A few days ago I suggested that it was important to learn how to become mindful of one’s stress level so that you could avoid becoming overwhelmed by life’s everyday demands. I used the analogy of a radiologist’s docimeter to make my point. Another, gentler way to imagine developing stress mindfulness is to think of it as taking your emotional pulse.
–The key to being aware of stress before it builds too high, is getting into the habit of asking yourself some simple questions like, “How do I feel?” or “How stressed am I today?”
–Using a simple subjective scale of one to ten and picking your number for the day will help you get a sense of what is normal for you and help you to recognize when your stress level is rising.
–If it is, another good question to ask is, “What in my life has recently changed to make things more difficult for me ?” Identifying new stressors can help you to address them before they become unmanageable.
— With a little practice, checking your emotional pulse will become a daily habit and will protect you from getting overloaded without realizing it. Regular checking-in with yourself is an important part of self-care that that not promotes good health and well being but helps you to identify and address problems early one when they are easier to deal with.
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