I recently had the chance to interview Lauren E. Miller who wrote a very helpful blog on how we can have a significant impact on our stress levels with just a few minutes at a time. I enjoyed reading the book and loved the variety of tips presented. You can read my full review here. You can also enjoy what she has to say in the interview:
1. What impact does stress have on our
relationships and our health?
When
you’re stressed out you are mucking around in the primal brain, which activates
the fight, flight, and freeze mode. When
this happens you severely compromise your ability to access quick solution
based thinking, attention and flexibility located in the mid to back part of
the brain. Relationships require
flexibility and attention. If you are stressed out and worried about different
aspects of your life then the spontaneous expressions of love and playfulness,
which create levity and joy in relationships, is severely compromised. In terms of the impact of stress on our health,
a 20-year landmark study out of the University of London discovered that unmanaged
reactions to stress were more of a contributing factor to heart disease and
cancer than cigarette smoking and high cholesterol foods. Let's face it; worry, fear and doubt wreak
havoc on our emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing. I know this first hand as I was diagnosed
with advanced cancer one week prior to my final divorce court date.
2. What are some common sources of stress that
we can avoid?
Stress
is very unique to each individual. Each
of us carries around our own stress triggers: those circumstances and responses
from life that create a negative emotional flare-up. Stress has three main
fuels: fear, worry and doubt.
·
Fear around what will people think? How is this going to turn
out? Will I be able to handle this? Am I enough? Capable? Worthy? Each of these
wonderings gives the serpent of fear permission to have it’s way within our
thought life and the result is anxiety, trepidation and shrinking back from our
God given ability to feel the fear and go for it anyway.
·
The serpent of worry keeps us up at night fueling us with an
unhealthy wondering: “I need to know how this will turn out in order to feel
safe and confidant.”
·
Doubt has to do with your belief around your worth and value
in this world. The less self-worth or
belief in your God given gifts, talents and abilities the more vulnerable you
become to the serpent of doubt, strangling the confidence right out of you.
Awareness
and flexibility are key ingredients for more peace in life. Rather than trying to avoid the triggers, become
aware of them, look them straight in the eye and say, “I see you for what you
are and I choose to resurrect my God given natural state of being: peace and
confidence, easily and consistently.”
3. How can 5 minutes really
help in terms of stress relief?
It has to if it’s going to work in a high demand
life. Let's face it, when you are
stressed out the last thing you want to do is sit down and study stress
management. When you’re worried, fearful
or doubting, you need something quick that works. If you can’t apply a stress relief tip or
technique under 5 minutes you will probably lean into familiar reactive
behavior. When you implement a technique that instantly addresses the biology
and belief behind your stressed out reaction in the midst of a highly
emotionally charged situation, you have the ability to shift back to solution
based thinking on the spot and back to a place of flexibility and confidence:
“oh that’s right, I’ve been stressed like that before and moved through it
successfully so I am willing to believe I can do it again.”
4. Did you already have
stress relief tools that helped you deal with your stressful situation: going
through advanced cancer and divorce at the same time?
Yes. I had been
studying stress relief, anxiety management along with mind, body, soul inner
balance for 18 years prior to the cancer diagnosis and divorce that occurred in
2006. I looked at going through 2 of
life’s top stressors at the same time as my PhD training in suffering
(emotionally, physically and spiritually) which gave me the opportunity to
practice what I had been teaching and learning about the majority of my
life. The greatest teachers in this
world are those who are consistent students, who teach not from the high
palaces of the world but from down in the trenches. I believe God gave me the grace to move
through this experience so that I can connect to the hearts of humanity through
my own vulnerability thereby opening the doors to an authentic transfer of
skills, techniques and tips for inner faith, motivation, confidence, peace and
solution based thinking. I am never left empty handed of good material from my
own journey to share with the world. I
will often say this prayer of gratitude, “Thank you God for never leaving me
empty handed when it comes to having valuable material from my own journey that
can lighten up, inspire and empower the lives of those people you have
entrusted to my care.” No need to shrink back from the experience of
vulnerability in life for it creates instant heart to heart connection and
respect.
Want More from the Author? Check Out Lauren E Miller.com Making
Life Style Stress Solutions Easy for You.
Lauren E Miller is a world renowned stress relief expert, award winning international bestselling author/speaker and founder of Stress Solutions University.com receiving national recognition in Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, Family Circle, CNBC, MSNBC, Lifetime and Discovery along with the International Journal of Healing and Care. With 18 years of intensive extended education in the areas of anxiety relief and stress reduction, Lauren equips men and women worldwide with the skill-sets to step into personal excellence and inner peace. Lauren is a certified Master NLP Practitioner and holds her Advanced Training Certificate in EFT, two energy psychology modalities that lead to profound inner transformation. She has conquered two top life stressors at the same time: advanced cancer and divorce. Her 4th best-selling book: 5 Minutes to Stress Relief was released by Career Press/New Page Books Spring 2013.
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