💖 Winter Wellness Workshops - Friday 8th November - Near Bicester 💖

Spring Self-Care for Stress Management

Do you like to give your home a Spring clean? To make it feel fresh and energising?

Have you ever considered doing a kind of Spring clean of your thoughts?

Your thoughts are powerful things that can have a positive or negative impact on both your physical and mental health.

Negative thoughts can be a huge source of stress and contribute to low energy, overwhelm, anxiety and many other symptoms.

It’s not all bad news though, your thoughts can also be used as a tool for self-care and for stress management.

Let’s explore the power of thought and look at how we can tap into the beauty of Spring to change our thoughts, reduce stress, boost energy levels and generally feel good.

The power of thought

The thoughts you think impact your body at a deep cellular level and they can either support your wellness or promote dis-ease in your body leading to a variety of health symptoms including low energy, feelings of overwhelm, anxiety and digestive issues, to name just a few.

I promise I haven't just made this up.

Imagine that you're about to do a parachute jump, sit an important exam or step out onto a stage and speak to an audience of 1,000 people. Can you sense the changes that might be taking place inside of you in those moments?

Have you ever experienced faster breathing, increased perspiration, palpitations or an upset stomach in the moments just before an important event in your life?

Those are just a few of the very real, very physical changes that occur as a result of the mere thought of whatever it was you might've been about to do, and they are all examples of the type of physical manifestations created by the stress response.

These changes in your body during stressful times are a vital and intelligent protective mechanism that your body can trigger without you having to give any conscious thought to the process.

This is a very good thing if you’re facing a wild animal who wants you to become his dinner. Not so good if the response is ‘always on’ because your thoughts are on overdrive.

Whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list, frustrated by your kids taking an age to get ready for school, annoyed by the driver who just cut you up or worrying about ‘what if…’, you're creating an internal stress response. The number of different sources of stress you encounter in any given day can be mind-boggling. And this is before you even add the larger of life’s stresses into the mix.

Prolonged exposure to stress means that those physiological changes don’t get switched off and this can start to have a negative impact on your health in many different ways.

Using your thoughts for good

Let’s not go down the doom and gloom route and start worrying about all the worrying we’ve been doing. That just creates even more stress!

Instead, actively make time in your day to cultivate positive thoughts and create pockets of joy, gratitude and lightness so you get a brief time-out from all of that stress.

Although there’s no magic wand that can make everything perfect in an instant, choosing to refocus on the positive can help you to feel more energised, more motivated and more like yourself again.

where can you focus more on yourself and your personal needs?
how can you bring lightness and joy into your day?
what are the little things you can feel grateful for?

If you need a little inspiration to help you get started, mother nature has your back.

Immersing yourself in the beauty of nature can be a fabulous way to shift to a more positive outlook. Right now as we move into Spring there is so much to love. The trees are covered in blossom, the birds seem to be singing that bit louder and there are signs of new life all around.

All of this can make it so much easier to create little pockets of joy in your day.

Noticing nature - create a daily ritual

Take a walk in nature and notice five things you see, four things you hear, three things you smell, two things you touch, and one thing you taste.

When you return home take out your journal and write about these sensory experiences and how they made you feel.

This simple practice encourages mindfulness and appreciation for the beauty of spring, a natural mood booster. By focusing on the senses, it helps you to reconnect with the present moment and as a result reduces the impact of stress.

When a nature walk becomes a daily ritual you can start to notice the subtle changes from day to day. Buds become blossom and leaves unfurl creating a bright green landscape so welcome after the muted colours of Winter.

As the days go by you'll anticipate your daily walk and look forward to noticing the changes around you. This will increase the positive impact of your walk even more.

A daily nature walk not only boosts your mood but it helps you to get moving too.

Your body will thank you for it and you'll notice that you have more energy so that you can do more of what you love and create more success.