Beyond Massage - Top 10 List on How to Feel Better in this Economy

A top 10 list 

How to Feel Better in this economy

1. Learn how you relax best.
   
   I see this as the most important step. Why? Because you can't move if you're constricted. You can't feel or think clearly if you're frozen with fear, tension, worry, negativity, or if you're flying all over the place constantly changing your mind about what to do, which is a big way to create stress.
   
   You might spend some time simply learning about step 1.
   
   I find this step so important that it's my specialty as a practitioner: relaxation specialist.
   
   I believe in feeling good about what you decide, because you're not going to change or take action if you don't feel good about your choices and your life perspective in some respect.
   
   Notice that I said "how you relax" best. People will give you all sorts of ways that work for them, but if it doesn't work for you then what good is it for you?
   
   For instance, everyone has heard that massage is relaxing. And for some people it serves that purpose supremely. But for others it might not appeal whatsoever. If you enjoy touch but not massage, find other ways to be touched. If breathing relaxes you, take a staycation and discover what around you supports breathwork--performed as in yoga--or natural as in Rosen Method Bodywork and Movement.
   
   Relaxation is cumulative and essential. It allows in life.
   
   Relaxation has been called the gateway to the soul and the gateway to awareness. It opens space inside for you, and you is who this is all about.
   
   One way to relax is to breathe. Learn about relaxation and breathing methods that enable your breath to be free and flow through you.
2. Make a list of what you know helps you feel better. Identify which are feasible and how you can achieve them on your budget. Barter. Exchange. Now is also your chance to try some new things.
   
   It's important to become as clear as you can about your life, and to also be supportive and forgiving of yourself. Your choices are for now. They may change. There isn't a right or wrong way to do this. There are simply ways. Find yours in the way most comfortable for you at this time.
   
   Periodically review your results to fine-tune or re-think your approach, if you feel the need to do so.
3. Learn to connect to the Force Within You--the place of intuition, sixth sensory living, love and support. This is learning about your operating system: that is, your energy system. There is a science to how you function that comes from a place that isn't "the mind."
   
   A lot of advice givers talk to you from a mental place. They throw out a lot of language. The place of language is often a "known" place and that's where you are and where you've been. Changing your life so you feel better is often a new landscape.
   
   Investigate meditation, Abraham-Hicks.com, energy work, energy psychology like EFT or Huna's Dynamind Technique, or energy medicine, including flower essence therapy, which is immensely supportive of change.
   
   Discover what intrigues you, calls to you, enlivens you, or seems most likely to have the kind of results that speak to you. Have sessions, or attend a retreat training workshop in one or more modalities that involve self-healing and personal growth practices and tools.
   
   If you're afraid to do any of this, take some time to investigate that fear. Trying something is like tasting a new food. The worst that can happen is that you won't like it. But chances are with any kind of relaxation system, you will like it and you'll want more. In that more is the process of discovery--of a new you and a new way of living full of infinite possibility.
4. Seek guidance and hang out with people who seem to have the attitude you're looking for. Find the experts, blogs, sites, movies, talk shows that give you a feeling of upliftment and joy not doom, gloom and more fear.
5. Make "artist" dates and do things alone or with friends and family that inspire you and get you interested in learning more, or trying a new activity. Discover what is life-affirming.
   
   Many times crises cause people to pull together, get more creative, or adapt in unique ways. Use this time as though it is a new space program. Planet Earth is changing and we're changing with it.
6. Use your resources. Libraries are free. Many art galleries and artist studios are free to visit. Enjoy them. Go out in nature and really notice what is around you. Do you know the parks around you? Notice what in nature fills you with a different sense of what life is really about.
   
   Attend information sessions on techniques and modalities that could support you at this time. Church-going may be one place to receive additional support at this time, but so can metaphysical communities, zen gardens, or places that offer spiritual growth seminars and classes. There are so many out there and there's bound to be several appropriate for you.
7. Adopt an attitude of play. We all do better when we feel enthused, passionate, and light-hearted.
   
   Play also let's you be less serious and constricted. It helps you feel better about yourself, what you can do, and what is possible in any given moment.
   
   Games and laughter change a vibration inside you and ripple outward.
8. Spend a few minutes each day taking some action toward at least one goal/ intention that makes you feel good. If you want to write the great American novel, start writing. If you always wanted to be a filmmaker, learn photography. Start.
   
   Remember: "If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got."
   
   Keep a journal of what works, what you did, what you noticed. Note qualities, feelings. Express appreciation. Add favorite photos, images, poems. Share.
9. If it's slow going for awhile, find ways to look at what kind of behavior may be interfering or thought processes and other aspects of this life-long process might be the reason for your being wherever you are.
   
   If you need professional help, admit it and seek it. There are all sorts of help for all sorts of pocket books.
10. Surround yourself with beauty--what is beautiful to you. Have a place to go or a collection of positive-feeling elicitors... this may be music that motivates you and makes you feel like a superhero. It may be a place in nature, or a particular town or city. Maybe it's a quote or a youtube video.
    
    Always have something like this handy to reward you or re-motivate you. And you know, a box of dark chocolate can be wonderful once in awhile.
    
    Blessings!