August’s Theme is Stress.

Stress, in its most basic form, is a response.

The feeling of stress can often manifest as a palpable tension flowing through your body. Stress can creep into the corners of your thoughts and decisions — eager to cloud your clarity and take power away from you.

As a popular saying goes, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom,” What can you do when stress manifests itself in your body, mind, and spirit?

Create your own mantras, get fresh air, meditate, write, play music, sleep, or stay still. Push away from the habits that add stress to your life. Get more familiar with the feeling of calm, so that when stress arises, you can gently guide yourself toward it. As Shannon Lee teaches us in her CreativeMornings talk, it is possible to “create and restructure life,” for yourself, based on how you’d like to live.

In the space between the stimulus and response, take some of the spotlight away from stress by calling in your breath — and ask it to walk out the door.

Our Warsaw chapter chose this month’s exploration of Stress and Shanee Benjamin illustrated the theme.