Welcome to the Anxiety Slayer series. Our mission is to assist you with creating more peace and tranquility in your life

through anxiety release exercises and supportive tools created to slay your

anxiety.

In this week's podcast I want to talk about the perils of running hot. Did you ever notice that it takes a long while for a small flame to heat a pot of water?

But once a pot of water is already hot, it can be kept simmering with that same small flame.

Now what if the pot represented you, the water represented your inner thermostat and the flame your day-to-day stresses? Looking at stress in this

way clearly shows that when you're already running hot, the smallest heat can get you to simmering or even boiling point.

The hotter you already are, the greater the influence of any additional heat, and the cooler you are, the longer it takes for that little flame to have any noticeable impact at all.

The hover between hot and boiling point is hazardous to your health, destructive to your relationships, and disastrous to your quality of life.

The key problem with stress is that things of little real significance seem also important. The wood and the trees get all

mixed up and making a good judgment is unlikely. Eventually your body having whispered, cajoled and

pleaded with you over time will shout enough and bring you to a grinding

hold in one of a variety of awful and attention-grabbing ways.

But why wait till things get serious or even dangerous?

Slowing down and cooling down don't have to be major productivity-holting endeavors.

Initially, the very nature of stress will have you thinking you don't have time, as if it's a distraction

or an indulgence to take time out and invest in yourself.

Yet, research is showing us again and again that those who use small units of time to relax, walk, swim, play with the kids are feeling happier and getting more done than those who are running around trying to get more done without taking a break. As with all interventions, when things are

spiraling out of control, you have to stop and commit to making some changes

by design rather than by force when your body or mind can no longer take the pressure.

Here's one quick and easy way to use your breath to turn down the heat and if you practice it for five or ten minutes a day, in your

lunch break, on the train, before going to bed, in the car, whenever you choose, you'll

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