How to make peace with feeling stuck.

The Make Peace with Stress method transforms every challenge into a catalyst for growth—even feeling stuck.

Learn how to apply this simple method. N.O.W. is an acronym:

N is NOTICE—step 1 is noticing your experience.

O is OPEN—step 2 is to open to the opportunity for growth.

W is WELCOME—step 3 is welcoming what you want.

NOTICE.

Feeling stuck stems from believing your experiences are out of your control. It can feel that way because patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting do get stronger and more automatic the more they are repeated. And when you get swept up in your patterns, routines, habits, and attitudes, it can be easy to forget that you have a choice about all of it.  

NOTICE this: Identify ONE way you feel stuck in your life. Getting specific is super important. Notice when you feel most stressed which may show up as frustration, negativity, irritation, overwhelm, or feeling fed-up. Stress is the key to discovering the thoughts, feelings, and actions that are sabotaging your ability to move forward.

OPEN.

When you notice a moment of feeling stuck, you have to be willing to take the opportunity to take charge of what you can control. This is ALWAYS about the way you’re responding to an experience. It could be an external experience (something in your life circumstance), or an internal experience (a sensation, thought, or emotion). Your choice is to stay stuck or take charge. 

OPEN to this: Every resistant response is an opportunity to take charge of a pattern that is keeping you stuck. Open to the opportunity by shifting Oh no! into OK. As in Oh no! What am I going to do? Oh no! Why is this happening? Oh no! This didn’t get done! to OK, what am I going to do? OK, why is this happening? OK, this didn’t get done.

WELCOME.

You’ve noticed feeling stuck and opened to the opportunity it is to take charge of the pattern that’s keeping you stuck. Now what? You start cultivating a new pattern. And since what you do gets stronger and more automatic the more it’s repeated, every single time you take that opportunity to be intentional about your patterns, routines, habits, and attitudes

WELCOME this: Use a mantra. Using a mantra is a simple way to train your brain to think what you want with greater ease, just like memorizing something until your brain knows it. Choose a few words that are focused on the new pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting that you want to welcome in, and repeat them over and over.