Tag Archives: Stress Relief

Distraction

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‘Ce que le bourgeois est convenu de nommer une petite distraction’ by Honoré Daumier (1846) via LACMA

Needing some distraction from stress. Like stress from negative stuff in the news or in my own life. For instance, I read today that the leader of North Korea might want to celebrate the anniversary of his nation by firing off a nuclear missile. And I have read before that he would like to be able to hit the US, and that his missiles may have the capability to hit the West Coast of the US. I live on the West Coast of the US. Besides the negative news, like many people, I have personal frustrations and worries. Some of my coping strategies, not necessarily in this order:

Reading online and books
Read comics in LA Times, like one of my faves, ‘Mutts’, or ‘Introvert Doodles’ on Facebook
Read horoscope
Binging on Netflix or Amazon videos
Watch DVDs from our home library or the public library
Go out in my small backyard garden, (except when I see woolly aphids, regular aphids, or spider mites on my plants)
Tate’s Gluten Free Ginger Zinger Cookies
Wine
Chocolate
Writing/blogging
Looking at nature, sky

How do you cope with stress? What would you add to my list?

Laughter

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“Laughter is to the soul what sunshine is to a flower.”-Peggy Toney Horton

Reading funny commentary has been a real stress reliever for me lately. Being able to laugh at something is truly healing. Laughter is one of great pleasures of life. Maybe comedians are truly healers.

“Laughter is a powerful weapon for it carries the light. To laugh is to defy the darkness.” -Isobelle Carmody

One Liner Wednesday and JustJotItJanuary.

Play and Creativity

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I have always liked coloring and playing with colors since I was a little girl. A way of bringing joy into our lives is doing things that we love. I recently used an Amazon gift card to buy myself two adult coloring books and a box of professional colored pencils. Amazon has a large selection of beautiful coloring books. You don’t have to be good at drawing because the pictures are already made. You get to color them however you chose. One of them I chose has Art Nouveau designs.

It is good to get into an activity that you enjoy and gets you into a relaxed, “flow” state. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who developed the concept and defines the flow state as ” an almost euphoric state of concentration and complete involvement. ” This is good for stress relief, and we all have to have some relaxation and happiness in our lives every day.

There are so many demands for our attention. It can feel like we are pretty scattered and pulled in all different directions. We need to be sure to schedule activities that connect us with ourselves and help focus our attention back to what speaks to us.

A creative activity that is enjoyable for you can add some happiness and relaxation to your day. It is a form of play. Do you make time in your day for some creative play? What do you do that gets you into the flow?