Hello and welcome to the Mindful Kind podcast. I'm your host, Rachel Cable, author of the

Mindfulkind book, Mindfulness Teacher and blogger at Rachelcable.com. Each week this podcast will

bring meaningful tips, tools and strategies so you can manage stress and live more mindfully

in the modern world.

Hello and welcome to episode 263 of the Mindful Kind podcast. In this episode, you'll learn how

to manage acute stress, which is brief but usually quite intense stress, usually triggered by an event or a situation.

I can't wait to dive into this episode, especially because knowing how to manage acute stress

is something I think everyone could really benefit from.

We all experience acute stress at different times of our lives and it can be confronting and intense

sometimes, but with some effective strategies, you'll get through those experiences and hopefully

feel even more resilient afterwards. So an acute stressor is an event or a situation that

causes a short-term experience of stress. The good news is that acute stress

can actually be beneficial in a variety of situations. I was out walking along the river a few days

ago when I saw a snake in the grass. I immediately froze, my heart rate increased and my

muscles all tensed up. My body was preparing me to escape from danger,

and that's what acute stress is meant to do. My mind identified a threat,

kicked my stress response into gear, which is also known as the fight or flight response,

and so I was ready to protect myself by either fighting or running away.

After a moment, I actually realized that the snake was a long-bound stick and not a real snake,

and my stress response calmed back down.

An experience like this can be totally healthy and normal,

however, it can be helpful to know how to soothe your stress response,

...