How to Stay Grounded when Stressed, Anxious, or Afraid?

US election day! Regardless of the outcome, will you be like this or this? 

What future will you create?

What a perfect opportunity to practice being bright and choosing light over being anxious.

It's easy to be bright when all is well in the world.

But how do you be bright when you feel stressed or weighed down by what's happening in the world?

One way is simply to not watch the news. Turn all devices off. Go be with your family, spend time in nature, or meditate alone.

However, shutting things out entirely may not address an essential skill to learn given humans, well, must interact with other humans one way or another.

It misses the opportunity to build up your ability or muscle to be with the hard things in life powerfully--to surf in the tsunami of life.

What if you could be your greatest hero and face the fear head-on? 

And yes, even love the fear?

Often, our fear comes in the form of a friend or loved one with opposing views or beliefs.

While one method is simply to avoid triggering or taboo conversations to maintain the peace, what if you could use it as an opportunity? What a superpower that could be!

Consider that 1) every human share the experience of being human and 2) we all live on our precious planet earth, 3) we live in a world with many diverse beliefs and behaviors--allowing, facing, and embracing fear is an essential skill in today's world.

How else will we learn?

Here's a simple exercise to help you stay grounded when anxious, stressed, or fearful of another with seemingly opposing values.

Staying Grounded when Stressed or Fearful

1. Move your body. Do a soul-nourishing movement of your body, yoga, or workout to clear out and purify any stagnant or toxic energy that might be stuck inside.

2. Close your eyes and get into a sitting posture. Take a few deep breaths in and out.

3. Now imagine a bright sun above you pouring down energy and light on you, filling up your whole body.

4. When you charged up energetically, notice who comes up in your imagination. If they are someone that triggers you, picture that person or thing you "hate" you "can't stand" in front of you neutrally.

5. Now smile and breathe allowing them there. This is the first step of allowing and accepting the fear the way it is and the way it's not.

**IF YOU MAKE IT THIS FAR THAT'S GREAT!!**

If you feel you have more energy to give continue on; otherwise, rest and begin again the next day to continue building that muscle.

6. Imagine or feel energy pouring into them and send them love and light. Notice how your body, heart, and/or mind feels. Often they will open up and you will feel lighter.

Bonus: Once you've mastered this exercise by doing it at least 5x without getting more upset by the end, you can actually attempt to have a loving dialogue with someone of the opposing view. Or not--it's most important to work with your own fears first.

If you do choose to have an actual dialogue, I'm not going to lie--it can be highly triggering having done it many times myself for the character development of unconditional love.

However, for me, once I energetically recovered from the initial conversations...I was proud and had more courage to start another conversation. 

I'm always surprised in the end, how we actually share a lot more in common than I realized.

When they don't become "the other" and dehumanized, I become the fear itself. When I'm able to dismantle the fear, I'm left in a deeper inquiry of what really matters in life and where will I focus?

What will you choose today? And every moment?

To be in fear and contracted or in love and expanded?

Your body won't lie. Just put your hands on your belly or chest, and despite what your mind may be rattling off, if you have deep breaths--you are grounded.

Now is the time to practice this skill of allowing and accepting fear--to embrace the fear.

Regardless of what happens in the world, you'll be equipped with an essential 21st Century skill, unconditional love.

THAT is a superpower worth cultivating for years to come,

***

Anna S. Choi helps growing, six-figure earning, overachieving, conscious business leaders--who are exhausted meeting the demands of their day--prevent burnout as they scale their impact. They want to build habits for staying happy, energized, and focused to perform at their optimum given the demands, complexities, and uncontrollable environments that suck up their energy. Learn more at www.annasunchoi.com.***

If you are on a path of making a better version of yourself, you can also read other blog posts that I have published HERE. Or you can contact me, and I will be glad to talk to you and discuss how we can improve your situation.