Day 1 - Recognize Your Pain Points

Acknowledge Your Pain Points For Clear Direction

Welcome to the challenge! There’s a lot that we’re going to be doing together this week to help you manage your stress. Before you can get anywhere though, it’s important to know where you’re starting from.

You may want to take this Wellsource Stress Quiz which will give you a score, to help you make measurable goals. http://livewellsiouxfalls.org/images/uploads/main/Stress_and_Coping_Self_Test.pdf

But my favorite way to assess how you’re doing and the progress you’re making is to check in with yourself mindfully with a centering meditation, since you’ll be “treating” yourself in the process.

TODAY’S CHALLENGE: Centering Meditation

You’ll want to have a journal or some paper to write on.

You can read the prompts below to do a brief centering exercise.

Or you can listen to this recording if you’d like me to guide you through it.

Centering Meditation Instructions:

Take some time to sit comfortably with your eyes closed. Open up to your sense of smell, taste, and hearing. Then bring your attention to the crown of your head and
What areas of your body are tense? Write them down. Did they become more relaxed as you paid attention to these areas?
Bring your awareness to your physical heart space. Drop your attention in even deeper to notice any emotions you feel here. Notice raw emotion – try not to get into a story about WHY you feel this way.
What do you feel in your heart? What is your general emotional tone today? Write this down.
Now bring your awareness to the space behind your eyes, in the center of your head. Notice where the mind wants to be.
Is your mind focused on your immediate experience? Or does it want to fantasize about the future or revisit the past? Is there any negative self-talk? Or complaining about something external to you instead? Please write this down. This is really good information.
Now I’d love for you to write down what you’d like to experience instead. What sensations would you like to feel in the body? Less tension, pain, weakness, etc.? What emotions do you want to feel in the heart? What about your mind? Do you think the time your mind spends on certain things is useful or can you focus somewhere else?
You’re speaking neutrally about where you are now and where you eventually want to be with no negative self-talk. Quite often our experience of stress is flavored by our attitude and mindset and that’s usually not on your direct experience, but on something that isn’t even happening right now!

As you practice this centering exercise you’ll find that you’ll move more toward where you want to be in body, heart, and mind as you bring more neutral awareness to these areas.