It’s an impossible game to try to avoid stress. Since stress is ubiquitous, it’s how you react to it that counts the most when it comes to your wellbeing. So vagus nerve stimulation can be a tool you use during any moment you need to de-stress.

“Stimulating the vagus nerve tricks your brain into thinking that everything is okay,” says D’Elia Assenza. A great time to stimulate the vagus nerve, she says, is when you’re experiencing a heightened state of anxiety or stress.

2020 was a heavy year in so many ways that it feels nearly impossible to be strong enough to reflect and hold all we have been through. Add continued uncertainty around when we will be safe to resume person-person interaction and this ritual that we have done for years, holding the old and the new, becomes overwhelming.

When I felt overwhelm and uncertainty stirring in my belly and chest, I also noticed a voice singing “na na na, na na na”. When I slowed down to hear the song playing in my head, the lyrics below were loud and clear*:

I'm starting with the <human> in the mirror
I'm asking <them> to change <their> ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change

~ Glenn Ballard & Seida Garrett

If we slow down and connect to our current experience through a mindfulness lens we might be able to connect with bliss right here, right now without speeding towards 2021.

Pausing and reflecting on the little joys of 2020, while the year is still unfolding, can help to unleash the radiant feels of past holidays, even if we have lost loved ones or employment this year. This is not dismissive of the suffering many have experienced this year; in fact we can have feelings of peace and calm when we accept the pain and suffering we have experienced. We can also feel inspired and fortunate in knowing we were able to survive the challenges of trudging through 2020 with resiliency and strength.

So before you run towards 2021, try to spend some time with 2020 and the feelings wheel before it disappears from your rearview mirror.