Jazz Living with Stress, Resilience and Emotional Flexibility

In the Northern Hemisphere we’re in the season of slippery walking conditions. Time to get extra grounded. I’ve noticed when I’m stressed, I’m more likely to trip over my feet. One day, I was walking up the stairs with my hands full of stuff and my head full of stressful thoughts. I wasn’t fully present, tripped on the stairs and wrenched my knee. It healed well, but it gave me a wake up call to pay attention. “What is stress doing to your body?” I asked myself.

Life is a bit like a roller coaster, right? It throws highs, lows, and unexpected twists at you. Today, let’s take a look at stress, resilience, and emotional flexibility. These three heavyweights shape how we can keep our bodies strong during times of stress.

Stress – The subtle messenger

Stress isn’t the enemy; think of it as an internal alert system. It’s that surge of adrenaline before a crucial presentation or the flutter of anticipation before a crucial conversation. Imagine an archer pulling back the bowstring creating enough tension to launch the arrow forward. Stress is your body gearing up, with a body-based response demanding your attention.

Stress helps you get ready to launch toward your goal.

But, when stress becomes a constant companion, overstaying its welcome, it shifts from a motivator to a potential source of wear and tear. Enter resilience, our main character.

Resilience – Your inner dynamo

Resilience isn’t just about enduring the storm; it’s the power that propels you forward, ensuring not just survival but flourishing in the face of adversity. Picture a rubber band—it stretches under pressure but always snaps back to its original state. That’s you—resilient, ready to bounce back from life’s challenges.

Building resilience isn’t about dodging stress altogether. It’s about aligning body, emotions, mind, and spirit to navigate life’s complexities like a master. We each have access to a spiritual core of inner resilience that we can tap into for help in weathering the storms of life.

Emotional flexibility – A strategic asset

Now, let’s talk emotional flexibility—a bit like doing mental-emotional gymnastics. It’s about bending without breaking, like a skilled athlete performing complex routines. Life is unpredictable, emotions are like untamed horses, and emotional flexibility is your graceful ride through the ups and downs of feelings.

Imagine this: when life takes unexpected turns, emotional flexibility lets you adapt, like a resilient tree. Roots hold you deeply grounded in the earth, branches swaying in the wind but not breaking. It’s not about suppressing emotions but moving through them gracefully, recognizing that feelings are fleeting.

Choose to be fully present in the moment where you can access your inner resilience and your power of choice.

Practical suggestions

Get grounded in your physical body

• Stand with feet shoulder distance apart or sit with feet on the floor. Imagine tree roots growing through your feet into the earth. Imagine breathing earth energy back up through your feet into your torso to nourish your organs with earth energy. When you’re walking in slippery conditions, imagine sending tree roots through your feet into the earth to stay more grounded and stable.
• Move with your breath. Find your inner rhythm. Stand, sit, or lie down – however you feel comfortable. Start noticing your breathing. Exhale and notice the impulse to inhale. Bring your awareness to your body. Allow your mind to observe your body without judgment or criticism. Notice any impulse to move and allow your body to move as it would like.
• Check out my guided meditation. Midweek Reset Meditation #35 Be a Mountain. I listened to this guided meditation on days when I had a full calendar and was spending too much time in my thoughts. It felt good to listen to this recorded meditation, get back to center and find my grounding. Click the link and scroll through the recording list to #35 Be a Mountain.

Flow with your emotional body

• Stress illness. Maybe you noticed as I did in the past, my body had its own agenda. After a stressful time of pushing myself, my body would rebel. As soon as the semester ended or I went on vacation, I would get sick. After my father died, I ended up with a terrible cold and cough. I was processing grief through my physical body.
• Processing information. Sometimes bodies process information in ways that feel like cold and flu symptoms. Sometimes body pain is related to a stressful person. Years ago, I had a coworker who was a real pain in the neck!
• Listen to body wisdom. Sometimes stress causes migraine headaches. I did energy work with a new client who had chronic migraines. I intuitively told her, “Your container is way too small. You have something bigger to do with your life!” She responded, “You’re the third person to tell me that lately.” I think she understood the message that time.
• Rest breaks. Be kind to yourself and give yourself plenty of rest breaks. Take a break before your body demands one and breaks a bone just so you can get a rest. I know several people that happened to.

Embrace change with an improvisational Jazz Living approach to life.

Life’s all about transformations. Instead of resisting change, dance with the rhythm, flow with the emotions, adapt and grow with the shifts.

Hold steady to your core values – your unique melody. Then, get creative and improvise with life’s changes and challenges like a jazz musician.

Remember, you’re not just here to endure; you’re here to thrive in the face of stress. Stress might knock, but resilience and emotional flexibility are right there with you, guiding you through life’s twists and turns. Build your inner resilience muscles with emotional flexibility and creativity.

So, fasten that metaphorical cape, stand tall, and embrace the adventure. You’re not just riding the roller coaster; you’re steering through life’s intricate twists and turns like a pro.

Here’s to conquering stress, embracing resilience, and navigating the waves of emotional flexibility like the adept navigator you are! And one more thing, remember to pay extra attention these days to being present in your body.

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Leah Skurdal

Leah Skurdal guides people to up-level their stress resilience to improve relationships. Leah shares intuitive insights in private Energy Healing to address the roots of disharmony. As an inspirational speaker and published author, Leah offers lively classes, experiential workshops, and keynotes.