Stress Management Magic

May you think in order to be happier, you need more than you have right now – more money, more love, more freedom, more friends, etc. etc. etc.  Simply by thinking in these terms, you may be downsizing your sense of well being, and your own happiness!

Admittedly, evidence shows that genetics contribute to about fifty percent of your happiness set point.  However, that is a far cry from one hundred percent.

If you want less stress and you want to be happier, you must do two things.  You must make a commitment and an effort (as with any meaningful goal in life).  Maybe you won’t go to to a “ten” in happiness, but you surely will become happier!

Many people think stress takes happiness away.  It does.  So what do you do?  You change your attitude and expect happiness to be headed your direction – no matter what

Happiness is not a lover (though that does add to happiness).

It is not marriage, money, or a new destination.   These things contribute to your happiness, but not nearly as much as you might think

Lasting happiness has more to do with simply racking up pleasure experiences or material things…it has more to do with how you behave and think – and these things ultimatelycontrol more than many of life’s circumstances.

Here’s an idea:  help someone else by volunteering or being kind, or generous with your actions.  There is a report of feelings called a “helper’s high” and many people who follow this path even find an alleviation of aches and pains.

Diversion from your own stress and pain can truly add to your happiness.  If you can do something to help someone else, your happiness will accelerate.

In finding that “joy of giving”, you will find your stress diminishing.  Part of the problem with stress is that is you pay attention to it; let you get overwhelmed with it, it will get worse!

Do something that is meaningful to you.  If you do, the activity can promote a sense of gratitude, connectedness, forgiveness or optimism.  If what you do means something to you it will be most successful.

If you want to be happy schedule time to do something outside of your own “self-needs”.  Assess your strengths and develop practices that are best used for these endeavors.

Something as simple as a call to express love, or saying thank you with a robust feeling behind it, will begin the new journey.

Always you must use your oxygen.  If these posts repeat this over and over again, it is because it is the number one stress management technique to use.

Take a breath.  Think about this.  Do something this weekend.

You never know unless you try.  CREATE a happy and beautiful weekend!

Thanks for taking time to enter the contest!  We all need to work on stress management every single day! The winners will be announced on the 10th of this month!  Create a wonderful day and take a breath!

In stress management, even as “experts” in the field, we are always open to wonderful ideas, and this post is wonderful!  Enjoy and try it!  Now take a breath of two and read on……

(Don’t forget to enter the contesst – tomorrow is the last day!)

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“We can reframe bad days by spending some time
before going to bed each night to review the gifts we received that day.

When we have good days, we often find ourselves going over the details later, enjoying them a second and third time as we feel the joy of our good fortune. When we have bad days, we may find ourselves poring over the details of our misfortunes. However, we can re-frame those bad days by making it a daily practice to spend some time before going to bed each night to review the gifts we received that day. Regardless of our evaluation of the day—good, bad, mediocre—we can call forth the many blessings that were present. This practice transforms our consciousness as it reveals the fullness at the heart of our lives.

Some days it’s easy to recount the gifts we’ve received; on other days, we have to look harder for the offerings of the day, but once we do, we will find there are always quite a few. We can keep it simple and be grateful for the fact that we have a roof over our head, nature, food, and our health. Once we have fully experienced these gifts, we can move outward to the gifts that may require a little more thought such as the gifts of forgiveness, tolerance and acceptance that we may have learned that day. We can also always be grateful for the people in our lives who support us, no matter how bad our day may have been.

Just reviewing the many positive offerings in our lives provides a context for our difficulties that puts them in proper perspective, but we can also make an effort to see the gifts even in adverse circumstances. This can be challenging and may require some practice before it feels authentic, but we have all had the experience of a disappointment or loss leading to a surprising gain. Just remembering this and trusting the give and take of life can help us to remember that sometimes the best gifts of all are the ones we don’t recognize right away. In addition, the lessons we learn in the face of adversity are offerings in their own right, allowing us to count patience, wisdom, and fortitude alongside the other gifts of the day.”

from the writers at DailyOm

The benefits we experience when pets are in close proximity to us are really not recognized fully by most of us.  There is a powerful human-animal connection that is only now being fully recognized.

There have been many workshops held on the benefits of owning pets.  There were just a few scientific papers available on the subject a few years ago, though snow studies have revealed that pets boost survival rates for coronary care unit patients. That was an eye-opening finding.

People have known the healing effect for centuries, but recently new data on the role of chemistry in the relationship has been revealed.

When a person interacts with a pet, the central nervous system releases several hormones that cause feelings of pleasure.  One hormone in particular, oxytocin, seems to play a major role in reinforcing this bond.

The hormone creates a sense of warmth, nurturing and calm.  Simply petting dogs releases the same chemical in both humans and the animals!  Researchers know this with certainty, but are not clear as to how two species can produce feelings of peace, closeness and contentment in each other.

What is clear is the fact that this bonding is very helpful in managing stress of almost any kind.

Animals (particularly dogs) give unconditional love.  It doesn’t matter if the owner yells, or is unkempt, or even doesn’t offer the best care to the animal.  All the animal wants is love and approval by their owner.  They accept their owners and companions without qualification.  An animal’s acceptance

is nonjudgmental and forgiving. They don’t play psychological games people sometimes play.  They accept you the way you are.

Pet ownership particularly helps children to learn to read body language.  The experiences children have with their pets later develop into relationships with people, and actually helps develop more empathy for others.

Children who are fortunate to have a pet learn nurturing skills, and the responsibilities that come with it. They also have in store for them lots of fun to share with a new pet.

Over eons it is well established that touch is very important for the nourishment for our spirits and minds.  Sometimes people who have been neglected find it difficult to accept touch from other humans.  The relationship with animals, simply the act of petting a dog, can create feelings of security and warmth; feelings of love without demands humans often desire.

In cases like these, having an animal to hold, hug, and touch can make a world of difference to people who would otherwise have no positive, appropriate physical contact.

Astounding cases of pet heroism and loving acts prove that the interaction between pets and humans, even just passing contacts, are healing and worthy of categorizing as important relationships in the management of stress.

Find ot for yourself and consider, if you don’t own a pet, possibly adopting one for yourself and your family.  More fun and less expensive than therapy, pet ownership can truly be a healing factor in your life.

When stress is not managed well, you are headed to a potentially parlous journey of poor physical health, and possibly deadly diseases.  The risk you take by ignoring your symptoms of stress and the feeling of being overwhelmed by it, is life threatening.

Without a doubt mental stress unmanaged affects your physical health.

The body is all one thing, a coherent whole, with many different systems and functions.  There is no separation of parts when one is afflicted.

Your thoughts, what goes into the mouth, and how you treat your body all have an effect throughout the body.  Just like when something happens to one member of the family, it affects all the rest of the family, some more than others, but everyone is affected.

It is the same with our bodies.  If there is a tight muscle in the hip for instance, from a corresponding weakness on the opposite side, then that hip is favored because of the tension restricting its motion.  That puts a different strain on the foot, and with the foot in a different position; there will be a strain on other sets of muscles.  This is going to change the body’s general posture, affecting the positions of the internal organs. That, in turn, restricts the nutrition to the organs and changes the excretions and hormonal functions.

The chemical/psychological balance of the person is changed and this affects the individual cells in the body.  As the body and mind are affected, the person will think and feel differently, so he is going to assume still a different posture.  Then there is one more tight area, one more tension, one more cycle.  Everything we do affects all the rest of the body.

Humans are structural, chemical, psychological and spiritual beings.  The primary structure and the natural chemistry work together to influence the psychological, and vice versa.

A problem may exist in any part of an area, and disturbances that arise in other systems may represent the body’s efforts to compensate for the troubled system

To put our body in true balance, we must take into account all aspects of health – structural, mental and nutritional – as well as need for exercise and rest.

You only have one place to live – YOUR BODY.  Your body houses your intellect and your spirit, and will serve you well for many years if you take the time to learn to manage your stress.

Start today for this moment and for a better tomorrow.

Take a breath slowly in through the nose.  As you exhale let the carbon dioxide out slowly.

As you inhale again know you are providing for your LIFE.

As you exhale, picture negative thoughts flying out with your exhalation.

Take care of yourself and you take care of your family and friends.  How much will the works you do count if you find yourself mentally and physically sick from allowing unresolved stress to take control of you?

It’s a choice.

STOP!  READ THIS BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE

It doesn’t matter if you are buying into the “black Friday” shopping hysteria, preparing for a trip, having company, or just fighting additional traffic in the stores and on the road.  If you are reading this, you must take just three minutes to do this mini-stress management post while reading it. It may save your sanity and save the holiday.

Take a breath right now.  Exhale.  Remember, when under pressure we stop breathing (at least adequately for good thinking).  Our shallow breathing doesn’t provide what we need to kick in optimum thinking for our brain. It furthers tension as muscles and ligaments tighten.

Take another breath, a bit slower, and deeper this time. As you are inhaling, think:  I am pulling in oxygen that will help me relax and regenerate with each breath.

Now exhale slowly through the mouth repeating in your mind:  I exhale all my worries and know I am doing the best I can.

Crying children, burned pie, dust on the coffee tables, financial woes, and short tempered citizens are all potential holiday “breakers”.  Don’t let things get to you.  In the long-term scheme of things, these little irritants won’t play into your life but for a nanosecond.

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.

Stretch your arms high into the air and wiggle your fingers.  Roll your wrists one way, and now the opposite direction.  Take another deep breath and exhale and release any unforgiving thoughts or hostility.  Clasp your hands and stretch to the heavens.  Now shake your hands as you bring them down.

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 affect us physically in a negative manner.

Sit with lower back pressed to the chair and shoulders down and back.  Deep breathe.  You are empowering yourself.  Exhale.  You are making room for more healing oxygen.

Bend your right ear to your right shoulder.  Hold for a moment and breathe.  Now left ear to you left shoulder.  Breathe again slowly.

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

This day is yours – CREATE a beautiful one for yourself and those around you.

THINK before you speak. Take a breath and it will spark your intellect.

Remember words are sharper than any knife and they pierce the heart.

Take THIS opportunity to tell someone you love or appreciate him or her.

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, and the quality of your oxygen will ultimately become your life and health.  YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF WHERE YOU GO FROM HERE.

What is past is past. The future is but a “hope for the best”.  The moments you have are now.   Make them of value to you and those around you and create beautiful moments in time.

Don’t Hurry to Death!

Over thirty-three million people will be traveling by car this year for the Thanksgiving holiday. Tradition dictates we cook fabulous meals (which usually means you will spend more money at the grocery store), visit relatives, or have visitors for dinner, and take the time off, whether we can afford to do so or not!

Wow! The REAL thanksgiving will probably happen AFTER the holiday and time off work – if it comes at all!  Here are a few tips to actually help you enjoy what is supposed to be a festive time for family and friends. These are some “stress buster” thoughts to put into action.

Advertisers like to promote the standard “turkey dinner with all the trimmings”.  They like to sell us decorative items and special desserts.

Don’t BUY into the necessity of all they are selling.

Don’t feel obligated to invite people if you cannot financially afford to do so.

The day is meant to express gratitude for our bounty.  If you are healthy, or have a family or even just a place to rest your head at night, be grateful.  So many on this planet don’t have even meager food or belongings.  Keep those thoughts fresh in your mind.

If you are driving to visit, prepare in plenty of time to be relaxed during the drive.  All those last minute details, all the planning, all the hopes of a great time will be dashed if you find yourself in a head on crash because your stress level is out of control!  Take a breath.  Think about that.

Sing.  Take a breath.  Play positive music that makes everyone’s heart beat calmly.  Laugh together. Teach the family to breathe, and take a breath together!  This will help everyone.  It will create a calmer presence and less stress for everyone.

We are not guaranteed more than the moment. Be grateful for time together.

If you are going to share time with family or friends, then certainly, if you are running late, make sure you are considerate enough to call if you feel there is any chance you will not be on time.  The love those people feel for you should forgive the tardiness.

Don’t yell at the children because they are not flying on YOUR time schedule.  They are children.  Try to be flexible and remember what is important.  How great is a memory of someone screaming, “Hurry, we’ll be late for our Thanksgiving visit!”

Create a new “tradition”.  Really make the time festive and restful too.  Present whatever food you have with grandeur and say, “We are having food to eat tonight!  How wonderful is that!”

We all encounter stressful situations on a daily basis throughout our lives.  Some stresses are positive (such as a wedding or the birth of a baby).  Others are not so positive (illness, divorce, or an injured child).  The list goes on and on in both directions, and the stress increases in increments until you think “I can handle no more!”  You know you have to, but just can’t see a way to do it.

There is a way to “manage” your stress levels, increase your energy, and relax simultaneously.  BREATHE!

When was the last time you actually thought about breathing?  Have you ever? This involuntary function, gives us a free commodity we take for granted. Because breathing is involuntary, and air is universal, we are inclined to take them both for granted

When a stressful incident happens we actually keep ourselves from almost breathing at all.  You know – something happens and your body automatically assumes the fight or flight reaction. You hold your breath, your muscles tighten and you prepare for battle.  It’s instinctive.

The human body is an OXYGEN MACHINE!  When this chain of events happens we actually cut off the oxygen supply we need to provide to our brains to think optimally, to our muscles to keep them relaxed and supple, and to be able to confront the challenge before us in a positive manner.

You will begin to change the way you think and the way you manage stress when you begin to practice breathing techniques.  You will actually begin to change the physiology of your body – lowering your heart rate and even your blood pressure. You will find your life improved in every aspect. Those around you will even reap benefits.

Breath is a gift; a wonderful commodity you cannot buy. Breathing is the single most important gift we have, and yet we think very little about it. If you don’t think it is important try holding your breath for more than a couple of minutes. Without oxygen, we die.  It’s as simple as that!

By “cultivating” your breathing techniques you will find your energy level will increase and your stress levels will decrease.  The body goes through magnificent changes.  The quality of sleep will improve and in times of stress your muscles, tendons and ligaments can be more relaxed with your continuous oxygenation.  You will create pharmaceuticals from within that help pain control, and create endorphins, which will make you feel better (without popping a pill).

You may think it’s too simple.  Why haven’t you been trained to breath in times of stress?  Getting right down to the nitty gritty – you can’t package and sell 12 ounces of oxygen.  You might not need to go to the doctor so often (about eighty-five percent of medical complaints stem from ill managed stress that changes the physiology of the body and lowers the immune system). Quite frankly, we’ve been told, “you can only do so much to help yourself”.

NOT TRUE!  We have incredible minds that can produce literal miracles in healing and honing the body to become stronger and more resilient.

It all begins with YOU!  Do you want to see your intellect and skill functions become creative and dynamic?   Wouldn’t it be awesome to become healthier as you age and not the reverse?  You are in charge of what happens next.  We cannot change every circumstance of our lives, but we can change our thinking.  We can change our response to stresses, and radically improve our own health and energy level.

Miracles of healing and excellence in your life are available for you if you are willing to dedicate just a small portion to practice and retaining these techniques.

It all begins with your willingness to do 4 things:

1. Exercise your mind by practicing new thoughts.

2. Practice breathing exercises.

3. Believe that you will create new brain cell impressions (and you will).

4. Get in the HABIT of doing these things on a daily basis. Practice, practice practice!

There are 1440 minutes in one 24-hour period.  Surely you are worth devoting a minimum of 10 minutes of that time to truly improving the quality of your life!

No matter how much upbeat exercise you do, nor the amount of weights you can lift, until you tame your own mind and master your breathing, you will miss out on obtaining all the healing gifts and stress management aids that comes with these improved breathing skills.

The easiest and most effective way to begin is right this moment.  No matter where you are reading this, take a moment and sit up straight.

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 a blast of 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.

Your inhalations will relax and regenerate you.  Your exhalations are actually a housekeeping technique – sending out the old 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.

Begin to practice this easy type of breathing on a daily basis.  Whenever you have a “lull” at work, are waiting for a light to change, in a line at the grocery store, whenever you have just a moment.

No one will know you are arming yourself for a better life,  a powerful and free gift we all have!  It is a way to help manage your stress level at any time, any place.  Breathing and simple movements will empower you, and you will find you can   choose your response to circumstances.  The key to the whole thing is OXYGEN.

Oxygen is continually recharging our energy, so when we are stressed out and not breathing effectively, we find our energy level diminishes, as does the quality of our lives.

You may not have dominion over many circumstances of your life, but it is possible to have dominion over your own body and your choice of responding to life.

Get in the HABIT of using this wonderful gift more effectively.

Changes will begin to happen with every breath!

arming yourself for a better life

with a powerful and free gift we all have!

Oxygen is continually recharging our energy, so when we are stressed out and not breathing effectively, we find our energy level

A

You don’t need to pop a pill to find peace!

If you have watched anything on television or the Internet, or even listened to the radio, you have been bombarded with the advertising of pharmaceuticals.

Much of the advertising claims you will “calm down and find the peace you seek”.  Photos of a miserably unhappy person change to someone who is happy and full of joy.

Right along with the promises comes the required warnings that the drugs might cause worse problems than what you are currently experiencing.  This can include thoughts of suicide!  The problem of drug “overuse” – sometimes leading to death – has increased dramatically.

Come on! These advertisers seem to think they are dealing with stupid people. Those who buy into the programs are usually just uninformed about the pharmaceuticals each of us have within our own bodies.

Some people truly need medical help, and specific prescription help (this website does not diminish the importance of the availability of these things for these people), but the majority of human beings are capable of accessing help from within themselves.

The first thing we have to do in order to use our own healing capability, and reduce our stress level, is to exercise our intellect.  At the mental level you must come to the realization that ONLY YOU and YOUR THOUGHTS have any REAL control over your mental and physical health.

Thoughts held in our minds produce after their own.  Hence, your mind is your kingdom, and you must rule it wisely.  Release and let go of any thoughts that are unworthy of you.

Blame, shame, guilt, embarrassment, and anger are unworthy of being reiterating over and over in your mind.  Wipe out those useless thoughts that keep you in bondage and increase your stress level.  They can only build feelings of depression, criticism, resentment, and feelings of being unloved.  Replace the weak thoughts and strongly affirm positive thoughts.  Remember thoughts held in our minds produce after their own!

At your emotional level, try to practice positive attitude change

with the use of a positive sense of humor.  See the true humor all around you in puns, irony, oxymorons, and just plain silliness.  Laugh yourself out of your stress.

Positive humor helps condition the logical mind, and eventually it will yield to the omniscience of a calm and sweet spirit.

Hold in your mind thoughts, which include “I am becoming calmer”.  I am changing to positive thoughts, which will in turn decrease my negative stress level.  I am changing for the better.  My changes within will change my outward presence and my response to stressful situations.”

You are the captain of your ship and you want to sail calm waters.  Begin to make it happen today.  Take a breath and think of something that is wonderful (example: the color of the leaves in fall, or a laughing child).

Create your life and diminish out of control stress.  Take another breath.  Exhale slowly and cast out the negative.

Inhale again and begin to regenerate and relax simultaneously.

Here are two stress management techniques that will work RIGHT NOW!

Do you have just ONE MINUTE to spare right now to turn the day around?  If you don’t, you might as well kiss your fanny goodbye!

This life is demanding and brimming with a myriad of stresses (good and bad) for the majority of human beings.  If you are feeling terrible right now, stressed to the brink, and really want to begin to change your life, you need to do these short management techniques.

1.  EXERCISE your mind.  Accept the fact you may not have control over your circumstances, but you always have the choice in your response.  In order to respond with intellect, and not let your emotional trauma be in charge, read and do number 2.

2.  Take a deep breath, inhaling slowly (visualize the needed oxygen doing it’s work on your mind and body).  Now exhale through the mouth slowly.  Remember this is the purging breath and now you visualize all the negative thoughts flying from the fingertips into oblivion.

Sit up straighter with shoulders down and back.

Repeat number 2.  Read it again as you do it.

Empower your mind and give your brain the oxygen it needs to function optimally.  This isn’t “silly advice” nor “pie in the sky” techniques.  These are tried and true.

If you exercise your  intellect by choosing to think in more positive ways, you will find inner peace approaching.  The physiology of the body demands good oxygen intake in order to begin stress management for real!

Just doing these two things throughout the day will truly help your stress level to begin to be under your control instead of out of control.

It sounds too simple, and yet it is absolutely the truth.  Knowing that, why don’t you be decadent and indulge in reading and practicing number one and two again.