Go ahead - take the pressure off.

      Have you ever felt like the person in the picture? We can all replace any or all of those items in her proverbial eight hands with whatever dozens of responsibilities and expectations we face each day. Not only does this cause stress on our bodies and minds but it also affects our ability to be fully present. Fully engaged has come to mean "fully stressed" in many cases. 
      We may feel like we only have the energy to "show up" for the moments that would otherwise get us the most "likes' on social media, the biggest profit, or the most praise. In other words, for everything in between, we just have to put our game face on and grind it out. 
     But life is not that. Life is being present for whatever venture it is that we are doing. Most notably - in hard conversations, in the moments of adversity and controversy, in moments when we are late for work and can't find our keys or stuck in yet another traffic jam. We have plenty of those moments and plenty of us are hard-wired to get wrapped up in the intensity of those aspects of life.  We need people that slow down and are willing to be present when in all of those moments that we'd rather "filter" or aren't deemed "Instagram-worthy" at all. Why? Because your health demands it - mind and body. That intensity that we get enveloped by manifests in our bodies and you know the list of things that follow: headaches, insomnia, rapid breathing, depression, decreased sexual drive, immune system not functioning at its best. 
     This ability to relax and be present in the day-to-day grind is powerful. Relaxation is not weakness, it is power. Relaxation does not have to mean lighting a candle in a quiet room  with no distractions and meditating. Those moments are few and far between, if we can find time for them at all. What we can do is bring this concept into your day and all of it's crazy, unpredictable responsibilities and see it as an opportunity to tap into staying calm in the chaos. Not expecting perfection, not requiring of yourself quadruple-shot-espresso kind of energy and enthusiasm but simply not speaking and acting from places of tension throughout your day. The ability to be relaxed and know that has power in it
So the next time you feel expectations and cortisol levels rising try this:
-relax your shoulders
-relax the muscles in your face
 -take some slow breaths from deep in your belly (pushing your stomach out as your exhale)
-smile
Your mind will clear, your heart rate will come down, your muscle tension will decrease and your confidence will power up - if you let it. You have everything you need to be your best in each moment. Instead of getting caught up in the intensity and experiencing the effects on your body that constantly being high-strung and "on"  can have, try channeling the power of relaxation. Let's over-ride the program in our minds that tells us if we take a moment off then we are weak. Relaxation is power. 

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