 The ever typical peace keeper, despite best efforts not to be, I find myself slipping into that role time and again. Boundaries were never something I learned. Growing up in an alcoholic home they just didn't exist. I earned my gold medal in peacekeeping just to try to maintain some space between myself and the chaos that surrounded me. Unfortunately it's a tough role to break...but I will continue to make it a work in progress. With a lot of self work and reflection, boundaries have become something more familiar and I've identified a number of them that work for me. The difficult thing about having boundaries is knowing when to set them. For myself, it's usually after I've allowed them to be pushed, a number of times, in my efforts to keep the peace and oh yes, did I mention I'm also working towards becoming a reformed people pleaser as well?  I usually will get to the point of being in exhausted tears before I realize I haven't held my boundaries and have overextended myself to please. The stress of people pleasing is finally outweighing everything. Once again, I've let myself down. Any of this sounding familiar? I suspect it does because I meet a number of others in this life who will tell me of similar circumstances. So what do I tell them and what do I tell myself? 1. FORGIVE YOURSELFFirst and foremost cut yourself some slack. After I've kicked myself a couple of times and wiped the tears away I remember to tell myself that yes, I caught myself again, I messed up, but I did catch myself and perhaps next time I will catch myself sooner. That does happen. 2. STOP IT!As soon as you realize the boundaries have been breached put them back in place. Take a few moments to recognize where you've been lax in holding your own space and gift yourself by putting those boundaries up. Then take a breath. I use to feel that I couldn't, that it was too late, that people wouldn't like it...yeah, the people pleaser raises it's loud and ugly voice to say "What will others think of me?". But the more important question is how will you feel about yourself if you don't? I thought so...nail those things up if have to, but put them up. 3. Say NOSay no and don't justify it. You really don't owe anyone a reason or justification for putting your boundaries up and beginning to say no. Yes, it means you have switched gears, people may not like it, but is it worth the stress to not do it? Certainly if people ask and you feel as though you want to explain, you can, however at times that can be exhausting. Right now you're doing the work of holding the boundaries in place and rebuilding yourself, and that needs to come first. 4. Celebrate you Hey, you were successful, you figured it out, you caught up with your boundaries, set them, took a breath and now it's time to celebrate that amazingness that is your achievement. Yes, there will likely be more occurrences of boundary violation and people pleasing mishaps, but not today.
You're only human and that is something to celebrate. Give yourself the pat on the back, the toast with champagne or whatever way you celebrate you!
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Anxiety & Taking Care of You in the Moment  Our mind/body/spirit connection is never more obvious than when we’re in a state of anxiety. Fear driven thoughts may bring forward a biochemical response in your body (fast pulse, dry mouth, nausea, shallow breathing, dizziness), and your mind views these symptoms as evidence that something is definitely wrong. Developing grounding and mindful movement “tricks” can help to reduce anxiety, more quickly bringing you to a physical and emotional sense of calmness. Practicing some of these, while not in a state of anxiety, may help you to more quickly remember these tips when you feel anxiety coming on. 
 Over coffee with colleagues a few weeks ago in which we share holistic health ideas, our conversation turned to our clients and how many of them are feeling a lot of anxiety lately. Anxiety about finances, relationships, health issues, family, etc. But what seems most prevalent is a deep anxiety about feeling a lack of power in their lives to deal with the issues that are making them anxious, that they feel out of control. Anxiety can impact upon many aspects of our physical and emotional self; digestive problems, trouble sleeping or waking up tired, lack of energy and drive, mental confusion, body aches and pains, headaches, muscle tension, depression, sadness, anger … When we ignore or don’t acknowledge that we’re anxious it takes its toll. I’ve had a number of clients dismiss their anxieties as something they “just have to get over”, “others have worse things happening so my anxiety is stupid”, “there is nothing I can do about it so just have to live with the problems”. Yes, some pretty self defeating words whether spoken out loud or as self-talk.  During the month of October the at Hand to Health, in Abbotsford, the discussion is going to be around Anxiety. The power gained in acknowledging its existence and some holistically healthy ways to ease or resolve anxiety.  I was absolutely thrilled when I saw Cindy Bernicot’s next EFT Tapping & Meditation topic for her October workshop at Hand To Health because through tapping we open up to firstly acknowledge that the issue is there and how we honestly feel about it. Then we move on to taking back our own power to deal with the issue. Anxiety, like any other energy, needs to be moved in order to let it go, rather than resisting or denying its existence. I can’t think of a better stepping off point than with Cindy’s amazing guided workshops. For more information about Cindy’s workshop and how to register click here
Join in on Wednesday, October 7th to experience Tap Away Anxiety - Using EFT Tapping & Meditation to Deal with Anxiety & Panic Attacks |
Teresa Graham,
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