TOP 10 STRESS RELIEVERS - WHAT ARE YOURS? 

1. Stop and smell the flowers – old advice for a new age
2. Remember to breathe – deeply, from the diaphragm, when under stress we hold our breath
3. Speaking of breath, rather than how many breaths you take each moment recount how many moments have taken your breath away–go back to one of them just for one moment
4. Bloom where you’re planted–something your grandmother told you. Sage advice. Think about it.
5. Listen to relaxing music
6. Go out for an ice cream, cup of green tea, a beer, a glass of wine with a dear friend? Your choice and relax.
7. Take a hot bath, hot shower, cold shower, swim in the lake, ocean, river…get in the water and immerse yourself
8. Smile–even if you’re the only one around. You deserve a smile today too.
9. Relive a moment of joy, total pleasure, a favorite vacation, time in your life when you were joy-filled and stress free. Go to that place with all of your senses–what does it look like, smell like, sound like, taste like, feel like? What does your sixth sense–your intuition–say about this time and place? What about your seventh sense. What is that you ask? Your sense of humor. If it’s a joyful time you must have laughed and had fun…remember that laughter that bubbled up from your heart–practice what it sounds like now
10. Stop, breathe and remember how wonderfully fabulous you are–smile wider!

Let’s start a dialogue – what do you do to relieve stress? Personally when I play with my grandson, helping him build towers and cities out of foamy blocks, I am not thinking of anything stressful. I am in the moment and perhaps a child myself again. I love movies of all kinds so going to a movie (not so much watching them on television) keeps the stresses at bay while I am transported.