Stress-Less List: 5 Ways to Tackle Long-Term Stress An Ecosystem will Help You Relax & Be Wherever You Are

Image: "How to Stress Less Mind Map" by IQ Matrix - Eliminate Stress

Source: IQ Matrix - Eliminate Stress “How-to” Guides: Find out how to stress less and instead refocus your mind in more optimal ways.

What Is Stress?

In today’s world, it’s inevitable that we will experience what our heart/mind/body will process as stress.  In actual fact there is no such thing as stress “out there in the world.” Stress is something that exists inside of us.

What we identify as stress is often a collective experience of how we process our reactions to circumstances. Consider: someone applies pressure on us, we get stressed. There was no stress applied to us; what was applied to us was pressure.

What we experience under pressure is a whole series of reactions: anger, frustration, disappointment, sweaty palms, increased heart rate, fear, fight or flight response, headache, nausea, exhaustion, etc. It’s the sum total of all these psychological and physiological reactions which we lump under the umbrella stress.

Over time, “The constant production and buildup of the "fight or flight" hormone cortisol leads to adrenal fatigue or burnout.” (Source: naturalnews.com: Beating chronic stress can be fun, easy and creative: Here's how). In addition, “The resulting hormone imbalance also creates inflammation. When it becomes chronic, serious, sometimes fatal diseases are produced.” (Source: naturalnews.com: Beating chronic stress can be fun, easy and creative: Here's how).

There are many immediate short-term techniques for coping with stress. We have probably all heard them before. Advice like going for a walk, taking time off, an Epsom salt bath, a cup of chamomile tea…in other words seeking a distraction of some sort and/or some natural non-medicinal relaxant.

These can be effective with dealing with our stress symptoms in the short term, but what about long term? What about those of us who are said to suffer from chronic stress? Here are a few longer-lasting solutions to our “stress problem:”

Stress-Less List: 5 Ways to Handle Chronic Stress

1. Laughter – it is the best medicine. Enjoy comedies, funny stories, and try to develop a more light-hearted humourous attitude toward your life. Remember, if stress depends on our reaction to pressure, an ability to “laugh in the face of danger” puts you ahead of the game.


2. Hobbies – gardening, cooking, painting, playing music, whatever. The key seems to choose an activity which engages the parts of your brain and body not required in your daily life/career.


3. Sports – everything from rock-climbing and running to mountain biking and boating to squash and swimming. Pick whatever you enjoy doing so getting out and doing it isn’t a chore for you. The last thing you need is for your stress-releasing sport to become another source of stress!


4. Serving others – be it complete strangers or a community you identify with, it has been shown that acts of kindness and altruism reduce cortisol while increasing serotonin levels. It seems “feeding the soul” nourishes both body and mind as well. The key here seems to be not expecting anything in return. Find the joy and peace in the act of giving in and of itself. Letting go of ego-expectation allows us to be more present in and truly enjoy the moment.


5. Relaxation – lying around allowing stressful thoughts and emotions to run away with us is hardly relaxing. Be it yoga or meditation, we want to cultivate focused or concentrated relaxation. Yes, the crazy mind will want to churn endlessly; relax and simply observe it. Resist the urge to continuously feed the frenzy with more pressure (including thoughts like: “I can’t meditate! Yoga is too hard! Etc”).

Read more: naturalnews.com: Beating chronic stress can be fun, easy and creative: Here's how

Support and Enhance your Strategies with Peapod Life Indoor Ecosystems

No matter which of the five above strategies you follow, remember that an indoor ecosystem from PeapodLife will support and enhance that strategy. Having an indoor ecosystem combines the best qualities of being out in nature with the comfort and convenience of your own home or workplace.

As a matter of fact, the fresh air, beautiful plants, trickling water, and soothing atmospheric effects of an indoor rainforest microclimate can reduce our stress reactions to daily life to begin with! Then, that same environment allows us to truly immerse ourselves into our stress-coping activities.

An ecosystem from PeapodLife will bathe you in soothing energies, help insulate you from making harsh negative reactions to circumstances and shore-up your innate natural ability to settle into an optimal frequency. When you get there, everything else truly melts away and you are truly wherever you are.

Remember:

"Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there’."
~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Image: "Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there.’" –Eckhart Tolle via Bajiroo.com 

Source: bajiroo.com: stress free motivational quotes

What is Social Media doing to our Kids Brains?

The National - CBC Player: How social media is affecting teens

How are teens being affected by social media? Research suggests the impact is an emotional one.

Source: The National | Feb 24, 2014 | 6:16

“I don't think digital communication in itself is a bad thing, but if we're losing out on opportunities to connect with people as well as we can, that's a problem."
~ Laureen Sherman, UCLA Graduate Student & Researcher
Source: CBC News - Health: Social media affecting teens' concepts of friendship, intimacy

It’s a valid question: how is the prevalence of social media affecting the still developing minds of adolescents? A recent study by UCLA Developmental Psychologist Patricia Greenfield suggests social media use among teens is having a negative impact on the development of intimate friendships.

Having a large number of followers on Twitter and racking up “likes” one receives on Facebook and Instagram are replacing the support teens used to look for from intimate conversations with their peers.

According to Greenfield:

“The whole idea behind intimacy is self-disclosure. Now they’re doing self-disclosure to an audience of hundreds.”
Source: CBC News - Health: Social media affecting teens' concepts of friendship, intimacy

A CBC report from June of last year suggested social media attracts individuals who need an ego boost. And this latest report seems to corroborate the previous study. Teens in the above video report so much as say so: “who wouldn’t want to be famous?”

As a society, we are inundated with messages and images of idealized ways of living. Lifestyle has displaced all other considerations when it comes to aspirational longing. Success, wealth and fame are the new benchmarks for happiness for an entire generation of young people who have never known a world without the instant gratification and potentially instant global stratification of the Internet.

The lure of “overnight successism” is made all the more dreamy in the eyes of the ego thanks to the instant mass-positive reinforcement tool known as the “Like” button. Where once teens suffered silently at home wondering what “the group” thought about them, now they know “exactly” what the world thinks about them:

YouTube Video: Sally Field - You Like Me, You Really, Really, Like Me

Published by Getbloopit

But whereas one might forgive Sally Fields her emotional, Oscar-clutching response to winning an Academy Award after years of blood, sweat and tears in Hollywood, the accumulation of clicks on a button by dozens, maybe hundreds, heaven forbid thousands who completely forget what it was they were clicking in appreciation of the very micro-second Facebook registered their approval is something else.

You may be asking yourself: what does all this have to do with ecosystems?

The point of the CBC piece is this: the egoistic nature of social media are making people less empathetic towards others. Positive reinforcement is fine, but positive reinforcement of self-serving egoistic behaviour will not now nor will ever result in anything resembling empathy or compassion for others.

Ecosystems are in many ways an antidote to “anti-social media” and infinitely more social than any digital technology. Ecosystems encourage awareness—consciousness. When you enter into a space with an ecosystem you become a part of that ecosystem. You just do; it’s simply a biological and energetic reality.

When you embrace that objective reality, and allow your self-awareness to immerse itself into the oneness and the wholeness of a high-level rainforest ecosystem, you begin to develop a kind of appreciation for “others” that defines empathy: you recognize yourself in them, they in you.

It is this conscious individuated experience of wholeness that expands one’s sense of self well beyond the limitations of the paltry ego and expands one’s sense of possibility to include the benefit of the whole: ecosystem, family, peer group, school group, community, nation, the planet.

This is not an intellectual nor mechanical exercise. No, unlike social media which is both those things, being with an ecosystem stimulates raises our awareness of ourselves, our surroundings, and our relationship with those surroundings—exactly those aspects of ourselves (including our brains) which make us sensitive and empathetic.

PeapodLife invites you to invite an ecosystem into your home. Let your family begin experiencing the antidote for technology’s misguided idea of what social means. Lose the mechanical ego in the wonder and awe of an authentic relationship with the very nature of life itself.

Touch the Web of Life, for the Web of Life Touches us All

Image: Child touching the Web of Life

Image Source: The Pachamama Alliance: The Circle of All Beings: The Truth of Our Mutual Belonging

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”
~ Chief Seattle
Source: Goodreads: Book reviews, recommendations, and discussion: Chief Seattle  

It is irrefutable. We are all connected. And as much as we would like to think of ourselves “lords of nature,” the reality is we are not separate from it, from the planet that supports in; and indeed, the solar system—the sun—which in turn supports it.

We have no energy system to replace the sun. We have no technology whatsoever that comes close to replacing all that it does for the planet…and for us.

Likewise we rely on the systems of the planet: the water cycle; the carbon cycle; the countless ecosystems which interconnect to provide us the flora and fauna and moderate the planet’s climate.

Somehow, humanity has lost sight of all this.  Beginning largely in the industrial revolution, intensified in the technological revolution, we have become enthralled with all of our systems; everything we do for ourselves.

Sadly, so much of what we do for ourselves comes at the expense of the planet: masses of conventional, toxic and radiocactive waste; air, water and soil pollution; exploitation of finite natural resources; failure to responsibly manage renewable resources; and the list goes on.

We have lost our connection with the web of life; and, sadly, are at risk of becoming entangled in the web we have woven instead. A web of toxicity, scarcity, exploitation, detachment from the ecological realities which affect us all—industrialization or no; technologically advanced or not.

How can we reconnect with the web of life? Surely we cannot take on all the world’s problems! No one can shoulder the burden of environmental challenges which took generations to create. But can we turn the tide of exploitation and detachment from nature in our individual lives?

PeapodLife believes we can. We believe in indoor ecosystems. We believe in working, living, learning and healing in buildings which support nature in her highest expression: high-order rainforest ecosystems.

More than this, PeapodLife knows that when you live in the company of a rainforest ecosystem, you do much more than benefit materially from all it has to give. You reconnect with the essence of nature herself. You develop a meaningful relationship: one of mutual harmony and symbiosis.    

With PeapodLife, you become part of the web of life, once again. And being a part of the web of life is much better than being apart from it. Touching the web of life is better than weaving a web of destruction.

Take to heart the wise words of First Nations Elder Chief Seattle, who said:

“All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth
Befalls the sons of the earth.
Man did not weave the web of life,
He is merely a strand in it.
Whatever he does to the web,
He does to himself.”
~ Chief Seattle
Source: Goodreads: Book reviews, recommendations, and discussion: Chief Seattle  

Image: Chief Seattle, Chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish.

Photograph of drawing by artist Ray Coombs after the well-known photograph by E. M. Sammis

Image Source: University of Washington Libraries: Image/JPEG Title: Duwamish and Suquamish Chief Seattle, Seattle, Washington, 1891  

Touch the web of life; and let the web of life touch you.

When it comes to Nature BIG THINGS do come in Small Packages The 24 Tiniest Animals In The World Can Teach Us a Lot about Ecosystems

Image Collage: A few of the 24 Tiniest Animals In The World 

Image Source: Full Train.com: Here Are The 24 Tiniest Animals In The World. Number 13 Is So Adorable I Could Scream.

Let’s face it, too often in life we have the tendancy to think bigger is better. When it comes to nature, that’s clearly not always the case.

There are many examples of extraordinary adaptation, beauty and what certainly seems like whimsy to us in almost unthinkable miniature.

A blog by FullTrain.com entitled Here Are The 24 Tiniest Animals In The World. Number 13 Is So Adorable I Could Scream illustrates just how practical nature can be in miniature. Their list: 

From (clockwise from Top-Left in our image collage, above) the Brookesia Micra Chameleon, Bumblebee Bat, Baluchistan Pygmy Jeroba, Etruscan Shrew, Virgin Islands Dwarf Gecko, Satomi’s Pygmy Seahorse, Fennec Fox, to the Paedophryne Amauensis Frog, the litany of nature’s tiny marvels astounds.*

And so it is with PeapodLife Ecosystems.

Our Angolo and Muro ecosystems are tiny representations of processes taking place each and every day in rainforests around the world. Our multi-biome microcosms of nature’s highest functioning expressions of collective harmony and symbiosis pack a powerful punch.

Imagine it: it takes tens of millions of hectares of rainforest to scrub billions of cubic metres of atmosphere of pollutants and carbon dioxide, etc. Your home, office, workplace, etc. only needs a mere fraction of that.

What’s important is that your building incorporates a true ecosystem. This ultimately is what matters. Just as in nature, it’s no use making a small version of something unless all the functionality and potency is there.

With clear-cutting, burning, strip-mining etc., the war against the rainforest around the world continues unabated. But they are far away, especially for us in the north: out of site, out of mind.

PeapodLife believes we need to preserve the essence of these high-order ecosystems however possible. Our way is to invite tiny versions of earth’s eden into our homes, offices, schools, healing centres, etc. so we can rediscover the importance and benefits of these most valuable crucibles of life on our planet.

With our Muro and Angolo models, we prove how much nature is capable of with small. 

* For a complete list of tiny animals with descriptions and photos, read FullTrain.com’s article.

Stress-Free Living Begins with the Home Ownership Experience 5 Problems with the Resale Home Buying Process…SOLVED!

Image Collage: Stress-Free Living Begins with the Home Ownership Experience 

Image Credits: Microsoft ClipArt Office.com: Money building blocks, Man relaxing at computer shadow

"The home should be the treasure chest of living."
~ Le Corbusier
Credit: BrainyQuote.com: Home Quotes

Anyone who has ever bought a resale home knows how insanely frustrating a process it can be. Here are the FIVE PROBLEMS with the home ownership experience as it is…

FIVE PROBLEMS WITH THE STATUS QUO HOME OWNERSHIP EXPERIENCE:

1. You have to find a house either yourself or through a Real Estate Agent.

2. You have to arrange your mortgage with a bank (or go through a broker).

3. On average, 70+% of people who buy a resale home underestimate the costs of renovations to make “just the way they want it.”

4. It is extremely rare for a reputable contractor to give an estimate on a home improvement project until after you have purchased it; so you end up “buying the house blind”—that is, without knowing the real final cost of ownership.

5. Unless you have the cash, you’ll need to finance your home improvements separately and in addition to your mortgage; and, if you end up with not-so-honest contractor, you may end up with sub-par service, performance disputes, cost overruns, and countless other headaches!


Imagine if, when wanting to buy a car, you had to purchase the body from one company, get it financed through a different company, and take ownership without knowing the REAL COSTS of making it road-worthy. To do so, you would need to go to a mechanic who would tell you what repairs and upgrades were required, which you would then need to finance separately.

It sounds ridiculous, but this is exactly what happens when we buy a resale home, and is the result of an industry which has never benefitted from vertical integration.

PeapodLife believes stress-free living begins with a stressless home ownership experience. Not only does PeapodLife offer indoor rainforest ecosystems for you home, through our partnerships, we can now offer the world’s first vertically integrated resale home ownership program.

So what does it look like? Here’re the FIVE EASY STEPS to stressless home ownership with PeapodLife…

FIVE STEPS TO STRESS-FREE OWNERSHIP WITH PEAPODLIFE:

1. Call or Email PeapodLife.

2. You are pre-qualified for a mortgage from any of the 5 banks or other financial institution via our partner mortgage brokerage.

3. You’ll work with one of over 300 real estate agents who’ll show you resale homes together with a certified Architectural Technologist fully qualified to give estimates on renovations.

4. The total cost of the home plus all home improvement costs (including rainforest ecosystems from PeapodLife) are included and financed in your FIRST MORTGAGE.

5. Home improvements are completed by top-tier PERFORMANCE-BONDED contractors, with third-party verification (mitigating all performance issues and any potential disputes).


We think you’ll agree, 5 easy steps to home ownership via a vertically integrated resale home buying experience trumps the status quo.

And best of all, you get a top-grade, fully renovated home just the way you want it, complete with the green technologies of your choice and a fully integrated rainforest ecosystem from PeapodLife.

Now that’s what we call getting your stress free lifestyle started on the right foot.

Is Your Stressed Out Teen Stressing You Out!? USA TODAY: Teens “Bad Habits;” Unable to Manage Stress

Image: Chart by USA Today “Teens and Stress: Bad Habits Begin Early”
Online survey of 1,018 U.S. teens (ages 13-17) and 1,950 adults (18+) by Harris Interactive for the American Psychological Association, August 2013
Credit: Frank Pompa, USA TODAY   

Source: usatoday.com: Health and Wellness: Teens feeling stressed, and many not managing it well

"When teens report their own level of stress, it is typically much higher than parents would report of their teen's level of stress."*

~ Kristen Race, author of the book Mindful Parenting

“…hard numbers tell us kids are more anxious and depressed than they've ever been."*

~ Michael Bradley, a psychologist in Feasterville, Pa.

It’s clear to us here at PeapodLife that life has become more hectic and stressful for adults. How is the increased pace and intensity affecting young people? And, is there a connection between the two?

According to a recent survey of 1,000 teens and almost 2,000 adults, over 60% of teens reported moderate to extreme stress in the past month. That figure jumps to over 80% reporting moderate to extreme stress in the past school year, with over a quarter of teens reporting extreme stress.

While naysayers and indeed, some experts may claim the findings are erroneous, that teens will gladly use stress as an excuse for classic adolescent behaviours, even the most cynical cannot deny the hard facts and figures staring them in the face.

For complete details, we encourage you to check out the USA TODAY article for yourself.

What do we do about it?

Well, although we are living in the era of hyper-parenting and the instinct of some parents may be to try to eliminate stress entirely from their children’s lives, this is not a level-headed approach.

Stress is a part of life, and sheltering young people from all stress in their formative years may be setting them up for a rude awakening later on. That said, too much stress can clearly overwhelm young people. When they are unable to cope with healthy stress levels, teens develop unhealthy coping strategies.

PeapodLife suggests it is impossible to control the circumstances of life—the relentless accelerating march of progress in the macro environment beyond the home.

PeapodLife knows, however, it is entirely possible to create a sanctuary to help cope with the circumstances of life—a safe, healthy rejuvenating micro environment within the home.

Sure, teens can exercise, meditate, listen to music, read books, play video games, or just relax in the soothing sounds, fresh air and renewing energy field of a rainforest ecosystem. I think we can agree these are all better coping mechanisms than eating junk food, smoking, etc.

An ecosystem will help a teen deal with extreme stress better in the moment. When they find themselves with a mountain of homework, or a tight deadline creeping up for college entry exams, a relaxing and supporting environment in their home may be what gives them the edge in school.

In any case, PeapodLife knows there is little more stressful to a parent than a witnessing their child struggling and/or suffering. Many of the fights adults and teens have is over “what’s best for them.” An ecosystem naturally fills a home with what’s best for everybody…

…and that can only mean good things for everyone living under the same roof.


*Quotes from: “Teens feeling stressed, and many not managing it well” by Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
Source: usatoday.com: Health and Wellness: Teens feeling stressed, and many not managing it well

YOUR GREEN DREAM HOME MADE EASY Stop Running the Rat-Race! Live Stress-Free Throughout the Golden Horseshoe

Image Montage: GTA & GOLDEN HORSESHOE (Ontario, Canada) 

Image Credits: Google Earth Pic: 3D Google Earth Map of Golden Horseshoe, Ontario, Canada +

Google Image Search Results: Screen Capture Pic: green dream home

LOCATION!  LOCATION!  LOCATION!

Choose from THOUSANDS of resale properties in the GTA & GOLDEN HORSESHOE (Ontario, Canada), which can be converted into an AFFORDABLE, ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE and SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE HOME FOR YOU, YOUR FAMILY and/or THE COMMUNITY!

Sound too good to be true? Discover PeapodLife and a whole new level of stress free home ownership.

PeapodLife is the first company in the world to integrate high-order rainforest ecosystems into buildings, turning toxic indoor environments into stress-free sanctuaries for you and your family.

PeapodLife will show you how to turn your existing home, or a resale home in the neighbourhood of your choosing, into the green dream home you’ve always imagined, made affordable thanks to a revolutionary stress-free home ownership program.

NO CATCH. NO TRICKS. NO FINANCIAL WIZARDRY. JUST HONEST SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS WHO BELIEVE CANADIANS DESERVE A HEALTHIER, MORE RELAXED AND ENJOYABLE HOME ENVIRONMENT; AND A RE-FINANCING/RENOVATION AND/OR RESALE HOME BUYING EXPERIENCE TO MATCH!

We’ll show you an innovative, affordable and stress-free program to convert your existing home (or acquire & convert a resale property), into the healthiest, positively-charged indoor rainforest dwelling you never could have imagined was even possible.

Stop running the rat-race! Start Living the PeapodLife.

Contact Us TODAY!