Add to the mix a headache, nausea and a backache. This has been happening every morning this week and I started to wonder "why". The person in the mirror looked a lot like the "old" me - tired, late for everything, overall a physical and emotional mess. What happened to the "new" me? Did she go on vacation with the kids?
As I was driving to work - it hit me. The cause of my unexpected transformation was...STRESS! We have all been under it, felt it but so few of us know how to recognize and deal with it before it becomes an issue. Here I was with all the signs and symptoms (ok it could be PMS too but that is another story).
My first choice of therapy was to crank up the tunes. This helped until I got to work, then it was a whole new ball game. None of my newly learned coping mechanisms were releasing the knot in my stomach. By the end of my "Day From Hell" the LAST thing I wanted to do was go on my 40 Acre Woods photo walk.
So, true to my new self, I made myself go! After a few minutes into the walk I noticed my jaw had started to unclench and my migraine was now just a headache. The more I started to absorb the beauty around me the better I started to feel!
At one point someone said "there's not much to photograph here" and I quickly replied "you are not looking in the right places". I think a more appropriate response would have been 'you are looking with your eyes not your HEART'. When you look at the world with your heart it has healing power. For me it's nature, for you it may be something else.
A short time after starting my journey I started walking at work and reading under a tree at lunch. I call it my "being at one with nature" time. My coworkers and even my kids laugh at me, but when I sit and listen to the birds, feel the sun on my face, watch the wind blow the trees I forget all my worries and the stress just melts away.
I have yet to remove all the stress from my life but for now "being at one with nature" works wonders for me!
Peace
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