Hiya Pinkies! Please welcome back Less Stress, More Life Mojo Mentors, Lakenda Wallace (aka Good Witch) and Simone da Rosa (aka Bad Witch). Three PINK cheers!

Everybody is stressed but they don’t take it seriously. “So I’m stressed. Everybody has stress!” But as Richard Carlson author of “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” says, “Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness.” Meanwhile every stress is a chipping away at our happiness. Every traffic jam, every worry, every ‘Don’t have enough time!’, all add up to Chronic Stress which then snowballs into hurting your body — physically.

There are two reasons the vast majority of people deny the importance of their stress:

1) “Stress” is synonymous with “Success” in our culture, as in “I’m soo busy/needed!”, therefore I must be successful; and

2) if they cop to it, then there’s something “wrong” with them. They would have to go to a doctor. Then it’s major –something big to stress over!

But there’s a flip side. As every little bit of stress chips away at your happiness, every little bit of happiness chips away at your stress! So rather than looking at it as “Stress Management” – the way to look at it is How can I Increase My Happy Points.

You can increase your Happy Points in ways that require conscious effort and others that are easily introduced habits that become automatic Happy Point makers. Here are some examples.

Easy Habits for Happy Points:

• Eat Happy. Eating serotonin-producing foods is an easy habit you don’t have to think about that automatically adds to your Happy Points! You can literally eat your way to happy—without the guilt.

• See Beauty. Place items on your bedside table (or wherever you last look at night before turning out the lights and first see upon waking up) that make you happy. Flowers, a picture, or just something beautiful that lifts your spirit and subconsciously say, “Wow that’s beautiful!” It my seem trite, but you are reminding yourself just before sleep and first thing in the morning that life is beautiful.

• Play. First thing in the morning, do something that makes you happy, whether it’s stretching, singing in the shower, or throwing open the drapes to admire the view. Add Happy Points and set the tone for the day.

Conscious Changes for Happy Points:

• Deep Breathing. Oxygenate the blood and organs, release 60% of toxins and reduces heart rate and blood pressure. It’s an easy fix to return to balance and calm when you are in a stressful moment.

• Guided Meditation. Relax, as well as retrain the brain to an optimistic outlook. The more you picture happy, empowering circumstances, the more brain receptors and automatically traveled neuropathways are created to accept happy expectations. Your brain is literally retrained toward optimism.

• Keep a Joy Journal. Notice and capture life’s joyfulness more often (again, the more you remind yourself of the positives of life, the more automatically your brain identifies and recognizes the lighter and more optimistic side of things, even in stressful situations). Appreciate, accept and enjoy where you are in life right now — in the present— to more fully appreciate where you want to go in the future.
Relieving stress is about reclaiming the joy of life. Every small step you take to add Happy Points strengthens your immunity and gives you more power in your life. Don’t wait until your stress has shown up as physical pains, digestive issues, or dis-ease, reclaim your Happy now!

What about you, Pinkies? How do you rev up your mojo by scaling down your stress? Share your stress relieving secrets so we may all benefit from your stories.

Wishing you less stress, more life,

Lakenda & Simone