Here are some actions you can take today to restore your hope even on the most stressful day of your life:

Here are some actions you can take today to restore your hope even on the most stressful day of your life:

 

1. Reconnect with nature.

 

All you have to do here is walk out your front door, step out of your office, or stop driving and step out of your car.

To reconnect with nature is to reconnect with wonder.

Whether it’s just a few deep breaths as you sit on a patch of grass, simply taking a walk through a local park, or full on spending a night under the stars… reconnecting with the wonder of being a human being standing on a rock that spirals through space and seeing the earth for the vast support network it is can’t help but lift your spirits for the better.

 

Interviewing two astronauts taught me this: that the earth is a ball of vibrancy whose life and color and beauty stand out powerfully among the backdrop of empty space.

The perspective they shared is the ultimate perspective — reminding us how precious, how fleeting, how beautiful it all is — even with great pain included in that beauty and life.

We can’t all stand on the moon and appreciate the view the way these men did, but taking even one minute to surround yourself with the power of nature has a way of creating a perspective in life that is real, is powerful, is strong.

The power of nature can hold even your worst of days

and remain an immovable source of strength.

 

Don’t believe me?

The next time you are having a panic attack, or a pounding headache, or a knot of worry grow in your stomach, just go outside.

Get out there.

Don’t force anything, just start walking and let nature work its magic.

 

2. Focus on Spirit.

 

This is something shown over and over again in the medical literature — the power of prayer to affect clinical outcome is a beautiful fact.

The surest way I know to alleviate stress and suffering is to find meaning in it.

 

Whether it’s through mediation, personal prayer, asking friends and family to pray for you, cultivating your own sense of spirit surrounding and supporting you -these are all such important ways to alleviate stress.

 

The divine support system is around you, surrounding you, whether you are able to feel it or not.

Never fear that. Nothing is required of you.

 

But calling on the power of prayer and connecting with that reservoir of love is an instant boost that strengthens you and changes outcome, no doubt about it.