Nicola Walker Coaching

Mindset Coach, intuitive clarity, purpose, joy

Stress

Self Compassion: A Calming Balm for Your Nervous System

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Bench overlooking blue ocean with bright pink flowers

Recently, I had an interaction with another person that rattled me and left my nervous system feeling shaken. I calmed and centered myself afterwards but a shakiness and depressive feelings kept returning. I noticed that I had added another piece – feeling disappointed in myself for not recovering quicker. It seemed that my mind was gathering more reasons to feel sad. It was time for some self compassion.

There are parts of ourselves that don’t care so much about being powerful and managing our energy to achieve great things in the world.

These parts of us just want to feel safe and loved. Especially when our nervous system is jangled.

[Read more…] about Self Compassion: A Calming Balm for Your Nervous System

How to Unwind When You Feel Stressed Out and Anxious

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Girl with head in hands on lake jetty sunset Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

You wish you could find it easier to unwind when you feel stressed out and anxious. Your body feels like a coiled spring. You feel stuck in your head, winding through the same mental loop over and over again. You try to unwind and relax, but you’re still tense and caught up in your thoughts.

Sometimes work and life get too much. It seems like everything’s coming at you at once. All your usual ways of dealing with stress don’t seem to be working. The more you feel stressed and anxious, the longer it takes to unwind. Yet, you don’t have the time.

Take a really deep breath.

When you feel stressed out and anxious, the key to unwinding is to be willing to let go of two things: 

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Feeling rushed: How to slow down and find your natural pace in work and life

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Swan in still water, with reflection, the opposite of feeling rushedDo you sometimes feel like your time is not your own? From the moment you wake, you are feeling rushed by your agenda full of everything you have to attend to, racing you through the minutes and the hours until you look at the clock in amazement and dismay. What happened? You long to fit in yoga, meditation, reflection time with your journal, or a run in the park, yet once again your day ran away from you.

Whether you work on-site at a job or work from home with a job or your own business, it’s important to find your rhythm for doing your work and taking care of your body and soul. Some people are fast-paced and others are more slow-paced. Whatever type you are, if you consistently overstretch your limit of what you can comfortably do, you may either burn out, or experience physical and emotional symptoms indicating that you’re out of balance.

Fast-paced people may find that they don’t notice the warning signs when they are piling on too much and starting to burn out. Slow-paced people can often push themselves so they can keep up with other people’s standards for productivity while judging themselves for being the way they are. Eventually, if you keep pushing yourself and feel rushed a lot of the time, you get so out of sync with yourself that you get tired, sick or even injure yourself. Often people injure ankles and knees, which are about fear of moving forward. Or, they have back or shoulder pain from carrying too much on their shoulders.

Slow down and move at your natural pace rather than letting the world dictate your pace. [Read more…] about Feeling rushed: How to slow down and find your natural pace in work and life

Self Care at Work: When You Feel Pressured and Stressed, Recharge Your Brain

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Still lake image for self care at workWhen you feel pressured and stressed by work, life and all the nitty gritty details clamoring for attention, your nervous system and brain move into survival, perfect for putting out fires but hopeless for calming you down. Don’t keep pushing through the stress. One of the best things you can do for self care at work is to stop and take a rest to recharge your brain.

A lot of people get used to feeling stressed and easily burdened by everything they think they need to do. Stress becomes the norm, and change is merely variations to the levels of stress they feel moment to moment. The tragic side to this is that their intuitive wisdom and natural brilliance is trapped inside their stress response.

If this is you, here are three steps you can take for self care at work. [Read more…] about Self Care at Work: When You Feel Pressured and Stressed, Recharge Your Brain

How to Unwind When the Stress Gets Too Much

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Still lake image for self care at work“Give yourself the time to move through the initial awkwardness, even a sense of fear or guilt about unwinding when you feel way too stressed.”

It has been a hectic week. Lots of driving, meetings, rushing out the door feeling so pressed for time that my jacket falls from my full arms into the flower bed. I run towards my car, keys clanging as I throw bags in the trunk, slam doors shut, roar out of the driveway; an oddity on what is really just another peaceful blue sky day in the Santa Cruz mountains with birds chirping from the branches of tall, bright green needled pine trees.

Today is Saturday. Time to slow down. I planned the day to be blank, to unwind.  “What do I want to do?” my mind wonders, almost slightly anxious about making the right decision. “Walk on the beach? Go to a café?” It seems like I feel the need to do something to make the day special in order to unwind, yet my body is fatigued. I’m processing from all the events of the week. I don’t actually really know what I want to do.

Keep it simple and don’t let trying to unwind actually make you busy.

I remember how much nicer it is to let the way I spend my day happen naturally and spontaneously, without making a conscious choice. At first I feel the awkwardness of letting myself not “do anything of consequence”. I look out at the sunny tree tops feeling a little lost because I don’t have plans or anyone to share at least part of my day with. Yet I know I’m doing the right thing. [Read more…] about How to Unwind When the Stress Gets Too Much