Healthy Happy Loving Life: Instant Calm for Busy People

26 Tuesday Apr 2022

Posted by Kebba Buckley Button in calm, Calming, instant calm for busy people, meditation, stress, Stress Management, the life you want, Upbeat Spiritual Living

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Calm, Calming, Healthy Happy Loving Life, instant calm for busy people, Kebba Buckley Button, meditation, Prayer, Sacred Meditation, stress, UpBeat Living, Upbeat Spiritual Living

Today’s images by megapixl

I recently shared a brief way to break into meditation practice, in 8 quick steps (https://wp.me/pw4HM-1dw). Many loved it, and some said they couldn’t meditate because their minds were too busy, like the yogini above, and just too full of chatter. I promised to write a piece on instant calm for busy people, and that’s what brings us to today. There are many ways I can share, to instantly calm yourself. Here are 3 hand poses that will take you to calm very fast.

1. Gently place your hands together, palms touching. The palms access your central nervous system and calm you instantly. Now exhale. Drop your shoulders. Hold for one minute. Feel the difference. Feel the sides of your head let go and relax. Feel your brain slow down.

2. Place your hands in the classic prayer position, fingers intertwined. You have now connected most of the meridians in your body to each other. Exhale. Drop your shoulders. Hold for one minute. Feel the difference as your whole body calms. Try bringing your hands toward your forehead and leaning in. Feel the difference.

3. Place your hands together, palms touching. Bring this position back to your chest and feel the heart connection. Hold for one minute. Notice your face relaxing. Feel the contrast as your mind, body, and spirit calm down.

Apply these moves whenever you need calm. And let me know (kebba@kebba.com) what you notice in your thoughtstream, your body, and your skin. And that would be you, increasingly Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!

Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert, holistic healer, and award-winning author who celebrates life. She has a longtime natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), Inspirations for Peace Within: Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine. The books are available on Amazon and through Kebba’s office. They are also available in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the Franciscan Renewal Center bookstore and at the bookstore at St. Barnabas on the Desert Episcopal Church. Or simply email us to order: kebba@kebba.com . Thank you!

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Catching Calm from Someone Else

07 Saturday Aug 2021

Posted by Kebba Buckley Button in Calm, Dealing with stress, Effective Living, stress

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Calm, Effective living, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, The life you want

Image by Rendy Novantino on Unsplash

All week, I have been offering ways to assist you in finding your CALM— so important in this chaotic world. I have argued that being able to move into your CALM and carry it with you has become an essential tool for your well-being. Today, I offer the seventh piece in this series: Catching Calm from Someone Else.

It may seem obvious that you can catch a bad attitude from someone else. Stressed-out people make most of us feel tense and stressed-out. You can catch anger from someone else: for example, the person who comes into the room angry and blasts you. Then you feel angry, too, but you weren’t at all angry a minute before. (It wasn’t even your anger.) 2021 Woman yoga pose on deck-Jared Rice on Unsplash- small

Image by Jared Rice on Unsplash

You can catch comfort from someone, as when you were little, you were crying, and Mom or Dad came over and held you. Remember that reassurance and that CALM you felt? Mom or Dad knew everything would be all right, and you got that feeling by transfer. And then you were CALM.

Today, think of other people around whom you felt CALM in the past, or people you know now, with whom you feel CALM. Perhaps you are inspired to calmness by someone you know Out There: a yoga teacher, a pastor, the guy who taught you to ride horses. Perhaps one of the horses had a strangely calming effect on you. Maybe you remember your friend who made a trip to Iceland (below) and brought back stunning, calming photos. Maybe you just saw the unusual guy, in a complete business suit, sitting on a garden bench, totally relaxed (top image, above).

2021 Guy relaxing with Iceland scape-Anthony Tori on Unsplash

Image by Anthony Tori on Unsplash

The calmest person I ever saw, to me, embodied perfect, transcendent Peace Within. Her serenity was so great that it has remained in my heart for many years. I was a stressed-out engineering manager, returning from a conference in Pittsburgh. Always geared-up, I was walking quickly through the Pittsburgh airport, looking for my departure gate. Well off to my left, I caught a view of an unusual person: a nun in full traditional ankle-length habit, veil and wimple. She was moving peacefully yet confidently in the opposite direction from me. From her radiated such absolute peace that I had to stop completely to take her in. I was affected, even mesmerized. Right away, I unbent my hurrying posture and re-set to peaceful mode, even slowing my pace; I wanted to be like she was. Whenever I think of her, I feel that CALM once more. I caught CALM from the nun in a hectic airport. So who can you catch CALM from?

From time to time, let yourself ponder the energies of the key and not-that-key people in your life. Are one or more CALM enough that you can catch it from them? Now, that’s you, being more and more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!

Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM, is an energy transformation expert, holistic guide, and award-winning author who celebrates life. She has a longtime energy healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), Inspirations for Peace Within: Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine. The books are available on Amazon and through Kebba’s office. To email us, kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Using Environment for Calm

06 Friday Aug 2021

Posted by Kebba Buckley Button in Calm, Dealing with stress, Effective Living, stress

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Calm, Effective living, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, The life you want

This week, we have been focusing on CALM as a powerful state we can get to in a number of ways. Have you been trying, or even regularly practicing, some of these methods? We have covered a type of deep exhalation, several-word affirmations, finger holds, signs, and sounds. Today we offer ways to use your surroundings as a path to CALM.

First, look around your home, office, and car. Ask yourself what mood those surroundings impart. Yes, include your car–especially the interior! Are these environments clean, neat, pleasant, lovely, and serene? Do you feel calm when you get into your car? Or when you walk into your home or office? If not, why not? If those areas are messy or the decor is disjointed, it will be hard to feel CALM there. Make a list of what would be needed for each of these areas to feel like calming spaces, then start making changes. This may take awhile. But every change is worth it. Start by cleaning, then clearing clutter, then re-arranging, tweaking colors as you go. And let me know about your progress with experiencing CALM.
Think of what natural environments have been especially calming for you. Mountain hiking? Cabin weekends? Beach retreats? Just sitting, watching a fish tank or a crackling fire? Now, we don’t have the time to do any of those every day, for a full day. Most of us need quick solutions for regular stress– or sudden or severe stress. A vacation just doesn’t always fit. So here is how you can use those now. Sit in a comfy chair in a quiet area (or the quietest you can find), and exhale deeply to your toes. Now vividly recall a calming environment you have visited. Feel your face relaxing, your back letting go, your gut releasing, your leg muscles softening. Feel your being go to utter CALM. Keep looking around your serene environment and taking it in, in great detail. BE there in your mind’s eye, and your system will respond as if you are actually there. You may want to set a timer, in case you get too relaxed for your schedule needs. Try for 5 minutes at a time, at first. With practice, you’ll be able to call up your beach, cabin, or fireplace in a moment, returning quickly to your CALM.

Play with these two powerful practices and feel your life change. And let me know what you experience. Now, that’s you, being more and more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Sounds to Bring Calm

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Calm, Effective living, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, The life you want

This week, I have been offering simple, easy-to-remember ways to move into CALM. I have described the use of a powerful exhale, multiword mantras, using calming sights, holding finger poses, and posting signs. Today, we cover some ways to use sound to bring calm. I invite you to experiment with the different types and effects of sound, to find out which work best for you. Find a comfy chair, inside or outside, and really give each of these a try, for 10-30 minutes– or more.

Toning. Pick a tone that comes to you and hum it with your mouth closed. Notice your shoulders dropping and relaxation running down your spine. To increase the effect, touch your tongue to the ridge of the roof of your mouth, near the upper teeth.
Chanting. The repetitive tonality of Monks chanting, and traditional Jewish chanting, both calm the heart and settle your system. Look for a recording called “Chant”, made by real monks. Or look for recordings of Gregorian chants. You will be entranced. And you may even want to exercise while listening. Traditional Jewish chanting must be heard to be understood, so search YouTube for recordings if this sounds interesting to you. Look for the term nigun as well. You may find yourself transported.
Hymns. These can also transport you. Look for themes such as: It is well with my soul. This hymn was written by a man who had just lost his family at sea but then came to deep peace. Listen to this traditional hymn, and notice it moving your heart and calming your shoulders. Both the music and the words of hymns can be very moving and calming.
Drumming. Try rhythmic tapping on a drum. For your first try, if you don’t own a drum, you can use an oatmeal box or glass cabinet door. Try a straight, even tapping, or a double-tap followed by a single tap: ta ta TA, ta ta TA, and repeating continuously for a few minutes. Notice your breath slowing and easing, and your whole busy back relaxing. If you find drumming very calming, you may want to get a custom gourd drum, like mine, shown here.
Nature sounds. If you have a yard or nearby park, try eating al fresco and listening to the birds. Or visit a watercourse and sit, listening to the rippling or rushing water. If you need to be inside, look for recordings of nature: water, rustling leaves, and birds. An easy source is Pandora’s Zen Garden Radio, which has light music playing over nature sounds. The artists are listed. So when you find an artist with a piece you really like, you can pursue other offerings they may have.

These are just a few of the ways you can use sound to take you to degrees of CALM. Try them all, and let me know what worked best for you personally. And that’s you, being more and more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!

Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM, is a stress solutions expert, holistic guide, and award-winning author who celebrates life. She has a longtime energy healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), Inspirations for Peace Within: Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine. The books are available on Amazon and through Kebba’s office. To email us, kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Signs for Calm

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2021 Woman meditating on rock beach- processingly-2pUP1Ts1bmo-unsplash

Photo by processingly on Unsplash

All week, I am offering quick ways to help you get to your CALM state. The quickest path to CALM for you might be different than the quickest path to CALM for your sister or maybe for me. But tools for CALM are primary, helping you shift your mind and metabolism to a more restful state that will feed your health. And therefore your relationships. And therefore your success in life. Now, if you prefer to be excited all the time, that’s a different personality, and you are burning out your adrenal glands. This is not healthy.

So today, I’m recommending three forms of indoor visuals that will remind you of and take you to CALM. These apply in the home and also in the office, if you have a separate office you go to.

Images. Paintings, prints, sculptures, framed photographs, silk flower arrangements: these are familiar decor items. As you look at each item on your walls or coffee table, or pedestals, do you feel calmed by each of them? For example, as in the photo above, we have a deeply serene scene of the ocean, looking out from a beach, where a person is meditating. For more CALM, consider switching out artworks that are not calming for new ones that are. Have you ever seen a calendar that had a different inspiring image for each month? These are plentiful in the Fall, but they also are available throughout the year. These are inexpensive and offer themes of gardens, garden paths/gates, skies, mountains, artworks, Zen gardens…the array is endless. And if you fall in love with a monthly image, you can always take it off the calendar and get it framed. I did that with an image of a garden gate.
Signs. From post-it notes to notebook pages with favorite quotes, to well-designed slogan art, this is your chance to keep restating something that re-inspires you to return to your CALM. Leave yourself informal notes, stuck to your grooming mirror (morning inspiration) and above your pillow (night-time inspiration). Little notes are great on your car’s dashboard, also. The calligraphy artwork piece, below, lives on my therapy office wall. It reminds me and everyone that we *are* on our best path, right now. Very calming. Do you have signs up already, that you find inspiring and calming?
Mugs. The humble mug can be the greatest carrier of a message we need to see over and over again. While we hold the mug with our favorite beverage, we see the design and any message, many times. So, what if your mug displayed a calming message? Here is one, telling us we need not worry. What a calming message. Look for more message mugs that are meaningful and calming to you!

Did you notice your body relaxing and calming as you went over this list? Read my posts each day this month, and be rested, revitalized and amazed! And that’s you, being more and more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Finger Poses for Calm

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This week, I am sharing short, easy ways to get to your CALM state. Getting to a state of CALM, and staying there, is a longtime passion of mine. As a child, and through school and university days, I found life very stressful. It was so easy to get wound up, to get so tense I couldn’t think straight or enjoy life. And I knew so many unhappy people. So today, my passion is to help people heal from every type of pain: spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical. People come to my natural healing practice to have their pains dissolved, to have their energy transformed, and to learn specific strategies for preventing pain from invading them again. I have and teach many hundreds of tools. So let’s talk now about CALM, a primary tool for transformation.

CALM will allow all the muscles of your body to relax, at least somewhat. This will let go of nerves that are squeezed tight, and many pains will release simply because you are CALM. This process will further allow circulation to optimize, so your heart and other organs will get better blood flow and oxygen feed. I have met a surgeon who is more calm than most people I have ever met. I tease him that he is “unnaturally calm”. His every movement is permeated with calm thoughtfulness. And he is renowned for being pleasant and doing exquisite surgery. And if you are not a surgeon, you’ll have both hands free, and you can try some finger poses. A detailed chart of possibilities is above, but start with these two:

Two outstanding finger holds will take you directly to CALM. These are (1) the Forefinger Massage and the (2) the Center Palm Touch.

(1) For the Forefinger Massage, gently feel the tops of your shoulders and then the bases of both your forefingers. Notice how hard your shouldertop muscles are. Now notice there are little muscles forming the flesh of the base finger segment. Whichever forefinger has the tightest little muscles is the one you start with. Gently massage the tight muscles, especially working knots you may find. Do this for 2 minutes at a time. Then, if you have time, switch to massaging the other forefinger. Notice you are calmer and your shouldertops are not as rock-hard.

(2) For the Center Palm Touch, start by noticing your center 3 fingers. Now place the tips of those fingers in the center of the opposite palm, and notice that you may feel a pulse under your fingertips. Drop your shoulders. Hold your arms in a relaxed way. Relax your hands, also. Notice your heart and your hold body calming. Resolve to keep this CALM with you throughout the day.

Read my posts each day this month, and be revitalized and amazed! And that’s you, being more and more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Affirmations for Calm

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Calm, Effective living, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, The life you want

In my last post, I claimed that, for you to be as happy and healthy and fulfilled as possible, you must cultivate CALM as a secret launching pad for your joyful vitality. I showed a method for starting with the power of an exhaling breath.

Today, I offer another very simple, yet profound technique: the 3-4-word mantra. Think about what phrases really calm you, and chant them over and over and over and over… you get the idea. When I was a child, and I was crying, my father would say, “It’ll be alright. It’ll be alright. It’ll be alright.” Sometimes he patted my little shoulder as he almost-chanted that phrase. And you know what? He was right! Try chanting this phrase, “It’ll be alright. It’ll be alright. It’ll be alright”, like a pulse in your consciousness. By the end of the day, you will have chanted it hundreds of times. If you have an oximeter, let it show you your heart rate has dropped as you have been chanting this phrase.

Another 4-word mantra that can work, regardless of your faith or nonfaith, is: “Things always work out. Things always work out. Things always work out.” Try it, and notice how your shoulders have dropped. You even look better with the better posture this CALM brings.

Try one of these each day and see which works best for you. Or maybe you have another short phrase you want to try. Please let me know what that is and how it worked for you. Truly, things do always work out. And now you are calmer. This week, I will be continuing to share daily about tools with which to be CALM and keep your CALM.

Read my posts each day this month, and be revitalized and amazed! And that’s you, being more and more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Getting Calm in a Noisy World

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Posted by Kebba Buckley Button in Calm, Dealing with stress, stress

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Calm, Effective living, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, The life you want

2020 radiance yogini shutterstock_1060120397

Photo by Shutterstock

My passion is for you to be as happy and healthy and fulfilled as possible. Today, I’m talking about a dimension of livingness that is a secret launching pad for your joyful vitality. It’s the ability to find and keep CALM in this noisy world.

Can we agree that, right now, the World is noisy, clattery, busy, congested, and generally stress-inducing? There are more people on the Planet now than ever before. Cities are being built higher than ever before. No beach is deserted, inviting you to stroll in solitude. Local hiking trails are busy. Think you’ll climb a mountain to find wise quiet? Kilamanjaro literally has a waiting line, for people trying to ascend the summit.

Maybe it would be good if you carry your calm with you? And not look for it in specialized environments?

Calmness is the cradle of power. –Josiah Gilbert Holland

This week, I will be sharing daily about tools with which to be CALM and keep your CALM.

For now, take a complete deep exhale, from your scalp to your toes. Let the inhaling take care of itself. Do this three times. Become aware that your shoulder tops are achy and want to drop down an inch. Let them do that. Exhale deeply again.

In one minute, notice a lightness rising in your neck and the back of the head. You’re younger now. Read my posts each day this month, and be revitalized and amazed! And that’s you, being more and more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life!

~ Your source for energized, fulfilled, joyous living!

Tag Archives: Calm

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Instant Calm for Busy People

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Catching Calm from Someone Else

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Using Environment for Calm

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Sounds to Bring Calm

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Healthy Happy Loving Life: Signs for Calm

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Healthy Happy Loving Life: Finger Poses for Calm

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Healthy Happy Loving Life: Affirmations for Calm

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Healthy Happy Loving Life: Getting Calm in a Noisy World

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