Mindfulness-based Strategies to cope with stress during Hurricane and overall, in life! Part-3

Creating Mental Resilience during Hurricane Season

Life Coach Nafije Prishtina

We are already more than a month into hurricane season and some people are currently dealing with the impact of Mother Nature’s force. In the summer series first blog you learned how to create Mental Resilience. In the second summer series blog, you learned how to Understand and Monitor Stress. In this blog, you will find tools and opportunities to expand your abilities to cope with stress. 

Let’s reflect on the previous points; that to develop emotional resilience we need to prepare mentally. Before a major event like a hurricane, you must be ready to have your resilience tested. To review Creating and Implementing an Emergency Plan click the link to part1 of this series! Understanding how stress works and monitor stressors for self-management is essential to riding out the storm. Refresh your memory by clicking this link to part 2 in the series.

 

Right now, you can experience two other 4S mindfulness-based coping skills to help you with stress reduction: breathing and tapping.

Breathing; use breathing to help you reduce stress by closing your eyes and taking deep inhales for a count of 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, Pause for 4.  Practice mindful breathing NOW!

 

Mindful Breathing:

1.       Breathe in slowly and count to 4

2.       Hold your breath while you count to 4

3.       Exhale slowly for a count of 4

4.       Pause & Relax

Repeat breathing 3 times and you will feel more relaxed.

 

Now try this stress reduction exercise, part of the 4S Mindfulness-based coping skills:

Tapping of the fingers: 

1.      Place your hands in your lap.

2.      Look at your beautiful hands.

3.      Use your right thumb to press the “3 meridian points of each finger of your right hand”

4.      Breathe deeply, as you are pressing each finger with your thumb.

Next: Repeat the same steps with your left hand/left thumb. 

1.   Use the left thumb to press on the 3 meridian points for each finger.

2.   Breathe deeply in, as you are pressing each finger with your thumb

3.   Breath out slowly

4.   Keep your eyes closed…. relax…. repeat.

Repeat right-hand, left-hand tapping until you complete 3 rounds and you be in a more relaxed state.

 

Here are two additional resources on offer in this blog.

1.      Incorporate mindfulness-based strategies to manage and reduce stress using the Shining Stars Success System, or 4S. This extensive training course consists of 4 modules plus other bonuses with easy-to-follow videos and step-by-step instructions that help you define your goals, manage your time, reduce your stress, and accomplish more success. In addition to the online course, you’ll have private coaching sessions to ensure a great outcome.  Click this link to sign up for my 4S course.

2.      My colleague Coach Kathryn offers self-care poems for you to download and print. You will be amazed at how calming and restorative it is to read poetry. Click this link here!

 

Finally, the most important thing to remember is for us to provide support and ask for support when you need it.