Challenging Economic Times

About a week and a half ago- large banking institutions (our most trusted names in the financial industry- Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, AIG) started to wobble and were on the verge of failure. Some went bankrupt, some were sold and some were taken over. The US treasury secretary, Hank Paulson came up with a bail out plan that he thought would bring confidence back to the US and global markets.

Financial uncertainty

As time went on, the government was unable to agree to this plan and the lack of confidence in our banking system caused widespread panic. Over this past weekend, policy makers attempted to come to an agreement on a revised bail out plan. Today it went to vote, and failed. The US equity market had its largest one-day drop in ten years. There continues to be across the board financial uncertainty about which banking institution may go bankrupt next and therefore whether our money is safe. Needless to say, everyone feels "up in the air" as to what will happen next. As a nation who collectively holds an unknown financial future- today, an anxious feeling is commonplace.

We hold the ability to choose our thoughts

When feeling anxious about anything - whether it is financial, emotional or physical- we have the ability to choose our thoughts. Even a prisoner holds the freedom to choose his own thoughts. We are capable of choosing positive views and therefore beneficial feelings enabling us to take in this information without feeling overwhelmed with worry. I was recently invited to talk about how to relax during these challenging economic times on our morning TV show here in Houston- Great Day Houston.

Watch my TV segment entitled Economic Stress Reliever

Following are the tips I give in the segment to keep you calm in financially challenging times:

• Use awareness of you body and breath to keep you focused
• Present Moment keeps you aware of your task at hand
• Products to help you stay calm; herb tea such as chamomile, lavender, foods that keep a constant blood sugar level in your system
• Maintaining a place of capacity (prevention is key)