​Hacking Happiness Through Self-Care: 3 Simple Self-Care Strategies That Really Work by Amanda Hainline

Fifteen years ago, I was like a lot of women – exhausted by the demands of motherhood, marriage, work and life. One day I was overwhelmed by an instantaneous barrage of emotions, including frustration, anger, sadness, resentment and others all fighting for my attention. 

Through research, I discovered I had experienced a “kundalini awakening,” when dormant emotional energy suddenly flows freely through the seven chakras (energy centers). This experience led me to develop and fine-tune the strategies I share in Feel Better in Five Minutes — methods I've taught to clients from CEOs to preschoolers. Here are three:

1. Envision Emotional Release

• Note on a scale of 1 to 10 how much an emotion is affecting you.

• Identify the emotion you want to release. Say (out loud if possible) “I choose to release [emotion] and whatever it is attached to.”

• Envision the emotions leaving your body while taking a couple of deep breaths.

2. Breathe From Your Belly

• Breathe in a deep breath through your nose while placing your hands over your belly until you feel it move with your breath.

• Breathe out completely through your mouth, repeating to get the feel for it.

• Once you get the hang of belly breathing, you don’t have to put your hands on your stomach. This makes it easier to use this technique when you are driving a car, or something else where you need to use your hands.

3. Dress for Your day

• Think about what you have to do today. Is there an important meeting on your calendar or are you having a chill day?

• Take stock of how you are feeling – are you confident, bold, depressed, anxious or overwhelmed? If you are having a big meeting and feel like you are lacking confidence, try wearing something red or orange to bring on the power to boost you. If you are relaxing after a long week, cuddle up in some soft off-white, pink or gray lounge wear for the morning.

• If you’re not sure which colors to wear, just open up your closet and see what clothes you are attracted to that day, Let your intuition guide you.

Let's be real – we all lead very busy lives. We really don't have time to think about our emotions in a deep and perplexing way and most of us don't want to spend a lot of time there. 

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