Free Stress Relief Tools
On this page you will find effective, quick and easy relaxation strategies!
photo by Jasmine Wallace
- How stress management can help your parent and you
- Calming recorded guided meditations you can listen to over and over
- A gallery of stress management practices. Select what appeals to you!
- Simple soothing ideas for when you just can’t relax
Soothe yourself and relax your parent
If you need a break from stress, you are not alone. In a 2015 survey of people caring for family members, 42% requested assistance with coping and managing stress for themselves and their loved ones. (Source: Caregiving in the US 2015).
Helping your aging parents is not for the fainthearted. Nor is getting older. Here’s how you and your parents can take a break from the stress while developing greater resiliency to the challenges you face.
With less stress, you and your parent can
- Enjoy better quality sleep
- Feel calmer and in more control
- Mindfully use your interpersonal skills
- Be more resilient to life’s challenges
- Allow your natural compassion to shine through (rather than irritability and anger!)
- benefit from more focus and better attention span
- Enhance your creativity, both in the arts and in problem solving
- Support a loving and compassionate approach to life…and to caring for aging parents
Free guided breathing meditations are an easy way to relax – just listen!
Most people find that guided breathing meditations are very relaxing and use them comfortably. For people with post traumatic stress disorder or seizures or if you take medication especially for diabetes, thyroid, hypertension, anxiety or sleep, there are some considerations about meditation so please check with your doctor before trying wellness practices. Click here to learn more in my blog
Gallery of Relaxation Ideas
Scroll through for some brilliant stress management suggestions. Some of the images have links to awesome resources!
Pray 
Accept unconditional love 
Play with a cat 
Dance!
(Photo by bruce mars on Pexels.com)
Watch a sunset, or sunrise 
Enjoy a massage 
Relax with acupuncture 
Drum!
Read “Get with the Beat”
Light a Candle
Read Harvest the Light
Birdwatch, or
Read Zen for the birds
(Photo: Daniyal Ghanavati Pexels.com)
Receive Reiki
Read “Reiki in a long term care environment”
Find a labyrinth to walk
Visit labyrinth locater
Read “Labyrinths of Love”
Soothing posts from “Calm and Centered”
If you can’t relax, that’s ok- simply try one of these soothing ideas to regain some composure and find a bit of peace.
Sometimes, attaining a state of relaxation seems impossible. Even if you know the benefits – quality sleep, resistance to infection, less muscle pain, better problem solving – you cannot get to a relaxed state from your stressed state. Fortunately, even if relaxing seems unattainable, soothing yourself can reduce your stress level by a degree or perhaps two.
Sometimes simple soothing strategies are not going to meet your needs. At those times, get expert help. Call your doctor, your therapist, your pastor, or get yourself to an emergency room. Be safe.
Soothe yourself when you have had a difficult day, have too much on your plate, or perhaps are experiencing a period of intense change. You deserve it.
Your next step – learn to avoid the causes of stress
These self-guided free tools on this page help you to manage stress.
If you want to avoid the causes of stress while caring for your aging parent, and enjoy more quality time with your parent, your next step is Time to Care.