With the rush rush of life, I’m hearing more and more from my clients that they are stressed!  Relaxing is something that many of us haven’t consistently tapped into our palm pilots, iphones or even put on the to do list.  Some of us have forgotten how as we move from this urgent task to that urgent task.  I am no exception.

Last night I received some unpleasant news and I reacted.  I didn’t respond.  I reacted.

For those of you who have been reading for a while, know that I think it is our primary responsibility to protect our personal state and return ourselves to peace as best we can as soon as we can.

So there I was reacting.  After a few minutes of that, I noticed my teeth were clenched and my forehead scrunched.  OK.  So, I’m not a saint . . . yet

Anyway, noticing the reaction was the first step, resisting the urge to indulge the reaction was second and finally, finding my way back to peace.  On this occasion it was to relax.  Relax my body, relax my mind and relax my worried heart.

After a few easy breaths and walking to the window to listen to rain, I felt better, relaxed even.

In a couple of weeks, I’ll be offering a class at the University of Tennessee, “Learn to Relax, The Easy Way.”  If you’re in the neighborhood, I hope you can join us.  If not, stay tuned for PeaceFruit.com where I’ll be finding a way to share some of the material with my distant friends.

In the meantime, join the discussion.  How do you relax?

Breathing easier,

melanie