Stress Out Weve all said the infamous and useless phrase, Im stressed out! Heres my question - How many times do you have to say Im Stressed Out! before saying it starts to help? Similar to saying Im having a nervous breakdown, this is a meaningless phrase that only serves to make us feel sorry for ourselves, and leads to no change at all. Stress Down Sounds really good, doesnt it. Just reduce and/or eliminate all the stress from you life and everything will be OK. The problem is its just a myth that contributes to our feeling more and more stressed out. We live in an increasingly complex and fast paced world, and unless we are bombed back to the Stone Age (a entirely different kind of stress), its just going to continue. So what we need are powerful tools for dealing with the stress in our lives, which leads to....... Stress Through In order to stress through you need to learn how to make the stress in your life work for you. To that end, here are 4 Stress Tools that you can use right away. 1. Tool of Resources There are lots of resources out there to help you successfully manage your stress. 2. Tool of Relaxation Heres something I call push-button relaxation. Picture yourself somewhere that is very relaxing and peaceful. See, hear and feel everything as if you were there. Now create your own personal button to create this picture and feeling. For some people its a snap of the fingers, others use a word or phrase or lines from a song. Whatever quickly takes you there in your imagination. Use your push-button when you are feeling stress and notice the difference. 3. Tool of Battle This does not mean to grab your sword and shield. It does mean to pick your battles wisely. Whether the situation is parent-child, between spouses, boss-employee, with a co-worker, neighbor or whomever, its vital to ask the question, Is this a battle worth fighting? Many of us tend to major in minor things. We let too many little things upset us. The more you ask this question, youll have less needless battles, less stress and more energy. 4. Tool of Fun & Spontaneity Weve just about killed off fun and spontaneity with our over scheduled and day planner run lives. Ive even seen one friends daily schedule that had a 15 minute block that said have fun. Heres my challenge to you - sometime in the next week, do something totally spontaneous and fun. If you need a suggestion, heres one from Lollie McLean, author of Tools for a Happier Life (www.lollie.com). She recommends going for a butterfly walk. A butterfly walk is simply seeing a butterfly and following it wherever it goes. I know this sounds sort of fluffy, but try it. I did, and its very relaxing. You will not be graded. One more challenge, and then Ill wrap this one up. Take each one of these tools and regularly use them in your life for the next month. Not only will you notice a difference, I think youll like the difference. Keep the change! |
