of green grass? Why does the sight of green rolling hills peek every poet and artists interest? Why are we drawn to green? Would it be as effective if it was red? Doubt it. Nature knows what she’s doing and here’s why:

The colour green is associated with:

Balance

It is the center colour of the spectrum (look up a rainbow and see for yourself!) — being in perfect balance even there! It is associated with abundance (lack of famine), water and everything plentiful on a primitive level.

The colour psychologically effects us all.

It is also a hue that is connected to:

positivity,
harmony,
refreshment,
universal love (it is the colour of our heart chakra),
rest and restoration,
reassurance and
peace.

Say NO to the Brain Fog!

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Most of us are subject to sitting behind a computer screen or desk getting very little to no time in nature. Electronic devices and the addiction to social media is clogging our airwaves (both physically and mentally).

This leads to brain fog, stress, anxiety and a host of other things.

We are being disconnecting from our very source — nature and the balance, peace and harmony it brings.

Related article: 8 Natural Stress Relievers For More Peace & Calm

There is light at the end of the tunnel though because just spending 15 minutes out in nature will make a difference to your mind, body and soul. Obviously, the more time you spend in nature the better it is.

Try it and see for yourself. If you’re feeling stressed out, go sit under a tree or take a walk in a park — or even just stare out at some treetops (best done outdoors though for the fresh air effect). Focus your gaze upon the green you see, try to put your attention on how you feel when you take it all in. Can you feel a drop in tension within your body?

The green we find in nature is meant to be our own personal therapy — go out and use it wisely whenever you see a gap!

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for CLN (Conscious Life News) – click here and see why over 800k readers tune in daily!

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Why Problems are Really Potentials

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

The Human Condition

How often do we face troubling, irksome, unfortunate, gob-smacking, gut-wrenching, negative situations? A lot? Sometimes?

Is it something you fear coming up against? Do you find yourself worrying about potential ‘what if’s’?

Whatever the answer — we all experience the downs of life as well as the ups. It’s natural and all part of being human. You can have it all together and be the most inimitable spiritual master sitting atop a Tibetan mountain and you will still face problematic encounters.

Problems don’t change, it’s how you deal with or perceive them that needs the changing.

Be Your Own Alchemist

What if I told you that you just might enjoy coming up against a wall in the future when you know what it represents and how to deal with it?

What we do with our potential problems is what I want to speak about today. You can turn any situation into gold if you know how. What am I talking about?

How Much Treasure Are You Sitting On — Or Is It Just a Bunch of Rotten Bananas?

There is always treasure to be found in your trash. Turning your situation around is just as simple as taking an over-ripe banana and making a banana loaf with it.

Savvy?

When life throws you lemons, make Margaritas! When we mine what we initially deem as a negative situation, we could potentially find a myriad of gemstones in the experience. The key is to have the right attitude and miners helmet!

We are forever expanding and learning — that’s just how our soul operates — when we get thrown curve balls they are really opportunities for expansion.

Yeah, your first reaction to something “caca” is most likely to feel down in the dumps but look back at your past — how many times did that awful thing turn out to be your greatest blessing?

Have you ever stopped to peek into your past experiences to see how things turned out? It’s a great exercise as past experience often shows us future solutions.

If, every time something bad happens to you, you keep reiterating that your life is going to the dogs, then look at what a powerful manifestor you are!

Huh?

If you’re the kind of person who can’t ever find a positive aspect in a negative situation and all you can do is whine, complain and moan about how rotten your life is then you are creating more of that. Kudos!

But wait, what about trying a different approach next time a truck load of sour grapes is being dumped on your doorstep? After all, vinegar is very useful for cleaning toilets, did you know?

How to Turn Situations to Your Advantage

Okay, let’s get short, sweet and to the point of this blog:

Don’t fear the future — If you find yourself slipping into worry about what might happen to you and how you’ll deal with it, just affirm: ‘I am a powerful co-creator and I can bend anything to accommodate my joy’.
All Things Will Pass — This is a powerful realization as it works with both good and bad situations. This is not to say you must fear all joyful moments as they will soon be gone — it is just a reminder that there is an ebb and flow to life and that when you are in the moment, it might feel like things will never change. Thing is, the only constant you can rely on is change. So, remind yourself that if you are having a bad day, tomorrows dawn might be a rebirth on the horizon. And if you are experiencing joy in the moment, you are projecting more bliss into your future — so nothing to worry about there either.
Mine the Matter — You’ve got to dig deep into the situation (whatever it is) and scour over all possibilities to find the diamond. Life doesn’t throw you anything you (a) can’t handle and (b) don’t need in order to grow. And you’re just going to love the muchness that you have once you take the lesson and experience the gratification of growth!
Future Projection — No matter how bogged down and gloomy you may feel about things today, try to visualize how you want things to be. Close your eyes and play a movie in your mind (in the region of your third eye, in between your brows). Choose how you want this situation to play out. Keep watching the DVD until you smile and really feel this outcome ingraining on your path. Draw on that when you feel yourself slipping into dread or doubt. Keep affirming your ideal outcome. You are an alchemist, get used to it!

Program a New Reality, Neo

A really fun thing to do is to keep a diary of all the events that you have turned around through your own personal alchemy. When you look back on the pages, you’ll start to see the pattern of your power emerging.

You are sitting on an immense and phenomenal ability — the power of mind, heart and emotional connection (read HERE for more about this supreme trinity and how to use it) that turns your matrix into the womb of creation that it was always supposed to be (did you know that the word ‘matrix’ means ‘womb’ in Latin?).

You create in your own personal matrix. So, don’t fear the future and what it may bring — scream out, ‘bring it on!’ and know that you can figuratively turn any base metal into gold because problems are only disguised potentials.

It’s your job to uncover the illusion and to stop buying into victimization.

Take a Lesson from the Magpie

To hammer the point home — there is an inspirational, innovative and enchanting gallery/shop where I live called Magpie.

They ‘upcycle’ trash into the most beautiful art concentrating on jaw-dropping, spectacular chandeliers.

What a perfect metaphor for us — isn’t it about time we turned our trash into art? Our lives could be sheer masterpieces of glued together strife made triumphant!

Original article written by CHERIE ROE DIRKSEN for CONSCIOUS LIFE NEWS — CLICK HERE and see why over 350 000 readers love their site!

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6 Essential Steps to Manage Stress

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

The Joy of Moving, Not!

“It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.” — Hans Selye

I’ve just recently moved 300km from the outskirts of the Mother City to the rolling hills of the Karoo countryside.

Yes, it was a stressy move (especially as we had a cat who sulked at us for weeks for transporting her in a car) but once we had unpacked the mountain of boxes and had everything in its right place — it was time to relax. Or was it?

Stress Building Exercises

I have never felt more stressed out in my life!

Firstly, let me say that we had rented previously and this was our first home we’d actually bought. Now for all the home-owners out there you’ll know what I mean when I say that buying your own place — as exciting and gratifying as it is — comes with a never-ending ‘to-do’ list.

My partner and I have been working day and night, week day and weekend.

So in amongst the drilling, painting, erecting, digging, measuring, assembling, cleaning and various other forms of stress-building activities, I started getting some pretty clear signals — via my body — that I was starting to take my anxiety levels to new heights.

My symptoms went a little like this:

My shoulders ached (‘carrying’ too much — in this case it was anxiety)
My head hurt (too much on my mind — ‘what to do next’)
I kept on scraping and scratching my fingers and hands (perhaps a message to stop doing and rest?)
My legs started cramping and finally, I walked into an old and rusty steel rod that took a bit of my ankle out (another sign from the universe to stop and rest?!)
My emotions were running high and tears were at the ready too often (overwhelm)

Another thing weighing heavily on me was the fact that I had stopped working (as in ‘career’ working) for over 2 months and bills needed paying.

HELP!

I was drowning.

We’ve all been down this road before in some form or another. The thing is, what to do when we feel this sense of overwhelm and helplessness creep over us?

Tipping Point

When I had reached my tipping point (when I was actually getting ‘grounded’ by my physical aches and strains) I started looking at where I was going wrong. Oh boy, was I straying way off path!

Here is what I learnt:

Frequent Breaks — This is such a no-brainer but I actually need to remind myself to take 10 minutes out every now and again. I am the kind of person who starts a job and wants to see it done NOW. That’s actually just self-defeating and stupid. When you do that you usually rush the job and don’t do it properly. So, remember to take little breaks to become more productive in the long run and keep your sanity and body in check.
Hydrate and Nourish — Again, sometimes we are so ‘in the zone’ that we forget to take time out to eat and drink (or at least I do) which can cause a sudden drop in your blood-sugar levels. When you run yourself into the ground like this it isn’t easy to pick yourself up again. I get very ratty and irritable and the mood just spirals downwards. Before it gets to this stage make a point of drinking lots of water and eating healthy snacks.
Schedule — This step probably helped me the most. I sat down one morning and it took me just 10 minutes to figure out a game plan. I did a quick list of what I wanted to achieve work-wise and with house/garden chores for every day of the week. I have been sticking to this and my shoulder pain and head-aches have gone away. I don’t feel overly anxious all the time and now I feel I have an achievable order in which to get the jobs done.
Importance List — Sometimes we just need to organize ourselves better as in with the above ‘schedule’ step. But to go a step further, try to — on a weekly basis (or whatever suits you) — sort out the order of importance of each task. When you start knocking ‘em down you’ll feel great!
Joy — This comes to me in the form of just sitting/walking in nature and being. You can also call this step ‘meditation’. You’ve got to connect with your core daily in order to have a balanced existence. I went totally off the rails when I moved, feeling so overwhelmed with everything that needed to be done, that I forgot this vital step for weeks! Now I make a point of doing this as often as I possibly can every day.
Sleep — I am going to bed a lot earlier because I’m pretty much pooped every night (in a good, satisfied way though) but I am sleeping like a log. When I wake up in the morning I am refreshed and I start all over again with a spring in my step. I can’t express enough the importance of a good night’s sleep. Make it happen! Drink chamomile or Valerian tea in the evening, wind down by listening to soothing music before bed, take a warm bath in lavender essential oil — do what you must to get that proper downtime that your body deserves.

These small and totally doable exercises helped me to take the edge off my stress levels, I hope they help you too.

What do you do to de-stress? Share your pearls of wisdom in the comment box below 🙂

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News

Cherie Roe Dirksen

Empowerment. Art. Music.

Tag Archives: how to deal with anxiety

7 Ways You Can Conquer Stress

Featured

3 Valuable Understandings to Help You Kick Fear Addiction

1. Spend Your Emotions Wisely

2. Know That Love Conquers All

3. Take Control

Let’s Talk About Green Stuff — It May Not Be What You Think!

Why Problems are Really Potentials

6 Essential Steps to Manage Stress

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1. Spend Your Emotions Wisely

2. Know That Love Conquers All

3. Take Control

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