“But that's too easy!”

Welcome to your Wednesday Love Note!

First, here's what's happening in the BGV ecosystem this week... 

Stress Less: The Peace & Power Live Class Series
Join me for two more live classes this month to help you stay sane, rested and resourced. Next Tuesday is Stress Less (May 13th), followed by Better Boundaries (May 20th). Join individual classes for $44, or get the entire bundle for $99. Details here. Pass it on!  

Substack
Read my latest transmission, Generative Destruction. Inspired by Kali Ma 💀 

On the pod
New episode: Sanity Savers: prioritizing deep sleep, less stress, and better boundaries. More new episodes coming soon!

Now, onto today’s tip.

It’s the year of the snake, which means a LOT of change.

Whether you want to change your habits with money, food, fitness, relationships, work or anything else, it all starts with changing your brain.

And here’s some good news.

Changing your brain is easier than you think.

Here’s a mantra I love: 

“It no longer takes me a long time to change. I now integrate and implement massive transformation elegantly and swiftly.”

The part of me that still believes change has to be hard is the thinker… it’s the girl who “tries to figure it out” with her brain.

But we don’t change our brain with thoughts, because thinking only involves the conscious brain. 

We CHANGE and MANIFEST not from our conscious mind, but from our unconscious mind.

Let’s say you want to change the level of anxiety you’re feeling. Maybe it’s today’s headlines, or your kids fighting, or a sleepless night, or tension with your honey that’s causing some anxiety.

Fear not. It’s simpler than you think, remember?

Here are 3 simple ways to quell your anxiety and shift quickly into a better feeling state.

And hey, even if you know these tricks already, I challenge you to actually implement them in an anxious moment, so you can notice the shift and then say to yourself, “huh, transformation CAN be quick and easy!”

Tip #1. The Long Exhale
Rate your anxiety on a scale from 1-10. Then take a 3-4 second inhale, through your nose. Exhale twice as long. Repeat 3 times. Rate your anxiety again and notice if the number has decreased. Seeing is believing. Practice along with me on IG here. 

Tip #2. Shift Out and Shhhhh
Again, rate your anxiety on a scale from 1-10. Now find something in front of you to focus your gaze on. Take some slow breaths (exhale twice as long) and, without moving your eyes, soften your gaze and widen your peripheral vision. Stay with it. After three breaths, blink your eyes and come back. Rate your anxiety again to notice any change. Watch and practice along with me here.

Tip #3. The 90-Second Rule
My teacher Melissa says any emotion will leave your body in 90 seconds if you don’t add more fuel to the fire. In the midst of feeling anxious over something, focus on something else for 90 seconds… ANYTHING ELSE! Loudly sing a song (Row Row Row Your Boat?). Raise your arms and jump up and down. Count to 90 in a sing-song voice. Tell a short story out loud to yourself about a happy memory. Describe aloud in detail something beautiful or pleasing in your field of vision, or from your memory. If needed, set a timer for 90 seconds to make sure you keep at it. When the time is up, take those 3 breaths with a longer exhale, and rate your anxiety now. Notice any shift.

On a scale of 1-10, how’s your anxiety or stress today?

Hit reply and let me know.

In your corner,

PS. Arcade Fire just came out with a new single called Year of the Snake.

“It’s a season of change, and if you feel strange… it’s probably good.”