Do not let your anxieties and stresses overwhelm you when you are at
your job. Sometimes it can be difficult to overcome your stresses,
however there are ways of dealing with your problems. Here is a list of
techniques that a person can use to help manage their daily stresses and
anxieties in the business world.
In dealing with your anxieties
at your job, learn to take it one day at a time. While the consequences
of a particular fear may seem real, there are usually other factors that
can not be anticipated and can affect the results of any situation. Get
all of the facts of the situation and use them to your advantage.
Sometimes,
we can get anxious over a task that we will have to perform in the near
future. When this happens, visualize yourself doing the task in your
mind. For instance, you and your team have to play in the championship
game in front of a large group of people in the next few days. Before
the big day comes, imagine yourself playing the game in your mind.
Imagine that your playing in front of a large audience. By playing the
game in your mind, you will be better prepared to perform for real when
the time comes. Self -Visualization is a great way to reduce the fear
and stress of a coming situation.
Many times we get overwhelmed
with many different tasks at our jobs. When this happens, a person
should take a deep breath and try to find something to do for a few
minutes to get their mind off of the problem. A person could take a
walk, listen to some music, read the newspaper or do an activity that
will give them a fresh perspective on things. This will help you to
refocus on your present situation.
Take a vacation day to relax.
Many people work two jobs nowadays. Sooner or later, the long work hours
will catch up with you and take a toll on your health. Take the day off
and do something you enjoy.
As a Layman, I know that our
anxieties and stresses can be difficult to manage at our place of work.
The better you can manage your stresses and anxieties, the better off
you will be in the long run at your job and other business endeavors.
Do not let your anxieties and stresses overwhelm you when you are at
your job. Sometimes it can be difficult to overcome your stresses,
however there are ways of dealing with your problems. Here is a list of
techniques that a person can use to help manage their daily stresses and
anxieties in the business world.
Showing posts with label Stress Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stress Management. Show all posts
Behaviors Causing Stress
Do you believe in predictions? Well, if you were educated you would know that no man or woman could predict our future. However, we all have the ability to predict our future. Sounds contradictory does it. Behaviors help us to determine how our lives will turn out. Behaviors are the manner in which we conduct our self on a daily basis. Behaviors are organisms that react to stimulus producing action and response.
Behaviors are formed when we first arrive in the world and the more we practice a certain behavior the more attached that behavior comes. How does behavior cause us stress? It depends on the person and the teachings the person endured throughout his or her lifetime, but many of us lack in development in one way or another. Since, we have religion, law, parents, teachers, siblings, employees, employers, peers and so forth playing a part in our life we often become confused since all of us have our own beliefs.
The best teacher in the world is your self. If you take the time to study, learn, listen, hear, practice good, and so forth you will have the ability to see your future is successful. You have a stress management that is surpassing any other management scheme, since no one can lead you if you choose to reject. It is good to take other people's beliefs into consideration, however, investigating and collecting evidence that proves a fact is more beneficial than accepting everything your are taught or told.
For example, I am a logician. I take extremely complex problems and break them down to simplicity. This means I analyze each problem carefully weeding through the pile and eliminating any areas that produce negative results. I also collect and gather evidence to support my claims when I am finished, and this is a healthy practiced behaviors, since I do not lie, steal, or do anything that will cause another person harm.
As you can see from my example, my problems were minimized, since my behaviors are positive and my stress level is not controlling my life. We can review behaviors and teachers to grasp hold of a better understanding how behaviors cause stress. For example, his or her parents teach a child that speaking out of term in inappropriate. The child is punished each time he or she disobeys the parent.
We see a series of problems developing, since this teaching will tell the child during his or her development that it is not ok to speak up when someone hurts, violates, or induces other types of fears on this person. The person will go through life with the fear of punishment if he or she asserts self. How can we help this poor wrongfully taught individual find a way to reduce stress and avoid stressors? First, our parents are important people in our life that we believe in most cases that will not lie to us and believe these people have our best interest at heart. Now we see another problem, since this person will trust the parents before listening to someone else that tells him or her that they are safe and it is ok to speak your mind.
We can teach this person to practice self-talk first since self-talk is an approach that helps us to rely on self, rather than others. Self-talk is a method that tells us that we have control and that we have a right to determine what we think, feel and believe. The method teaches us to take responsibility and learn communication that is effective, since our thinking habits are in the process of change. We can also help the person by offering him or her the tool known as visual display.
Visual display is helpful since it allows us to stroll back into the past and review our learning so that we can sort through the facts and eliminate the lies. It teaches us to display a pictorial event in our mind and then role-play to see if what we were taught is true.
Think of a time in your life that you spoke up and no one hurt you or punished you for your action. Think about how many times this happened and what the consequences of your behavior led to. Practice these techniques daily to learn a new method that benefits you and your life. If you do not see prediction by now in behaviors, then you probably never will.
Behaviors are formed when we first arrive in the world and the more we practice a certain behavior the more attached that behavior comes. How does behavior cause us stress? It depends on the person and the teachings the person endured throughout his or her lifetime, but many of us lack in development in one way or another. Since, we have religion, law, parents, teachers, siblings, employees, employers, peers and so forth playing a part in our life we often become confused since all of us have our own beliefs.
The best teacher in the world is your self. If you take the time to study, learn, listen, hear, practice good, and so forth you will have the ability to see your future is successful. You have a stress management that is surpassing any other management scheme, since no one can lead you if you choose to reject. It is good to take other people's beliefs into consideration, however, investigating and collecting evidence that proves a fact is more beneficial than accepting everything your are taught or told.
For example, I am a logician. I take extremely complex problems and break them down to simplicity. This means I analyze each problem carefully weeding through the pile and eliminating any areas that produce negative results. I also collect and gather evidence to support my claims when I am finished, and this is a healthy practiced behaviors, since I do not lie, steal, or do anything that will cause another person harm.
As you can see from my example, my problems were minimized, since my behaviors are positive and my stress level is not controlling my life. We can review behaviors and teachers to grasp hold of a better understanding how behaviors cause stress. For example, his or her parents teach a child that speaking out of term in inappropriate. The child is punished each time he or she disobeys the parent.
We see a series of problems developing, since this teaching will tell the child during his or her development that it is not ok to speak up when someone hurts, violates, or induces other types of fears on this person. The person will go through life with the fear of punishment if he or she asserts self. How can we help this poor wrongfully taught individual find a way to reduce stress and avoid stressors? First, our parents are important people in our life that we believe in most cases that will not lie to us and believe these people have our best interest at heart. Now we see another problem, since this person will trust the parents before listening to someone else that tells him or her that they are safe and it is ok to speak your mind.
We can teach this person to practice self-talk first since self-talk is an approach that helps us to rely on self, rather than others. Self-talk is a method that tells us that we have control and that we have a right to determine what we think, feel and believe. The method teaches us to take responsibility and learn communication that is effective, since our thinking habits are in the process of change. We can also help the person by offering him or her the tool known as visual display.
Visual display is helpful since it allows us to stroll back into the past and review our learning so that we can sort through the facts and eliminate the lies. It teaches us to display a pictorial event in our mind and then role-play to see if what we were taught is true.
Think of a time in your life that you spoke up and no one hurt you or punished you for your action. Think about how many times this happened and what the consequences of your behavior led to. Practice these techniques daily to learn a new method that benefits you and your life. If you do not see prediction by now in behaviors, then you probably never will.
Using Meditation To Help You To Reduce Stress
Do you feel that you are constantly under stress? Are you looking into ways of how you can reduce your stress levels? If you have answered yes to both of these questions, you are not alone. The world is seemingly becoming faster, more demanding and more pressurised. In this article I write about how meditation can help you to relax and become a happier person.
Stress affects people in different ways. I personally feel very tired and lethargic during these periods and start to worry about things, like a future event. This can easily lead me into a period of depression, which in the past I have found it very difficult to come out of.
Other people suffer from panic attack attacks, become very shaky and nervous, feel sick in the stomach, become sad and can begin to think in a very negative way.
Most of the conditions I have described above are actually a mental and not so much of a physical problem. This is why I believe meditation to be an excellent form of stress relief or stress management.
Meditation helps us to control our emotions, to think in a more relaxed and positive way and certainly helps us to think more clearly.
Positive effects of meditation:
It reduces your heart rate
It relaxes your breathing and can even make it slower
It can lower blood pressure
It can increase your self-esteem by making you think in a more positive way
Helps you to think in a more logical and clear way
Helps you to reduce stress
Types of meditation:
Walking meditation
Mandala meditation
Yoga meditation
Sitting meditation
Prayer meditation
Visualisation meditation
I personally prefer the sitting meditation. I try to make time around three of four times a day when I will sit down to meditate. Originally I had a lack of belief about what I was doing and about if it would work. I found it difficult at this stage to get myself into the zone. With practice and realising that I needed this to work for me, I managed to get enough concentration and focus to see the full benefits.
A lot of the people in my circle of friends think that I am a bit mad. They can not believe that I actually just sit there and think. Meditation has had such a positive effect on my life and continues to do so, therefore my friends can mock as much as they like. I actually believe that some of them should try it themselves but they always laugh at the suggestion.
This is something I now do on a daily basis and it works. Give it a go with belief and I am sure it will benefit you to.
Stress affects people in different ways. I personally feel very tired and lethargic during these periods and start to worry about things, like a future event. This can easily lead me into a period of depression, which in the past I have found it very difficult to come out of.
Other people suffer from panic attack attacks, become very shaky and nervous, feel sick in the stomach, become sad and can begin to think in a very negative way.
Most of the conditions I have described above are actually a mental and not so much of a physical problem. This is why I believe meditation to be an excellent form of stress relief or stress management.
Meditation helps us to control our emotions, to think in a more relaxed and positive way and certainly helps us to think more clearly.
Positive effects of meditation:
It reduces your heart rate
It relaxes your breathing and can even make it slower
It can lower blood pressure
It can increase your self-esteem by making you think in a more positive way
Helps you to think in a more logical and clear way
Helps you to reduce stress
Types of meditation:
Walking meditation
Mandala meditation
Yoga meditation
Sitting meditation
Prayer meditation
Visualisation meditation
I personally prefer the sitting meditation. I try to make time around three of four times a day when I will sit down to meditate. Originally I had a lack of belief about what I was doing and about if it would work. I found it difficult at this stage to get myself into the zone. With practice and realising that I needed this to work for me, I managed to get enough concentration and focus to see the full benefits.
A lot of the people in my circle of friends think that I am a bit mad. They can not believe that I actually just sit there and think. Meditation has had such a positive effect on my life and continues to do so, therefore my friends can mock as much as they like. I actually believe that some of them should try it themselves but they always laugh at the suggestion.
This is something I now do on a daily basis and it works. Give it a go with belief and I am sure it will benefit you to.
Ten Things You Can Do To Decrease Your Stress At The Office
The world we live on is nothing but a mound of chaotic pressure that is building to the point it bursts like a volcano. We are bombarded with pressure from our employers, our customers and families to the point where some people actually do break. Most of us today in professional lives spend between 8 and 16 hours a day at the office, which equates to almost two-thirds of our lives being in a place we really do not want to be in, but there are things you can do to decrease the stress in your office.
Remember this, what we call stress, is really what we put on ourselves. Whilst other people can influence the way we feel, ultimately we are the ones who choose whether we are going to be stressed or not. You are in control of how you are going to feel, no one else. Stress as such is going on in our heads, so the real secret to de-stressing is to find things that would make you happy and content within.
#1. Have a Photo Of The Happiest Time In Your Life
Think back through your life, what is the happiest moment in your life. It could be the birth of your child, getting married, going out on a fantastic date, visiting some outstanding place or maybe it is when you bought your puppy dog but no matter what it is, you will almost certainly have a photo of that time. Take that photo and put it on your desk to remind you of those happy times as this will be one of the tools you need to beat stress in your office.
The happiest time in my life, and where I felt like the luckiest man in the world, was the day my wife stepped out of the limousine at the church for our wedding. I had never seen my wife look so beautiful and I made sure when I felt those feelings that I would remember them forever. So on my desk at work, I have a picture of my wife getting out of the limousine and each time I feel stressed I simply take a few moments to look at that picture and remember that moment in time. You brain is an amazing part of your body, no matter how many times I look at that photo, my brain releases the same feelings I had on the day and helps me snap out of feeling stressed.
Use the happy times, to control the times when you feel the most vulnerable and stressed.
#2. Think Of Your Boss Yelling At You Naked
Everyone has nightmare stories of their bosses being a grouch and I certainly have had my fair share, but most people who talk of being excessively stressed often relate that stress to a boss who is abusive and yells a lot. Well first off, if you are working in an environment where you boss is abusive, get out NOW! Nobody has to put up with that and remember life is way to short regardless of the money. Is money worth that much that the stress is worth dying tomorrow from a heart attack? NO!
However, if you have a boss who yells at you a lot, just for the sake of yelling and really is quite rude, simply imagine them yelling at you naked. If someone flew into your office absolutely starkas, that is with absolutely no clothes on, would you take them seriously. Course not! So, why take a boss that comes in and yells at you seriously. If your boss is an effective communicator he or she would not need to yell at you.
The next time your boss comes in, force yourself to think of them absolutely naked. When you do that, see just how you actually react and whether you deal with the situation better than when they are yelling at you absolutely naked. After a bit of practice you will find you are able to handle the situation much better and cope with a grouchy boss.
#3. Get Up and Do Some Office Exercises
Look no one on the planet can deny that doing exercise, gets the blood going and burns off the stress however sneaking away during the day can be really difficult but there are other Office Exercises that can bring you a lot of benefit to you. There are many office exercises that you can do like rolling your shoulders, clenching your hands and releasing them and even neck exercises that will help release the stress.
Often, much of our built up stress is simply due to sitting at the computer all day looking at the screen. Make sure that every hour you get up and stretch for at least five minutes. You will find that if you do not do that over a period of time this will lead to aches and pains, which can help increase your stress.
To get the best Office Exercises for you to do simply talk to your General Practitioner or visit a Physiotherapist and they will be able to help you develop an Office Exercise plan and you will be surprised how much easier life is to cope with.
#4. Schedule Enough Time to Go From One Meeting To Another
I worked for a bank about five years ago and I have never met an organisation that has so many meetings. My whole days constituted going from one meeting to another and I learnt one very important lesson. If I did not run my schedule my meetings would. Make sure that when you schedule an appointment or a meeting that you include travel time to and from a meeting.
Whilst working for this firm, if you did not schedule travel time, they would simply book meetings next to each other even if the meeting was across the other side of the city. They would simply expect you to immediately appear at that other meeting.
Message to All Humans - we do not have an instant teleporter, the Stargate is a fantasy, so make sure you give yourself enough time to get from one meeting to another or you are going to stress out.
#5. Plan Your Day
We talked about scheduling time to get from one meeting to another in the previous point but there is an extension to this. Make sure YOU plan your day, not your business associates. All too often I hear management say, "I did not get lunch today" or " I have been on the run and have not had a chance to stop". Come on, get a grip, you are in control and it is up to you.
The first thing you should do in every job you work in, is to make sure you schedule two decent breaks a day which include at least half an hour for lunch and a 20 minute break somewhere else in the day. If you are like most people you will be using something like Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes to manage your day. Both allow you to schedule unavailable time in your calendar, so do IT!
By scheduling YOU time, you can ensure you have enough time to have a break, do a little meditation and relax and prepare for the rest of the day. If you are like me and work 16 hours a day, then you should also be putting into your plan a decent Dinner break of at least an hour and half an hour at the gym, even if it is just using the treadmill. If you do not do this, it will catch you up to you and you will be a statistic at 40. Do not laugh, my leading hand lost his life because he did not do the right thing. It can happen to you.
#6. Limit the Amount of Time Spent Dealing With Emails
Technology is a wonderful thing, but when technology rules your life, then you have a big problem and very quickly technology like email can overwhelm you causing you to become stressed. One of the rules my team and I have in the office is that nobody must respond to emails for more than 60 minutes per day. The reason we have put this rule into place, is that many of my team and our corporate clients spend their whole day emailing each other rather than dealing with the issues at hand.
How often have you received an email on one topic and then have the content of the email go off in another direction right before your eyes? I was working in one corporate organisation as an external consultant and very often all I would do is simply respond to emails all day long and get nothing done. Most of the emails could have been dealt with a 2 second phone call. In one of the offices I was working in, it was an open plan office layout and I had a bloke working directly across from me, who refused to speak to me or anyone else on the floor and all he did was when he had an issue, he would send an email.
This is a crazy way to do business and it does not work and only causes technology stress. My solution, each time he emailed me, I simply spoke the answer back to him. He got the point after a while and my email load went down when he spoke to me rather than emailed me. Technology is supposed to make life easier, not take over your life, so if you have a question and the person is sitting in the next office, get up and knock on their door and ask the question.
By doing this you are undertaking item number 6 which is limiting your emails and item number 3 which is get up and do some office exercises. That little bit of walking will help get the blood flowing through you veins.
#7. Be Prepared To Say "NO!"
We all want to get ahead in the world today and I am sure in everyone there is a little part of us that wants to live the life of Bill Gates and Donald Trump and be as rich as them. However, most of us make the mistake of simply saying yes to everything that is thrown at us. Now whilst that is great to say yes, people like Bill Gates and Donald Trump have teams of people to help them, and in all honesty you maybe on their teams, but all of us are only human and sometimes we simply have to say "NO!"
Where is the point in saying to our bosses, "Yes we will have this 500 page report written for you tomorrow". When in reality there is absolutely no chance of that occurring. Sometimes in this world you simply have to say no and that does not go just for the boss, it also goes for the customers as well. My team and I have a seven day schedule across the various businesses I run and whilst we do not all work seven days a week, sometimes we do work six days a week to get through our responsibilities. One weekend I had one of our customers, mind you it was 6:30 am on a Sunday morning demand one of my team from our car cleaning business, drop everything and clean their car at 7:00am because an important family member was coming.
There were many responses I could have given, but my simple answer was NO! The customer ranted and raved for about 10 minutes by which time I was imagining them naked yelling at me, which really was a funny site and then when they were finished and I simply asked them would they be prepared to work all week including Saturday and Sunday for the next 2 weeks and their reply was "NO, My Weekends Are My Own and I am not working them for anyone." Then I simply responding by saying to them, then there is your answer and I hung up. You know the funny thing, they rang me on Monday morning and apologised and we did the top car cleaning service on their car the following week. I charged them more as well.
Most customers will accept the answer of No when they understand why you are saying No. Some will not, but then do you really need them as customers anyway.
#8. Take your shoes off and walk on the carpet
This is my favorite de-stressing activity and it shocks the living daylights out of everyone. I first met a lady about 10 years ago who was in her early fortys and nothing seemed to shake her stature. She was always calm and never got flustered and I asked her what her secret was and she said, "I always take my shoes off as often as possible so I can stay in touch with the earth". This was a really prominent statement for me, because I never really thought of my shoes as a tool to disconnect us from our surroundings but if you think about it, it makes sense.
If you go down to the beach, what is the first thing you do. You take off your shoes to feel the sand through you feet and how does it make you feel, relaxed. If you go to the park with the children, what do you do? Take your shoes off so you can run around and have fun or to play in the mud. Whether we realise it or not, when we disconnect ourselves from mother earth we really do start to stress.
I now always take my shoes off when I am working in my office, including my socks just so I can feel something more inspirational under my feet rather than just the hard soles of my shoes. I know another corporate CEO in Brisbane Australia, who used to walk down to Anzac Square every lunch hour to walk on the grass so that he could stay in touch with the world. Hey, if it works in the movie Pretty Woman, surely it must work.
#9. Play Music
Listening to the right type of music is really important when you are trying to reduce stress and find your inner peace. Some music when listened to, whilst stressed, can in fact heighten your stress levels. One type of music, which research has shown to help reduce stress is Baroque music. This music is written so that there is only 60 beats per minute and funny enough that is what our heart rate should be. The baroque music has been found to increase the alpha waves in your left and right sides of your brain which help improve your learning ability, creativity and calmness.
Whilst you are working in the office on a demanding piece of work, simply put in a CDROM of music and listen to it as you are completing the work, but honestly do watch the type of music you are listening to or it can back fire. Most corporate organisations are now realising the benefit of staff listening to music during the day and with 90% of corporate computers having CDROMs, it is possible to listen to music on your computer whilst doing your work, you may just need headphones. I work in hundreds of corporate organisations a year and only one had a no music policy and that was because they were a call centre, which I can understand. There is no reason why you can not listen to music during your break though to ensure you a feeling calm before hitting those phones again.
#10. Meditate
Okay, I can hear it now, "Oh Yeah Hippy, Want Us to Meditate do ya." Absolutely! Look whilst meditation has certainly been a thing of fringe groups in western society or associated with more eastern religions many researchers are now coming to the distinct conclusion that meditation can make a huge difference to our day-to-day lives and helps us to overcome stress.
The core advantage meditation will play in your office is to help you to relax and deal with challenging situations more effectively. The more relaxed you are the more creative you can be in dealing with any issues that arise. I certainly recommend that when you are meditating, that you use baroque music with your meditation as it will help increase the alpha waves which will help lead you to a calm feeling. This is especially useful if you do not have a long period to meditate. I recommend a 20 minute meditation session at least once a day preferably two. You will be really surprised the difference it makes to your day. Just try it out, you have nothing to loose and the rest of your life to gain
The office environment in these millennia is far more stressful than they were a century ago, but there are things you can do about it but it is up to you. Remember, we only have one life and it is not a dress rehearsal so get out and reduce the stress your office gives you and have some fun. To finish off let me reiterate the ten things you can do to reduce your stress at the office.
#1. Have a Photo Of The Happiest Time In Your Life
#2. Think Of Your Boss Yelling At You Naked
#3. Get Up and Do Some Office Exercises
#4. Schedule Enough Time to Go From One Meeting To Another
#5. Plan Your Day
#6. Limit the Amount of Time Spent Dealing With Emails
#7. Be Prepared To Say "NO!"
#8. Take your shoes off and walk on the carpet
#9. Play Music
#10. Meditate
Remember this, what we call stress, is really what we put on ourselves. Whilst other people can influence the way we feel, ultimately we are the ones who choose whether we are going to be stressed or not. You are in control of how you are going to feel, no one else. Stress as such is going on in our heads, so the real secret to de-stressing is to find things that would make you happy and content within.
#1. Have a Photo Of The Happiest Time In Your Life
Think back through your life, what is the happiest moment in your life. It could be the birth of your child, getting married, going out on a fantastic date, visiting some outstanding place or maybe it is when you bought your puppy dog but no matter what it is, you will almost certainly have a photo of that time. Take that photo and put it on your desk to remind you of those happy times as this will be one of the tools you need to beat stress in your office.
The happiest time in my life, and where I felt like the luckiest man in the world, was the day my wife stepped out of the limousine at the church for our wedding. I had never seen my wife look so beautiful and I made sure when I felt those feelings that I would remember them forever. So on my desk at work, I have a picture of my wife getting out of the limousine and each time I feel stressed I simply take a few moments to look at that picture and remember that moment in time. You brain is an amazing part of your body, no matter how many times I look at that photo, my brain releases the same feelings I had on the day and helps me snap out of feeling stressed.
Use the happy times, to control the times when you feel the most vulnerable and stressed.
#2. Think Of Your Boss Yelling At You Naked
Everyone has nightmare stories of their bosses being a grouch and I certainly have had my fair share, but most people who talk of being excessively stressed often relate that stress to a boss who is abusive and yells a lot. Well first off, if you are working in an environment where you boss is abusive, get out NOW! Nobody has to put up with that and remember life is way to short regardless of the money. Is money worth that much that the stress is worth dying tomorrow from a heart attack? NO!
However, if you have a boss who yells at you a lot, just for the sake of yelling and really is quite rude, simply imagine them yelling at you naked. If someone flew into your office absolutely starkas, that is with absolutely no clothes on, would you take them seriously. Course not! So, why take a boss that comes in and yells at you seriously. If your boss is an effective communicator he or she would not need to yell at you.
The next time your boss comes in, force yourself to think of them absolutely naked. When you do that, see just how you actually react and whether you deal with the situation better than when they are yelling at you absolutely naked. After a bit of practice you will find you are able to handle the situation much better and cope with a grouchy boss.
#3. Get Up and Do Some Office Exercises
Look no one on the planet can deny that doing exercise, gets the blood going and burns off the stress however sneaking away during the day can be really difficult but there are other Office Exercises that can bring you a lot of benefit to you. There are many office exercises that you can do like rolling your shoulders, clenching your hands and releasing them and even neck exercises that will help release the stress.
Often, much of our built up stress is simply due to sitting at the computer all day looking at the screen. Make sure that every hour you get up and stretch for at least five minutes. You will find that if you do not do that over a period of time this will lead to aches and pains, which can help increase your stress.
To get the best Office Exercises for you to do simply talk to your General Practitioner or visit a Physiotherapist and they will be able to help you develop an Office Exercise plan and you will be surprised how much easier life is to cope with.
#4. Schedule Enough Time to Go From One Meeting To Another
I worked for a bank about five years ago and I have never met an organisation that has so many meetings. My whole days constituted going from one meeting to another and I learnt one very important lesson. If I did not run my schedule my meetings would. Make sure that when you schedule an appointment or a meeting that you include travel time to and from a meeting.
Whilst working for this firm, if you did not schedule travel time, they would simply book meetings next to each other even if the meeting was across the other side of the city. They would simply expect you to immediately appear at that other meeting.
Message to All Humans - we do not have an instant teleporter, the Stargate is a fantasy, so make sure you give yourself enough time to get from one meeting to another or you are going to stress out.
#5. Plan Your Day
We talked about scheduling time to get from one meeting to another in the previous point but there is an extension to this. Make sure YOU plan your day, not your business associates. All too often I hear management say, "I did not get lunch today" or " I have been on the run and have not had a chance to stop". Come on, get a grip, you are in control and it is up to you.
The first thing you should do in every job you work in, is to make sure you schedule two decent breaks a day which include at least half an hour for lunch and a 20 minute break somewhere else in the day. If you are like most people you will be using something like Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes to manage your day. Both allow you to schedule unavailable time in your calendar, so do IT!
By scheduling YOU time, you can ensure you have enough time to have a break, do a little meditation and relax and prepare for the rest of the day. If you are like me and work 16 hours a day, then you should also be putting into your plan a decent Dinner break of at least an hour and half an hour at the gym, even if it is just using the treadmill. If you do not do this, it will catch you up to you and you will be a statistic at 40. Do not laugh, my leading hand lost his life because he did not do the right thing. It can happen to you.
#6. Limit the Amount of Time Spent Dealing With Emails
Technology is a wonderful thing, but when technology rules your life, then you have a big problem and very quickly technology like email can overwhelm you causing you to become stressed. One of the rules my team and I have in the office is that nobody must respond to emails for more than 60 minutes per day. The reason we have put this rule into place, is that many of my team and our corporate clients spend their whole day emailing each other rather than dealing with the issues at hand.
How often have you received an email on one topic and then have the content of the email go off in another direction right before your eyes? I was working in one corporate organisation as an external consultant and very often all I would do is simply respond to emails all day long and get nothing done. Most of the emails could have been dealt with a 2 second phone call. In one of the offices I was working in, it was an open plan office layout and I had a bloke working directly across from me, who refused to speak to me or anyone else on the floor and all he did was when he had an issue, he would send an email.
This is a crazy way to do business and it does not work and only causes technology stress. My solution, each time he emailed me, I simply spoke the answer back to him. He got the point after a while and my email load went down when he spoke to me rather than emailed me. Technology is supposed to make life easier, not take over your life, so if you have a question and the person is sitting in the next office, get up and knock on their door and ask the question.
By doing this you are undertaking item number 6 which is limiting your emails and item number 3 which is get up and do some office exercises. That little bit of walking will help get the blood flowing through you veins.
#7. Be Prepared To Say "NO!"
We all want to get ahead in the world today and I am sure in everyone there is a little part of us that wants to live the life of Bill Gates and Donald Trump and be as rich as them. However, most of us make the mistake of simply saying yes to everything that is thrown at us. Now whilst that is great to say yes, people like Bill Gates and Donald Trump have teams of people to help them, and in all honesty you maybe on their teams, but all of us are only human and sometimes we simply have to say "NO!"
Where is the point in saying to our bosses, "Yes we will have this 500 page report written for you tomorrow". When in reality there is absolutely no chance of that occurring. Sometimes in this world you simply have to say no and that does not go just for the boss, it also goes for the customers as well. My team and I have a seven day schedule across the various businesses I run and whilst we do not all work seven days a week, sometimes we do work six days a week to get through our responsibilities. One weekend I had one of our customers, mind you it was 6:30 am on a Sunday morning demand one of my team from our car cleaning business, drop everything and clean their car at 7:00am because an important family member was coming.
There were many responses I could have given, but my simple answer was NO! The customer ranted and raved for about 10 minutes by which time I was imagining them naked yelling at me, which really was a funny site and then when they were finished and I simply asked them would they be prepared to work all week including Saturday and Sunday for the next 2 weeks and their reply was "NO, My Weekends Are My Own and I am not working them for anyone." Then I simply responding by saying to them, then there is your answer and I hung up. You know the funny thing, they rang me on Monday morning and apologised and we did the top car cleaning service on their car the following week. I charged them more as well.
Most customers will accept the answer of No when they understand why you are saying No. Some will not, but then do you really need them as customers anyway.
#8. Take your shoes off and walk on the carpet
This is my favorite de-stressing activity and it shocks the living daylights out of everyone. I first met a lady about 10 years ago who was in her early fortys and nothing seemed to shake her stature. She was always calm and never got flustered and I asked her what her secret was and she said, "I always take my shoes off as often as possible so I can stay in touch with the earth". This was a really prominent statement for me, because I never really thought of my shoes as a tool to disconnect us from our surroundings but if you think about it, it makes sense.
If you go down to the beach, what is the first thing you do. You take off your shoes to feel the sand through you feet and how does it make you feel, relaxed. If you go to the park with the children, what do you do? Take your shoes off so you can run around and have fun or to play in the mud. Whether we realise it or not, when we disconnect ourselves from mother earth we really do start to stress.
I now always take my shoes off when I am working in my office, including my socks just so I can feel something more inspirational under my feet rather than just the hard soles of my shoes. I know another corporate CEO in Brisbane Australia, who used to walk down to Anzac Square every lunch hour to walk on the grass so that he could stay in touch with the world. Hey, if it works in the movie Pretty Woman, surely it must work.
#9. Play Music
Listening to the right type of music is really important when you are trying to reduce stress and find your inner peace. Some music when listened to, whilst stressed, can in fact heighten your stress levels. One type of music, which research has shown to help reduce stress is Baroque music. This music is written so that there is only 60 beats per minute and funny enough that is what our heart rate should be. The baroque music has been found to increase the alpha waves in your left and right sides of your brain which help improve your learning ability, creativity and calmness.
Whilst you are working in the office on a demanding piece of work, simply put in a CDROM of music and listen to it as you are completing the work, but honestly do watch the type of music you are listening to or it can back fire. Most corporate organisations are now realising the benefit of staff listening to music during the day and with 90% of corporate computers having CDROMs, it is possible to listen to music on your computer whilst doing your work, you may just need headphones. I work in hundreds of corporate organisations a year and only one had a no music policy and that was because they were a call centre, which I can understand. There is no reason why you can not listen to music during your break though to ensure you a feeling calm before hitting those phones again.
#10. Meditate
Okay, I can hear it now, "Oh Yeah Hippy, Want Us to Meditate do ya." Absolutely! Look whilst meditation has certainly been a thing of fringe groups in western society or associated with more eastern religions many researchers are now coming to the distinct conclusion that meditation can make a huge difference to our day-to-day lives and helps us to overcome stress.
The core advantage meditation will play in your office is to help you to relax and deal with challenging situations more effectively. The more relaxed you are the more creative you can be in dealing with any issues that arise. I certainly recommend that when you are meditating, that you use baroque music with your meditation as it will help increase the alpha waves which will help lead you to a calm feeling. This is especially useful if you do not have a long period to meditate. I recommend a 20 minute meditation session at least once a day preferably two. You will be really surprised the difference it makes to your day. Just try it out, you have nothing to loose and the rest of your life to gain
The office environment in these millennia is far more stressful than they were a century ago, but there are things you can do about it but it is up to you. Remember, we only have one life and it is not a dress rehearsal so get out and reduce the stress your office gives you and have some fun. To finish off let me reiterate the ten things you can do to reduce your stress at the office.
#1. Have a Photo Of The Happiest Time In Your Life
#2. Think Of Your Boss Yelling At You Naked
#3. Get Up and Do Some Office Exercises
#4. Schedule Enough Time to Go From One Meeting To Another
#5. Plan Your Day
#6. Limit the Amount of Time Spent Dealing With Emails
#7. Be Prepared To Say "NO!"
#8. Take your shoes off and walk on the carpet
#9. Play Music
#10. Meditate
The Stress Hits 3 Months after Tragedy, Change or Trauma
Think about all that has happened in the world in the past few years: 9/11 and thousands losing their lives, terrorists who live and breathe to take away freedom, hurricanes that have completely taken away the foundation of several states, mud slides that have wiped away houses, floods that have killed and ruined, earthquakes that have swallowed up entire cities, riots and gunmen who have terrorized people, the war that haunts us every day and the list goes on. Hundreds of thousands of people have been uprooted and have been forced to move elsewhere to get on with their lives, and millions are dealing with a more stressful world.
As someone who has lived through several crisis' such as having a baby at 28 weeks after laying in the hospital for 4 weeks upside down, living in NYC during 9/11, losing my business as a result, and 2 moves out of state in the past 5 years, I know a little bit about surviving a trauma and dealing with the stress.
It's hard. It shakes you to your core, but it can be done.
Here is what to expect: I've guessed it can take up to about 3 months for the numbness to really wear off and for the stress to hit. It creeps up on you as a sense of overwhelm, and then the nerves start taking over and then POW. Full blown TENSION.
I remember when the people in Oklahoma were on TV counseling the residents of NYC after 9/11. They said that they weren't worried about them immediately following, but up to a year later. I remember hearing that and didn't exactly know what it meant. Then, I lived through it. The Christmas immediately following 9/11 was the worst one in history for everyone I knew. After speaking with my friends in NY, everyone admitted that being with family that holiday season was full of anger, fights and lose tempers. Everyone seemed happy to go back to their own nest after the holidays. I remember that one too. My sister and I had the biggest blowout of our lives. My parents had to mediate and I remember regretting several things I said.
The stress hits the families hard. The parents fight, and the kids suffer. The kids bring it to school and it affects others. Since we are all connected somehow, it's hitting everyone in some capacity.
First of all, recognize that everyone is going to go through their own personal trauma. Explain it to everyone that has gone through something difficult that it IS going to happen. Warn them to not be caught off guard.
Next, seek encourage those who have gone through a change to seek counsel. If it's from a friend, a professional, a priest or rabbi, whomever, get HELP. It helps to talk about what has happened. When a person can say the words out loud, hope can be established. The worst thing is to try to handle the stress and pressure internally. THIS is how people snap! They let the stress build up and then they POP. It's natural. Think of a balloon. It can only handle so much air until it breaks. People are the same.
Hard exercise should be a part of every day. Getting out the aggression by running, walking, lifting weights or punching a bag is a very therapeutic thing to do.
And most importantly, spiritual support is the most important. We know that God understands our fears, our hurts and our pains. When it's too much for us to handle, reach the scriptures that can give so much comfort, then give it over to God. Then release it and have the faith that He's working. He can give us ideas that can help solve our issues. He can bring people into our path that can help us with our needs and even think for us when our brains seem to be frozen.
Our world is at a boiling pot right now. People's relationships and lives are in danger of dealing with too much. It's time to reach out to others if you're blessed with comfort and peace right now.
All you have to do is ask your neighbors, "how are you doing?" If you do that to the people you see, you'll find people who are in need. Then God can begin a good work through you.
As someone who has lived through several crisis' such as having a baby at 28 weeks after laying in the hospital for 4 weeks upside down, living in NYC during 9/11, losing my business as a result, and 2 moves out of state in the past 5 years, I know a little bit about surviving a trauma and dealing with the stress.
It's hard. It shakes you to your core, but it can be done.
Here is what to expect: I've guessed it can take up to about 3 months for the numbness to really wear off and for the stress to hit. It creeps up on you as a sense of overwhelm, and then the nerves start taking over and then POW. Full blown TENSION.
I remember when the people in Oklahoma were on TV counseling the residents of NYC after 9/11. They said that they weren't worried about them immediately following, but up to a year later. I remember hearing that and didn't exactly know what it meant. Then, I lived through it. The Christmas immediately following 9/11 was the worst one in history for everyone I knew. After speaking with my friends in NY, everyone admitted that being with family that holiday season was full of anger, fights and lose tempers. Everyone seemed happy to go back to their own nest after the holidays. I remember that one too. My sister and I had the biggest blowout of our lives. My parents had to mediate and I remember regretting several things I said.
The stress hits the families hard. The parents fight, and the kids suffer. The kids bring it to school and it affects others. Since we are all connected somehow, it's hitting everyone in some capacity.
First of all, recognize that everyone is going to go through their own personal trauma. Explain it to everyone that has gone through something difficult that it IS going to happen. Warn them to not be caught off guard.
Next, seek encourage those who have gone through a change to seek counsel. If it's from a friend, a professional, a priest or rabbi, whomever, get HELP. It helps to talk about what has happened. When a person can say the words out loud, hope can be established. The worst thing is to try to handle the stress and pressure internally. THIS is how people snap! They let the stress build up and then they POP. It's natural. Think of a balloon. It can only handle so much air until it breaks. People are the same.
Hard exercise should be a part of every day. Getting out the aggression by running, walking, lifting weights or punching a bag is a very therapeutic thing to do.
And most importantly, spiritual support is the most important. We know that God understands our fears, our hurts and our pains. When it's too much for us to handle, reach the scriptures that can give so much comfort, then give it over to God. Then release it and have the faith that He's working. He can give us ideas that can help solve our issues. He can bring people into our path that can help us with our needs and even think for us when our brains seem to be frozen.
Our world is at a boiling pot right now. People's relationships and lives are in danger of dealing with too much. It's time to reach out to others if you're blessed with comfort and peace right now.
All you have to do is ask your neighbors, "how are you doing?" If you do that to the people you see, you'll find people who are in need. Then God can begin a good work through you.
How Teens Cope With Stress
Being a teenager can involve a lot of juggling. Trying to manage demands at school, home and from friends can seem stressful-even overwhelming at times.
To help teens handle stress and stay focused, parents should encourage their teens to budget their time, eat and sleep well, exercise, and ask for help when they need it.
The recent winners of the Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) Competition, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the College Board, explored both positive and negative ways of responding to stress. Natalia Nazarewicz of Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Aman Prasad of Pocatello, Idaho, conducted the two studies.
Nazarewicz surveyed more than 1,000 high school students in the Oak Ridge area on the practice of deliberate self-harm, such as cutting or burning their skin. She found that 26 percent of the students reported they had deliberately hurt themselves at least once. The survey showed the selfharm was often a response to stress and that twice as many girls as boys had resorted to such actions.
"I talked with some high-school guidance counselors and student advisors after completing my study and they were shocked by the scope of the problem," said Nazarewicz.
For his project, Prasad conducted a survey that he said suggests that physical activity may help teens mitigate the negative effects of minor mood disorders. He surveyed 800 ninth and tenthgrade students from three schools about how much physical activity they engaged in each week and measured the students' mood by asking each person to assess how optimistic and how aggressive he or she felt.
On average, he found that students who exercised at a rate of three or more days a week reported being in a better mood than students who did not exercise.
To help teens handle stress and stay focused, parents should encourage their teens to budget their time, eat and sleep well, exercise, and ask for help when they need it.
The recent winners of the Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) Competition, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the College Board, explored both positive and negative ways of responding to stress. Natalia Nazarewicz of Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Aman Prasad of Pocatello, Idaho, conducted the two studies.
Nazarewicz surveyed more than 1,000 high school students in the Oak Ridge area on the practice of deliberate self-harm, such as cutting or burning their skin. She found that 26 percent of the students reported they had deliberately hurt themselves at least once. The survey showed the selfharm was often a response to stress and that twice as many girls as boys had resorted to such actions.
"I talked with some high-school guidance counselors and student advisors after completing my study and they were shocked by the scope of the problem," said Nazarewicz.
For his project, Prasad conducted a survey that he said suggests that physical activity may help teens mitigate the negative effects of minor mood disorders. He surveyed 800 ninth and tenthgrade students from three schools about how much physical activity they engaged in each week and measured the students' mood by asking each person to assess how optimistic and how aggressive he or she felt.
On average, he found that students who exercised at a rate of three or more days a week reported being in a better mood than students who did not exercise.
How To Stay Calm When Life Isn't
No matter what is happening in the world around us, it is never necessary to become caught in depression, fear or other negativity. We are not the victims of the world we see, but have the ability to mobilize ourselves and take charge of the way we respond. There are simple steps to take which when practiced easily turn our state of mind around – and effect the world outside as well.
It is very important to both learn and take these steps. Depression and fear can easily become addictive. The longer we stay in negative states of mind, the more difficult it can become to leave them ..Our world then grows smaller and we begin to develop catastrophic expectations. We lose touch with our own power to take charge, to choose actions and perceptions which counteract the negativity. However, it is the right and responsibility of every mature adult, to steer their lives in the direction of their own choosing. The tools offered both in this article and program make it easy to do. They all result in a process of Centering. The more we practice these steps, the stronger we grow, and the more we can see negativity for what it is, something that has no power other than that which we give it.
Centering
This practice of Centering is universal. Many forms of exercise, martial arts and meditation are ways of achieving centering and balance. They are ways of tapping into the fundamental strength and courage all individuals are endowed with. In Zen they say, "Open the treasure house within." This reminds us that we are endowed with gifts which are far greater than we currently realize or employ.
In this article, some Centering practices will be offered. While these are simple, they are very powerful. When they are taken on and practiced daily, an individual calms down and changes will soon be seen.
Attention
We are what we think about.. Morita, a Japanese psychiatrist, the founder of Morita Therapy, states that all neurosis comes from frozen attention that has gotten stuck and fixed upon recurring negative thoughts. The more we give attention to that which is destructive, the more strength it has to rule our lives. This can be counteracted rather easily.
Take back your attention. Do not let it be absorbed by all that is presented to it. The power of focus is the power of life. Spend time each day developing focus and concentration. Withdraw yourself from the chaotic external world for a period of time each day, and pull your attention back within. Sit with a straight back, do not move and concentrate upon your breath. Let random thoughts come and go. Do not suppress them, but do not let them grab your attention away. At first you may be besieged by many surprising thoughts and feelings, but if you simply notice them and then return your attention to your breathing, these will soon die down.
Count your breath from one to ten, then all over again. Do this for at least ten to fifteen minutes without moving. By not moving we are stopping what is called the monkey mind, the mind, which jumps from one thing to the next, fears, demands, grabs and sabotages our lives. It is the monkey mind, which causes our sorrow and fear. But it is only a part of us, it cannot take over our lives, when we take our attention back. By doing this daily, we are strengthening new parts of ourselves, which can guide and lead us in a new direction, one of meaning, and well-being
This wonderful time spent with oneself is a simple way to attain perspective, become able to see clearly and be rooted in the larger truth. This time becomes a fortification against many storms, which naturally besiege us. We develop a place within ourselves, which we can always return, for wisdom, strength and comfort. When we allow the external world to consume us, we are simply giving our natural treasures away.
Rather than struggle to analyze and undo our patterns, we work directly with our attention. The question before us always is: What am I focusing on this moment? Am I present to the breathing, or lost somewhere in a dream, dwelling upon the pains and wrongs I think have others have done me, or the terrible things that can happen someday?
Reality continually renews and confronts us with new tasks, challenges, opportunities and solutions, day after day. Are we in touch with this ever flowing reality? Are we asking ourselves what is available now, what gifts we are receiving and what we can give to others, or are we dwelling upon how wronged, threatened or deprived we've always been?
Gratitude
As we do this faithfully, the second step of Centering appears. At a certain moment we become aware that depression and gratitude cannot co-exist in the same person at the same time. When our focus and life are primarily self absorbed, revolving around self-centered dreams, what we need and what others are thinking of us, we live in a prison without bars. Underlying feelings of worthlessness emerge, producing additional depression, hostility and stress.
In Centering as we become aware and grateful our focus naturally changes to all that we are receiving, to what others need, what we can give, what has to be done. And then we do it. We take action. We do not hesitate. When our focus is placed upon simple daily actions, and upon doing "deeds of service", the monkey mind is dismantled and passing emotions do not take center stage.
As we Center we learn to do each action with full attention, (no matter how small or large). We do not dwell upon the outcome. Our joy and satisfaction comes from acting with a whole heart and mind. Results and consequences are secondary, and take care of themselves. When we are not absorbed by concern for outcomes, how much anxiety can we ever have?
The most powerful antidote to psychological suffering is an individual's sense of self worth. When we are taking actions that are meaningful to us, self-respect develops naturally. When our behavior arises out of a grateful mind, each individual inevitably finds a personal alignment between their daily actions and highest values. As they become more and more occupied with that which is valuable, and life giving, their resourcefulness increase as does their sense of worth. They can then handle any difficult situation and give what is needed to all. Living in this manner, life feels like a gift they are constantly receiving, and they become a gift to life as well.
It is very important to both learn and take these steps. Depression and fear can easily become addictive. The longer we stay in negative states of mind, the more difficult it can become to leave them ..Our world then grows smaller and we begin to develop catastrophic expectations. We lose touch with our own power to take charge, to choose actions and perceptions which counteract the negativity. However, it is the right and responsibility of every mature adult, to steer their lives in the direction of their own choosing. The tools offered both in this article and program make it easy to do. They all result in a process of Centering. The more we practice these steps, the stronger we grow, and the more we can see negativity for what it is, something that has no power other than that which we give it.
Centering
This practice of Centering is universal. Many forms of exercise, martial arts and meditation are ways of achieving centering and balance. They are ways of tapping into the fundamental strength and courage all individuals are endowed with. In Zen they say, "Open the treasure house within." This reminds us that we are endowed with gifts which are far greater than we currently realize or employ.
In this article, some Centering practices will be offered. While these are simple, they are very powerful. When they are taken on and practiced daily, an individual calms down and changes will soon be seen.
Attention
We are what we think about.. Morita, a Japanese psychiatrist, the founder of Morita Therapy, states that all neurosis comes from frozen attention that has gotten stuck and fixed upon recurring negative thoughts. The more we give attention to that which is destructive, the more strength it has to rule our lives. This can be counteracted rather easily.
Take back your attention. Do not let it be absorbed by all that is presented to it. The power of focus is the power of life. Spend time each day developing focus and concentration. Withdraw yourself from the chaotic external world for a period of time each day, and pull your attention back within. Sit with a straight back, do not move and concentrate upon your breath. Let random thoughts come and go. Do not suppress them, but do not let them grab your attention away. At first you may be besieged by many surprising thoughts and feelings, but if you simply notice them and then return your attention to your breathing, these will soon die down.
Count your breath from one to ten, then all over again. Do this for at least ten to fifteen minutes without moving. By not moving we are stopping what is called the monkey mind, the mind, which jumps from one thing to the next, fears, demands, grabs and sabotages our lives. It is the monkey mind, which causes our sorrow and fear. But it is only a part of us, it cannot take over our lives, when we take our attention back. By doing this daily, we are strengthening new parts of ourselves, which can guide and lead us in a new direction, one of meaning, and well-being
This wonderful time spent with oneself is a simple way to attain perspective, become able to see clearly and be rooted in the larger truth. This time becomes a fortification against many storms, which naturally besiege us. We develop a place within ourselves, which we can always return, for wisdom, strength and comfort. When we allow the external world to consume us, we are simply giving our natural treasures away.
Rather than struggle to analyze and undo our patterns, we work directly with our attention. The question before us always is: What am I focusing on this moment? Am I present to the breathing, or lost somewhere in a dream, dwelling upon the pains and wrongs I think have others have done me, or the terrible things that can happen someday?
Reality continually renews and confronts us with new tasks, challenges, opportunities and solutions, day after day. Are we in touch with this ever flowing reality? Are we asking ourselves what is available now, what gifts we are receiving and what we can give to others, or are we dwelling upon how wronged, threatened or deprived we've always been?
Gratitude
As we do this faithfully, the second step of Centering appears. At a certain moment we become aware that depression and gratitude cannot co-exist in the same person at the same time. When our focus and life are primarily self absorbed, revolving around self-centered dreams, what we need and what others are thinking of us, we live in a prison without bars. Underlying feelings of worthlessness emerge, producing additional depression, hostility and stress.
In Centering as we become aware and grateful our focus naturally changes to all that we are receiving, to what others need, what we can give, what has to be done. And then we do it. We take action. We do not hesitate. When our focus is placed upon simple daily actions, and upon doing "deeds of service", the monkey mind is dismantled and passing emotions do not take center stage.
As we Center we learn to do each action with full attention, (no matter how small or large). We do not dwell upon the outcome. Our joy and satisfaction comes from acting with a whole heart and mind. Results and consequences are secondary, and take care of themselves. When we are not absorbed by concern for outcomes, how much anxiety can we ever have?
The most powerful antidote to psychological suffering is an individual's sense of self worth. When we are taking actions that are meaningful to us, self-respect develops naturally. When our behavior arises out of a grateful mind, each individual inevitably finds a personal alignment between their daily actions and highest values. As they become more and more occupied with that which is valuable, and life giving, their resourcefulness increase as does their sense of worth. They can then handle any difficult situation and give what is needed to all. Living in this manner, life feels like a gift they are constantly receiving, and they become a gift to life as well.
Achieve Instant Calm - the Wise Woman Way
Unfreeze yourself: Curl up in a fetal position (on your side with keens drawn up), breathe deeply, and hum. You may want to rock back and forth. Concentrate on what feelings want to emerge. Do not be surprised if grief is what you are really feeling.
Focus your eyes: Look at anything, steadily, with concentration, and breathe deeply. Feel a warmth in your upper abdomen; breathe; focus.
Conjure an image of safety: Imagine a huge image of safety, such as a cowrie shell, the palm of Buddha or Christ, a giant mother's lap, or a cloud of pink light. Surround the object of your anxiety with this image. Fear locks up movement and speech; a clear visualization can unfreeze you.
Take an herbal calmative: Tincture of red clover is a profound relaxer and soothing calmative. Its salicylic acid content (similar to aspirin) makes it an excellent pain reliever, too. Motherwort is also effective. Motherwort is not sedating, but calming, leaving you ready for action, not flying off the handle or bouncing off the walls. Try 10 to 20 drops as soon as you feel your nerves starting to fray or just before a stressful event. Repeat every five minutes if needed.
Try yoga postures: Yoga postures, yoga breathing, and quiet, focused medication soothe the sympathetic nervous system instantly. Regular practice alleviates anxiety, often permanently.
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A Basic Outline To Cope With Stress!
Your ears might have heard countless number of times "do this… and get away from stress," or, "do that…, and you will be totally relieved of stress,"turning you even more stressed out!!
…Stop scratching your head over what to be or what not to be done. I have compiled a definite set of action plan to cope with stress in life. I have tried it in the past and it really helped. In fact, I have used them time and again.
This might help you as well, simply read on.
1. Beware of your own warning signs. For, this could just be a sudden feeling of anxiety.
2. Consider what is really causing stress to you? You may be surprised to find the fact.
3. Think over what you could do to change the things. Find out how much of stress is indeed caused by you?
4. At times, due to excessive stress we fall into vicious trap of not eating properly and go to ill practices such as smoking and drinking to further worsen the situation. Instead, you should try and eat a balanced diet.
5. Eat complex carbohydrates rather than refined ones. This will really help you cope with mood swings.
6. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and keep sugar and salt intake low.
7. Drink plenty of water, it will rehydrate your body. Try to keep caffeine consumption to the minimum.
8. Avoid nicotine or any other self prescribed drug.
9. Don't feel guilty about including a period of relaxation every day. We all need to turn off from time to time.
10. Do something that is creative and helps you relax. Say, listen music, do yoga, meditate, enjoy aromatherapy or any other stress busting exercise.
11. Learn to be more assertive and try to manage your time properly.
12. You can even consider attending a stress management training course.
13. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
These are certain steps that can truly help you cope with stress. It will work wonders for you. The choice is yours, if you wanna live with stress or acquire any of these good points to mar the stress out of your life.
…Stop scratching your head over what to be or what not to be done. I have compiled a definite set of action plan to cope with stress in life. I have tried it in the past and it really helped. In fact, I have used them time and again.
This might help you as well, simply read on.
1. Beware of your own warning signs. For, this could just be a sudden feeling of anxiety.
2. Consider what is really causing stress to you? You may be surprised to find the fact.
3. Think over what you could do to change the things. Find out how much of stress is indeed caused by you?
4. At times, due to excessive stress we fall into vicious trap of not eating properly and go to ill practices such as smoking and drinking to further worsen the situation. Instead, you should try and eat a balanced diet.
5. Eat complex carbohydrates rather than refined ones. This will really help you cope with mood swings.
6. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and keep sugar and salt intake low.
7. Drink plenty of water, it will rehydrate your body. Try to keep caffeine consumption to the minimum.
8. Avoid nicotine or any other self prescribed drug.
9. Don't feel guilty about including a period of relaxation every day. We all need to turn off from time to time.
10. Do something that is creative and helps you relax. Say, listen music, do yoga, meditate, enjoy aromatherapy or any other stress busting exercise.
11. Learn to be more assertive and try to manage your time properly.
12. You can even consider attending a stress management training course.
13. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
These are certain steps that can truly help you cope with stress. It will work wonders for you. The choice is yours, if you wanna live with stress or acquire any of these good points to mar the stress out of your life.
Stress And Illness
Jack, 60 years old, is a client of mine. Jack had been in a very difficult, codependent marriage with Stella - a marriage where Jack completely gave himself up in his attempts to avoid Stella's anger, threats and blame. Jack sought my help regarding extricating himself from this very unhappy relationship and was finally able to end the marriage. Subsequently, Jack sent me the following email:
"Hi Margaret, I hope all is going well with you. I thought you might be interested in a health change I have noticed. In my last year of marriage to Stella I started having pressure in my chest when I started exercising. I went to several cardiologists. I felt the first one was an alarmist. He wanted to do an angiogram immediately and he wanted permission to do angioplasty at the same time if necessary. I told him that I would get back to him. I immediately went on a better exercise program and took additional supplements for my heart. Over a period of several months I visited three other cardiologists. A very well respected cardiologist had the great idea of doing another stress test on me. When he finished the stress test he said he did not see any reason to do anything different that what I was doing. The pressure I was feeling was still there at the start of exercise but it would go away as I continued to exercise.
"On December 31, 2005 I made my last support payment to Stella. I have not felt any pressure in my chest since then at the start of exercising or any other time. I actually feel an upward shift in my energy level. I know that stress has a lot to do with health and with the last payment I must have released a lot of stress.
"I am interested to hear your opinion about this. Stress can be so silent that I do not know if I am always aware of it."
I responded to Jack, telling him that recent research indicates that stress may be behind at least 90% of illness. Currently, Jack is in a loving relationship with Andrea, but even that relationship did not stop the stress until his last support payment to Stella. Yet Jack did not realize that the heart pain was related to his stress.
Too often, when we have physical problems, we seek a purely physical answer. Yet if stress is the underlying cause of 90% of illness, it is very important to open to learning about the fact that we might be stressed and about what is causing the stress.
If Jack had realized that his heart pain was stress-related, he might have been able to go inside and discover what was really causing the stress. On the surface, it appeared to be his fear of Stella's anger and the fact that he still owed her money. But if Jack were to look deeper, he might discover some false beliefs that were actually causing the stress – beliefs such as:
• I am responsible for Stella's unhappy feelings.
We cause our own feelings with our thoughts. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for another's feelings.
• It is not fair that I have to continue to pay Stella money.
Jack made choices that led to this outcome. He is responsible for the choices he made.
• It is my fault that things did not work out with Stella.
Jack is responsible for his choices, but not for Stella's choices. Thinking something is all our fault is a way of convincing ourselves that we have more control than we actually have over other's choices.
• I will not be able to make enough money to take care of myself.
Jack does well financially, but often stresses over money.
• As long as I owe Stella money, she will be able to control me.
Jack frequently gives his power away to others due to his trying to control them through pleasing, and then fears being controlled by them.
• I have to give myself up to Stella to control how she feels about me and treats me.
Jack caused himself stress by trying to control something that he has no control over.
There is a good possibility that if Jack had explored his beliefs and come into truth with himself, his stress would have decreased long ago. Much of Jack's stress was being caused by trying to control something that he had no control over. All of us can learn from Jack's experience. We all have the opportunity to continue to monitor our stress and continue to look at the false beliefs and resulting behavior that are the primary underlying causes of stress.
"Hi Margaret, I hope all is going well with you. I thought you might be interested in a health change I have noticed. In my last year of marriage to Stella I started having pressure in my chest when I started exercising. I went to several cardiologists. I felt the first one was an alarmist. He wanted to do an angiogram immediately and he wanted permission to do angioplasty at the same time if necessary. I told him that I would get back to him. I immediately went on a better exercise program and took additional supplements for my heart. Over a period of several months I visited three other cardiologists. A very well respected cardiologist had the great idea of doing another stress test on me. When he finished the stress test he said he did not see any reason to do anything different that what I was doing. The pressure I was feeling was still there at the start of exercise but it would go away as I continued to exercise.
"On December 31, 2005 I made my last support payment to Stella. I have not felt any pressure in my chest since then at the start of exercising or any other time. I actually feel an upward shift in my energy level. I know that stress has a lot to do with health and with the last payment I must have released a lot of stress.
"I am interested to hear your opinion about this. Stress can be so silent that I do not know if I am always aware of it."
I responded to Jack, telling him that recent research indicates that stress may be behind at least 90% of illness. Currently, Jack is in a loving relationship with Andrea, but even that relationship did not stop the stress until his last support payment to Stella. Yet Jack did not realize that the heart pain was related to his stress.
Too often, when we have physical problems, we seek a purely physical answer. Yet if stress is the underlying cause of 90% of illness, it is very important to open to learning about the fact that we might be stressed and about what is causing the stress.
If Jack had realized that his heart pain was stress-related, he might have been able to go inside and discover what was really causing the stress. On the surface, it appeared to be his fear of Stella's anger and the fact that he still owed her money. But if Jack were to look deeper, he might discover some false beliefs that were actually causing the stress – beliefs such as:
• I am responsible for Stella's unhappy feelings.
We cause our own feelings with our thoughts. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for another's feelings.
• It is not fair that I have to continue to pay Stella money.
Jack made choices that led to this outcome. He is responsible for the choices he made.
• It is my fault that things did not work out with Stella.
Jack is responsible for his choices, but not for Stella's choices. Thinking something is all our fault is a way of convincing ourselves that we have more control than we actually have over other's choices.
• I will not be able to make enough money to take care of myself.
Jack does well financially, but often stresses over money.
• As long as I owe Stella money, she will be able to control me.
Jack frequently gives his power away to others due to his trying to control them through pleasing, and then fears being controlled by them.
• I have to give myself up to Stella to control how she feels about me and treats me.
Jack caused himself stress by trying to control something that he has no control over.
There is a good possibility that if Jack had explored his beliefs and come into truth with himself, his stress would have decreased long ago. Much of Jack's stress was being caused by trying to control something that he had no control over. All of us can learn from Jack's experience. We all have the opportunity to continue to monitor our stress and continue to look at the false beliefs and resulting behavior that are the primary underlying causes of stress.
Nothing More Than Feelings
"How are you Inventing Your Life Today?" – the lead story from my last issue of Power & Presence – drew comments from several readers. Most of the comments went something like: "I wish I could have the degree of control over my life that you apparently do."
I want to say, I wish I had the degree of control over my life that it apparently looks like I have.
Earlier this summer, several of my 20-something neighbors who live in the apartments next door had a long and lively conversation in their back yard, which lies just beneath our bedroom window – wide open on this particular warmish night. The conversation included beverages of one type or another (I hazarded some guesses), the containers for which, when drained, got thrown (loudly) into a recycle container. These antics took place between 2:30 and 3:30 A.M.
I debated for a while whether I should get up, dress, go next door, and have a conversation of my own. After tossing and turning for about 15 minutes, I decided to communicate through my open window. I got up, and – I believe in a fairly centered way – called out: "Quiet, please." They heard me, I think, since their voices quieted a bit. And while the cans continued to go into the recycles, they did so with perhaps a bit less energy.
But the damage was done, the horse out of the barn. What were my chances of getting back to sleep? I tossed and turned for another half-hour but couldn't find my way back. I got up, walked the house, muttered oaths to myself, and finally began to notice light dawning and birds chirping around 4:45. I lay down again and dozed intermittently between 5 and 8, and eventually got out of bed to face the day, tired, depleted, and still angry.
I remembered my story about "Inventing Your Life," and its theme about the meta-communicator being the padding between my feelings and me. There wasn't much padding after a sleepless night. I talked to my husband. I honored my feelings. I even appreciated my neighbors' cluelessness. I mean they're young adults having a summer outdoor party. Okay, it IS the middle of the night, but I may have done similar stuff at that age. But in spite of my best efforts at reclaiming equanimity, I mostly gave myself a pretty hard time about the fact that I'd written that story. Here I was having FEELINGS. I can help others better manage their emotions, so why couldn't I manage my own? Why couldn't I make them go away?
I re-read my story. It helped. I didn't say I wasn't supposed to HAVE feelings, I said I was supposed to be able to be aware enough to notice them and ride their waves. I said I wanted to make behavior choices based on my better instincts instead of acting out the emotion in unconstructive ways. I guessed that I had done that with my partying neighbors. I hadn't been mean-spirited or behaved reactively.
"Beyond That"
Then I understood that I wasn't upset with my neighbors any more; I was mad at myself for having such strong feelings. Like somehow I was supposed to be "beyond that." Because I teach and write about centering, I should be above these tiresome emotions.
In those moments of upset, I comprehended experientially that centering doesn't take emotions away. On the mat of life, as in aikido, the attack will come. It may come from the outside (my noisy neighbors) or the inside (strong feelings). How will I manage the energy? Will I freeze, fight, fall over, or move in toward the energy and use it wisely? I can be centered and upset. I hope, in fact, I am centered when I'm upset. When I'm centered I will hold the emotional energy differently.
In time, as they always do, the feelings died down and transformed, much like the thunderstorm that also passed through that night. By afternoon I was on the actual aikido mat and back to feelings I enjoy having in my body. "Inventing Your Life" is pretty accurate. The option to have or not have feelings is not under my control (at least not yet). The ones I had that night and early morning were not pleasant or wanted, and I could not MAKE them go away. All I could do was sit with them, watch them move through body, mind, and spirit, talk about them to caring friends, and care for myself while I was having them.
Soon I will be laughing about that night. (I already am.)
And soon I will have a longer conversation with my neighbors – in the daylight, when we're all centered, open to dialogue, and able to talk about how we want to live next door to one another.
Center does not equal an absence of emotion. Center equals presence with emotion. I am not a bad person because I have strong feelings. Feelings just are; they can in fact control us, or with some watching, waiting and positive intention, we can engage and direct their energy with awareness and purpose.
I want to say, I wish I had the degree of control over my life that it apparently looks like I have.
Earlier this summer, several of my 20-something neighbors who live in the apartments next door had a long and lively conversation in their back yard, which lies just beneath our bedroom window – wide open on this particular warmish night. The conversation included beverages of one type or another (I hazarded some guesses), the containers for which, when drained, got thrown (loudly) into a recycle container. These antics took place between 2:30 and 3:30 A.M.
I debated for a while whether I should get up, dress, go next door, and have a conversation of my own. After tossing and turning for about 15 minutes, I decided to communicate through my open window. I got up, and – I believe in a fairly centered way – called out: "Quiet, please." They heard me, I think, since their voices quieted a bit. And while the cans continued to go into the recycles, they did so with perhaps a bit less energy.
But the damage was done, the horse out of the barn. What were my chances of getting back to sleep? I tossed and turned for another half-hour but couldn't find my way back. I got up, walked the house, muttered oaths to myself, and finally began to notice light dawning and birds chirping around 4:45. I lay down again and dozed intermittently between 5 and 8, and eventually got out of bed to face the day, tired, depleted, and still angry.
I remembered my story about "Inventing Your Life," and its theme about the meta-communicator being the padding between my feelings and me. There wasn't much padding after a sleepless night. I talked to my husband. I honored my feelings. I even appreciated my neighbors' cluelessness. I mean they're young adults having a summer outdoor party. Okay, it IS the middle of the night, but I may have done similar stuff at that age. But in spite of my best efforts at reclaiming equanimity, I mostly gave myself a pretty hard time about the fact that I'd written that story. Here I was having FEELINGS. I can help others better manage their emotions, so why couldn't I manage my own? Why couldn't I make them go away?
I re-read my story. It helped. I didn't say I wasn't supposed to HAVE feelings, I said I was supposed to be able to be aware enough to notice them and ride their waves. I said I wanted to make behavior choices based on my better instincts instead of acting out the emotion in unconstructive ways. I guessed that I had done that with my partying neighbors. I hadn't been mean-spirited or behaved reactively.
"Beyond That"
Then I understood that I wasn't upset with my neighbors any more; I was mad at myself for having such strong feelings. Like somehow I was supposed to be "beyond that." Because I teach and write about centering, I should be above these tiresome emotions.
In those moments of upset, I comprehended experientially that centering doesn't take emotions away. On the mat of life, as in aikido, the attack will come. It may come from the outside (my noisy neighbors) or the inside (strong feelings). How will I manage the energy? Will I freeze, fight, fall over, or move in toward the energy and use it wisely? I can be centered and upset. I hope, in fact, I am centered when I'm upset. When I'm centered I will hold the emotional energy differently.
In time, as they always do, the feelings died down and transformed, much like the thunderstorm that also passed through that night. By afternoon I was on the actual aikido mat and back to feelings I enjoy having in my body. "Inventing Your Life" is pretty accurate. The option to have or not have feelings is not under my control (at least not yet). The ones I had that night and early morning were not pleasant or wanted, and I could not MAKE them go away. All I could do was sit with them, watch them move through body, mind, and spirit, talk about them to caring friends, and care for myself while I was having them.
Soon I will be laughing about that night. (I already am.)
And soon I will have a longer conversation with my neighbors – in the daylight, when we're all centered, open to dialogue, and able to talk about how we want to live next door to one another.
Center does not equal an absence of emotion. Center equals presence with emotion. I am not a bad person because I have strong feelings. Feelings just are; they can in fact control us, or with some watching, waiting and positive intention, we can engage and direct their energy with awareness and purpose.
Reduce stress before exams
At the beginning of your term you give yourself a promise to study hard and succeed in whatever you have planned. But things just happen to distract you from doing serious tasks and you start postponing: till next day, till next weekend, till next month, year and so on. You start getting interested in the present day only, your nearest future stops being your concern and you live happily and spend your days having fun with your friends. Every weekday you come to university and peacefully sit there, not concentrating on what your lecturer says. Suddenly a word "exam" appears in this monologue and you become very interested in it. While your tutor is talking, you feel a strange feeling tickling you in your belly and it doesn't stop even when you have a break for lunch. This is the first sign of getting worried. It is not a top secret that people, both tutors and students become stressed out before exam. This is a dangerous state of organism that may hurt others that are around. Here is some practical piece of advice for those who are tired of this feeling but can't help having it.
What is the reason of stress? When thinking about exams you worry about not passing it. If you have not enough knowledge on the topic, you will fail and have to take the course again. It is the fear to fail that makes us so nervous and stressed. Having not enough knowledge is not a problem for the one who is willing to study. Start your preparation from the first class. If you listen attentively, take notes, complete the assignments on time, you will not have to sit days and nights before exam and worry about some part of information that you've missed. A slight revision would be enough to refresh your memory. If you have problems with your assignment writing you can perform a custom term paper order and be a hundred percent sure that everything will be fine. You can order custom term paper that will be written on a high level with creative approach and duly completed on time. That will leave you some time for yourself and maybe your studies if it is a way you use your free time.
And here is one more thing. If you failed to do the above mentioned and still feel that horrible strain, there is one more advice. Cheating will not help you on your exam and in your future life. It is you that is cheated, not your tutors. The best way is to be honest with the examiner. Don't lose your face when answering; you have to stay focused every second. Nobody has died of passing an exam yet and hopefully nobody will. Teacher's aim is to teach you, not to fail you at your exam, because students are a credit to a teacher. If you still need some time to learn and study more, do it systematically, not chaotically and everything will be alright and you'll go home on vacation a happy person with good news to you parents.
What is the reason of stress? When thinking about exams you worry about not passing it. If you have not enough knowledge on the topic, you will fail and have to take the course again. It is the fear to fail that makes us so nervous and stressed. Having not enough knowledge is not a problem for the one who is willing to study. Start your preparation from the first class. If you listen attentively, take notes, complete the assignments on time, you will not have to sit days and nights before exam and worry about some part of information that you've missed. A slight revision would be enough to refresh your memory. If you have problems with your assignment writing you can perform a custom term paper order and be a hundred percent sure that everything will be fine. You can order custom term paper that will be written on a high level with creative approach and duly completed on time. That will leave you some time for yourself and maybe your studies if it is a way you use your free time.
And here is one more thing. If you failed to do the above mentioned and still feel that horrible strain, there is one more advice. Cheating will not help you on your exam and in your future life. It is you that is cheated, not your tutors. The best way is to be honest with the examiner. Don't lose your face when answering; you have to stay focused every second. Nobody has died of passing an exam yet and hopefully nobody will. Teacher's aim is to teach you, not to fail you at your exam, because students are a credit to a teacher. If you still need some time to learn and study more, do it systematically, not chaotically and everything will be alright and you'll go home on vacation a happy person with good news to you parents.
The Daily Grind: Take Out The Stress, Discover The Joy
If you suffer stress from the tedium of boring, repetitive, and meaningless work, then it's time you changed your attitude. Simply by seeing work as adventure, service, ritual, self-expression, and meaningful, you can transform the very nature of the daily grind.
1. Work as Adventure. Many people might laugh at you if you suggested that a humdrum job could become an adventure. But here are three ways you can turn every day of working life into one of surprise and discovery. Make it…
• a challenge, in which you create our own targets. "I'm going to be the best cocktail-maker in town."; "I want to complete the dish-washing in the fastest time."
• learning, in which you develop your curiosity about the job, how things are made and work, as well as trying out new skills to see if the job can't be done in a better way.
• a game, in which you create interest and fun by injecting a new twist into the job, such as the bartender who took to compiling lists of barstool bores.
When work is seen as an adventure, with new things to explore and learn, you'll look forward to Monday mornings with a new-found spirit of wonder.
2. Work as Service. Much of the stress we experience in the workplace originates from an excessive pre-occupation with ourselves and others with whom we work. Some of the particularly strained relationships we can experience arise out of...
• internal politicking
• departmental rivalries
• poor or mismanaged relationships
• game-playing
• bad supervision and management of people.
While these situations are not solved overnight, we can make major changes in how we see them and how we feel when we shift our perceptions from an internal to an external focus, from ourselves to others, from those we work with to those we work for. Then work ceases to be about us and our survival and becomes an act of service.
3. Work as Ritual. When we see work as ritual, no matter how mundane it may be, it is lifted into something more meaningful. We do it not for the rewards but for its own sake. It is like the Zen Buddhist monk who sweeps the snow from the monastery steps even while it is snowing - simply because it is snowing.
• when we see work as ritual, it becomes absorbing
• when we see work as ritual, the minutest details are as valuable as the grandest gestures
• when we see work as ritual, we connect with it, become part of it, are joined in the rhythm of it
• when we see work as ritual, we develop a natural pace and flow and go with it as in a dance.
"The best work is done without strain, as if we had no goal in mind."
4. Work as Self-Expression. When we perform routine work, we have the choice whether to see it as a chore and a means to an end or to turn it into something special. When work is made special, it becomes an art form: a way of putting on theatre; a form of self-expression. This can apply to the way we make a slab of pizza dough, to the way we stack supermarket shelves, to the way we take care of the school hall. No matter how repetitive and routine, each act can have our own distinctive stamp on it.
"I don't like work - no man does - but I like what is in work: the chance to find yourself, your own reality - for yourself, not for others - what no other man can ever know." (Joseph Conrad)
5. Work as Meaningful. Much of the stress of routine work comes from not knowing -- or seeing -- the results of our efforts. Warren Bennis is professor of management at the University of Southern California in San Diego, a particularly parched part of the state. Every day when he goes in to work, he notices the beautifully-kept lawns and flower beds and wonders: "Does anyone ever thank the gardeners for lifting our spirits?" When we know what our work does for others, whether routine or creative, we get a glimpse of our significance in the bigger scheme of things.
Marilyn Ferguson says that we can transform the stress and boredom of our daily work by changing our attitude. "New attitudes change the very experience of daily work. Work becomes a ritual, a game, a discipline, an adventure, learning, even an art as our perceptions change. The stress of tedium and the stress of the unknown, the two causes of work-related suffering are transformed. A more fluent quality of attention allows us to move through tasks that once seemed repetitious or distasteful. We see that meaning can be discovered and expressed in any human service: cleaning, teaching, gardening, carpentry, selling, caring for children, driving a taxi."
1. Work as Adventure. Many people might laugh at you if you suggested that a humdrum job could become an adventure. But here are three ways you can turn every day of working life into one of surprise and discovery. Make it…
• a challenge, in which you create our own targets. "I'm going to be the best cocktail-maker in town."; "I want to complete the dish-washing in the fastest time."
• learning, in which you develop your curiosity about the job, how things are made and work, as well as trying out new skills to see if the job can't be done in a better way.
• a game, in which you create interest and fun by injecting a new twist into the job, such as the bartender who took to compiling lists of barstool bores.
When work is seen as an adventure, with new things to explore and learn, you'll look forward to Monday mornings with a new-found spirit of wonder.
2. Work as Service. Much of the stress we experience in the workplace originates from an excessive pre-occupation with ourselves and others with whom we work. Some of the particularly strained relationships we can experience arise out of...
• internal politicking
• departmental rivalries
• poor or mismanaged relationships
• game-playing
• bad supervision and management of people.
While these situations are not solved overnight, we can make major changes in how we see them and how we feel when we shift our perceptions from an internal to an external focus, from ourselves to others, from those we work with to those we work for. Then work ceases to be about us and our survival and becomes an act of service.
3. Work as Ritual. When we see work as ritual, no matter how mundane it may be, it is lifted into something more meaningful. We do it not for the rewards but for its own sake. It is like the Zen Buddhist monk who sweeps the snow from the monastery steps even while it is snowing - simply because it is snowing.
• when we see work as ritual, it becomes absorbing
• when we see work as ritual, the minutest details are as valuable as the grandest gestures
• when we see work as ritual, we connect with it, become part of it, are joined in the rhythm of it
• when we see work as ritual, we develop a natural pace and flow and go with it as in a dance.
"The best work is done without strain, as if we had no goal in mind."
4. Work as Self-Expression. When we perform routine work, we have the choice whether to see it as a chore and a means to an end or to turn it into something special. When work is made special, it becomes an art form: a way of putting on theatre; a form of self-expression. This can apply to the way we make a slab of pizza dough, to the way we stack supermarket shelves, to the way we take care of the school hall. No matter how repetitive and routine, each act can have our own distinctive stamp on it.
"I don't like work - no man does - but I like what is in work: the chance to find yourself, your own reality - for yourself, not for others - what no other man can ever know." (Joseph Conrad)
5. Work as Meaningful. Much of the stress of routine work comes from not knowing -- or seeing -- the results of our efforts. Warren Bennis is professor of management at the University of Southern California in San Diego, a particularly parched part of the state. Every day when he goes in to work, he notices the beautifully-kept lawns and flower beds and wonders: "Does anyone ever thank the gardeners for lifting our spirits?" When we know what our work does for others, whether routine or creative, we get a glimpse of our significance in the bigger scheme of things.
Marilyn Ferguson says that we can transform the stress and boredom of our daily work by changing our attitude. "New attitudes change the very experience of daily work. Work becomes a ritual, a game, a discipline, an adventure, learning, even an art as our perceptions change. The stress of tedium and the stress of the unknown, the two causes of work-related suffering are transformed. A more fluent quality of attention allows us to move through tasks that once seemed repetitious or distasteful. We see that meaning can be discovered and expressed in any human service: cleaning, teaching, gardening, carpentry, selling, caring for children, driving a taxi."
Stress Less And Relieve Tension In Your Mind And Body.
We all know stress - it's part of life! Pressure is a form of stress and we use it every day, at work and in our daily lives. We apply pressure to ourselves, or it is applied to us, when we set time frames and objectives for projects, goals and ambitions. Without pressure and stress we would simply get nothing done, we wouldn't achieve anything! Stress is good when it invigorates your life and challenges you to reach the limits of your potential.
Stress can be bad however, when it reaches a level beyond which you feel in control any longer. Stress then becomes counter productive and a destructive force in your life. When you find yourself tense, tired and uncomfortable. When worry about problems or situations causes tension, insomnia, depression and other physical and psychological problems.
Bad Stress also affects your immune system and makes you more susceptible to illness, pain and headaches, but if you know how, you don't have to allow that to happen anymore!
Imagine… having relief on tap, something you could experience whenever you need it, something that would remove all the stress from your body and return the sparkle to your mind. How would you feel if you could wake up tomorrow, feeling in control?
Well, Happily, you are blessed with a really powerful tool that can remove stress instantly - your body's relaxation response. Using hypnosis to trigger this wonderful natural effect will release hormones and neurotransmitters that flood your body and mind with pure, cleansing relaxation. You owe it to yourself to feel the relief you can have instantly.
Stress causes many physical and psychological problems that can be relieved through hypnotherapy. Hypnosis changes the way you think and moves you forward into a new perspective. Most people feel better immediately and stop their self-defeating thought processes.
When you discover how easy it is to resolve these issues with Hypnotherapy, you will be amazed. Some people say it feels like magic because it is so easy to make powerful changes. Hypnotherapy simply allows you to access the resources you already have in your subconscious mind. It moves your mind and body into a different state, where your emotions and hormonal balance will help you feel better. This will enable your subconscious mind to access new, more relaxed, more uplifting emotions. You will enjoy deep, peaceful relaxation, allowing the feelings of tension and stress to just drift away from you. You will be left feeling recharged and energised.
A hypnosis session for change won't just help you to "chill out"; it could be the single most important thing that forever determines your ability to feel Relaxed and calm, even under the most stressful of situations!
Learn to recognise the signs that stress is starting to build up and be prepared to act quickly on the problems causing this, because problems seem to grow in intensity if they are not dealt with. The relief will be instant and you'll be glad that you did. It's important to realise that you always have choices and learning how to properly manage stress will make you a happier person and really will improve your life. Believe in yourself and in the power of your mind.
Using Hypnosis to trigger your natural relaxation response is an effective method of dealing with stress from which you cannot get relief through any other methods. This will help you cope with ordinary and extraordinary levels of stress and enable you to live a happier healthier life.
Imagine how good it will feel to wake up the next day feeling in control, feeling strong, feeling free, and feeling optimistic and excited about the future…
Let your mind go free and your body will follow!
Wide Open Spaces - How To Share The Roads Peacefully With Trucks
There are a few common problems that truckers come across with motorists. These problems are often also the ones most sited on insurance claims. Are you guilty of any of these practices?:
1. Brake this habit – Everyone at one point or another gets stuck behind a large truck. So the most logical next step is to change lanes to pass the truck. No problems with that … the problem lies in a vehicle cutting back into the truck's lane right in front of them, then braking for a turn or just slowing down, period. What most motorists don't take into account is that truckers need a lot of space in order to slow down, at least two to three times the amount of passenger vehicles.
2. Peek-a-boo! – Now you see them, now you don't. This peek-a-boo game is very troublesome to truckers. Large trucks have several blind spots which make it hard for the drivers to see other motorists who like to hang out there. The best thing that you can do is either pass the truck or stay a comfortable distance behind them. When in doubt, check for the trucker's side view mirrors. If you can see them, then chances are that they might be able to see you too.
3. Back up and try again – In this day and age of technology, people are more accustomed to instant results and hate waiting for anything. Unfortunately, when big trucks have to back into a space, it may take a few tries to succeed. Motorists should appreciate the fact that these trucks are bigger than they are and let the truckers do their job. Patience can be a virtue!
4. Teach a lesson – Some drivers of passenger vehicles like to try and "teach" truckers a lesson. Sometimes, drivers think that the big trucks are either going too fast or slow. So they'll speed up to pass the trucker, then get back in the trucker's lane and slow down! Many parents tell their kids, "Worry about yourself," and it would be smart for other motorists to heed that advice. Leave it to the troopers and policemen to enforce the laws of the road.
Common sense is what all these problems boil down to. Each person driving on the road is in charge of themselves. By exercising a little of that common sense, many accidents involving big trucks and passenger vehicles could be avoided. That old adage, "It is better to be safe than sorry," certainly applies!
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