Feeling Stressed? A Four-Minute Cure

The ability to creatively handle constant change will be the most sought after skill in the 21st Century. – Alvin Toffler, Futurist

Like a silently ticking time bomb, a habit of shallow breathing could be eating away at your health until one day it’s too late. Too many people these days are lost in the trance of scarcity around time, money and resources. This means you probably have a habit of operating too often from the reptilian complex, or flight or flight response.

In this state of mind, your entire system functions much less efficiently. The stress response halts or slows down various processes such as digestion, blood circulation and creative thinking. Prolonged stress responses may result in chronic suppression of the immune system, leaving the body open to infections and disease.

Most people in today’s society are having to do more with less, constantly adapt, be innovative under pressure, re-design everything in a moment’s notice–all because of constant change. Those who can stay calm, confident and clear-headed in constant change are the leaders of the future and indispensable to those they serve.

I call this being a “Change Artist”. Change Artists have regular habits that allow them to benefit from the changes affecting their world and inspire creative thinking in others, all the while staying grounded in integrity. One of the top habits of Change Artist is that they breathe more fully than their more “Change Challenged” counter-parts.

For a fun perspective on the situation check out this mock commercial for breathing:

Breathing is one of those safe, inexpensive, readily available techniques that doesn’t get used often enough.

For an easy to follow conscious breathing technique you can practice check out this video below. If you do a technique like this enough times consciously it will eventually become an unconscious habit.

Tags: Alvin Toffler, Artists of Change, Canada, Carla Reiger, carla rieger, change artist, change management, conscious breathing, creativity, Cure, fight or flight, humorist, innovation, inspirational speaker, motivational speaker, Remedy, reptilian complex, stress management, The Artistry of Change, workplace solutions