Saving My Sanity

This past few weeks have been ones of total chaos and insanity! I have tried everything I could think of to gain a little ground to keep going on an even keel. I wanted a to maintain a tad bit of sanity in an otherwise insane environment! It suddenly dawned on me that I had all of the tools at my fingertips. I had been through enough Psychology classes and done enough studies in college to know that what I needed most was a few minutes of meditation now and again to keep the peace I so desperately needed!
In thinking on this, I often have a minute or two of quite time. Well, once in a while anyway! So what made me think I couldn't relax in that short amount of time? I had gotten caught up in the chaos at hand and just couldn't get off the merry-go-round! There was a way I could recollect my thoughts and bring myself back into a calm state of being with only a short time frame! I just hadn't thought hard enough and remembered all of the things I had learned in college!
1. If I sat in a place where I was alone, with nothing blocking me, nothing that could destract me from the goal at hand I could accomplish what I needed to do. I needed to sit without my legs crossed, outstretched, with my hands resting on my legs. As relaxed as possible.
2. I needed to become aware of my body, from my toes to my head. Wriggling my body starting from the tips of my toes, and progressing upwards towards my head. Moving each body part, gently, relaxingly.
3. Closing my eyes, breathing deeply and gently. Relaxing as I breath, feeling the air that I breath traveling into my body, to all the parts of my body, reaching deep down to my toes, my legs and feet, my fingertips and the ends of each hair on my head. Thinking that the air is a way of cleansing the tension from my body, taking away the stress, helping me to relax.
4. As the air goes out of my body, I think of all the stress going out with it, seeing it as a black shapeless image leaving my stressfree body. I take another deep breath in and relax.
I can do this as often as I need to throughout the day. Any spare moment that I have can be used to relieve the stress that I have allowed to build up from the demands that I have allowed to be put on me! I do this alot, I have a very hard time saying NO to anyone, including my family. I love them very much and just can't say no, even when I know that it is unhealthy, and irresponsible on my part and theirs. I've also found that certain types of music as well as listening to books on audio are a great form of relaxation for me. I can listen to a book and sew or quilt to my hearts content and get more done in a days time than I normally would. So look out library! I've found a new outlet for my bottled up stress! and heaven help the checkbook if I use up my stash!