> Practical Family Living

There's a part of our brain that we can liken to a fire alarm. This part of us is always scanning our environment for danger. This is also the part that gets us stressed out. And when this part is triggered the muscles of our body tense. It might be different muscles for different people but there is always some sort of tension. An exercise that we can do to reduce our own anxiety and stress levels is to notice where the tension is in our body - and then to intentionally relax those muscles. If you're struggling to do this, constrict those muscles for 5 seconds and then let go and they should relax. Then, take a few good deep breaths, tell yourself some good, true things, and feel the stress leave your body.