When stressed, triggered, overwhelmed, or frustrated, we believe we go from 0-100, when likely we’ve been at 40 or 70 all along.
Simple things happen throughout the day, not raising any alarms, and a low-to-medium state of angst becomes normalized.
Open and relax your palm for a moment.
Now start making a fist slowly.
A relaxed fist will feel easy to hold, and there’s little distance left before clenching our fist altogether.
But just before fully clenching your fist, open and relax your palm again. You’ll feel a light cramping of the fingers and inside of your palm.
The stress of even a lightly-held fist requires strain and activation, and we don’t notice it until we simply let our palm open and relax.
The environment you create from morning to night directly affects how you show up – where you are on the 0-100 scale at any point.
You are the environment within which you live.
How do you shape that internal environment?
- How do you start your morning?
- How do you switch contexts?
- How do you take a break?
- How do you get back to 0?
You may not have the option to be at 0, but you can choose to be at 20 by creating a ritual that relaxes the fist you may be holding within yourself. Something that lets your body, mind, heart, and spirit unwind.
Open and relax your palm again.
Now make a tight fist.
The distance your fingers need to travel is much longer and more flexible than if you were already clenching your fingers halfway.
You simply have more room to maneuver, to shift, to think clearly if your environment supports you to be less than 50 most of the time.
No one goes from 0-100. Where are you right now?
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