White Knuckle Living, is Your Path Lit by Fear or Hope?

Have you ever been in a traffic jam in construction, surrounded by semi-trucks, on a dark highway that's twisting and turning, on an unfamiliar road?  We call that white-knuckle driving.  Your mind is on alert, trying to find your way and hoping to get to a safe place where you can relax.  

I have seen people living their lives that way, we call it "white-knuckle living".  (Source unknown). That's where that cortisol hormone builds up, the one that is secreted when your fear overrides your normal brain processes.  It's so hard to live your life in fear.  

According to livestrong.com, "Chronic or long-term stress increases levels of cortisol, which plays a role in several hormonal and metabolic reactions that lead to weight gain. It increases your appetite and your cravings for unhealthy foods. Cortisol also reduces testosterone in men and women, which leads to muscle loss. Muscle burns more calories than body fat. When you lose muscle, your body burns calories less efficiently. Also, cortisol increases fatigue, which makes it more likely that you won't exercise to burn off excess calories."

Ok, we don't want that.  How do we stop white-knuckle living?  There is strategy involved.  Start by thinking about the category that gives you the most stress, take action, and let it go, as much as you can each day.  

It starts with an intention:  "I am perfect health".  Once you have made that intention, take action so your mind and body are in alignment with it.  Use quick, easy, enjoyable actions: take a short walk, eat a vegetable, meditate.  I hate running but love the trampoline.  I dislike vegetables but love my chocolate veggie powder.  I love guided mediatations.  Be proud of every small success; adjust and release failures in the moment.  We are all human and we are all allowed to forgive ourselves for our mistakes.  We want to create positive patterns.

If your intention is "I am prosperity", perhaps, clean a closet and give a bag to charity, change your mortgage payment to automatically prepay an extra $20 a month to principle, and spend a few dollars doing something unscheduled and fun (maybe ice cream or a matinee).  Prove, in a small way, that you are prosperous at this moment in time.  

The goal is taking action to change fear to hope and "priming the pump" for good things to be recognized, while rewarding yourself for your efforts.  Congrats!!  Each and every small action you take to improve yourself should be celebrated.   Sometimes, I literally pat myself on the back, haha.  

This is a great start to reducing fear.  Once you are comfortable with that, it's time to get to subconscious beliefs, discussed further in the cognitive dissonance blog.  It's all about hope for the future and taking accountability to make your own building blocks for success. You can do it!!  I have faith in you!

Have a wonderful day!

Xo

Conni

Today's Mantra: I choose to identify my greatest stress and plan small actions to reduce it.

Mantra for Every Day: I choose to send love to all; receiving love back multiplied in infinite proportions, creating and nurturing pathways of love.