Winter has a way of zapping the life right out of us, and this winter has been especially hard. While many, including me, are angry over winter weight gain, others are depressed from battling colds and flu, or living in fear of losing their jobs or homes. But, there is a way to get rid of the stress that zaps the life out of our personal space – our bodies, minds and souls.
I call it spring cleaning, from the inside, out. Spring cleaning awakens our senses to the world around us through new experiences that feed us, rather than deplete us. It purges the emotional poisons that keep us from living and flourishing. I urge you to stop going through the motions and soak in all you feel, see, hear, taste, touch and smell, to cleanse your spirit and renew your energy for your wondrous life this spring.
For A Sensational Spring Cleaning
Experience Life. Sign up for a community walk or fun run and lift your spirits; picnic at your favorite park or lake and take in the beauty of your surroundings; or enjoy laughing and playing games online games at Pogo.com. Research tells us the feelings we get from experiencing life make us happier and help us find joy.
See Hope. Pick a color, any color and paint just one wall in your apartment or room to create energy, passion and joy. Try purple for spirit and hope, or yellow for happiness. For a quick splash of life, buy new hand towels for every bath in your home. Behavioral science shows color positively affects our blood pressure, stress, and energy level.
Smell Well. Find healing in your favorite aromatherapy soap, lotion, or room freshener. Lavender, chamomile and vanilla help you relax, peppermint and orange provide mental clarity. Jasmine lifts your mood to instill a sense of optimism.
Feel Happy. Keep a shawl, in your favorite color, in a drawer nearby and occasionally wrap yourself in it – try 3 times a day. Like a self imposed hug, you’ll feel healed and settled or the renewed energy of self love. You may even experience the physical and emotional well-being of a simple hug, including reduced stress and increased happiness.
Taste Tea Health. Start drinking. Good and good for you, the healing properties of black, green and ginger tea increase mental alertness while lowering blood pressure, preventing cancer and osteoporosis, reducing risk for stroke, and promoting a healthy heart and body.
Hear Soul. Download your favorite tunes to your iPod and find five minutes in the morning and in the afternoon to listen, dance, or sing to de-stress. Listening to your favorite music releases the calming chemical serotonin into your body. Singing releases physical tension, oxygenates the blood, and liberates suppressed emotions. Whether you listen, sing or move to music, you’ll benefit from its healing qualities.
Dr. Kathleen Hall, internationally recognized stress and work-life balance expert, is the founder and CEO of The Stress Institute®, The Mindful Living Network® and Alter Your Life®. Dr. Hall’s life’s work is to teach others how to reduce stress by learning how to live a sustainable, balanced life of true happiness through mindful living. Combining research based medical models with universal spiritual practices, she has developed a life-altering stress reduction and lifestyle program she calls, “Where Science Meets the Soul®.”
During times of stress and crisis, the international television and print media consistently seek the authoritative knowledge, information and direction of Dr. Kathleen Hall. Dr. Hall's advice has been featured by all the major national media including NBC's The Today Show, Oprah & Friends, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, CNN Paula Zahn Now, CNN Headline News, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN International, FOX, ESPN.com, Good Morning America Radio, Martha Stewart Radio, Fortune, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Money Magazine, Business Week, Parents, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Real Simple, Body + Soul, and Woman’s Day.
Dr. Hall is the Author of A Life in Balance: Nourishing the Four Roots of True Happiness (AMACOM, January 2006) and Alter Your Life: Overbooked? Overworked? Overwhelmed? (Oak Haven, April 2005) and a new book in Fall 2009.
Dr. Hall is a contributing writer for PINK Magazine. She is also the Global Ambassador for the Unilever/Knorr Soup Campaign - Eat Soup, Live Healthy; World thought leader to Fortune 500 Corporations; Electronic Arts spokesperson (Pogo.com); Darden Restaurant spokesperson, Tempur-Pedic spokesperson. Martha Stewart Publications coined her the "Stress Queen."
Dr. Hall earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Jacksonville State University, a Masters of Divinity from Emory University and a Doctorate in Spirituality from Columbia Theological Seminary. Her diverse background includes study with medical pioneer’s Dr. Dean Ornish of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute and Dr. Herbert Benson at the Harvard Mind/Body Institute as well as illustrious Nobel Peace Prize recipients including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu and President Jimmy Carter.
She lives on her horse farm where her family rescues animals. She loves her flower and vegetable gardens and enjoys canning her foods.
More information about Dr. Kathleen Hall can be found at drkathleenhall.com, stressinstitute.com