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Episode 3163:
This is a bonus episode from Step Into Calm - Daily Walking Meditations, a sister show on the Optimal Living Daily network narrated by Justin Malik. It is a 12-minute guided walk of roughly 1,200 steps built for the middle of the afternoon, using deliberate breathing and steady pace to work off frustration before it follows you into the rest of the day. Safety note: keep your eyes open and your attention on your surroundings while walking.
Listen to the full show here: https://pod.link/6784028830
Optimal Relationships Daily is a daily relationship advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on healthy relationships, dating, marriage, and parenting, read to you by a professional narrator so you can strengthen your closest connections a little more every day.
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[00:00:00] Hey, it's Justin from Optimal Living Daily. Before we start, I want to share a super powerful practice I use called NSDR, or Non-Sleep Deep Rest. In just about 10 minutes or so, this Yoga Nidra practice leaves you feeling as refreshed as after a nap without actually sleeping. Experience it for yourself on our guided podcast. Search NSDR and look for the one from Optimal Living Daily.
[00:00:26] Hello, everybody. I'm Greg Audino, your host here on ORD, and you found yourself in another one of our weekly bonus episodes, in which, instead of reading to you myself from an article about relationship building, I share a previously aired episode from one of our other shows in our network that I think you might enjoy.
[00:00:49] Hey there. Something got under your skin today, didn't it? A meeting, a message, a person. Some interaction that left you frustrated, and maybe still kind of buzzing with it. So before that frustration quietly leaks into the rest of your afternoon, let's walk it off. Literally. We're going to use this walk to let some of the heat out and reset.
[00:01:19] And first, let's be clear about something. The frustration is allowed. We're not going to talk you out of it or pretend you're fine. We're just going to move it through you so it doesn't end up running the rest of your day. So keep walking, eyes open, and if it feels right, walk a touch brisker than usual to start.
[00:01:46] Let the body have somewhere to put this energy. As you walk, let's just name it, honestly. Something frustrated you. Maybe it even made you angry. That is completely human. Now, find where it's sitting in your body.
[00:02:15] Because frustration is physical. Maybe there's heat in the face or the chest, a clenched jaw, tight hands, a churning in the stomach. Don't try to fix it yet. Just locate it.
[00:02:50] Now let's start to move it out. Walking is perfect for this. Anger and frustration are energy, and energy wants to move. Every step you take is helping to burn a little of it off. If it helps, on your next breath out, let your hands shake loose for a second. Unclench the jaw.
[00:03:20] Let the shoulders drop down from around your ears. And let's use the breath to vent some of it. Breathe in, and then out hard through the mouth like you're blowing the tension right out of you. Let it be audible if you want.
[00:03:55] Again, a big breath in, and blow it out, letting some of that charge leave with it. Now notice your mind.
[00:04:22] Chances are it's been replaying the whole thing on a loop. Rehearsing what you wish he'd said. Building the case for exactly why you're right.
[00:04:32] That loop feels productive.
[00:04:59] But really, it just keeps pouring fuel on the fire. So gently, let's step out of the courtroom for a minute. You can set the case down. It'll still be there later.
[00:05:31] Come back to something simple and real. The feeling of your feet meeting the ground. The rhythm of your walking. Right here. Not back there in the thing that happened.
[00:06:25] From this slightly steadier place, let's loosen the grip a little. Not by pretending it didn't matter. Just by widening the view. Ask yourself honestly. Will this matter in a week? In a month? Sometimes the answer is yes.
[00:06:55] But often it's smaller than it feels right now.
[00:07:25] In the person or the situation that frustrated you, without excusing anything, consider that they might be carrying something you can't see. A bad day. Their own pressure. People rarely act from their best place when they're stressed.
[00:08:20] You don't have to forgive anyone right now. You're just loosening your grip on it. So it stops squeezing you.
[00:09:05] Here's the key. You can be frustrated and still not hand the rest of your afternoon over to it. Both of those things can be true at once.
[00:09:34] So keep walking and let the rhythm keep carrying that charge down and out with every step.
[00:10:44] Now as the heat comes down, you get to choose something. How do you want to walk back into the rest of your day? Not pretending and not stuffing it down, just a little steadier. A little more yourself.
[00:11:11] A little less at the mercy of one frustrating moment.
[00:11:55] As your walk comes to an end, check in for a second. Notice if the edge has come down even a little. If there's a bit more room in there than before. And whatever's still left, that's okay. You moved some of it today.
[00:12:25] You didn't let it take the whole afternoon. And that brings our practice to a close. Let your attention come back to your walk and head back in a little lighter than you left. Take good care of yourself out there.