When I'm stressed, time speeds up and so do I. I talk faster and my words run together. I rush around trying to do more than one thing at a time. In a hurry, I forget important things and make mistakes that take away more precious time, increasing my stress. My heart beats faster. I breathe faster. I move faster and more violently. I anger more quickly. I react without thinking. Stress hormones overwhelm my body, damaging each organ and system, and my body tries to communicate with me though pain, nausea, headaches, exhaustion, cravings. If I stay in a state of stress too long, my poor body burns out and I get sick.
In the beginning of my healing journey, I read a lot of books that encouraged me to change what I thought, to change my words and thoughts from negative to positive. Instead of thinking, "I'm so stressed out," I tried to think, "I am at peace."
Just thinking that I was at peace wasn't enough, but it only took seconds of my too-limited time. At least I was trying.
I believe that everything is energy, that words are energy, and that every word I say and think has the power to change my energy and the energy I attract to myself.
I believe my actions are even more powerful than my words and thoughts.
Thus, to manage stress, or anxiety, I needed a mantra that I could do as well as think.
Anxiety made me either rush or freeze. Between those two extremes, I reminded myself to move slowly.
Anxiety made me speak and move more violently, thus I reminded myself to speak and move gently.
Anxiety made me act without thinking, so I reminded myself to act with intention, to make every word and movement deliberate.
The opposite of anxious is calm.
I am most powerful when I am slow, gentle, intentional, and calm. This energy nourishes me and my world. This energy sustains me. It keeps me grounded and centered.
Slow. Gentle. Intentional. Calm.
This is where I choose to thrive.