Stress Management Magic

Common terms used to describe the mental condition of those of us who must concentrate, meet deadlines, provide a service for people, and adjust to the demands of the work world and family life include “stress”, “burnout”, and usually “exhaustion”.

The drive for efficiency and increasing costs of providing for basic life functions, add to the pressures, as does the stress simply caused by change.

We all need help in “time management, as it is one remedy that does enable people to cope.  If you want to head towards a more healthful workday, incorporate five-minute vacations when you can.

Those who give of themselves to others, whether at work or at home, must have time for replenishing vital forces from within themselves.

If we are expected to produce ideas, designs, or detailed work, we need a renewal of our intellect and creativity.  Paper pushers, foremen, even harassed mothers, must make time capsules for coping ability and restoration during the day.

The United States Department of Labor website offers laws for specific states regarding breaks and lunch breaks.  Each state differs.

In California the law states that a ten-minute rest period is required for each four hours worked.  After five hours (if you work at least eight hours) you are to be given one-half hour for lunch.

Thankfully, many employers know the value of empowering breaks to regenerate, but even during a brief five-minute respite YOU can really use the time to relax completely.

For just five minutes, mentally (and, if possible, physically) remove yourself from the hurry of work and the demands of others. Use this time to relax completely.  Even if the time is a restroom break, rest and regenerate in whatever room you can!

Use your oxygen to relax and regenerate your body. That can be done anywhere and at any time!  Breathe now, inhaling slowly, and exhaling slowly.  Continue while reading further.

The physiology, or functioning of your organs, will respond to this plug of oxygen by resuming normal functioning, as opposed to being riddled with stress.

If you have the opportunity to get up and move around, do so.  Stretch and take a breath, as you want to invigorate your circulation.  If you are stationery, you can still regenerate.

Breathe and consciously visualize all your muscles going limp for a moment.  Relax, and breathe into your muscles.  Now loosen up by rolling your shoulders forward and then backward.  Drop your head from side to side slowly.  Scrunch fingers together and stretch them out.  Wiggle your toes and rotate your ankles.  This is a GREAT little vacation!

If you are away from the “source” of your stress for a brief time, think about something lovely; dwell on the good that is around you.  Look at a tree or a living plant; consider the diffusion of color and the design and symmetry

Take a five-minute walk outdoors if possible.  Read something funny or think of something to tickle your sense of humor.  Laugh (it’s healing).

Watch others and remember happiness is a CHOICE – no matter what!

Even one minute to breathe and move can give mental strength and invigorate the mind.  Such little “vacations” give a change of pace, needed oxygen, relief from concentration, and stimulate the circulation.

Begin today to incorporate these small “breaks” and you will find a difference in your management of stress right away.  I promise!

This is for EVERY ONE of you out there is cyberspace!  Whether you are a student, a parent, a child, an employer, an employee, or a senior citizen……take a minute and think about what follows.  Change is possible at ANY age!

After studying and teaching stress management for over thirty years, I have some simple but life altering techniques, observations and realizations.

We all have the power to transform the natural stress that comes from living into energy capable of improving our physical and spiritual health

Secret number one is that the essence of life is transformation. These simple words hold the key for changing your life for the better. Join me in transformation and see if it isn’t so.  These are thoughts for the day that can transform your life and the lives of others

Cherish your pets and the lives of all animals.  They are gifts to us and can be dear friends.

When someone asks for a donation, try to give with whatever you can – So many people have been left homeless-and we are not their judges; just their brothers and sisters.

Breathe deeply and mindfully.  Do it again!

Remember to look for all those blessings we take for granted.  The breeze in the trees, the sound of singing birds, the laughter of a child, these are all blessings we can enjoy!

Take a walk. Crunch leaves as they begin to fall from the trees. Watch the changing colors…it’s AWESOME.  Love!

Humble beginnings or wealth from the start, what truly matters are things of the heart.

Take your family for a walk, or just do something spontaneous for fun together.  Love deeply.

Don’t keep yourself in a prison.  Take a break from your electronics and refresh the memory of talking to a real human, or sitting in the sunshine!

Take a breath.  Stretch.  Smile.

Make a point of actually playing with your children while they are small. Catch a fish, catch a ball, and catch precious moments. We are only here for one short period of time.

Watch the sun rise as darkness lifts, watch the sunset.  How many times have you left to see the stars at night or revel in the full moon?  Not enough in a lifetime for me.

If you can’t leave – take a mental vacation.  Even if it’s just for a minute or two, visualize a favorite place.  Listen to the sounds of nature.  Take a breath and use your mind to renew your zest for life.

Cherish the earth.  It is our home.

Cherish your body.  It is the only place your Spirit has to live!

Don’t let the sour expressions or negative attitudes of people affect your day.

Let your light shine through and be grateful for small miracles.  Start a cycle of sharing smiles and positive thoughts.

Say a prayer kneeling, with head bent and a humble heart and God will tend to your needs.

Take a breath and exhale all your negative thoughts.  Create a wonderful weekend for you and those you love!

Every single thought listed on this post is a form of stress management!  Our thoughts guide our actions.  Our actions build our lives.  Make them “right” thoughts and “thoughtful” actions.  It is a choice!

You can do it!

There are many outstanding websites dedicated to introduce readers to the “why” of stress, it’s causes, and the management of it.  Each has a quantity of excellent information, and the majority of it is credible information. This is an amazing gift.

Stress Management Magic is unique, however, because our goal is to address specific and current challenges we all face in the area of stress management – not tomorrow – but today!

We teach techniques and work with you right online to begin to learn to change your life to one of peace and happiness amidst all the turmoil of 2010.

The time to begin learning to manage stress is not when you can squeeze in a day to think about it.  It is not when you can afford go to a class to practice or pay for a personal trainer. The time is NOW.

Begin now, and with our guidance, within a few short weeks, and perhaps sooner, if you will dedicate small increments of time throughout the day, you will find your world changing.

We offer food for thought on how to handle stressors such as anger, depression, divorce, loss of employment, financial challenges, and aging

We offer tips on improving relationships, managing stress at work, and dealing with a myriad of stress inducing scenarios.

Through posts we work on improving your child/parent relationship, communication skills, and on even improving your own health.

Our goal is simple.  We want you to learn techniques you can use anywhere and anytime.  WHY?  Because, we all have a right to be happy and at peace, and teaching the basic’s should NOT cost a penny!  You have a right as a human being to know how to use innate gifts for your benefit.

If then you choose to join a meditation class, a yoga class, another stress management program, or any other method to “enhance” what you’ve learned here, then bravo!

LET’S GET STARTED!

Take a slow breath in through the nose.  Your additional oxygen will relax and regenerate you simultaneously.  That is how the body works.

Exhale through the mouth, clearing carbon dioxide and making room for more oxygen.

Again, inhale slowly (think: I am feeling better).  Exhale  slowly (think:  I release my negative feelings).

Inhale slowly – exhale slowly.

Do this mindful breathing two or three times. ANY time of day when you feel stress beginning to mount, slow it down by doing this breathing.  Whether you think it will help or not – do it!  You are an oxygen machine, and this is the way the body works. You increase stress by not giving muscles, ligaments, and tendons needed oxygen.  Your brain needs fifty percent more oxygen to think optimally.

If you dareJ……..Push back the chair, and stand up for a moment.  Stretch your arms up to the ceiling and take a breath.  The natural response to a stressful situation is to hold our breaths.  This increases our anxiety as we are oxygen machines and need to breathe!  (You are not ignoring your job:  you are refining your intellect and maintaining a relaxed demeanor to do a better job!

Twist your body a bit.  Lift each leg and rotate your ankle in a few circles.   Wiggle your toes.  Stretch your fingers out and then crunch them together.  Now take another deep inhalation and exhalation.

If peers or family give you a strange inquiring look, just let them know you are taking a mini-management minute to improve your performance and regenerate a bit.  It does work.

When you resume your position, just before beginning the task before you, take another deep breath and give yourself a mental pat on the back.

It’s your life, your body, and your right to keep it finely tuned!  Onward and upward.

You CAN meet and rise above ANY stress that manifests in your life.  It just takes practice to create the brain cells that will be poised and dynamically respond with positive force.

The first step is to take a deep and mindful plug of oxygen into your oxygen machine!  When in difficult situations, whether it’s loosing a database, or perhaps facing a screaming combatant, we actually hold our breaths.  Think about it.  In turn our muscles, tendon and ligaments begin to tighten.

Instinctively we are preparing for the “fight or flight” syndrome and our stance becomes that of preparing for defense.  By unconsciously holding our breath we cut off our needed oxygen supply to make a more rational decision.  Our brains need fifty percent more oxygen to think optimally.

We need to put aside any doubt and release any tendency to “make things work out” or to force an outcome.

There is unlimited and abundant energy and you are in charge of whether it is positive or negative.

One of the most important exercises in managing stress is to expect the unexpected, and keep a habit of storing in your brain the belief that we are able to handle whatever happens to us!

None of us knows from moment to moment what our lives will challenge us with next.  In order to begin to manage stress we must be flexible to the idea that a new challenge may pop up, one we never dreamed would happen, and that no matter what we will meet the challenge.

The next step to begin real management of stress is to REFUSE to be negative and affirm, “I am getting better.  The situation will resolve with my calm perseverance.”  No matter how you feel at the time, whether you believe it or not, your positive affirmations make the statements true.

As you speak the words the body responds with positive energy growing and healing.  You will create brain cell impressions that reinforce your words. Do this repeatedly and you will find at some point that the thoughts automatically come to fruition in your mind and you will find a positive resolve with peace and the use of your own calm intellect.  It will happen!

Now take a few deep breaths and when you exhale remember your exhalations are making room for more wonderful oxygen to think optimally. Visualize all the negativity flying from your fingertips into oblivion and use your inhalations as a power surge for the mind and the body.  CREATE a wonderful day for yourself and those around you!

Each day offers a variety of experiences and encounters.  If stress and trepidation have captured your spirit you will find yourself dreading, not only each day, but anticipating the future as time that will be less than wonderful.

Instead of anticipating new adventures and rewarding experiences, you will be in a mental “funk”, and in reality, not feel as good physically.  Fear and stress equals a double edge sword that will take your life away and destroy any hope for joy and the future.

Stop it!  Stop wasting your life.  Since you get to CHOOSE your thoughts, CHOOSE to expect good.  You don’t know what the very next nanosecond will be like, let alone the next hours or days

Why shouldn’t you expect good?  Why not!

Even in the face of difficult circumstances you are still capable of guiding your thoughts and intellect.  You have an unlimited strength from within if you just tap into it.  Expect good to come – if not this instant – soon.

Claim trust back if it’s been dashed by time and circumstance.  Create order in your life and seek transformation to a solution that is good and acceptable to you and others.  There is always order and a silver lining if you can bear the temporary rocky road to get there.  Learn from those times that seem impossible.

You are stronger than you even know.  You may have just been trained to believe you are less than you feel in your heart.  Sometimes criticism from family and peers pierces the heart and acts like a train barreling into your self-esteem.

Esteem means, “respect and admire”.  It seems in life that many people are more apt to be critical and tear down others than to be respectful and admire them.  Perhaps it is because they themselves were treated in that manner.  Perhaps it is because negativity is rampant and people seem sure “the worst is to com”.

BELIEVE THE BEST IS YET TO COME.  DRAW GOOD TO YOU.

EMPOWER YOUR LIFE WITH POSITIVE THOUGHTS. EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO FAIN YOUR BELIEF IN THEM AT FIRST, CREATE NEW BRAIN CELLS AND TEACH YOURSELF TO DO THESE THINGS.

WHY NOT?  THE THOUGHT POLICE HAVEN’T COME TO FRUITION AS YET.  THOUGHT IS STILL ON THE FREE RANGE IF YOU BREAK OUT OF THE PRISON YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE IN.

Don’t believe unwarranted words.  None of us are perfect.  We all make mistakes, but that is part of maturing and learning to choose the best choices for our own lives.   You have a warehouse of “goods” within you, ready to be tapped into at any moment.

Transform your life.

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Once you are able to “exercise” your thoughts, the value of stress management training, yoga, meditation, exercise class, videos, any type of schooling or training, will accelerate to optimum intellectual levels and with a calm demeanor.  Use your oxygen and begin from within you…..today!

Welcome to the tedious and distracting overload provided by technology.  Some refer to it as the “Attention Crisis”.

Technology has provided us with some awesome things – a plethora of websites to get information from, emails, blogs, YouTube videos, music, current news (past news too), the weather, and a never-ending line of opinions, photos, movies and games.  This is NOT a complete list.

You may be literally fatigued from it all.  You may find your nerves are shredded by all the stimuli, and the things you feel you must check out in a day’s time.

For all the wonderful things available you may find you are squandering your time and lower your productivity.  Keep in mind many of the above mentioned things should be done in your “free” time – excluding, of course, the family, school, your workload, aging parents, and the myriad of other demands in this twenty-first century living.

All Americans are vulnerable to finding themselves more stressed out than ever and really overwhelmed with it all.  You may be facing the limit of your human ability to cope with all the stimuli in your environment

With this entire happening, what may be worse is you find your coping mechanisms are becoming less effective, and your stress level increasing.  No matter how you multitask, your list just seems to grow.

By the end of each day you may emerge with eyestrain and having accomplished nothing much at all.   You have been distracted by all the “input”, and we haven’t even mentioned continuous advertisements on television, the radio, newspapers and magazines – along with non-stop “hearing distractions, no matter where you are!

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?

First thing you can do right now is take a minute.  It won’t kill any project you have begun.  You need mindful oxygen. Stress makes you take shallow breaths…withholding your oxygen.  In turn, you are depleted of what you need to manage your life and make good decisions. Take a breath in slowly through the nose.  Now exhale through the mouth.  Do this several times.

Next you need to really pay attention to the “overall picture”.  It will help to prioritize.  Build a list (doesn’t have to be fancy), but make it honest.  What do you really need to do? .  Ask yourself whether you really are focusing on the right things

Study your habits.  Do not be an accepting and passive consumer of everything that is put in front of you. Tame your appetite.  LIMIT YOUR INPUT!  Open-ended cruising of all that is offered WILL cause you ultimately to lose track of your goals, and your time, which is your life!

If you sleep eight hours a night you still have three hundred and fifty thousand waking minutes of each you.  Now compute how many minutes a week you truly spend passively reading and hearing “stuff”?   You can waste so much time following fluff.  How much time do you spend healing you?  How many minutes with the family and loved ones?  How many minutes to breathe and relax?

You want to take down your stress level?  Tame your wild stallion and pick and choose the most wonderful ways to spend your minutes and hours. Laugh with someone, pray with someone, walk alone to the top of a hill and sing.  Hug like it feels inside; shake hands with a hearty and warm grasp. Fly a kite.  Splash around in the small puppy pool with the puppy.  Go outside and get on a bike and ride it.  There isn’t an age limit!

Or if you are actually not supposed to be taking time to read this, then bravo.  You took a minute or two to change your life.

Now take in a deep breath and think:  I feel better. Turn your hands up and exhale through the mouth and SEE your negativity, and any unresolved issues, fly from your head to your arms and out the fingertips.

This world tosses stress around like raindrops pelting down on a stormy day.  Major stresses will affect your life at some point. They may have already done so. There may be one, there may be many, but to know how to manage stress, and put techniques into practice, might save your mind, your life or the life of another.

There is no guarantee how long life will be for each human. Keep in mind, it is fragile and life needs to be cherished. Within a nanosecond your life can change for all the remaining days you have left to live on this planet.  This is important to keep in mind, because it happens. It is factual.

Be prepared for what you don’t expect.  Perhaps, with practice of stress management techniques, you will find a windfall of strength and endurance, previously unknown, in surviving any tragedy.  You can’t prepare for everything, but you can teach your mind how to calm down and learn to differentiate between necessary, urgent, and critical challenges that may arise.

The potential to handle “life” and its challenges is bundled up within you.  It all depends on the quality of life you desire, your willingness to make the first move, and your willingness to practice, practice, and practice!

Techniques to learn stress management are not difficult!  They are rewarding, to say the least, throughout your life.  Your profession, raising a family, staying on a diet, completing a school project – all these things can be more complex that learning the techniques that will help every moment and every sequence of events in your life.

So what’s the problem?  Don’t wait until a major stress evolves and you find YOU with stress that is out of control.  Start today.

DEDICATE as little as a couple of minutes every waking hour  (that’s only twenty four minutes in twelve hours) or fifteen minutes in the evening, to practice breathing.

YOU ARE AN OXYGEN MACHINE AND WITHOUT IT YOU DIE IN A FEW MINUTES.  WHY NOT REFINE AND USE YOUR OXYGEN AS IT’S MEANT TO BE USED: TO HEAL, RELAX AND REGENERATE.

If you practice faithfully for a week or so, each day, you will begin to notice the breathing becomes more natural to you.

You will be able to draw upon this type of breathing when a stress is triggered by something, and you will be able to empower your response and calm your bodily functions.

Begin today to change your life forever. The easiest and most effective way to begin is right this moment.  No matter where you are reading this, take a moment, sit up a bit straighter to allow good oxygen.

Let your shoulders relax downward and with a little effort, pull them back slightly.

You have opened up the lung area and now are prepared to receive fresh oxygen.

Take a deep inhalation through the nose.  Allow your lower abdominal area to fill up like a balloon.  Hold it for a moment.  Now exhale through the mouth and allow the “balloon” to empty from the bottom upward.

Read and do the above paragraph again.

Read it several times and slowly “use” your oxygen.  You can’t go any place in your car without gas!  (Stress causes shallow breathing) Don’t deplete YOU.  Do this breathing for two minutes.  Can you afford not to?

Your inhalation will relax and regenerate you.  Your

exhalation is actually a housekeeping technique – sending out the carbon dioxide and making room for oxygen.  You can also visualize sending any negative incidents or feelings right out with the exhalation.  Purge your body and make room for new life and new thoughts.

When you have mastered just this simple technique then move to add another such as walking, yoga, a  stress management program, or other training.  Be comfortable with your own breathing and it will empower you.

Well………so to speak!

Our technology-based culture has made many things easier and faster, but it’s taken a toll on the human body.  You may spend you day hunched over a computer, sitting in traffic behind a steering wheel, or crammed into “space” that seems to get smaller and smaller  (such as city streets, the market, theatres, etc).

As a direct result of this cramping of the human body people are loosing the ability to use their bodily core – the combination of shoulders, hip and torso – in a powerful and efficient manner.  Though we are sitting on our gluteus maximus for longer hours, we are not using the muscles as nature intended-propelling the hips forward regularly.

That’s because we sit on the glutes and that causes the muscles opposite to them (hip flexors) to become short and stiff.

All this sitting, rolling of the shoulders forward, and relaxing of the abdominal muscles are playing havoc with our flexibility, our strength and endurance, and YES, our stress level!

You live in your body and when it’s not being used correctly, even your intellect suffers.  So let’s do a tiny bit, right now, to activate your body and begin to feel better (and definitely less stressed out!)

First take a deep breath in through the nose quite slowly.  Hold a second or two.  Exhale through the mouth, from the bottom of the abdominal area and out.  Do this several times.

Take a moment and squeeze your left butt cheek.  Let it relax. Now squeeze your right cheek.  Let it relax.   Congrats!  That is how to activate your glutes.  You can do this throughout the day.  It’s a secret way to work those muscles

If you learn to activate and fire your glutes, constantly, you will be on your way to mobility, and body stability.

Take a few more breaths and consciously hold your abs in, straighten and drop your shoulders.  Now roll the shoulders in circles going towards your back (ten times).  Reverse.

Stand up and clasp your hands and stretch to the sky.  “Shake” hands as you bring them down.  Stretch any way it feels good, and walk around somewhere for a minute or two-down the hall and back?  Whatever you can squeeze in at the moment.

You will help your body to function optimally, and begin to manage your stress by activating your circulation and helping your body to relax.  You are in charge of you!

Create a wonderful day!

The Problem with Stress Management Training………..

You know you need it, but there is always a reason (or justification) to enable you to “wait till things settle down” to begin to learn how to manage your stress.

So many people, who desperately NEED help, are simply in denial.

“I don’t have time.”  “I can’t afford classes.”  “I just can’t!”

Don’t be one of those folks who begin to seek help and then just put it off until another day.  Don’t wind up having a heart attack.  It happens more often than you think, with stress that is not managed, a huge factor in causing the problem.

Heart disease kills more people in the USA than any other stress related disease or medical issue.  Cancer is next in the line of our biggest killers.  Many scientists and medical practitioners are now admitting that there is high probability that stress has been the initiator of many of these fatalities.

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“Coronary heart disease is also much more common in individuals subjected to chronic stress and recent research has focused on how to identify and prevent this growing problem, particularly with respect to job stress. In many instances, we create our own stress that contributes to coronary disease by smoking and other faulty lifestyles or because of dangerous traits like excess anger, hostility, aggressiveness, time urgency, inappropriate competitiveness and preoccupation with work.”

The American Institute of Stress

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It is time for you to begin to manage your stress. This day is yours – CREATE a beautiful one for yourself and those around you.

Quick Tips

THINK before you speak. Take a breath and it will spark your intellect, RELAX and regenerate you, simultaneously.

Remember words are sharper than any knife and they pierce the heart.  Once you speak them you cannot erase them in the mind of the person to whom you were speaking.  Do not allow yourself to respond negatively for it will simply increase the stress already present.

Take THIS opportunity to tell someone you love or appreciate him or her.  The feeling YOU get when you pass love or a positive thought to someone will help dissipate your negative thoughts.  You will also find a positive response to you can elevate your peace.

Make these moments of value and the worth of your actions will ultimately come back to benefit you! It always works… The things you think, and the way you breathe!

The things that you think within, words you speak, and the quality of your oxygen will ultimately become your life and health. YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF WHERE YOU GO FROM HERE.

Breathe and think positively. Teach your brain to create those “cell impressions” from which you can empower yourself simply through your thoughts. Ultimately, if you are consistent, your body physiology will be changed for the good.

Put aside any doubt and release any tendency to “make things work out” or to force an outcome. Open your thoughts and your life to the source of all intelligence and let go of worry.

Worry changes nothing for the better. The only thing worry does is increase in increments and cause more worry, more problems, and more stress.  Worry affects us physically in a negative manner and it changes nothing!

Spend time on thoughts that are positive and quality and you will draw those things positive to you. Be mindful of your oxygen intake, and as you exhale send all those negative thoughts into oblivion.

If you think I may be repeating some things simply phrased a bit differently – I am!  Repetition is the key to learning.  Once you have created these new brain cell impressions your “new way of thinking and speaking” will become second nature.

What is the past is the past. The future is but a “hope for the best”.  The moments you have are now. Make them of value to you and those in the circle of your life.  You are in charge.

If you want – really want – to change your life, take that yoga class you’ve thought of joining.  Join a group to help one another. Buy stress management tapes and CD’s.  Go to a therapist!  Get more help on line.  Be the master of your future and get help now!

Now take a deep and mindful breath and visualize wonderful oxygen regenerating you and relaxing you.  When you exhale visualize all the negativity and unresolved worries fly from your fingertips into oblivion.

When your life is spilling out of control on the highway to stress hell, keep these important “management words” in mind, and refer to them as a secret empowerment to aid you.

Truth does not waiver:  When you speak you are prophesizing what happens next!

Words come to life.  If you are negative there is a ninety-nine percent chance that you will get negativity back and have a less than perfect settlement of the “challenge” you face.

I am angry

I don’t know how I will get through this

I can’t forget the past

I won’t ever get out of this mess

These are self-fulfilling prophecies.  As sure as these words come out of your mouth, they have been engaged in the cycle of coming to life – in your life!

“The relation that exists between the mind and body is very intimate. When one is affected, the other sympathizes. The condition of the mind affects the health to a far greater degree than many realize. Many of the diseases from which men suffer are the result of mental depression. Grief, anxiety, discontent, remorse, guilt, distrust, all tend to break down the life forces and to invite decay and death….

Courage, hope, faith, sympathy, and love, promote health and prolong life. A contented mind, a cheerful spirit, is health to the body and strength to the soul.”

Ellen G. White

1827-1915

These words were written many, many years ago, but they are the absolute truth, and truth NEVER waivers.

If you practice these three simple techniques, you will find your life will actually improve in many ways.  Stress management is up to you though – no matter how you “say” you want to change, YOU are the only one that can instigate change….and you are the only one who can practice, therein creating new brain cell impressions and new feelings about a stressful scenario.

1.  The number one management technique is using your oxygen in a crisis situation.  Take a few breaths to get the oxygen you need.  It will also give you a few moments to think about your coming response.

2.  Drop the negative words and EVEN IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IT works such miracle changes, incorporate positive words.  If you are thinking “impossible” – don’t!  Think instead, “I can do this.”  Words CAN empower you.

3.  Speak slowly and calmly.  Never let anyone or any challenge turn you into a nasty, mouthy, and dull witted person!  Don’t let anything change your life like that without your permission!

4.  Never forget (particularly with women) – WORDS can pierce a person’s heart with the same intensity and pain that a sharp sword would deliver.  Most physical pain is healed with time, but ill spoken and cruel words can pierce a person’s heart over and over again, and sometimes, stay with a person for his or her life.

(If you are faced with challenge after challenge in the stress arena, it may be time to seek outside help such as counseling, classes,  various forms of yoga, meditation classes, CD relaxation tapes, or perhaps a church group.  You have one mind and you don’t want to loose it to stress!)