Is Your Life Spinning Out of Control? Three sure-fire strategies for getting control back and gaining peace of mind.
Author: Teri Thomas
We all go through periods in our lives when we feel like it is
spinning out of control and we don’t know what to do about it.
It may be because of an unexpected tragedy that rocks us to our
core and causes us to re-evaluate what is most important to us.
It could be because we are going through a more positive, yet
stressful, experience by choice, like planning a wedding or
moving to a new and exciting place. Or it could just be because
we have a hard time saying no and have too many commitments.
Whatever the case may be, we can all relate to the experience of
feeling out of control. But how do we get that control back? The
following are three sure-fire strategies that you can apply
today to begin to get a sense of control and feel some peace of
mind.
Take a few minutes to just stop and breathe. This is perhaps the
most powerful way of gaining control in the moment that you can
do. I even suggest that you sandwich your day with this
practice. Before you get out of bed in the morning take just
five minutes to breathe. Just focus on your breath. This
technique is very calming. You are going to be tempted to start
thinking about all you have to do that day or whatever worries
are on your mind, but go back to your breath. You can think
later, but for now, just breathe. A calm mind will be much more
efficient than one that is hopping from thought to thought. Do
it again before you go to sleep. Are you having trouble
sleeping? This can help you calm your mind so you can get some
rest and be more efficient the next day. Use this technique
throughout the day whenever you start to feel that “pumped up”
feeling. You will immediately begin to feel more in control and
at peace.
Prioritize. You can prioritize for the day, for the week, for
your life, or even for just the next moment. Sometimes that is
all we can handle. Any level or depth of prioritizing will help
you gain control. Prioritizing means choice. You choose what is
most important to you at any given time. You always have the
power to choose. Even when events happen to you that are out of
your control, you can choose how you respond to them. In that
moment you prioritize your thoughts and feelings. You may say
that you can’t control your feelings, and this is true to a
degree. You may not be able to control your initial reaction,
but you can choose how you will think about a situation, which
will eventually lead to how you feel about it. As you begin to
feel as though you are gaining control, you can then begin to
prioritize for the long term. The more you think about and
decide what is most important to you, the more you will operate
from a place of conscious choice. As you do this, you will have
more feelings of control and peace.
Focus on doing one thing at a time. I know in this day and age
of multi-tasking we think we can’t get enough done if we are not
doing more than one thing at a time. But is this really true?
Have you ever noticed that the things we do with only half our
attention, we often have to do over? Generally, when we give our
tasks the undivided attention they truly require, we can get
more done more efficiently. Just try this for a day and see what
you can get accomplished.
What are you willing to begin today? Commit to at least one
strategy, notice the effects, and you will want to incorporate
all three. Applying these strategies during stressful times will
help you gain a sense of control in your life. If you also begin
to practice them in your daily life any time, you will begin to
discover what it feels like to be at peace. Isn’t this what most
of us are ultimately striving for anyway? I guess the key is to
stop striving and breathe, prioritize, and focus. I guarantee
that over time, the accumulated effects of these changes will
dramatically change your quality of life and give you peace.
About the Author
Teri Thomas, Spiritual Life Coach
Are you ready to find that “something more” you’ve been looking
for? For more resources to help you begin the journey of finding
it go to www.livingspiritually.com.
