What to do when overwhelmed?

Whether you're overwhelmed by stress, emotion, expectations or emptiness, this simple strategy can cultivate an attitude of curiosity and understanding. This is also called "Beginner's Mind," Where experiences of overwhelm can be seen more for what can be learned through them rather than what should be avoided or suppressed. 

When approaching uncomfortable feelings with an invitation to learn rather avoidance, it can reduce the intensity, shorten the duration, and ease the overall tone of the experience. 

Try it a time or two....Rather, try it right now. 

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P R A C T I C E

Soften your face. Ease the tension in your brows, drop your jaw, feel the space in your mouth between the roof of your mouth and your tongue. 

Drop your shoulders. Experience the weight of the burden you're carrying moving off of your shoulders and the tension between your shoulder blades begin to ease.

Breathe. When overwhelmed we can experience a type of apnea of breath while awake. It's true. Ever notice yourself holding your breath while checking or responding to emails or texts? We not only need breath to survive, but we can only breathe for this exact moment in time. It forces us to become present with the here + now and not go down the spiral of worry or fear.

Just breathe.