Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Just the Littlest Things Can Trigger Stress


Just the littlest things can trigger our stress on a daily basis.  Today, for example, another snow storm, which is something out of my control.  A project coming to a head at the very last moment before sharing with an important client.   Everyone on edge who is working on the last minute project.  Not being able to relax from emails and texts flurrying in.  I try to think, "at least I didn't have to drive today, I got to work from home." but, the stress was still there.  It seems like the sweat level turns up, when you are locked into your chair and stress is flowing through your system and wanting to get out of your body.  So how do I relieve it while I'm working?  Music and breathing.  Sometimes I catch myself in time to let it go, other times I can feel it starting to effect me physically.  Its almost like I can feel that blood sugar rising now that my medication has me somewhat under control.  

Someone once asked me, how come I didn't know that I was at an extremely high blood glucose level, and my A1C was 11.2 (that is very bad folks) when I finally went to the doctor and I told them that there are varying levels of feeling like crap.  Once you get used to one level, you trudge on, and another and another and another come and go and you don't realize that you are on a downward spiral, until its too late and  you wake up one morning and you tingle and you don't have any feeling in your extremities and you come to the conclusion that there is something seriously wrong.  You check your blood glucose level, because you haven't checked it in over 6 months, because you thought you had your pre-diabetes under control, and your meter says you have a morning sugar of 326 (also very, very bad).  That's when you know there is something really wrong.

So, what music did I listen too today when the stress hit me?  I started with some of my own, that you hear in the videos on the site.  Especially the video and song called "Dark Night Distant Light".  I then moved into a lovely piano CD that just took me away last night when I first heard it.  "Rebirth" is the latest release from Josh Kramer.  Josh has become a friend through Facebook and a very talented musician.  I have picked up every one of his albums when they become available, but this new one is just so relaxing, beautiful, haunting, loving, romantic and heart wrenching, it's my favorite release of his so far.  Overall, the album soothes me and that is what's important to me.  I connect very well with his writing.  It relieved my stress very well.  When I sat at my computer today and became stressed a few times, I did some focus breathing techniques that I learned years ago, and Josh's music worked in balance with the breathing to help me relax and release the tensions.  I highly recommend the album for any collection. 

I want to share these artists with you when I find them and I also want to share a lot more artists with you that I have listened to for years.  These artists also have the same effect on me.  One by one, I will post the artist, their websites and a sample or two if I can find them online.  I ask that if you like them, please purchase their music.  It is so hard in this industry anymore to make a living, that we all have "real" jobs, and the music has become more of a hobby because it has become nearly impossible to pay the bills through what we love to do.  So much talent gets pinned under and washed away that it's hard for it to shine through the din of machine.  People need to hear this wonderful music and let it help heal them.  Let it help to relieve the stress and bring some joy back into your heart, so that you can feel vibrant again.  All this, helps to bring down that blood glucose level as well as your any high blood pressure issues you might have from stress.  

Take a listen to Josh and feel the connection he has to his music.  It's what Benjamin Zander called "the left check lean".  If you've never seen this video, watch it, its what I like to live by when I play my piano, and it's what I hear when I listen to Josh.  

Explore some stress relieving techniques with breathing exercises.  I'll share one of mine in the near future.  I need to focus on the steps and make sure I'm getting my thoughts down in the right order.  But for now, slow deep breaths in and out, focusing on each breath and doing a method called 2-4-6 or 2-4-8, is a great start.  2 second deep breath in through the nose, with the tongue at the roof of your mouth, hold for 4 seconds and exhale out the mouth for 6 to 8 seconds in length.  Do this 10 times and feel the stress melt away.  :)  and don't forget to smile. 

Peace be with you,
Dave

Take a listen to Josh's title track in full here:

Here is a sample of the entire album:
Here is one of my favorite tracks to listen too off of my CD when I need to let go of stuff.

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