Stress management can be complicated and confusing because there are different types of stress— ACUTE STRESS, EPISODIC STRESS, & CHRONIC STRESS — each with its own characteristics, symptoms, duration and treatment approaches. Let's look at each one.

ACUTE STRESS:  is the most common form of stress. It comes from demands and pressures of the recent past and anticipated demands and pressures of the near future. Acute stress is thrilling and exciting in small doses, but too much is exhausting. A fast run down a challenging ski slope, for example, is exhilarating early in the day. That same ski run late in the day is taxing and wearing. Skiing beyond your limits can lead to falls and broken bones. By the same token, overdoing on short-term stress can lead to psychological distress, tension headaches, upset stomach and other symptoms.
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Fortunately, acute stress symptoms are recognized by most people. It's a laundry list of what has gone awry in their lives: the auto accident that crumpled the car fender, the loss of an important contract, a deadline they're rushing to meet, their child's occasional problems at school and so on.

Because it is short term, acute stress doesn't have enough time to do the extensive damage associated with long-term stress.

The most common symptoms are:

• Emotional distress - some combination of Anger or Irritability, Anxiety/Depression, the 3 stress emotions.
• Muscular problems - including tension headache, back pain, jaw pain and the muscular tensions that lead to pulled muscles and tendon and ligament problems.
• Organ disruptions - Stomach, gut and bowel problems such as heartburn, acid stomach, flatulence, diarrhea, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.
• Other body issues - Transient over arousal leads to elevation in blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, heart palpitations, dizziness, migraine headaches, cold hands or feet, shortness of breath and chest pain. 

​Acute stress can crop up in anyone's life, and it is highly treatable and manageable.  I saw this the strongest with one of my daughters when we moved from California to Utah.  Got so bad she started getting IBS and had to be pulled out of school for a while.  With Body Code treatments and working on managing her thoughts, she recovered and is happy and going to school again.  


EPISODIC ACUTE STRESS: There are those, however, who suffer acute stress frequently, whose lives are so disordered that they are studies in chaos and crisis. They're always in a rush, but always late. If something can go wrong, it does. They take on too much, have too many irons in the fire, and can't organize the slew of self-inflicted demands and pressures clamoring for their attention. They seem perpetually in the clutches of acute stress.
It is common for people with acute stress reactions to be over aroused, short-tempered, irritable, anxious and tense. Often, they describe themselves as having "a lot of nervous energy." Always in a hurry, they tend to be abrupt, and sometimes their irritability comes across as hostility. Interpersonal relationships deteriorate rapidly when others respond with real hostility. The workplace becomes a very stressful place for them.

• The cardiac prone, "Type A" personality described by cardiologists, Meter Friedman and Ray Rosenman, is similar to an extreme case of episodic acute stress. Type A's have an "excessive competitive drive, aggressiveness, impatience, and a harrying sense of time urgency." In addition there is a "free-floating, but well-rationalized form of hostility, and almost always a deep-seated insecurity." Such personality characteristics would seem to create frequent episodes of acute stress for the Type A individual. Friedman and Rosenman found Type A's to be much more likely to develop coronary heat disease than Type B's, who show an opposite pattern of behavior.

Another form of episodic acute stress comes from ceaseless worry. "Worry warts" see disaster around every corner and pessimistically forecast catastrophe in every situation. The world is a dangerous, unrewarding, punitive place where something awful is always about to happen. These "awfulizers" also tend to be over aroused and tense, but are more anxious and depressed than angry and hostile.
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The symptoms of episodic acute stress are the symptoms of extended over arousal: 

• Persistent tension headaches
• Migraines
• Hypertension
• Chest pain
• Heart disease.

Treating episodic acute stress requires intervention on a number of levels, generally requiring professional help, which may take many months.

Often, lifestyle and personality issues are so ingrained and habitual with these individuals that they see nothing wrong with the way they conduct their lives. They blame their woes on other people and external events. Frequently, they see their lifestyle, their patterns of interacting with others, and their ways of perceiving the world as part and parcel of who and what they are.
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Sufferers can be fiercely resistant to change. Only the promise of relief from pain and discomfort of their symptoms can keep them in treatment and on track in their recovery program.


CHRONIC STRESS:  While acute stress can be thrilling and exciting, chronic stress is not. This is the grinding stress that wears people away day after day, year after year. Chronic stress destroys bodies, minds and lives. It wreaks havoc through long-term attrition. It's the stress of poverty, of dysfunctional families, of being trapped in an unhappy marriage or in a despised job or career. It's the stress that the never-ending "troubles" have brought to the people of Northern Ireland, the tensions of the Middle East have brought to the Arab and Jew, and the endless ethnic rivalries that have been brought to the people of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.  

It comes when a person never sees a way out of a miserable situation. It's the stress of unrelenting demands and pressures for seemingly interminable periods of time. With no hope, the individual gives up searching for solutions.

Some chronic stresses stem from traumatic, early childhood experiences that become internalized and remain forever painful and present. Some experiences profoundly affect personality. A view of the world, or a belief system, is created that causes unending stress for the individual (e.g., the world is a threatening place, people will find out you are a pretender, you must be perfect at all times). When personality or deep-seated convictions and beliefs must be reformulated, recovery requires active self-examination, often with professional help. 

The worst aspect of chronic stress is that people get used to it. They forget it's there. People are immediately aware of acute stress because it is new; they ignore chronic stress because it is old, familiar, and sometimes, almost comfortable.
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If people go long enough without getting help, chronic stress can kill through suicide, violence, heart attack, stroke and, perhaps, even cancer. People wear down to a final, fatal breakdown. Because physical and mental resources are depleted through long-term attrition, the symptoms of chronic stress are difficult to treat and may require extended medical as well as behavioral treatment and stress management. 

I help clients learn stress management by:

• Empowering and Teaching them EFT techniques and Life Coaching Processes to use through out their day.
• Releasing past emotional traumas causing reactions to stressful experiences with Emotion Code Energy Clearings. 
• Also correcting imbalances causing the feelings of stress.  Common issues tend to be balancing the fight or flight response by balancing the nervous system.  Like the hypothalamus and amygdala, just to name a few.  I do this with The Body Code.

Here's how you can learn more: 

• Check out more of my blogs here on this page
• Schedule a free 20 min discovery session with me HERE
• Sign up more my free Resource Library HERE
• Join my Private self care support group for women and moms HERE
• Like my Facebook Page below for constant information and inspirations 

If everything is made up of energy then thought is energy too. Your thoughts have a certain vibration which is what you send out into your world - like a signal.

Negative Thoughts are created by being formed by your perception. They are shaped by your negative beliefs about yourself, your abilities and your world. These beliefs, mostly subconscious, together with whatever the strongest emotions are within you, will draw to you the experience that most truly represents these ideas or images.

After you think these negative thoughts and beliefs, you experience the accompanying emotion and then....if you don't do something to release it, you physically feel it in some shape or form. 
Whatever that may be, within your body or they are expressed (manifested) in some way in the reality of your life. Thats never fun.

THOUGHT -> FEELING -> MANIFESTATION (behavior, action, or experience)

Every time you feel, for example, the emotions of failure, fear, anger or guilt or you realize you have reacted in a particular way in certain situations, you are confronting the effects of your limiting beliefs buried away in the subconscious parts of yourself.  Some people call it Emotional Baggage.  As a Body Code Practitioner, we call the result, 'Trapped Emotions'. As Dr. Brad Nelson, creator of The Emotion Code explains, “Emotional baggage consists of discrete energies that became trapped during emotional events experienced in your past”. 

Facts about the Negative Thoughts & Beliefs you hold:

• They act together like an energetic blueprint 
• Subconsciously take over and become the driver. 
• Are fueled by your ’ trapped emotions’
• Keep generating life experiences according to the pattern of the blueprint.
• Create the self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviors preventing your success. 
• Affects your choices, from the negative belief and trapped emotions cycle
• Promotes destructive behaviors 
• Creates unwanted situations

Its a cycle.  The ‘trapped emotions’ glue the belief in place and the belief in turn, creates emotions that reinforce it – the energies are vibrationally matched; so then you get more evidence in your life to confirm your belief. The belief and the ‘trapped emotions’ mutually reinforce each other. And can create more negative thoughts.

So, in order to make any measurable change in your life and create the reality you want, one needs to change their subconscious programming. 

Here are 3 Steps you need to do:

• RELEASE your negative, limiting beliefs (with The Body Code, life coaching processes, & EFT) 

 

• RE-PROGRAM these limiting beliefs with positive self-serving beliefs & patterns  (with The Body Code, life coaching processes, & EFT) 

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• RELEASE their accompanying ‘Trapped Emotions’ (The Body Code)

Once you become consciously aware of your negative beliefs playing out, you can take control of the factors creating your life. Suddenly, with this new awareness you have a choice...

 1. Continue to go down the habitual & familiar, yet chaotic & stressful road, one so comfortable that you play your part within it without even realizing it. 
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OR

  2. Choose to transform and find yourself doing something very different and discover how it really feels to be free. 

You hold so much power once you become aware of it.  I am here to support you.  If you are interested, you can schedule a Free Buds 2 Blossoms Discovery Session to discuss your issues and how I can help.

Also, keep up with Blossom's social media sites, you will learn ways to release negative thoughts and beliefs on yourself using processes and EFT.  As well as experience The Emotion Code in FB Lives.  Coming soon!

With love and light,
- Amy Francis, Certified Body Code & Pro EFT Practitioner, & Life Coach ​
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​Everyone feels low at some point in life, but if you have clinical depression, these feelings are constant. Depression is usually worst in the morning and may make it difficult to work, study, take care of yourself and enjoy your friends and favorite activities. At Blossom Holistic Health we can help you overcome these consuming feelings of dread and apathy.
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Symptoms of Depression

•  Fatigue or loss of energy
•  Feelings of worthlessness
•  Problems with focus and concentration; inability to make decisions
•  Insomnia or excessive sleeping
•  Lack of interest in things that are otherwise enjoyable
•  Withdrawal from others and social activiites
•  Psychomotor agitation (pacing, hand wringing, rubbing, inability to sit still}
•  Slowness (slowed or softened speech, slowed thinking, slowed movement)
•  Weight loss or gain
•  Thoughts of death or suicide
•  Anger and irritability, may include violence
•  Tearfulness
•  Decreased libido

Triggers of Depression

•  Grief because of a loss –this can be death of a loved one, loss of employment, loss of financial status, divorce, separation, etc.
•  Social isolation and loneliness
•  Life changes – moving, job change, graduation, retirement, birth of a child, children leaving the home, etc.
•  Personal conflicts in relationships
•  Physical, sexual, emotional abuse
•  Particular medications have depression listed as a possible side effect
•  Hormonal changes
•  Alcohol and drugs
•  Environmental Toxins
•  Habit of Negative thinking and Self-Talk
• General Depression Passed on to you- (inherited) you can clear it for you and generations back

​You can literally become "Programmed" to be depressed because of these things above.  Luckily you can also be reprogrammed subconsciously through energy work.  And reprogrammed consciously through Life Coaching. 
 
Depression is diagnosed based on symptoms, though there are medical disorders and medications that can contribute to depression. For example, women who have just given birth often experience postpartum depression which turns into clinical depression. High blood pressure, medications, hormone-altering drugs and stimulants are examples of drugs that can cause depression.

If you’re ready to beat depression, make a Free (over the phone) Buds to Blossoms Discovery Session with Amy Francis to see what the best plan for you would be in beating this.  Depression can be treated alternatively through a blended combination of life coaching, EFT and energy healing. It got her out of it and many of her clients as well. Appointments are over the phone or  in-office.  

www.blossomholistichealth.com

Most people worry some of the time, however, if you have Generalized Anxiety Disorder, worries and fears are so constant that they interfere with your capacity to work, play, and relax. You may worry about the same things that other people worry about: money, job, family problems. But, unlike others, your worry is unrelenting. At times, you may feel tense and anxious and won’t even know what you are worried about.

Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety include:
 Worry that disrupts your job, activities, or social life
 Uncontrollable worry
 Muscle tension, aches, soreness
 Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
 Stomach problems, nausea, and/or diarrhea
 Jumpiness or feeling unsteady
 Edginess or restlessness
 Easily tired
 Irritability
 Feelings of dread
 Inability to relax
 Problems with focus and concentration – your mind may be “going blank”
 Particular fears

​Anxiety-reducing lifestyle changes include:

• Eliminating caffeine and sugar
• Exercising
• Improving your diet
• Get help and support from family and friends 
• Get support from a professional (Specializing Therapist, Life Coach, Energy Practioner)
• Practice meditation and deep breathing exercises
• Relaxing activities (walking, listening to music, petting your dog or cat, taking a warm bath, sitting outside in good weather, going for a drive)

Generalized anxiety is often accompanied by depression, substance abuse, weight gain or loss, and physical problems. Therapy is a key component of treatment for Generalized Anxiety. Medications may be helpful but Therapy has been shown to be as effective as medication and free of adverse reactions. Changing unhealthy thinking patterns and releasing emotional and mental baggage may take time and effort, but will be well worth the improvement in your overall well-being.

Have H.O.P.E, which really means: Hold On, Pain Ends.  I have come out from the other side and have seen many of my clients come out of this as well. Take a deep breath and relax your face.  Yes, you read that right.  Relax your face.  We hold more tension there than we realize. Also remember what Bob Marley says: Everything is gonna be alright.
Where you are at, is where you are at, and that's ok.  You're learning something powerful in this experience, even though you may not feel it in this moment.  Many Hugs! Amy Francis

                           Here are 9 EASY GROUNDING TECHNIQUES, that might help!
Are you feeling any extra stress by chance from the holidays?  Feeling unmotivated, grumpy, irritated, overwhelmed, anxious?  Well, you just might need to "ground" yourself. No, not for being bad.  Although a time out might do you some good.  But, I mean, you might need to use some of these techniques in this article to bring you back down to earth, to help you be more focused and make more clear decisions and.... to relax you!
Here is some information on what this is all about.  

What is grounding?
 It’s the process by which we maintain an appropriate energy charge by releasing any energy which would constitute an excessive charge within the systems of the body, emotions, mind, etc. (Our home's electrical circuits are grounded to dismiss the extra electricity.) Grounding is a necessary outflow, in contrast to the many inflows of energy into our systems -- from other people, from our digestion of food, from our breathing of fresh air, from sunlight, from the impact of spirit upon our material substance, etc.


What are the benefits of grounding?
We are relaxed, mentally and emotionally.

• In an ungrounded state, we might experience nervousness, restlessness, stress, emotional irritability, frenzied euphoria, anxiety, and insomnia.

We are relaxed, physically.

• In an ungrounded state, we might experience headaches, temperature extremes (e.g., cold skin or hot skin), muscle spasms and trembling, excessive perspiration, difficulties in breathing or digestion, stinging sensations, and abnormal heart rhythms.

We are alert.

• In an ungrounded state, we might experience dreaminess, and a continual semi-trance condition. 

We can concentrate mentally.

•  In an ungrounded state, we might experience "spaciness," and an inability to focus our attention.  

We feel a warm association with our physical body.

• In an ungrounded state, we might experience cold skin, awkward movements, a strange unfamiliarity with our body, a sensation that we are floating outside of our body, and the disassociation which is characteristic of the schizoid or schizophrenic condition

We feel a secure connection to the physical world.

• In an ungrounded state, we might experience sensory distortions, e.g., muffled hearing, a numb sense of touch, and a dream-like sense of vision.

We sense a comfortable connection to other people.

• In an ungrounded state, we might experience paranoia, hypersensitivity to the presence of other people, an "energy drain" when we are in public, a generally dysfunctional personality, and a belief that we are profoundly different from other people or even that we are inhuman.

What Are Some Easy Techniques for Grounding?
Grounding is a natural part of life; it occurs in the give-and-take of our daily activities. But we might need to use specific techniques to ground ourselves if we have become over-charged with the energy of intense emotions, or a stressful degree of inactivity (which does not provide opportunities for the discharge of energy), or religious practices (including some meditation methods). The grounding techniques are meant to be remedies for a temporary condition of imbalance; if we need them to use them regularly, we might want to examine (and change) the lifestyle which repeatedly causes us to become over-charged.

1. We can manage our thoughts etc.  Thoughts, images, energy tones, and actions can permit the free flow of spiritual substance from one soul to another, through the material interface which we call our human life. If we block this flow (through damming/damning thoughts, images, energy tones, and actions), we also block the energy which would pass from our material self into our material environment; i.e., we do not ground the energy. Instead, the energy becomes trapped in our energy fields, our body, and our psyche -- in various forms, including tension, stress, and the charge of the specific a-field elements which become the basis of our karma.
   • Self-talk. For example: "My body feels warm and comfortable." "I am relaxed." "I enjoy being alive." "I enjoy expressing myself in my physical life." "I am calm." "I like to be physically active."
   • Directed imagination. We can visualize ourselves in various situations where we are fully engaged with a physical life which is pleasant and rewarding.
   • Energy toning. We can express the energy tones of warmth, vitality, physical vigor, enthusiasm, etc.
   • The "as if" principle.  We can act as if we are a part of regular human life and society, even if you don't feel like you are.
2. We can be physically active.   During these activities, we breathe deeply, and we let our body bend and stretch, and we engage all of our physical senses vigorously and pleasurably. The physical activities can include:
   • Regular daily activities.
   • Walk around your neighborhood.
   • Go out for a bagel.
   • Exercise with an aerobics video.
   • Wash your car.
   • Play some old popular songs on your guitar.
   •  Do your laundry.
   • "Moving meditation." Example: med while you walk, (get a guided walking med. app)
3. We can have physical contact with the world around us.  During our daily routines, we are always in contact with physical objects -- touching, holding, grabbing, stroking, or merely sitting.
   • For grounding, we can strive to have a "feeling" contact with these objects; we sense the warm energy which flows from our hands into the objects, and we allow our hands to hold the objects (and "savor" them) until we feel we have discharged the energy which was meant to pass into the objects.
   • We might feel even more of this discharge if we lie outside on grass or dirt (or if we handle the dirt, as we do when we are gardening); our excess energy will flow naturally into the earth.
   • Our surplus energy can discharge through our feet, too, so its good to have our feet flat on the floor when sitting.
4. We can have some social contact.
   • Go shopping with a friend who is fun and down to earth; talk about sports, movies, and other down-to-earth matters. Be expressive and animated in your conversations, facial expressions, and gestures.
   • To increase the grounding, we can have physical contact with a friend or loved one-- holding hands, or receiving a massage (or giving one), or slow-dancing, or making love.
5. We can relax our body.  We discharge excess energy when we:
   • Sleep.  
   • Do a relaxation routine (or hatha yoga)
   • Take a warm bath
   • Daily Energy Routine (more on this in a later article)
6. We can change our diet.
   • We can become more aware of food's effect upon our energy and our grounding.
   • For example, we might lose our grounding if our diet consists of over-stimulating foods (e.g., coffee, sugar-filled items), or a strictly vegetarian regimen.
   • To ground ourselves, we might need to eat more meat, particularly lean beef. If you have a friend or practitioner that muscle tests, you can be muscle tested to find out what dietary needs you have. 
7. We can visualize a cord.
   • Visualize a cord with a hook, from your spine going down into the earth and connecting to the core of the earth.  Grounding and stabilizing you.
8. We can spoon.

(No, not that kind of spoon.  Dirty minds....At least not in this section)

           1. Rub a stainless steel spoon over the bottom of your feet. The metal draws excess energies down and off the feet.  This has a subtle centering effect on your nervous system, and is very grounding.​ 

9.     We can serve.
           1.  We can "give." Our over-charge of energy might have occurred because our inflow was excessive, or because our outflow was insufficient; i.e., we did not "give" enough energy in our daily life. To discharge that energy, we can give via volunteer work, or donations of money and goods to charity. However, the giving must be done with warmth, because it is the warmth which carries the energy from us to other people.

Below is a review of a great video I would like to share with you.  
It is 4 mins, if you choose the summary version in the 1st video or 35 mins for the full version in the 2nd video.
Its on Dr Emotos water experiment: How the dr. discovered scientific proof that what we think and say, affect not only ourselves but others around us as well. And if you're  wanting even more information.  Check out the Review that was written about this video

Enjoy!