Allison Peet - Stress Relief Around The Holidays
Allison Peet is the owner of From Within Wellness, LLC. She has a corporate background and lives in Des Moines with her husband and their two young children. She is a qualified MBSR™ instructor (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) with over 200 hours of formal, in-person MBSR™ training through the UMass Medical School Center for Mindfulness, a culmination of 21 full days of silent meditation retreat experience to date, and daily meditation to deepen her own practice. She is also qualified through Mindful Schools to teach attention and self-regulation skills to children, kindergarten through high school. Allison also has a personal path of living with stress and anxiety. This is why her vision is to create a more mindful community by helping people develop inner resources to stress by teaching simple, practical life skills in attentional strength, present moment awareness, and self-compassion. She currently holds mindfulness workshops, classes and retreats for businesses, groups and individuals. For more information, contact her here, visit her on Facebook, or her website.
We’re all aware that too much chronic stress in our lives is not healthy. Many of us turn to maladaptive coping mechanisms like drinking, smoking, overeating, overworking to name a few. These only work in the short-term and can cause ill effects that affect our health and well-being. Practicing mindfulness and meditation are some great ways of taking better care of yourself, remembering our shared humanity, and training ourselves to be more present in our lives and for the ones we care deeply for.
I’m a wife and mom of two amazing little human beings, ages 8 and 5. I work, am starting a business, and am attempting to have a semi-sane life. The holidays tend to exacerbate my “doing mode” and the excessive busyness I create for myself. Because…If I’m busy, I’m important, right? In this day and age, with our lives moving at the speed of light, we need to carve out time for “non-doing”…aka meditation, yoga, being out in nature, going for a walk, without having to get anywhere.
Here are a few tips to staying sane this season:
Practice Self-Compassion. This is a radical act of love and self-care. When our precious, sweet babies turn into monsters, we want to react by yelling and screaming, running out of the house and never coming back. Then what happens? We become guilt-ridden and can’t believe we freaked out again. I find it helps to bring this element of self-compassion in by treating yourself as you would a close friend. Reminding yourself that we’re just human, we make mistakes. If we let that nasty narrator voice in our head beat us up, we’re both the criticizer and the one being criticized of our own negative thoughts and emotions. Dr. Kristin Neff, author of “Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind” explains: “Compassion, then, involves the recognition and clear seeing of suffering. It also involves feelings of kindness for people who are suffering, so that the desire to help—to ameliorate suffering—emerges. Finally, compassion involves recognizing our shared human condition, flawed and fragile as it is.”
Schedule Nourishing Activities. This does not mean go run 50 errands when you have two hours to yourself. Our “to do” lists will never end, it’s a slippery slope. Figure out the things that fully replenish and recharge your batteries and make them a priority. Just like you schedule meetings and appointments, schedule down time. Your heart will thank you.
Ask for Help. This is a difficult one for me. My mom likes to tell the story of when I was a toddler and she’d attempt to help me with something. I’d adamantly say, “I do!” Fast forward 30 some odd years, and I’m experiencing this with my own daughter. When she was little, she’d say, “I do it mine own self!” While I adore the independence she embodies, I also want to teach her that she’s not meant to do it all. That it really “takes a village” no matter what stage in life you are. Asking for help does not show weakness, it shows that you’re self-aware of your own limitations and boundaries. It shows strength. Get over yourself.
What Are the Benefits of Mindfulness?
Mindfulness decreases feelings of anxiety and mild depression. Concrete, scientific evidence supports profound health benefits for people of all ages, including lowered blood pressure, increased creativity, mental focus, emotional resilience, and immune response.
We’re all aware that too much chronic stress in our lives is not healthy. Many of us turn to maladaptive coping mechanisms like drinking, smoking, overeating, overworking to name a few. These only work in the short-term and can cause ill effects that affect our health and well-being. Practicing mindfulness and meditation are some great ways of taking better care of yourself, remembering our shared humanity, and training ourselves to be more present in our lives and for the ones we care deeply for. I’m a wife and mom of two amazing little human beings, ages 8 and 5. I work, am starting a business, and am attempting to have a semi-sane life. The holidays tend to exacerbate my “doing mode” and the excessive busyness I create for myself. Because…If I’m busy, I’m important, right? In this day and age, with our lives moving at the speed of light, we need to carve out time for “non-doing”…aka meditation, yoga, being out in nature, going for a walk, without having to get anywhere.
Here are a few tips to staying sane this season:
Practice Self-Compassion. This is a radical act of love and self-care. When our precious, sweet babies turn into monsters, we want to react by yelling and screaming, running out of the house and never coming back. Then what happens? We become guilt-ridden and can’t believe we freaked out again. I find it helps to bring this element of self-compassion in by treating yourself as you would a close friend. Reminding yourself that we’re just human, we make mistakes. If we let that nasty narrator voice in our head beat us up, we’re both the criticizer and the one being criticized of our own negative thoughts and emotions. Dr. Kristin Neff, author of “Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind” explains: “Compassion, then, involves the recognition and clear seeing of suffering. It also involves feelings of kindness for people who are suffering, so that the desire to help—to ameliorate suffering—emerges. Finally, compassion involves recognizing our shared human condition, flawed and fragile as it is.”
Schedule Nourishing Activities. This does not mean go run 50 errands when you have two hours to yourself. Our “to do” lists will never end, it’s a slippery slope. Figure out the things that fully replenish and recharge your batteries and make them a priority. Just like you schedule meetings and appointments, schedule down time. Your heart will thank you.
Ask for Help. This is a difficult one for me. My mom likes to tell the story of when I was a toddler and she’d attempt to help me with something. I’d adamantly say, “I do!” Fast forward 30 some odd years, and I’m experiencing this with my own daughter. When she was little, she’d say, “I do it mine own self!” While I adore the independence she embodies, I also want to teach her that she’s not meant to do it all. That it really “takes a village” no matter what stage in life you are. Asking for help does not show weakness, it shows that you’re self-aware of your own limitations and boundaries. It shows strength. Get over yourself.
What Are the Benefits of Mindfulness?
Mindfulness decreases feelings of anxiety and mild depression. Concrete, scientific evidence supports profound health benefits for people of all ages, including lowered blood pressure, increased creativity, mental focus, emotional resilience, and immune response.
- Attention: Mindfulness strengthens our “mental muscle” to increase focus and clarity.
- Compassion: Being aware of our own emotions allows us empathize with others.
- Regulates Emotions: Objectively observing physical sensations and emotions in the body changes how we relate to them.
- Resilience: Being an unbiased observer of our emotions, thoughts, and feelings reduces the amount of mind chatter and makes room to respond to stressors rather than knee jerk reacting.
