- Stress is when a physiological response is elicited from an external stimuli.
→ This means when a stressful situation (the external stimuli) is presented to you, it causes a (physiological) response from within your mind and body, which can be both psychological and physiological. The stress can also be short term or long term.
When most of us tend to think of stress we like to see it as a feeling similar to worry. Contrary to this belief, stress is not just a feeling and can cause harm if we allow our bodies to remain in the state of stress for too long. If a person is under constant stress, it can actually affect and change a person's whole biological and psychological state.
The Two Types Of Stress:
As most of us already know, stress is not always bad. There are actually two different types of stress that each of us experience, one is caused by positive events and the other is caused by negative events..
EUSTRESS- stress that is caused by a positive event. For example, the stress that occurs while watching a scary movie, riding a roller coaster, or getting a job promotion.
DISTRESS- stress that is caused by a negative event. For example, the stress that occurs from the loss of a loved one, getting hurt, or losing a job.
Hans Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome:
The effect that stress can have on the body was first described by Hungarian scientist Hans Seyle in 1936. Seyle theorized that chronic stress creates long-term chemical changes in the body, therefore stress could be a prominent cause of more serious diseases.
With this knowledge in mind Seyle began to dig even further into his research. From his lab work with rats and his memories of medical school, Hans Seyle identified what he referred to as The General Adaptation Syndrome. This describes the body's reactions to stress and can be broken down into three stages:
1) Alarm Reaction- This is when a person is disturbed by a stressor or external stimulus and the body first notices this stimulus. It is in this first stage that Cannon's fight or flight response comes into effect and hormones are released to provide the individual with enough energy to handle the given situation at hand. These hormones include adrenaline, norepinephrine, and cortisol. When released, there will be an increase in heart rate, breathing pattern, a tightening of muscles, and a constricting of blood vessels. All of this results in the creation of the energy you need to either fight or flee..
If the energy that is released from the fight or flight response continually remains unused through a lack of physical activity, it can actually have harmful effects on the body. Too much of the hormone cortisol can damage muscle tissue, cells, and can even lead to gastric ulcers, high blood sugar levels, and stroke. If there is too much adrenaline in the body, blood vessels of the brain and heart can be damaged, and this will increase the risk of suffering from a stroke or heart attack.
2) Adaptation- This is when the body begins to counteract the external stimulus and restore our bodies through recovery, renewal, and repair. This process is known as resistance, and it occurs almost immediately after the beginning of the alarm phase. This will continue until the stressful condition desists. Should a stressful condition continue, the body will remain in its state of arousal.
A person will begin to face problems when this process begins repeating too frequently, leaving little to no time for recovery to set in. If this occurs, the individual will move into the next stage..
3) Exhaustion- This is when the body has been depleted of the energy, both physical and psychological, that is required to fight off the stressor. This is particularly true for chronic stressors, because when fighting short-term stress, a person may not be entirely depleted of his or her energy. With the energy lost, the individual can no longer resist the stressor.
As a result, stress levels go up and remain high. The individual may experience adrenal fatigue, burnout, maladaption, overload, or dysfunction. Chronic stress can have a major impact on the body and mind. Nerve cells of organs and tissues can become damaged, memory and thinking can become impaired, and a person will be more likely to have anxiety and depression. High levels of stress can also contribute to rheumatoid arthritis, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
How to make Stress your Friend:
The only way to make stress become your friend is to change the way that you think and view it. In any given situation you can change the way your mind and body react to the stress.
I came across this idea while watching an episode of a show called "Ted Talks" Where a brilliant women named Kelly McGonigal explains her study on this stress theory. In this study about 30,000 people are tracked throughout 8 years. These people are asked 2 questions: How much stress have you had in the past year? Do you believe that stress can be harmful to your health?
People who had experienced a high amount of stress in the previous year had a 43% increase in risk of dying, but this was only true for the people who ALSO believed that stress was harmful.
On the other hand were people who did NOT believe that stress was harmful to their health. These people actually had the lowest percent risk of dying out of anyone, even the people who had experienced low amounts of stress.
What Does All This Mean?
This means that we can actually change the effects that stress has on us simply by changing our thought process about the subject. The way to do this is to begin viewing the stress responses as helpful to your situation.
Normally when we feel stressed out our body responds by releasing the hormones adrenaline, norepinephrine, and cortisol into your body. This results in an increase in heart rate, breathing patterns, constricting of blood vessels, and you can even begin to sweat. The trick is to view that pounding heart as your body preparing you for action. If you're breathing harder and faster, no problem, that's just your body supplying you with more oxygen. All of these responses are your body energizing you and preparing you.
Once you learn to change your mind and view these stress responses as helpful, you'll then be able to change the way your body reacts to it as well. In another study done, participants were taught how to view the stress responses as helpful, exactly how I mentioned in the paragraph above. When they put the participants into a stressful situation something amazing occurred..Not only did these people think differently about the situation but they're physical responses to the stress changed.
Normally, stress causes your heart rate to increase and your blood vessels to constrict. What the participants experienced was that their blood vessels stayed relaxed instead of constricting. More like a feeling of extreme joy or courage.
The participants from this study were actually able to make stress less likely to cause health issues simply by changing the way they think and react in the situation, and you can do this too..
The only way to beat stress, is to make it your friend.
All of these responses from the stress are your body preparing you with the energy you need to handle the situation at hand. There is no reason to fear stress, you are completely in control of the way your mind and body react to it.
Thanks for reading and good luck in your current endeavors!
-Brooke Neari
To join my team and get access to the same great 8-figure training that I receive, click here ---> http://brooke-neari.com/partner/
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Brooke_M_Neari/1496587
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8564111
Showing posts with label stress management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stress management. Show all posts
Thursday, 25 June 2020
Wednesday, 24 June 2020
Stresspensation: Evaluating the Impact of Stress in Career Decision Making
Brad was an incredibly bright young executive with a very promising future. Ever since graduating college, he seemed to take on increased responsibilities in his company like a duck to water. He married his college sweetheart, Nancy, right after graduation and has two small children. Brad's talent didn't go unnoticed in the industry, with several competitors approaching Brad about his willingness to join another firm. He steadfastly resisted, that is until the offer of all offers came his way.
ACME Corp, a larger and more prominent competitor to his current company, wined and dined Brad and ultimately offered him a VP position with a higher salary and better benefits. The offer was too good to pass up so Brad talked with Nancy about the job and they both became enamored with how this was going to advance Brad's career and what they would be able to do with the extra money. Brad joyfully accepted ACME's offer, gave his current company two weeks' notice, and started in his new VP role.
Within a year of joining ACME, he noticed some unexpected side effects of his new position. He was required to be in weekly global executive virtual meetings which could happen at any time of the day or night. He was routinely working 60+ hours a week, missing dinner with Nancy and the kids. He traveled at least once a week, many times to put out fires at clients. His eating habits were horrendous and he wasn't exercising due to his schedule. He began putting on weight. Nancy was frustrated with him not being around and his kids missed their daddy. The stress was unbearable and led to Brad one day grabbing his chest and collapsing during a customer meeting.
While the above story about Brad is fictional, each one of us knows of a Brad (or perhaps is Brad) who made a career choice without considering the effects of the extra stress. The American Institute of Stress (yes there is such an organization) has quantified the cost of stress to employers at $300 billion annually due to things such as absenteeism, accidents, turnover, diminished productivity, and medical costs. Add to that the personal costs of stress (i.e., poor health, weight gain/loss, sleep deprivation) and the relationship costs of stress (i.e., fractured relationships, friends or loved ones alienation, missed school plays), and you have a perfect storm of negative factors which make any kind of work-life balance virtually impossible to attain. In my 30 years of working with career professionals, stress typically takes a back seat to compensation and when considered, it is usually only a slice of the true stress level that the professional will endure. In the first ten years of my own career I saw stress as a given and gave it no consideration when evaluating career alternatives. This was a big mistake and a lesson I learned the hard way. Fortunately I learned it early in my career and was able to make some positive changes. However, some professionals never get it.
To help the professional evaluate the impact of stress when deciding on a career change, I've defined a comparative increase/decrease method to evaluate the impact of stress, based on three stress types:
(a) Relationship Stress
(b) Work Stress
(c) Personal Stress
For each stress type, a qualitative degree of stress is defined as follows:
1 - Minimal Stress
2 - Moderate Stress
3 - Significant Stress
In evaluating the impact of stress, each of the three stress types is assigned a value for the current and new job alternatives, then a comparative increase/decrease assessment is derived for each stress type. Let's put this to an example.
Lets say that a systems analyst (I'll call her Ann) is currently in a job paying $90,000/year and she's been offered a new position paying $100,000/year. On the surface, Ann likes the idea of a $10k raise and looks at the three stress types for each job, as follows:
Current Position
Relationship stress = 2 due to infrequent evening meetings only.
Personal stress = 1 due to ability to keep up with personal interests without sacrifice
Work stress = 2 due to some tight deadlines
New Position
Relationship stress = 3 due to evening meetings and four international trips/year to work with offshore developers
Personal stress = 2 due to having to alter exercise schedule, and having to drop book club
Work stress = 3 due to mission critical deadlines and regular status updates to senior management
When you look at the three stress types the following pops out about the new position:
Stress Type Current Position New Position Increase/Decrease
Relationship 2 3 Increase
Personal 1 2 Increase
Work 2 3 Increase
Ann is now faced with the following decision: Is the salary bump of $10k worth the incremental relationship, personal and work stress she'll endure? Depending on whatever other decision criteria Ann factors into her decision, the answer could be yes or no. Whether or not she takes the job is still her decision; what the process has done is forced her to consider the three stress types and derive data points in which she can use in her overall decision-making.
There are a number of important considerations for you to digest in using this methodology:
First, this is not an autonomic decision-making tool where the numeric answer is the sole job determinant. The impact of stress methodology is meant to bring relationship, personal, and work stress factors to the forefront of your decision making process.
Second, you need to be realistic about stress levels. "Wishing down" a stress level doesn't make it go away; it just sets you up for a letdown (or worse) after you've made your decision.
Third, you need to let your friends and loved ones come up with the relationship stress value and not assume a value for them. The real benefit in the methodology is the thought process and discussions you have along the way. Don't shortcut how your stress type values are determined or you'll miss out on some valuable nuggets.
Fourth, the methodology applies to any type of career change which involves new or different responsibilities, including promotions. Most of us are wired to blindly accept promotions without regard for the additional stress which may accompany the promotion.
Fifth, there will likely be stress in any job change; make sure you look at your steady-state stress level versus the "learning curve" stress level.
Your Go-Dos
When faced with your next career decision, follow these five steps to assess your impact of stress and help you decide on your career choice course of action:
Ask a lot of questions about the job and the degree of relationship, personal and work stress entailed in the job. Seek out others who may have done the job before or others who have some inside perspective.
Look at the job responsibilities (both stated and those you derive through interviews) and determine how much stress each of the responsibilities will create for you. Decide on a 1-3 work stress value.
Write down the personal activities and goals you have (i.e. exercise 4x/week, sleep at least 7 hours a night) and determine how the career choice would impact each of the activities and goals. Decide on a 1-3 personal stress value.
Openly discuss with your friends and loved ones what the career choice would mean in terms of impact to relationship time (i.e. not being home for dinner, availability to help with homework) and ask them to decide on a 1-3 relationship stress value.
Derive the increase/decrease in stress for each of the three stress types.
Decide how you're going to factor the impact of stress into your overall decision.
Remember, the real benefit in utilizing the impact of stress methodology is in the discovery process you'll go through to understand relationship, personal, and work stress drivers for different career choices. Be real with yourself as to how a career choice will affect you and those you love.
Lonnie Pacelli is an accomplished author and autism advocate with over 30 years experience in leadership and project management at Accenture, Microsoft, and Consetta Group. See books, articles, keynotes, and self-study seminars at http://www.lonniepacelli.com
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Lonnie_Pacelli/16297
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9359733
ACME Corp, a larger and more prominent competitor to his current company, wined and dined Brad and ultimately offered him a VP position with a higher salary and better benefits. The offer was too good to pass up so Brad talked with Nancy about the job and they both became enamored with how this was going to advance Brad's career and what they would be able to do with the extra money. Brad joyfully accepted ACME's offer, gave his current company two weeks' notice, and started in his new VP role.
Within a year of joining ACME, he noticed some unexpected side effects of his new position. He was required to be in weekly global executive virtual meetings which could happen at any time of the day or night. He was routinely working 60+ hours a week, missing dinner with Nancy and the kids. He traveled at least once a week, many times to put out fires at clients. His eating habits were horrendous and he wasn't exercising due to his schedule. He began putting on weight. Nancy was frustrated with him not being around and his kids missed their daddy. The stress was unbearable and led to Brad one day grabbing his chest and collapsing during a customer meeting.
While the above story about Brad is fictional, each one of us knows of a Brad (or perhaps is Brad) who made a career choice without considering the effects of the extra stress. The American Institute of Stress (yes there is such an organization) has quantified the cost of stress to employers at $300 billion annually due to things such as absenteeism, accidents, turnover, diminished productivity, and medical costs. Add to that the personal costs of stress (i.e., poor health, weight gain/loss, sleep deprivation) and the relationship costs of stress (i.e., fractured relationships, friends or loved ones alienation, missed school plays), and you have a perfect storm of negative factors which make any kind of work-life balance virtually impossible to attain. In my 30 years of working with career professionals, stress typically takes a back seat to compensation and when considered, it is usually only a slice of the true stress level that the professional will endure. In the first ten years of my own career I saw stress as a given and gave it no consideration when evaluating career alternatives. This was a big mistake and a lesson I learned the hard way. Fortunately I learned it early in my career and was able to make some positive changes. However, some professionals never get it.
To help the professional evaluate the impact of stress when deciding on a career change, I've defined a comparative increase/decrease method to evaluate the impact of stress, based on three stress types:
(a) Relationship Stress
(b) Work Stress
(c) Personal Stress
For each stress type, a qualitative degree of stress is defined as follows:
1 - Minimal Stress
2 - Moderate Stress
3 - Significant Stress
In evaluating the impact of stress, each of the three stress types is assigned a value for the current and new job alternatives, then a comparative increase/decrease assessment is derived for each stress type. Let's put this to an example.
Lets say that a systems analyst (I'll call her Ann) is currently in a job paying $90,000/year and she's been offered a new position paying $100,000/year. On the surface, Ann likes the idea of a $10k raise and looks at the three stress types for each job, as follows:
Current Position
Relationship stress = 2 due to infrequent evening meetings only.
Personal stress = 1 due to ability to keep up with personal interests without sacrifice
Work stress = 2 due to some tight deadlines
New Position
Relationship stress = 3 due to evening meetings and four international trips/year to work with offshore developers
Personal stress = 2 due to having to alter exercise schedule, and having to drop book club
Work stress = 3 due to mission critical deadlines and regular status updates to senior management
When you look at the three stress types the following pops out about the new position:
Stress Type Current Position New Position Increase/Decrease
Relationship 2 3 Increase
Personal 1 2 Increase
Work 2 3 Increase
Ann is now faced with the following decision: Is the salary bump of $10k worth the incremental relationship, personal and work stress she'll endure? Depending on whatever other decision criteria Ann factors into her decision, the answer could be yes or no. Whether or not she takes the job is still her decision; what the process has done is forced her to consider the three stress types and derive data points in which she can use in her overall decision-making.
There are a number of important considerations for you to digest in using this methodology:
First, this is not an autonomic decision-making tool where the numeric answer is the sole job determinant. The impact of stress methodology is meant to bring relationship, personal, and work stress factors to the forefront of your decision making process.
Second, you need to be realistic about stress levels. "Wishing down" a stress level doesn't make it go away; it just sets you up for a letdown (or worse) after you've made your decision.
Third, you need to let your friends and loved ones come up with the relationship stress value and not assume a value for them. The real benefit in the methodology is the thought process and discussions you have along the way. Don't shortcut how your stress type values are determined or you'll miss out on some valuable nuggets.
Fourth, the methodology applies to any type of career change which involves new or different responsibilities, including promotions. Most of us are wired to blindly accept promotions without regard for the additional stress which may accompany the promotion.
Fifth, there will likely be stress in any job change; make sure you look at your steady-state stress level versus the "learning curve" stress level.
Your Go-Dos
When faced with your next career decision, follow these five steps to assess your impact of stress and help you decide on your career choice course of action:
Ask a lot of questions about the job and the degree of relationship, personal and work stress entailed in the job. Seek out others who may have done the job before or others who have some inside perspective.
Look at the job responsibilities (both stated and those you derive through interviews) and determine how much stress each of the responsibilities will create for you. Decide on a 1-3 work stress value.
Write down the personal activities and goals you have (i.e. exercise 4x/week, sleep at least 7 hours a night) and determine how the career choice would impact each of the activities and goals. Decide on a 1-3 personal stress value.
Openly discuss with your friends and loved ones what the career choice would mean in terms of impact to relationship time (i.e. not being home for dinner, availability to help with homework) and ask them to decide on a 1-3 relationship stress value.
Derive the increase/decrease in stress for each of the three stress types.
Decide how you're going to factor the impact of stress into your overall decision.
Remember, the real benefit in utilizing the impact of stress methodology is in the discovery process you'll go through to understand relationship, personal, and work stress drivers for different career choices. Be real with yourself as to how a career choice will affect you and those you love.
Lonnie Pacelli is an accomplished author and autism advocate with over 30 years experience in leadership and project management at Accenture, Microsoft, and Consetta Group. See books, articles, keynotes, and self-study seminars at http://www.lonniepacelli.com
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Lonnie_Pacelli/16297
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9359733
Sunday, 14 June 2020
Tuesday, 9 June 2020
Friday, 5 June 2020
Six More Quick Tips to Reduce Stress
Stress affects us all in different ways at different times, to different degrees and for different reasons. It could be something relatively trivial or due to a more significant cause. Either way, it is important to try to reduce stress otherwise it can get out of control and affect your health. Here are six quick tips which can help to reduce and manage stress. I hope you find them useful.
Tip 1: Have a You Day
This may sound obvious - we all need some alone time for ourselves to try to get away from things for a while.
Life is tough enough with all the demands it places on us which in turn can cause stress as life gets on top of us.
Make a conscious effort to split yourself of some time for YOU.
No distractions, turn off the laptop, turn off the mobile - your you time is for YOU - nobody else.
Then do whatever you feel like doing that makes you feel happy and less stressed.
That might be reading a book, listening to your favourite music, generally chilling out.
Find the time to switch off for a while and you'll feel better for it.
Tip 2: Your Happy Place
Another quick stress reduction tip is when the going gets tough to imagine yourself in your happy place.
We've all got one (or perhaps more than one) - imagine you are there and how it makes you feel.
This is sometimes known as guided imagery and has been around for hundreds of years.
If you want to get in to it seriously there are guided imagery therapists and practitioners you could see.
Or you can buy up guided imagery books and CDs.
And of course there's good old YouTube for videos.
Guided imagery goes hand-in-hand with meditation which is another technique to help with stress reduction and management.
Tip 3: Clean and De-Clutter
A clean and tidy home (silly as it may sound) can help with stress reduction and management.
Sift through everything you have and identify what you do need/has value to you and what does not - be brutal - what can you live without.
Anything you can live without or no longer need you may be able to sell online or donate to charity.
Next clean the house - not necessarily all in one go (you can if you want to of course) - perhaps a room at a time.
Just the exercise involved in cleaning will stimulate hormones which help to make you feel good.
To help pass the time whilst you clean put on your favourite CD.
A clean and tidy home makes you feel better too doesn't it?
Tip 4: Digital De-Clutter
Now you have de-cluttered and cleaned the house, it's time to do the same for your digital life.
Emails, social media, the pressure for instant replies, more likes, more Twitter followers and keeping on top of all that can be stressful in itself - right?
So have a digital clean up and de-clutter.
Remove yourself from email lists you do not need to be on.
Turn off notifications, alters and similar which you do not need.
Set aside specific times of the day to check your emails instead of constantly (may not apply to work emails of course).
And turn everything off (or at least on silent) before bedtime because you don't need to be awoken throughout the night with emails pinging in and social media alters popping up.
Tip #5: Relaxing Sounds
This stress reduction tip ties in with the happy place tip we looked at earlier.
The right sort of sound can help you to relax and de-stress.
Just like closing your eyes and going to your happy place, listening to a relaxing sound for a while can have the same effect.
It might be bird song, waterfalls, gentle waves breaking, whale song and similar - whatever works for you.
Any number of relaxation sound CDs, streaming and downloads available everywhere.
Plug yourself in, listen, relax and feel the stress leave you.
Tip #6: Meditate
A spot of meditation can help tremendously with stress reduction and your state of mind in general.
This can be a simple as sitting down, clearing your mind and doing some repeated deep breathing.
In for four seconds to fill your lungs, hold, breathe out slowly and repeat for a few minutes.
Not unlike being in your happy place we touched on earlier.
If you fancy getting in to meditation and you have a smartphone there are any number of meditation apps to download.
And of course any number of books, videos etc.
In addition to helping reduce stress, meditation can help with anxiety depression and high blood pressure.
Start now. Take some action. One step at a time. Do not procrastinate
There is no right or wrong order in which to try these stress reduction tips. See which work for you.
You may be interested to explore stress reduction techniques further in more depth. To do that, here is a video course containing nine stress reduction action plan s. It is available on Skillshare and you can access it today by clicking here.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Andy_Machin/16946
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10284733
Tip 1: Have a You Day
This may sound obvious - we all need some alone time for ourselves to try to get away from things for a while.
Life is tough enough with all the demands it places on us which in turn can cause stress as life gets on top of us.
Make a conscious effort to split yourself of some time for YOU.
No distractions, turn off the laptop, turn off the mobile - your you time is for YOU - nobody else.
Then do whatever you feel like doing that makes you feel happy and less stressed.
That might be reading a book, listening to your favourite music, generally chilling out.
Find the time to switch off for a while and you'll feel better for it.
Tip 2: Your Happy Place
Another quick stress reduction tip is when the going gets tough to imagine yourself in your happy place.
We've all got one (or perhaps more than one) - imagine you are there and how it makes you feel.
This is sometimes known as guided imagery and has been around for hundreds of years.
If you want to get in to it seriously there are guided imagery therapists and practitioners you could see.
Or you can buy up guided imagery books and CDs.
And of course there's good old YouTube for videos.
Guided imagery goes hand-in-hand with meditation which is another technique to help with stress reduction and management.
Tip 3: Clean and De-Clutter
A clean and tidy home (silly as it may sound) can help with stress reduction and management.
Sift through everything you have and identify what you do need/has value to you and what does not - be brutal - what can you live without.
Anything you can live without or no longer need you may be able to sell online or donate to charity.
Next clean the house - not necessarily all in one go (you can if you want to of course) - perhaps a room at a time.
Just the exercise involved in cleaning will stimulate hormones which help to make you feel good.
To help pass the time whilst you clean put on your favourite CD.
A clean and tidy home makes you feel better too doesn't it?
Tip 4: Digital De-Clutter
Now you have de-cluttered and cleaned the house, it's time to do the same for your digital life.
Emails, social media, the pressure for instant replies, more likes, more Twitter followers and keeping on top of all that can be stressful in itself - right?
So have a digital clean up and de-clutter.
Remove yourself from email lists you do not need to be on.
Turn off notifications, alters and similar which you do not need.
Set aside specific times of the day to check your emails instead of constantly (may not apply to work emails of course).
And turn everything off (or at least on silent) before bedtime because you don't need to be awoken throughout the night with emails pinging in and social media alters popping up.
Tip #5: Relaxing Sounds
This stress reduction tip ties in with the happy place tip we looked at earlier.
The right sort of sound can help you to relax and de-stress.
Just like closing your eyes and going to your happy place, listening to a relaxing sound for a while can have the same effect.
It might be bird song, waterfalls, gentle waves breaking, whale song and similar - whatever works for you.
Any number of relaxation sound CDs, streaming and downloads available everywhere.
Plug yourself in, listen, relax and feel the stress leave you.
Tip #6: Meditate
A spot of meditation can help tremendously with stress reduction and your state of mind in general.
This can be a simple as sitting down, clearing your mind and doing some repeated deep breathing.
In for four seconds to fill your lungs, hold, breathe out slowly and repeat for a few minutes.
Not unlike being in your happy place we touched on earlier.
If you fancy getting in to meditation and you have a smartphone there are any number of meditation apps to download.
And of course any number of books, videos etc.
In addition to helping reduce stress, meditation can help with anxiety depression and high blood pressure.
Start now. Take some action. One step at a time. Do not procrastinate
There is no right or wrong order in which to try these stress reduction tips. See which work for you.
You may be interested to explore stress reduction techniques further in more depth. To do that, here is a video course containing nine stress reduction action plan s. It is available on Skillshare and you can access it today by clicking here.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Andy_Machin/16946
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10284733
Tuesday, 2 June 2020
Sunday, 24 May 2020
Can You Gage Your Level of Subconscious Stress?
Did you know that stress presents itself in different degrees? That it can start by something as simple as daily worries? That it accumulates in us? That it can be silently consuming our subconscious capacities? That it can still be properly handled and managed?
Although stress is quite a modern concept, Hippocrates already discussed anxiety back in the 4th century BC. It is a problem that humanity has had to deal with since the dawn of time. In spite of which, we still seems to know very little about how to handle it.
In my line of work, humanology, I come across a lot of people who suffer from all types of stress and have come to some conclusions that I'd like to share with you here today, together with a few tips and tricks in the hope that they can help you.
Worry, fear, anxiety and panic can be just different forms and degrees of stress: When any of those forms of fear is present in a person's life too often, chances are that they end up escalating into the next level in this progression.
Worry can also become a form of stress when the person can't control it. Those who can't stop worrying over things end up accumulating a lot of cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine, which are slowly released by their system each time they plan to "fix" a problem by getting ready for it. They are regularly preparing their bodies for the "bad something" to come. There are certain trends at this level:
Overthinking is a form of constant worry.Those who can't stop thinking without control, whose thoughts govern them, tend to always think about problems and worries. They can't seem to be able to disconnect from their worries and are therefore constantly releasing stress-based chemicals. Daydreamers are one type of overthinkers. Most daydreamers spend their time also worrying, not enjoying fun or positive imaginations.
The excessive need to control everything is another form of worry.Those who need to have everything under their control, the so-called control freaks, are in a permanent state of worry over their losing such control.
When the worry turns into "what if... " questions, it becomes fear. Worrying over something can grow into fearing it very easily. All "what if... " questions indicate some kind of fear. "What if that doesn't work out the way I want it to? What if that other thing happens? What if that person fails... " all indicate a fear of something happening or not in the future. The worry becomes more focused and the feeling more acute. The person's body segregates bigger amounts of chemicals.
Constant worry and fear have a cumulative stressful effect in us. Being in a constant state of worry or fear leads to an excess of chemicals in our bodies. Those chemicals, if not properly managed and released, will accumulate in a person's body and could grow into silent anxiety.
Worry, fear and anxiety can occupy a huge part of our subconscious capacity. When a person is silently and subconsciously handling worry, fear and anxiety many hours a day, that person's brain is working overtime.
The person is not aware of it. The conscious part of that person's brain will deal with the conscious symptoms of worry, fear and anxiety, whenever aware of them, but the subconscious ones will still grow and multiply, making use of the person's subconscious mechanisms and capacity.
The mind is like an iceberg and our conscious mind is nothing but the very tiny tip. When a person suffers from chronic worry, fear or anxiety, visible, noticeable symptoms will be tackled. Unfortunately, that same person will also be subconsciously working on silent stress, trying to manage it, while it gradually accumulates inside due to a lack of adequate release mechanisms for the non-stop triggers. This reality is one of the main reasons why worry and fear can end up escalating into anxiety.
When the subconscious can't handle it, the conscious mind will release it. The subconscious tries to keep up with the stress, the worry, the fear, mostly by keeping it all bottled up inside, until its mere amount is so huge, that it overflows into the conscious mind in the form of anxiety or panic symptoms. Thus, all those never-released chemicals end up forcing the person to stop and do something. By then, handling them is obviously much harder. There might be years of accumulation and poor handling.
So, then, what can we do? There are some obvious answers to that question. But maybe not so many obvious tools. Let me offer you a couple of both.
Work with a humanologist. That is, of course, the most obvious solution J. Humanologists are experts in human beings and can expand on the understanding and tools beyond the scope of this article. Seek one out to help you recognize your level of stress, your triggers and the personal tools you need to change that trend in you. In the meantime, you can try the following tips as well:
Stop accumulating. Yes, even though that sounds obvious, how is it done? How can an overthinker stop thinking? How can a worrier stop worrying?
Mindfulness: Fear is ALWAYS in the future. What if... always refers to something that hasn't quite happened yet. Therefore, learning to be in the here and the now is key to those people. Learn to return from the future to the present. The more often you get back to the present, the less negative chemicals your system will be releasing. Learn and use mindfulness techniques to force yourself to be in the present as often as possible.
Connect with the world outside. Many people who suffer from worry, fear, anxiety and panic spend their hours inside themselves. They often spend many hours in their heads. And they sometimes forget to connect with the world outside, with their reality. The more time a person spends inside, without a clear connecting line with the world outside, the greater the chance to fall into this stress trap. KEEP IN CONTACT WITH THE OUTSIDE REALITY at all times. Yes, introspection is great... as long as you are not disconnected from reality. Yes, meditation is great... as long as you are not disconnected from reality. Yes, being inside one's personal sphere is great... as long as you're not disconnected from reality. Then, make the CONSCIOUS effort to remain connected to reality and the outside world, no matter what. Keep on coming out for air and a clear anchor on reality.
Time boxes. Design a certain fixed time to worry every day. Give yourself the chance to really worry for, let's say, an hour a day. AND THAT IS IT! Once the hour is over, any time your worry, fear or anxiety comes calling again, tell it to return tomorrow, for the next time box.
Fight negative with positive. Some other happier chemicals can help you reduce the levels of accumulated cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine in your body: oxytocin, endorphins, serotonin, dopamine and the like. Learn how to release them more often and in greater quantities for two reasons:
They fight the bad guys. Good chemicals will make you feel better and will help you relax almost immediately. Which means that the good ones will target some of the negative chemicals.
When your body is releasing these, it can't be releasing those. Thus, if your body is busy flushing your system with wonderful oxytocin, it can't be producing the nasty products at the same time.
The positive result is therefore double: there are less bad chemicals in you because the good ones are fighting them and you're producing less because you're busy doing something else.
Let them go! Nothing will work if you continue creating more and more of the nasty chemicals. Learn some tools to get rid of the stress you already have inside: exercise, practice laughing, apply the tools mentioned above to counteract and release the nasty bugs, and take control of your own being.
All these tips will help you handle your stress a bit better. Don't let it grow in you until it becomes unmanageable. Seek help now instead of letting it overtake you and control your will. It can be done.
Enjoy life... ALL of it,
Learn more in my book: The Optimist in You https://www.amazon.com/Optimist-You-Optimism-Coaching-Handbook/dp/151161160X
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jessica_J_Lockhart/2431530
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10151274
Although stress is quite a modern concept, Hippocrates already discussed anxiety back in the 4th century BC. It is a problem that humanity has had to deal with since the dawn of time. In spite of which, we still seems to know very little about how to handle it.
In my line of work, humanology, I come across a lot of people who suffer from all types of stress and have come to some conclusions that I'd like to share with you here today, together with a few tips and tricks in the hope that they can help you.
Worry, fear, anxiety and panic can be just different forms and degrees of stress: When any of those forms of fear is present in a person's life too often, chances are that they end up escalating into the next level in this progression.
Worry can also become a form of stress when the person can't control it. Those who can't stop worrying over things end up accumulating a lot of cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine, which are slowly released by their system each time they plan to "fix" a problem by getting ready for it. They are regularly preparing their bodies for the "bad something" to come. There are certain trends at this level:
Overthinking is a form of constant worry.Those who can't stop thinking without control, whose thoughts govern them, tend to always think about problems and worries. They can't seem to be able to disconnect from their worries and are therefore constantly releasing stress-based chemicals. Daydreamers are one type of overthinkers. Most daydreamers spend their time also worrying, not enjoying fun or positive imaginations.
The excessive need to control everything is another form of worry.Those who need to have everything under their control, the so-called control freaks, are in a permanent state of worry over their losing such control.
When the worry turns into "what if... " questions, it becomes fear. Worrying over something can grow into fearing it very easily. All "what if... " questions indicate some kind of fear. "What if that doesn't work out the way I want it to? What if that other thing happens? What if that person fails... " all indicate a fear of something happening or not in the future. The worry becomes more focused and the feeling more acute. The person's body segregates bigger amounts of chemicals.
Constant worry and fear have a cumulative stressful effect in us. Being in a constant state of worry or fear leads to an excess of chemicals in our bodies. Those chemicals, if not properly managed and released, will accumulate in a person's body and could grow into silent anxiety.
Worry, fear and anxiety can occupy a huge part of our subconscious capacity. When a person is silently and subconsciously handling worry, fear and anxiety many hours a day, that person's brain is working overtime.
The person is not aware of it. The conscious part of that person's brain will deal with the conscious symptoms of worry, fear and anxiety, whenever aware of them, but the subconscious ones will still grow and multiply, making use of the person's subconscious mechanisms and capacity.
The mind is like an iceberg and our conscious mind is nothing but the very tiny tip. When a person suffers from chronic worry, fear or anxiety, visible, noticeable symptoms will be tackled. Unfortunately, that same person will also be subconsciously working on silent stress, trying to manage it, while it gradually accumulates inside due to a lack of adequate release mechanisms for the non-stop triggers. This reality is one of the main reasons why worry and fear can end up escalating into anxiety.
When the subconscious can't handle it, the conscious mind will release it. The subconscious tries to keep up with the stress, the worry, the fear, mostly by keeping it all bottled up inside, until its mere amount is so huge, that it overflows into the conscious mind in the form of anxiety or panic symptoms. Thus, all those never-released chemicals end up forcing the person to stop and do something. By then, handling them is obviously much harder. There might be years of accumulation and poor handling.
So, then, what can we do? There are some obvious answers to that question. But maybe not so many obvious tools. Let me offer you a couple of both.
Work with a humanologist. That is, of course, the most obvious solution J. Humanologists are experts in human beings and can expand on the understanding and tools beyond the scope of this article. Seek one out to help you recognize your level of stress, your triggers and the personal tools you need to change that trend in you. In the meantime, you can try the following tips as well:
Stop accumulating. Yes, even though that sounds obvious, how is it done? How can an overthinker stop thinking? How can a worrier stop worrying?
Mindfulness: Fear is ALWAYS in the future. What if... always refers to something that hasn't quite happened yet. Therefore, learning to be in the here and the now is key to those people. Learn to return from the future to the present. The more often you get back to the present, the less negative chemicals your system will be releasing. Learn and use mindfulness techniques to force yourself to be in the present as often as possible.
Connect with the world outside. Many people who suffer from worry, fear, anxiety and panic spend their hours inside themselves. They often spend many hours in their heads. And they sometimes forget to connect with the world outside, with their reality. The more time a person spends inside, without a clear connecting line with the world outside, the greater the chance to fall into this stress trap. KEEP IN CONTACT WITH THE OUTSIDE REALITY at all times. Yes, introspection is great... as long as you are not disconnected from reality. Yes, meditation is great... as long as you are not disconnected from reality. Yes, being inside one's personal sphere is great... as long as you're not disconnected from reality. Then, make the CONSCIOUS effort to remain connected to reality and the outside world, no matter what. Keep on coming out for air and a clear anchor on reality.
Time boxes. Design a certain fixed time to worry every day. Give yourself the chance to really worry for, let's say, an hour a day. AND THAT IS IT! Once the hour is over, any time your worry, fear or anxiety comes calling again, tell it to return tomorrow, for the next time box.
Fight negative with positive. Some other happier chemicals can help you reduce the levels of accumulated cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine in your body: oxytocin, endorphins, serotonin, dopamine and the like. Learn how to release them more often and in greater quantities for two reasons:
They fight the bad guys. Good chemicals will make you feel better and will help you relax almost immediately. Which means that the good ones will target some of the negative chemicals.
When your body is releasing these, it can't be releasing those. Thus, if your body is busy flushing your system with wonderful oxytocin, it can't be producing the nasty products at the same time.
The positive result is therefore double: there are less bad chemicals in you because the good ones are fighting them and you're producing less because you're busy doing something else.
Let them go! Nothing will work if you continue creating more and more of the nasty chemicals. Learn some tools to get rid of the stress you already have inside: exercise, practice laughing, apply the tools mentioned above to counteract and release the nasty bugs, and take control of your own being.
All these tips will help you handle your stress a bit better. Don't let it grow in you until it becomes unmanageable. Seek help now instead of letting it overtake you and control your will. It can be done.
Enjoy life... ALL of it,
Learn more in my book: The Optimist in You https://www.amazon.com/Optimist-You-Optimism-Coaching-Handbook/dp/151161160X
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jessica_J_Lockhart/2431530
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10151274
Wednesday, 20 May 2020
Top Tips to Manage Your Time in Social Isolation
We're living in unprecedented times. From our health, income, education, ability to travel, no one has been exempt from the impact of this global pandemic. So excuse yourself if you have an occasional melt down. It's understandable under the circumstances. We don't know how long it will last, what the outcome will be. All we can manage is how we react and learn to take each day as it comes.
Practise daily gratitude. A positive, thankful approach is the key to improving unfortunate circumstances. Start each day by being thankful; for waking up, for having a roof over your head, running water, electricity, your health, your family and friends. Times like this often bring out the best in people, so be thankful for the people who check to ask if you're okay, the opportunities you have to walk each day, to slow right down, spend time with your family. Okay, this situation is tough, but you can improve it by appreciating the good in your life.
Take care of yourself. That way others don't have to worry about you and you're in a better position to take care of those who need your attention. Self-care requires both mental and physical stimulus, so reading, games, work, study and physical exercise are an important part of your commitment to yourself. Getting enough sleep and not staying up all hours or over-sleeping are also important.
Explore available options. Might this be a good opportunity to learn another language, refresh an existing skill, diversify? If you've free time you could turn it to your advantage by investigating and even training in a new interest or skill.
Help others. Those little gestures, the phone call, bunch of flowers on the doorstep, the 'thinking of you' greeting card can make all the difference to someone's day. And when you shop for essentials or go online for support remember your local small traders are relying on your custom to survive.
Keep to a regular routine. It's tough when your normal life has been thrown into disarray and added unexpected worries and concerns. But it helps when you re-establish some order in your life. Get up at the same time, shower, put fresh clothes on, designate certain times for work. Some people even have their children wear their school uniforms, which helps them appreciate that this is not an extended school holiday and that they have to do some actual school work!
Don't allow the children to dominate your life and run you ragged. Start as you mean to go on and introduce one of the great online exercise classes to burn off some energy, but also have quiet time too where they read, paint, do some chores or crafts and give you a little space.
Stay hydrated and eat healthily. Keeping your fluid intake up is important. Virus's thrive in your mouth and throat so drinking hot/warm water regularly, perhaps adding fresh lemon, ginger and honey, can help to keep your airways clear. Maintain a good diet, including fresh fruit and vegetables. The supermarkets are doing a sterling job of frequently restocking.
And manage your alcohol intake. When we're feeling fed up it's tempting to go down the wine'o'clock route, but it doesn't help and you'll feel worse afterwards, as you will if you stock up on treats like cakes, biscuits and chocolates and then binge eat the lot in an afternoon!
Manage your time on social media and the news sites. There's plenty of fake news, naysayers and doom merchants out there, feeding us gloomy prophecies, images and statistics. Yes, check in once or twice a day but don't allow depressing information to be drip-fed into your home and life on a regular basis. Remember, you're in control!
Stay connected. There are plenty of groups using skype, zoom, what's app, Facebook to stay connected and be supportive of each other. Keep in touch with the people who are important in your life. Many businesses are finding effective, alternative ways to contact their clients and hold meetings, run training sessions and still work.
If you've a partner give each other space. It can be challenging to spend 24/7 in each other's company, especially if you've only ever done that on holidays or at Christmas. Post-holiday and post-Christmas anyway are the busiest times for divorce lawyers! So if you don't want to fall into that category ensure that you agree to not do everything together. Maybe one shops for food, walks the dog, works in the study, goes for a quiet read, potters in the garden, has a leisurely bath. Make allowances for each other's low mood at times. Give each other personal time.
Stay positive. A good perspective and sense of humour are lifesavers, especially at the moment. Social media, used well, can help lighten the mood. When you dip in and see the fun, imaginative ways people respond to daily themes or news stories it can brighten the day. Or laughing at some of your unfortunate attempts at baking, DIY or making something work can keep a pleasant light-hearted atmosphere.
If you find you're struggling maybe keep a journal and write down how you're feeling. It can help to get things down on paper, and writing is more effective than using your laptop. Avoid running 'what-if' and worst case scenarios in your mind. Intercept those by distracting yourself; move, dance, sing, phone a positive friend for an upbeat chat. Aim to accomplish one positive task each day, from tidying your sock drawer, cleaning the windows or even sorting your emails. Then you have a regular achievement to feel good about.
We're all trying our best to get through these exceptional times. Let's support each other and do it together.
Susan Leigh, counsellor, hypnotherapist, relationship counsellor, writer & media contributor offers help with relationship issues, stress management, assertiveness and confidence. She works with individual clients, couples and provides corporate workshops and support.
She's author of 3 books, 'Dealing with Stress, Managing its Impact', '101 Days of Inspiration #tipoftheday' and 'Dealing with Death, Coping with the Pain', all on Amazon & with easy to read sections, tips and ideas to help you feel more positive about your life.
To order a copy or for more information, help and free articles visit http://www.lifestyletherapy.net
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Susan_Leigh/399535
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10276132
Practise daily gratitude. A positive, thankful approach is the key to improving unfortunate circumstances. Start each day by being thankful; for waking up, for having a roof over your head, running water, electricity, your health, your family and friends. Times like this often bring out the best in people, so be thankful for the people who check to ask if you're okay, the opportunities you have to walk each day, to slow right down, spend time with your family. Okay, this situation is tough, but you can improve it by appreciating the good in your life.
Take care of yourself. That way others don't have to worry about you and you're in a better position to take care of those who need your attention. Self-care requires both mental and physical stimulus, so reading, games, work, study and physical exercise are an important part of your commitment to yourself. Getting enough sleep and not staying up all hours or over-sleeping are also important.
Explore available options. Might this be a good opportunity to learn another language, refresh an existing skill, diversify? If you've free time you could turn it to your advantage by investigating and even training in a new interest or skill.
Help others. Those little gestures, the phone call, bunch of flowers on the doorstep, the 'thinking of you' greeting card can make all the difference to someone's day. And when you shop for essentials or go online for support remember your local small traders are relying on your custom to survive.
Keep to a regular routine. It's tough when your normal life has been thrown into disarray and added unexpected worries and concerns. But it helps when you re-establish some order in your life. Get up at the same time, shower, put fresh clothes on, designate certain times for work. Some people even have their children wear their school uniforms, which helps them appreciate that this is not an extended school holiday and that they have to do some actual school work!
Don't allow the children to dominate your life and run you ragged. Start as you mean to go on and introduce one of the great online exercise classes to burn off some energy, but also have quiet time too where they read, paint, do some chores or crafts and give you a little space.
Stay hydrated and eat healthily. Keeping your fluid intake up is important. Virus's thrive in your mouth and throat so drinking hot/warm water regularly, perhaps adding fresh lemon, ginger and honey, can help to keep your airways clear. Maintain a good diet, including fresh fruit and vegetables. The supermarkets are doing a sterling job of frequently restocking.
And manage your alcohol intake. When we're feeling fed up it's tempting to go down the wine'o'clock route, but it doesn't help and you'll feel worse afterwards, as you will if you stock up on treats like cakes, biscuits and chocolates and then binge eat the lot in an afternoon!
Manage your time on social media and the news sites. There's plenty of fake news, naysayers and doom merchants out there, feeding us gloomy prophecies, images and statistics. Yes, check in once or twice a day but don't allow depressing information to be drip-fed into your home and life on a regular basis. Remember, you're in control!
Stay connected. There are plenty of groups using skype, zoom, what's app, Facebook to stay connected and be supportive of each other. Keep in touch with the people who are important in your life. Many businesses are finding effective, alternative ways to contact their clients and hold meetings, run training sessions and still work.
If you've a partner give each other space. It can be challenging to spend 24/7 in each other's company, especially if you've only ever done that on holidays or at Christmas. Post-holiday and post-Christmas anyway are the busiest times for divorce lawyers! So if you don't want to fall into that category ensure that you agree to not do everything together. Maybe one shops for food, walks the dog, works in the study, goes for a quiet read, potters in the garden, has a leisurely bath. Make allowances for each other's low mood at times. Give each other personal time.
Stay positive. A good perspective and sense of humour are lifesavers, especially at the moment. Social media, used well, can help lighten the mood. When you dip in and see the fun, imaginative ways people respond to daily themes or news stories it can brighten the day. Or laughing at some of your unfortunate attempts at baking, DIY or making something work can keep a pleasant light-hearted atmosphere.
If you find you're struggling maybe keep a journal and write down how you're feeling. It can help to get things down on paper, and writing is more effective than using your laptop. Avoid running 'what-if' and worst case scenarios in your mind. Intercept those by distracting yourself; move, dance, sing, phone a positive friend for an upbeat chat. Aim to accomplish one positive task each day, from tidying your sock drawer, cleaning the windows or even sorting your emails. Then you have a regular achievement to feel good about.
We're all trying our best to get through these exceptional times. Let's support each other and do it together.
Susan Leigh, counsellor, hypnotherapist, relationship counsellor, writer & media contributor offers help with relationship issues, stress management, assertiveness and confidence. She works with individual clients, couples and provides corporate workshops and support.
She's author of 3 books, 'Dealing with Stress, Managing its Impact', '101 Days of Inspiration #tipoftheday' and 'Dealing with Death, Coping with the Pain', all on Amazon & with easy to read sections, tips and ideas to help you feel more positive about your life.
To order a copy or for more information, help and free articles visit http://www.lifestyletherapy.net
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Susan_Leigh/399535
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10276132
Monday, 11 May 2020
***How Habitual Stress Affects Our Body And Effective Ways To Beat It
Stress is an emotional and physical response to external factors, and lessening stress is the secret to a longer, healthier, life. We know that stress isn't good for us, and we know that everyone experiences stress every day, but once we're aware of how long-lasting stress impacts our physical body, we realise that it's important to find ways to manage and reduce stress to remain healthy. It doesn't matter how old we are, or whether we're male or female, we're all exposed to numerous daily stressors and if our reactions to those stressors aren't dealt with and managed, the outcome on our physical health is often detrimental.
When we're stressed, the hormones adrenaline and cortisol are created to help us with the 'fight or flight' reaction to any potentially dangerous situations. This hormone creation is useful in the short term as it increases our heart rate enabling us to quickly escape from any potentially dangerous situations. When we're under stress or feeling anxious, our hormones change to help us to manage the stressful or anxiety-causing situation, enabling us to use the natural 'flight or fight' response, but when the stress is constant and long-term it's likely to have a negative influence on our health. These effects range from straightforward recurring problems such as tiredness and depression, to far more severe issues such as heart failure and cancer. Therefore it's vital to find effective ways of dealing with stress.
When stress becomes habitual or long-term, our body naturally responds and continues to send stress hormones into our system. When the stress hormones remain elevated for extended periods we start to see the long-term effects.
The body's stress hormone, cortisol, causes blood sugar to rise, resulting in an acidic blood state. Acidic blood results in many of today's common conditions: diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, along with excess tummy fat. A low glycemic and high protein diet is beneficial to help us keep on top of the effects of stress.
Below are some useful ways to reduce stress:
• Wherever possible, remove yourself from the stressful situation and focus on your breathing for a few moments with the sole intention of calming your mind and body.
• If you're feeling stressed due to overwhelm, break your tasks down into smaller, more manageable chunks.
• Look at your diet and eliminate sugar and caffeine:
• Eat oily fish – it contains a high quantity of B vitamins which is great to help you deal with stress. Salmon and tuna are excellent choices, and you should try to consume at least two portions per week.
• Drink plenty of water – it's very important to stay hydrated. Your cells need water to operate properly.
• Drink milk – a bowl of wholegrain cereal with reduced-fat milk every morning is a great way to keep one step ahead of stress as your day begins.
• Eat nuts – nuts are a great source of Vitamin B2 and E, together with magnesium and zinc. Nuts contain (generally) unsaturated fats.
• Eat oranges and kiwi fruits - these are high in vitamin C, which helps to control the release of free-radicals into your system.
• Exercise – this doesn't have to involve a gym membership. A good regular walk or swim will go a long way to reducing stress, especially if you can increase your heart rate as you exercise.
• Tai Chi – Tai Chi is a series of gentle, slow-moving, flowing body movements that help to reduce stress. Its origins are in fighting styles, but now it's used for soothing the thoughts, conditioning the body system and reducing stress.
• Yoga – well-known for its ability to calm the mind, and stretch and relax the body.
• Meditate or use self-hypnosis – this can either be done by yourself at home, or with the guidance of a professional. Only a few moments are needed to immediately feel the weight of the world being lifted from your shoulders.
• If you're feeling stressed due to overwhelm, break your tasks down into smaller, more manageable chunks.
• Look at your diet and eliminate sugar and caffeine:
• Eat oily fish – it contains a high quantity of B vitamins which is great to help you deal with stress. Salmon and tuna are excellent choices, and you should try to consume at least two portions per week.
• Drink plenty of water – it's very important to stay hydrated. Your cells need water to operate properly.
• Drink milk – a bowl of wholegrain cereal with reduced-fat milk every morning is a great way to keep one step ahead of stress as your day begins.
• Eat nuts – nuts are a great source of Vitamin B2 and E, together with magnesium and zinc. Nuts contain (generally) unsaturated fats.
• Eat oranges and kiwi fruits - these are high in vitamin C, which helps to control the release of free-radicals into your system.
• Exercise – this doesn't have to involve a gym membership. A good regular walk or swim will go a long way to reducing stress, especially if you can increase your heart rate as you exercise.
• Tai Chi – Tai Chi is a series of gentle, slow-moving, flowing body movements that help to reduce stress. Its origins are in fighting styles, but now it's used for soothing the thoughts, conditioning the body system and reducing stress.
• Yoga – well-known for its ability to calm the mind, and stretch and relax the body.
• Meditate or use self-hypnosis – this can either be done by yourself at home, or with the guidance of a professional. Only a few moments are needed to immediately feel the weight of the world being lifted from your shoulders.
Handling stress means being in control of your thoughts and feelings, schedule, surroundings, money etc, and the methods you use to deal with these things. It's impossible to avoid all daily stress triggers, but it's vital to deal with the stressors and make sure you take some time to relax each day. To overcome both short and long-term stress and the impact it has on our body, it's important to really have the intention to calm ourselves down and, wherever possible, remove ourselves from the stressful situation we're in.
Unfortunately, stress can too easily become habitual and subsequently impact our health. If we can reduce stress by changing our instant reaction to stressful situations, then our our physical and mental health will both improve significantly.
Author's Bio:
If you'd like to try self-hypnosis to reduce stress, then I have an mp3 download available for you. It just takes 30 minutes or so to relax and listen to (preferably through headphones, if possible), and afterwards you'll feel relaxed, rested and in control. The download can be found at: http://www.lyndascrivener.com/stress-relief/
Saturday, 9 May 2020
MEDITATION - A Pathway to Self-Discovery
Most people have the wrong concept of meditation. They think that you have to sit like a Yogi on a mountain top or in a quiet place and adopt a specific position or posture to meditate. Well, I am going to show you here how easy it is to meditate anywhere and anytime. You can be at work, at home or driving in your car. You will get instant benefit from this exercise and wonder why you did not learn it before.
There are many systems of meditation invented, but not many people understand the purpose of meditation. They use various techniques to calm their mind, but when they go back to their routine, their minds go back to their tortured state and confusion. There is no real peace, understanding or enlightenment in the individual.
Meditation is not about concentrating on one object and blocking out the rest in mind. It is not just about calming your mind and acquiring some peace. It is not about religion or religious beliefs. In my mind, the real purpose is to discover the timeless dimension where there is eternal peace. It is also learning about yourself, how you operate in your mind and harmonise your inner and outer worlds. It is a pathway to self-discovery.
Now you may not realise it, but the timeless dimension is just as real as the time dimension we are living in, where we have the past, the present and the future. It is eternal, peaceful, and always in the present. The only thing that separates you from the timeless is your perception.
Most people experience the timeless when they are away from any man-made structures out in the countryside, on a mountain top or in the bush. There, the eternal dimension is so overpowering that one can feel the time stop. It is a spontaneous occurrence. The mind becomes alert and still without a single thought to disturb it, where the observer in mind, and what is being observed becomes one phenomenon. One becomes part of the universe. What one experiences is real and beyond words. It is not imagination. It is only when the stupid ego utters some inane words such as " Oh what a beautiful sight this is... etc." that the magic spell is broken.
Here you did not realise that you had stepped into the timeless dimension, but uttering those words brought you back to your present time zone. Please understand the ego. It is a great survivor and is afraid of disappearing from the mind. It uses the thinking process to travel in time by using words and sentences. If you did not verbalise, you would find that your thoughts have no substance.
Thus thinking is an acquired habit we use to fill our mind with thoughts. One thought ends and another one begins. When we are not thinking, we are always doing something else. We may be listening to music, watching television, playing sport or taking part in other escapist activities. One fears that if one stopped thinking, one might disappear from the mind. The thoughts go round and round like a squirrel in a cage. The mind is never empty. This constant stimulation of the subconscious mind makes it grow restless and turbulent. One yearns for peace.
While soothing music can help us calm our mind, it is meditation one should turn to for acquiring real peace and tranquillity. Meditation should be fun and a constant learning process. It is a path to enlightenment. You do not have to adopt a specific position or posture.
Please understand that meditation is not about focusing on one thing and excluding everything else. In my mind, it is an all-inclusive process and initially requires a bit of practice. Here is a simple way to meditate and discover the timeless, anywhere and anytime. When we contemplate this way, life becomes an eternal meditation.
It does not matter where you are. You may be at work sitting at a desk or sitting at home in your lounge watching TV. Look at the picture in front of you. Look at all the objects in front of you without saying a single word in your mind. You can recognise and know all the objects in your view without naming them or focusing on any particular one. Now broaden your vision to take in the whole picture of the room, except the back of you. Do not say a single word. You now have a panoramic view of the entire room except the back of you. There is an observer (the ego) in your mind observing the whole picture, fully alert and in the present. If you watch closely, you will notice an ethereal stillness in the room. At the same time, please note that you have not disappeared from the mind. Your mind is not blank. You are trying to understand the present.
While doing this, please become aware of your habit of thinking trying to interrupt your observations. Do not try to control your thoughts. Let them flow freely. Note how words activate your thinking process. If you did not say or use names (verbalise), the thoughts have no life in them-the same thing with emotions. Become aware of the feeling that might be disturbing you. Stay with it. Note that if you put words to your feelings, you intensify them. If you do not verbalise, the feelings evaporate.
Also, please become aware of the words you use in your mind. Train yourself to replace negative words with positive words, even if you do not mean it. Our subconscious mind responds reflexly to words, not their meaning. For example, if you are driving in a hurry and under tension, say this "Relax, slow down. What is the rush? There is plenty of time". You will be surprised to find yourself relaxing and slowing down.
When you practice meditation this way, you will soon come to recognise the phenomenon of the observer and the observed, becoming one in your mind. It is a spontaneous occurrence. When this happens, you are experiencing the timeless dimension. You will soon realise that you are an eternal part of this universe. You will understand what peace of mind is and what eternity is.
The timeless dimension is like 3D-picture. At first, it looks flat. But if one keeps looking at it, the depth (the third dimension) appears. Most of us are looking at reality with a tunnel vision, focusing our attention on a small area. With the simple method described above, you will soon be able to look at the picture with a panoramic view.
Do you still think it is difficult to practice meditation this way? Try it; it is easy. First, look at a distant object. Then broaden your view to take in the whole picture except the back of you. Now you have a panoramic view. Doesn't this technique alone give you instant relief of tension in your facial muscles? Develop this good habit. Soon your perception will change. When you look at the picture in front of you with a panoramic view, you will feel instantly relaxed. You will not be developing any new wrinkles on your face. Practicing meditation every day the way I have described above, will keep you mentally young and refreshed. You will not have to worry about Alzheimer's Disease. It will also slow down the aging process.
If you wish to learn more about how your mind works, read the "The Enchanted Time Traveller - A Book of Self-Knowledge and the Subconscious Mind". It will help you to understand your subconscious mind, and how you can manipulate it. Visit Website: http://theenchantedtimetraveller.com.au.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Mal_Mohanlal/2179114
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10263974
Friday, 8 May 2020
Six More Quick Tips to Reduce Stress
Stress affects us all in different ways at different times, to different degrees and for different reasons. It could be something relatively trivial or due to a more significant cause. Either way, it is important to try to reduce stress otherwise it can get out of control and affect your health. Here are six quick tips which can help to reduce and manage stress. I hope you find them useful.
Tip 1: Have a You Day
This may sound obvious - we all need some alone time for ourselves to try to get away from things for a while.
Life is tough enough with all the demands it places on us which in turn can cause stress as life gets on top of us.
Make a conscious effort to split yourself of some time for YOU.
No distractions, turn off the laptop, turn off the mobile - your you time is for YOU - nobody else.
Then do whatever you feel like doing that makes you feel happy and less stressed.
That might be reading a book, listening to your favourite music, generally chilling out.
Find the time to switch off for a while and you'll feel better for it.
Tip 2: Your Happy Place
Another quick stress reduction tip is when the going gets tough to imagine yourself in your happy place.
We've all got one (or perhaps more than one) - imagine you are there and how it makes you feel.
This is sometimes known as guided imagery and has been around for hundreds of years.
If you want to get in to it seriously there are guided imagery therapists and practitioners you could see.
Or you can buy up guided imagery books and CDs.
And of course there's good old YouTube for videos.
Guided imagery goes hand-in-hand with meditation which is another technique to help with stress reduction and management.
Tip 3: Clean and De-Clutter
A clean and tidy home (silly as it may sound) can help with stress reduction and management.
Sift through everything you have and identify what you do need/has value to you and what does not - be brutal - what can you live without.
Anything you can live without or no longer need you may be able to sell online or donate to charity.
Next clean the house - not necessarily all in one go (you can if you want to of course) - perhaps a room at a time.
Just the exercise involved in cleaning will stimulate hormones which help to make you feel good.
To help pass the time whilst you clean put on your favourite CD.
A clean and tidy home makes you feel better too doesn't it?
Tip 4: Digital De-Clutter
Now you have de-cluttered and cleaned the house, it's time to do the same for your digital life.
Emails, social media, the pressure for instant replies, more likes, more Twitter followers and keeping on top of all that can be stressful in itself - right?
So have a digital clean up and de-clutter.
Remove yourself from email lists you do not need to be on.
Turn off notifications, alters and similar which you do not need.
Set aside specific times of the day to check your emails instead of constantly (may not apply to work emails of course).
And turn everything off (or at least on silent) before bedtime because you don't need to be awoken throughout the night with emails pinging in and social media alters popping up.
Tip #5: Relaxing Sounds
This stress reduction tip ties in with the happy place tip we looked at earlier.
The right sort of sound can help you to relax and de-stress.
Just like closing your eyes and going to your happy place, listening to a relaxing sound for a while can have the same effect.
It might be bird song, waterfalls, gentle waves breaking, whale song and similar - whatever works for you.
Any number of relaxation sound CDs, streaming and downloads available everywhere.
Plug yourself in, listen, relax and feel the stress leave you.
Tip #6: Meditate
A spot of meditation can help tremendously with stress reduction and your state of mind in general.
This can be a simple as sitting down, clearing your mind and doing some repeated deep breathing.
In for four seconds to fill your lungs, hold, breathe out slowly and repeat for a few minutes.
Not unlike being in your happy place we touched on earlier.
If you fancy getting in to meditation and you have a smartphone there are any number of meditation apps to download.
And of course any number of books, videos etc.
In addition to helping reduce stress, meditation can help with anxiety depression and high blood pressure.
Start now. Take some action. One step at a time. Do not procrastinate
There is no right or wrong order in which to try these stress reduction tips. See which work for you.
You may be interested to explore stress reduction techniques further in more depth. To do that, here is a video course containing nine stress reduction action plan s. It is available on Skillshare and you can access it today by clicking here.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Andy_Machin/16946
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10284733
Monday, 4 May 2020
Saturday, 2 May 2020
Less Burnout, More Success: The Life-Changing Mindset Shift We All Need!
Many of us suffer with stress, anxiety, burnout, exhaustion and are desperate to escape from this pattern. At the same time, we feel driven to push ourselves in our careers and at home - rarely making time for ourselves or allowing ourselves the nurturing we need to actually thrive.
There's more to it though, often we push so hard that we end up making things harder for ourselves than necessary. Sometimes all our efforts to move forwards are actually counterproductive, and are in fact making things worse. It could be that you've effectively created a ball and chain attached to your ankle, rather than the amazing future you want.
In our western society, we are taught that action is the way to go - that if you want change, you need to set goals, make plans, and then take action.
All of this is, of course, absolutely true, and without goals, plans and actions nothing will happen. However, there's another side to the coin that we often forget...
There's a universal law that the more you push something the more resistance you get back - remember your school physics lessons?
You might already know that I started off my career as a conventional scientist, and I mean conventional... scanning electron microscopes, metallurgical grinding machines, mechanical testing machines, lecture theatres, research proposals, the works! Goodness that was a long time ago!
You'd have thought with such a background that I might have had some clue about this and could avoid this mistake. Alas, if I'm honest I was probably the worst example of this in the whole history of creation... or at least nearly the worst.
Here's the problem. Say we want a particular change in our lives - to get a new job, new relationship, lose the weight - we set our goal and start using all the techniques and actions we believe will get that result. Sounds perfect.
HOWEVER, here's the issue. If you don't see results immediately, you think you're not trying hard enough, so you redouble your efforts. You start pushing very hard in one direction and the resistance kicks in. Basically, when you push too much, you lock the whole thing up and nothing moves. You feel stuck and frustrated. So you push harder. And, you know what, when you push harder you make it even worse. What you create is a never-ending vicious cycle or self-sabotage. Result - only more frustration - stress - anxiety - exhaustion - burnout - despair.
If you want to truly create something, you need to give the universe room to move and do its magic. When we are busy pushing in one direction we are imposing our rigid specifications for the result, the timescale and the way it is going to come about. This is limited by our life experience, and what our brain can imagine. If we impose these things on the process, we may very well be shutting down the creation process altogether! Always remember that the universe has infinite parameters to work with, infinitely more than our little human brains. What if the universe had something 10 times better in store for us, but because if was coming to us via a different route we miss it or block it altogether? If we impose our plan and insist upon it, we can miss that opportunity and get nothing.
It took me a very long time to learn that lesson and I'll admit it's still a challenge to let go and allow things to flow, but I'm much better than I used to be.
So, here are my 4 essential steps to getting yourself out of that downwards spiral, and heading back towards flow, balance and of course results!
1) Shift Your Mindset
Creating the life we want is like growing a beautiful flower, not turning the handle on a sausage machine. Think of yourself as a devoted and expert gardener. When you plant the seeds, you don't bombard them with endless water fertilizer and keep digging them up to see if they are growing yet. You know this will kill the poor thing. When you push yourself mercilessly, this is what you are doing to yourself.
2) Assess Your 'Merciless Quotient'
Stop what you are doing. Sit down. Be honest with yourself. How are you treating yourself? Are you full of self-criticism, judgement, martyrdom, self-sacrifice, non-stop drive? If you are, then the truth is that you are actually crushing yourself. This is KEY.
3) The Law of Blossoming
This is what I call it! Remember those seeds you want to grow, whether in your career or your personal life? If you want them to grow, produce flowers and blossom, then you need to give them OPTIMUM CARE. Optimum care means NOT bombarding them and pushing them. Optimum care is an on-off approach. Give the what they need, then back off and allow creation to happen. Then provide what they need next, then back off again.
The same thing applies to your life. If you want results, set your goals, decide on your initial actions, take those actions, and then RELAX. Allow those actions to take effect. Allow the universe to respond to the messages you have put out. Give it some time.
When you get this, you not only magnify your results, but you also increase your wellbeing by releasing that pressure you've been imposing on yourself. It's a win-win situation.
4) Set yourself up to RECEIVE
Change your schedule to include time-out, rest and self-nurturing. When I say this, I mean time when you are not thinking about all the stuff you're trying to do and create! It is only when you get this let go that you allow the universe time and space to create what you want.
Remember, this will feel counterintuitive! But the truth is more effort does not give you better results. Pull back to receive more is the way it works.
Allow yourself to receive. This is probably one of the hardest things for most women to do. We are so used to giving, giving, giving, that we simply don't have a clue how to let go and allow something to come to us.
Remember, you can't make the bud open into a flower. If you try to pull the petals open you just destroy things. Instead, you just have to wait and let it happen without you.
The key to creating, getting the best results and maintaining your wellbeing is to stop pushing. Yes, set your goals, and take action, but at the same time think about easing off the pressure. Throw your desires and goals out into the universe, and then imagine everything you need flowing to you: the help, the resources, the inspiration, the opportunities the contacts or whatever else is required. Then be open to receive the results.
Shifting yourself into this mindset is both the best way to get lasting results, and also the best way to maintain your wellbeing, health and happiness.
Dr Anne Whitehouse is an author, a PhD scientist turned life alchemist and confidence expert. Above all, she is a passionate empowerer of women, dedicated to helping them achieve their full potential by releasing the conditioning and traumas that block their success and damage wellbeing.
After 20 years of research, applying her scientific approach to the subconscious world, and working with many professional women, Anne developed a six-key, ground-breaking code for aspirational women to unlock profound confidence by breaking free of old limitations set by the patriarchal systems encoded into our psyche. This life-changing process is described in her impactful new book "Pull Back Your Power", which offers techniques to release women from the hidden subconscious restraints that continue to sabotage their wellbeing and block success, despite the freedoms of the 21st century. https://feminineconfidence.com/pull-back-your-power
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Dr_Anne_Whitehouse/1174792
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10245047
There's more to it though, often we push so hard that we end up making things harder for ourselves than necessary. Sometimes all our efforts to move forwards are actually counterproductive, and are in fact making things worse. It could be that you've effectively created a ball and chain attached to your ankle, rather than the amazing future you want.
In our western society, we are taught that action is the way to go - that if you want change, you need to set goals, make plans, and then take action.
All of this is, of course, absolutely true, and without goals, plans and actions nothing will happen. However, there's another side to the coin that we often forget...
There's a universal law that the more you push something the more resistance you get back - remember your school physics lessons?
You might already know that I started off my career as a conventional scientist, and I mean conventional... scanning electron microscopes, metallurgical grinding machines, mechanical testing machines, lecture theatres, research proposals, the works! Goodness that was a long time ago!
You'd have thought with such a background that I might have had some clue about this and could avoid this mistake. Alas, if I'm honest I was probably the worst example of this in the whole history of creation... or at least nearly the worst.
Here's the problem. Say we want a particular change in our lives - to get a new job, new relationship, lose the weight - we set our goal and start using all the techniques and actions we believe will get that result. Sounds perfect.
HOWEVER, here's the issue. If you don't see results immediately, you think you're not trying hard enough, so you redouble your efforts. You start pushing very hard in one direction and the resistance kicks in. Basically, when you push too much, you lock the whole thing up and nothing moves. You feel stuck and frustrated. So you push harder. And, you know what, when you push harder you make it even worse. What you create is a never-ending vicious cycle or self-sabotage. Result - only more frustration - stress - anxiety - exhaustion - burnout - despair.
If you want to truly create something, you need to give the universe room to move and do its magic. When we are busy pushing in one direction we are imposing our rigid specifications for the result, the timescale and the way it is going to come about. This is limited by our life experience, and what our brain can imagine. If we impose these things on the process, we may very well be shutting down the creation process altogether! Always remember that the universe has infinite parameters to work with, infinitely more than our little human brains. What if the universe had something 10 times better in store for us, but because if was coming to us via a different route we miss it or block it altogether? If we impose our plan and insist upon it, we can miss that opportunity and get nothing.
It took me a very long time to learn that lesson and I'll admit it's still a challenge to let go and allow things to flow, but I'm much better than I used to be.
So, here are my 4 essential steps to getting yourself out of that downwards spiral, and heading back towards flow, balance and of course results!
1) Shift Your Mindset
Creating the life we want is like growing a beautiful flower, not turning the handle on a sausage machine. Think of yourself as a devoted and expert gardener. When you plant the seeds, you don't bombard them with endless water fertilizer and keep digging them up to see if they are growing yet. You know this will kill the poor thing. When you push yourself mercilessly, this is what you are doing to yourself.
2) Assess Your 'Merciless Quotient'
Stop what you are doing. Sit down. Be honest with yourself. How are you treating yourself? Are you full of self-criticism, judgement, martyrdom, self-sacrifice, non-stop drive? If you are, then the truth is that you are actually crushing yourself. This is KEY.
3) The Law of Blossoming
This is what I call it! Remember those seeds you want to grow, whether in your career or your personal life? If you want them to grow, produce flowers and blossom, then you need to give them OPTIMUM CARE. Optimum care means NOT bombarding them and pushing them. Optimum care is an on-off approach. Give the what they need, then back off and allow creation to happen. Then provide what they need next, then back off again.
The same thing applies to your life. If you want results, set your goals, decide on your initial actions, take those actions, and then RELAX. Allow those actions to take effect. Allow the universe to respond to the messages you have put out. Give it some time.
When you get this, you not only magnify your results, but you also increase your wellbeing by releasing that pressure you've been imposing on yourself. It's a win-win situation.
4) Set yourself up to RECEIVE
Change your schedule to include time-out, rest and self-nurturing. When I say this, I mean time when you are not thinking about all the stuff you're trying to do and create! It is only when you get this let go that you allow the universe time and space to create what you want.
Remember, this will feel counterintuitive! But the truth is more effort does not give you better results. Pull back to receive more is the way it works.
Allow yourself to receive. This is probably one of the hardest things for most women to do. We are so used to giving, giving, giving, that we simply don't have a clue how to let go and allow something to come to us.
Remember, you can't make the bud open into a flower. If you try to pull the petals open you just destroy things. Instead, you just have to wait and let it happen without you.
The key to creating, getting the best results and maintaining your wellbeing is to stop pushing. Yes, set your goals, and take action, but at the same time think about easing off the pressure. Throw your desires and goals out into the universe, and then imagine everything you need flowing to you: the help, the resources, the inspiration, the opportunities the contacts or whatever else is required. Then be open to receive the results.
Shifting yourself into this mindset is both the best way to get lasting results, and also the best way to maintain your wellbeing, health and happiness.
Dr Anne Whitehouse is an author, a PhD scientist turned life alchemist and confidence expert. Above all, she is a passionate empowerer of women, dedicated to helping them achieve their full potential by releasing the conditioning and traumas that block their success and damage wellbeing.
After 20 years of research, applying her scientific approach to the subconscious world, and working with many professional women, Anne developed a six-key, ground-breaking code for aspirational women to unlock profound confidence by breaking free of old limitations set by the patriarchal systems encoded into our psyche. This life-changing process is described in her impactful new book "Pull Back Your Power", which offers techniques to release women from the hidden subconscious restraints that continue to sabotage their wellbeing and block success, despite the freedoms of the 21st century. https://feminineconfidence.com/pull-back-your-power
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Dr_Anne_Whitehouse/1174792
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10245047
Wednesday, 29 April 2020
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
Investing locally VS remotely – the eternal debate. Should you invest remotely where properties are cheaper and returns better, but ...
-
2020 has been a really tough year for a lot of people. Many people lost their jobs, lost businesses, and lost income. We all hope that...
