coping with stress

Stress is no good. We all know that. No one loves feeling stressed.

Some of us don't know how to live without stress--but we don't love stress.

There are tons of studies out there on how damaging stress is to the body and the mind. It can be just so destructive. Necessary, but destructive.

Part of the problem is that these days, we subject ourselves to much more stress than people used to.

I once asked my grandmother what life was like in the 1950's. I wanted the day to day, ins and outs type of information. She said that her family would fill up on two baked potatoes for dinner--she, her parents, and her sister would each take just one half of a potato for dinner and feel full! And they would all go to bed by 8 pm because it's not like there was anything worth staying up for. They would all sleep from 8 to 6.

Crazy, right?

I was thinking about it, and I realized that past generations, pre-TV generations, probably all got way more sleep than we do, just because it would have been a pain to stay up in the dark. And their lifestyles were so much more active. They could physically work out their emotions during the physical labors of the day, then sleep through the night. These days I feel it is so hard to get enough sleep. We aren't active enough to make our bodies truly tired come bedtime, there's entertainment at the touch of a button, and lighting at night is so cheap, why not stay up? But we pay the price in stress and fatigue.

I think about my nana's single half of a baked potato for dinner all the time. For lunch she would have two slices of pre-GMO Wonderbread, with one slice of dried beef in between. Can you imagine! No wonder they were so skinny.

For a time last summer or the summer before, I switched over to only grass fed beef, and I was astounded at how much less I had to eat to feel full. I was truly shocked. I do suppose that our modern day "food" is not as filling or nutritious as it used to be.

Our bodies are stressed from lack of sleep, they're stressed from lack of nutrients. That's just the basic stress of living in the modern world. Then you add in the stress from money, from relationships, from children and parenting, from employment or unemployment... that's a lot of stress.

The role of nutrition in stress management cannot be understated. Eat better! You know what to do!

And emotional healing is also a must. Take time for self care, breathe through your emotions, and start letting things go so you can experience stillness where there is turbulence. It is possible.

Start today. Sat nam!