First Things… FIRST

Are Your Teeth-Clenched and Your Shoulders Tight?

Next time you sit down at your computer, pick up your smartphone or tablet, take notice of how you feel?  Are you happy to see the latest news or are you feeling overwhelmed?  “I can’t do this!”  “I don’t understand this!”  “What is wrong with me?”

If you have any of those questions, it is possible that you do actually feel TRAPPED, just like this blog’s title.  Feeling TRAPPED creates many reactions in your body. FIGHT or FLIGHT, right?

FIGHT or FLIGHTRelaxed senior woman doing some breathing exercises

When it is “Fight” you want to beat up whatever is causing you to feel trapped, (which can be expensive if you throw your cell phone around) or “Flight” you try and escape. When you try to escape,  chances are you cannot learn or do what it was you wanted in the first place. Which may be as simple as trying to look at your grandchild’s prom photo. In either case, you are the one that loses.

Try Something New

I am not a doctor. But I have noticed that when I am feeling trapped myself that everything in my body feels tight.  And when everything feels tight, it is hard for me to think clearly. One thing I have learned a lot about in my life is the importance of breathing.  When we get that Trapped feeling we tend to hold our breath.  Right now, try clenching your first.  When you look down at that fist all tight, check your breathing.  Most of us will be holding our breath.  If you are holding your breath, it is difficult to think straight and solve problems.

Here is a great article * from Dr. Anthony Komaroff, from Harvard Medical School that is worth reading, about stress and breathing. Some people have preconceived ideas about meditation and yoga but each of these practices showed me how often I failed to breathe. When I was often in a situation that was stressful or sad, I was holding my breath. It was surprised to learn that when I caught myself holding my breath, once I started to breathe again I could start working to solve the problem at hand.

Give it a Whirl

breathing_in_and_outIt takes just a few minutes, this website here actually has a nice instructional way of explaining * the timing of doing it, and it is well worth it.  I find  I start thinking clearly, act more calmly.  When I have a method to do this to stop and count my breaths it really helps. Otherwise, I haven’t really stopped and refocused with a clear head after all!

 

*I have no affiliation with these organizations or websites, I just find them easy to read and understand and that is always worth sharing. I also want to thank them for the use of their photos.