Inner Peace and Joy Tip#68: Count Slowly

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 26- 30 for a Spirit Booster!

Have you ever been in a stressful situation and you could not leave the room. Well, I am in this situation daily. I manage a group home for at risk boys and they threaten my inner peace daily. If you have teenage children then you know that they require your attention and they have special needs that you must attend to. This can be stressful but it does not have to be once you learn how to master your stress from the inside out and not outside in.

Now when I am in a stressful situation, such as one of the boys may be verbally abusive or causing chaos, at the same time another boy may need my assistance, and to top it all off the phone is ringing. In a situation such as this, I really want to just pull my hair and run out of the house but the reality of the situation is I can not leave the boys unattended.

So, what I do is a breathing exercise. This exercise is really quick and you can do it right where you are at.

Exercise
Try counting from 1-10 very slowly. As you count inhale and exhale

• 1 (deeply inhale) (slowly exhale)
• 2 (deeply inhale) (slowly exhale)
• 3 (deeply inhale) (slowly exhale)
• 4 (deeply inhale) (slowly exhale)
• 5 (deeply inhale) (slowly exhale)
• 6 (deeply inhale) (slowly exhale)
• 7 (deeply inhale) (slowly exhale)
• 8 (deeply inhale) (slowly exhale)
• 9 (deeply inhale) (slowly exhale)
• 10 (deeply inhale) (slowly exhale)

When you count 1-10 very slowly, it gives you the time you need to refocus and get centered. By the time that I reach number 8, I am usually calm and able to deal with each situation.

Share with me what you do to keep your inner peace when you are in a stressful situation

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