We’ve been talking about habit loops and the process of using curiosity to bring awareness to what you’re really getting out of holding on to your everyday stressors. By now, you might see that you are really ready for REAL Relief instead of just glossing over the depleting emotions that keep you from feeling free, being happy, and living a healthy life. Let’s dive deeper into how to use curiosity to get real relief. 

In order to break a bad habit or shift a depleting emotion, you have to start with understanding what you get out of it. Specifically, you have to explore what is happening in your body after you’ve been triggered and have reacted in your usual way. Today, get familiar with the process of paying close attention to the signposts your body gives you and trust that REAL Relief is on the way. 

When you experience an everyday stressor, there's some kind of depleting emotion underneath. This leaves you feeling drained and keeps you from being present. Today, we'll use curiosity to explore what's happening in your body when you feel three depleting emotions. 

This week, we’ve looked at the causes of everyday stressors and how our ingrained habit loops keep us reacting the same way, time after time. Today, we will look back on this week’s learnings and chart our course for the next two weeks of implementing REAL Relief. 

By now, you’re understanding that the only way you are going to feel better from any depleting emotion is going through the body, from the inside out. We will discuss this in detail throughout the course, but what you need to know today is that nothing outside of you is ever truly going to make you feel better. No one else can return to you to balance, no outside action or behavior can truly create the love and peace you desire. Let's dig deeper today.  

As we prepare to go deep into the four-step process of getting REAL Relief, we will begin to anchor our mindfulness practice so we can always feel grounded and centered in our bodies and connected to our hearts. In this lesson, I’ll teach you my seminal meditation technique, Head To Heartspace Breathing, as a tool you can use throughout the course and in daily life. 

 When your check engine light pops on and you pull over and pop the hood, do you know exactly what’s wrong? Often times, you don’t and you have to call a mechanic. With a special device, they read the codes and recognize the problem. In this lesson, learn to read the codes of your body so you can accurately recognize your stressor in a moment of dis-ease.

Even if you’ve never actually considered exploring Mount Everest, there’s been some place you’ve been brave enough to check out, even if it felt daunting. As you made the trek, you experienced all kinds of sensations in your body. Are they still there? Not unless you’re listening to this while on a journey! Use the magic pill in this lesson to brave the wilderness inside to find the path to REAL relief. 

It’s easy to turn away from things you don’t like.  You can curate your newsfeed to unfollow people you disagree with and if some news comes on that upsets you, it’s easy to reach for the wine or ice cream instead. When you resist and turn away from things that cause you to feel off-balance or dis-ease, you hold yourself back from the full experience of being human. This lesson will teach you the wisdom and practicality of allowing it all. 

Do you remember the freedom you felt when you were little and the bell rang, signifying school was out? You let go of all your worries and ran out the door, perhaps back into the arms of a loving parental figure. Learn to be that free again and to tap back into a sense of loving-kindness in this lesson. 

Stress can creep up at work, with your family, or even in the grocery store. No need to let it get the best of you. Experience the REAL Relief practice to bring some ease and calm in a moment of stress and anxiety. 

No matter who you are or how much you try to suppress it, you feel anger. Learning to keep it from becoming harmful to yourself or others without bypassing it is paramount to living a mindful life. Experience the REAL Relief practice to diffuse your frustration and find your center in a moment of anger. 

We all get scared, and the pandemic has given us ample reasons to fear even more of the unknown now. When fear arises, it doesn’t have to take over and keep you in fight or flight all day. Experience the REAL Relief practice to calm your body and mind down in a moment of fear. 

Humans are hard-wired to crave. Everyone is addicted to something, whether its exercise, your smartphone, or ice cream. Just because you have created an addiction doesn’t mean you have to give into it every time the phone pings or you open the fridge. Experience the REAL Relief practice to ride out a craving and bring balance back to your mind and body in a moment of strong craving. 

You’ve learned how to apply REAL Relief in a number of situations, but what happens when something comes up that you haven’t prepared for? Experience the framework of REAL Relief without a specific focus in mind so you are confident you can implement it any time you need. 

So far, you’ve learned how to get REAL Relief in all kinds of situations, but did you know this practice works with positive emotions, too? Experience the practice of REAL Love to harness, cultivate and strengthen your natural capacity of kindness and love.