Have a big event to plan? Not sure how you’re going to make it to the end? The key is to make sure you take care of yourself first, then all the rest will follow. Here are some tips on how to deal with people, stress and the details.
This past weekend, the 9th conference of the Healing Touch Association of Canada, Healing Together, was held in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. I co-chaired the event and the planning, prepping and implementing constituted quite a learning journey with many ups and downs.
Five years ago, when I suffered from anxiety and depression, I would not have been able to manage this journey without huge amounts of stress, anxiety, anguish and self-doubt but, this year, I was more than ready. Why? Today, I am strong and resilient and I have the right tools in my organizing and self care toolbox: strategies from the Small Scale, Daily Healing approach to self healing and growth.
Keep Your Heart Open
(From Strategy #3: Easy Visualizations)
Practice opening your heart every day or as often as you can during the planning and prepping stage so that it comes easily and naturally during the event.
During the actual event, consciously Open Your Heart with every stressful moment, every demand on your time and energy, even with every smile, as often as possible.
Practice it often, even if you don’t have an event. The energetic heart is also a muscle that needs exercise but this is exercise you can do anytime, anywhere!
I know that I repeat this Open Your Heart stuff all the time but it is very, very powerful. It’s worth repeating every time. If you consciously Open Your Heart every day, your life WILL change.
Keep Calm and Boogie On
(From Strategy #3: Easy Visualizations)
Line of Calm
If you keep your entire body and being calm, you can handle anything that comes your way. A good way to stay calm all the time is by practicing the Full Calm visualization every day before you get out of bed in the morning and every night when you go to bed.
During the Full Calm, you send a Line of Calm through each of your major chakras. After you’ve practiced the Full Calm a few times, you can do it in one second by visualizing all the Lines of Calm simultaneously going through all the major chakras. Immediate calm throughout your being. During the conference, I used the one-second Full Calm often when I had many things to do at once and had to prioritize.
Details on how to do the Full Calm will be in my new e-book coming out soon. In the meantime, you can practice the Line of Calm which is the foundation of the Full Calm.
Oh, and you write a lot of lists and keep checking them twice… I finally understand how Santa does it every year.
Spend Time Reflecting on Your Discomfort
(From Strategy #1: The 4-Step Process for Personal Growth)
During the planning of the conference, some interactions with others frustrated me or put up my wall of defense. I realized that this was my issue — not theirs — so I worked on it.
With Small Scale, Daily Healing‘s 4-Step Process for Personal Growth, I spent time reflecting on my uncomfortable reactions:
- I recognized the EXPERIENCE as uncomfortable and decided to change it for the next time.
- I REFLECTED on that experience and ANALYZED my response to it. I LISTENED for any any words, feelings, thoughts or images that appeared in my body, heart and mind.
- I BECAME AWARE of when that situated reoccurred and, based on my insights gained in step 2, I PRACTICED new ways of approaching the situation. (Opening My Heart and practicing my Line of Calm are always effective, additional methods.)
- Once I decided on an approach that worked for me, I IMPLEMENTED it every time and MONITORED the results to see if it was working.
Love & Gratitude to Your Body & Being
(From Strategy #2: Build an Attentive, Compassionate Relationship with Your Body)
Every night when I went to bed, I thanked my body and my entire being for all of the energy they had to give that day and all of the work they did. I told them that I was grateful for all of the work that they allowed me to do.
I sent grateful, loving breaths into my entire body and being.
The Healing Together conference was a lot of work but all of the energy and effort paid off as it produced a successful, memorable event.
Was it perfect? Nope. You deal with the issues as best as you can in the moment, you acknowledge the lessons, and you allow the issues and the crap attached to them to fall into the earth.
Touchy Subjects 