Once your brain has developed new neural pathways to thought and behaviour patterns that are more helpful and compassionate, daily life becomes easier... but you still need to practice.

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The incredible thing is about the brain is once you have practiced your more conscious way of responding to yourself and others for an extended period of time (research suggests at least 8 weeks), this will eventually become your new 'auto-pilot' (i.e., you will automatically start diaphragmatic breathing when you feel stressed). 

 

That being said, we are all human and we will all be challenged and triggered throughout our whole lives. Even if you can maintain acting with mindful, compassionate awareness during times of high stress; self-care and grounding practices are needed to be able to maintain this in the long term. We are wired to feel calm (regulated) with repetitive motion (from the time you were in utero!) so this is a normal human need. Self-care and grounding exercises have no end point. This can be as simple as mindful walking or practicing diaphragmatic breathing exercises for 90 seconds in between phone calls, meetings and/or while you're driving.

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