Beat Stress Now! 10 Easy Tips

"Never complain about your troubles; they are responsible for more than half of your income." Robert R. Updegraff Everyone's busy. Today many of us feel added pressure with fax machines, cell phones, kids and co-workers. The average worker fields 52 phone calls, 36 emails and 23 voice mails a day. And, the holidays and the stress that sometimes comes with it are fast approaching. Here are 10 quick and easy tips for managing stress. Please feel free to share them with your friends and colleagues. 1) Focus on your strengths not on your weaknesses. Perfectionists take note: the average American is 32 years old, married, laughs 15 times a day, and has 27 trillion fat cells. Nobody's perfect. Beat stress by going easy on yourself. Focus on your strengths and work on your weaknesses. Don't obsess over your weaknesses because perfectionism often leads to procrastination. 2) Get up in the morning 30 minutes earlier.Start your day with solitude and more clarity by rising a half hour earlier than those in your household. Spend quiet time journaling, praying or meditating. Just begin by writing your thoughts, dreams, goals and fears. Start thinking about how to organize your day. 3) Break the worry habit. 95% of what you worry about never happens. Ask yourself, "Even if the worst happened, what could I learn from this experience?" Have a plan B just in case. 4) Spend time outdoors and out in nature. Especially in fall and winter when the days get shorter, it's important to spend time outdoors every day in the natural daylight. Even if it's gray and overcast, research shows that time spent in daylight, especially in the morning, helps reduce Seasonal Affect Disorder or "SAD." Where I live in the Pacific Northwest, I can actually notice a positive shift in my mood and that of others when late spring arrives and it's light until 8:45 p.m. 5) Remember the formula E + R = 0. Event + (your) Reaction = Outcome. You can't always controls the events or outside circumstances around you, but you CAN control how you react. This isn't a new concept, but sometimes we need to be reminded of it. Most of us spend more time worrying about the things outside of our control. I conducted a speaking engagement recently in Seattle on "Dealing with Difficult People." I reminded everyone of the importance that their response plays in determining their outcomes. 6) Laughter is a serious business! Laugh to reduce stress. It's a well-known fact that laughter helps reduce stress and build the immune system. Laughter IS the best medicine. It gets those endorphins or "feel-good" hormones into the brain and elevates your mood. 7) Don't overreact when dealing with difficult people - especially antagonists. Antagonists, otherwise known as "pot stirrers," often have a desire for dissention. They're looking to purposely rattle your cage, ruffle your feathers, and get you to say something you'll regret. As Zig Ziglar once said, "No one can get your goat if they don't know where it's tied up." 8) Reward yourself for a job well done. Indulge in a massage, manicure or pedicure. Recently I had the glorious pleasure of staying at the Phoenician hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona. Splurging on an hour-plus massage worked wonders! Not to mention laying out by the pool enjoying the beautiful desert scenery of Camelback Mountain, and later, Sedona. 9) Check your adult at the door. Act like a kid again! Play, run, engage in a favorite sport or hobby like golf, tennis, or hanging out with your children at the park. Make sure to have a date night with your spouse or significant other. Take a day off and play at the beach doing something you haven't done in years like playing Frisbee or building sand castles. 10) Cultivate an attitude of gratitude. List 10 things you're grateful to have in your life. Revisit and appreciate the simplest of pleasures. Sip your favorite cup of gourmet coffee. Sit outside in the springtime in the garden of a friend's house. Enjoy sunset on the coast. Appreciate the feeling of being more energized after a workout. Be grateful for your health. Decide today to make a commitment to do one activity that will reduce stress and maximize success. Do it now. What you do in the present determines your future. Enjoy! Copyright (c) 2006 Colleen Kettenhofen
About The Author
Colleen Kettenhofen is a speaker, workplace expert and co-author of The Masters of Success, as featured on the Today Show, along with Ken Blanchard and Jack Canfield.For more free articles and e-newsletter, visit http://www.ColleenSpeaks.com Most popular topics: leadership, management skills, public speaking, dealing with difficult people. Colleen is available for keynotes, breakout sessions and seminars by calling (971)212-2412. http://www.ColleenSpeaks.com You are free to reprint or repost this article provided Colleen's name, website and phone are provided with the article.

What to do About that High Stress Lifestyle That Could Be Raising Your Blood Pressure

This description of a typical high-stress lifestyle may sound familiar to you... very familiar... You get up in the morning, and you're running late, so the stress begins before you're even done eating breakfast. You rush off to work, stressing about whether you'll make it to work on time and then stressing about whether you'll get a speeding ticket on the way and end up really late. When you get to work, you're stressing about your job performance, your demanding boss and whether you'll get that promotion. When you're not stressing about your performance at work, you're stressing about your son's performance in school. As you're stressing over the traffic on the way home, you're stressing about your upcoming vacation plans. Finally, you're on your way out the door for vacation, but now you've got airport and flying stress! It seems like you can't avoid it. Out of the frying pan into the fire, from one stress to the next you go. It may even seem amusing on the surface, all these little things stressing us out, but it's not a laughing matter at all. Getting control over the stress in your life can be a matter of life and death. If you're perpetually stressed and you don't learn what to do about it, you could become a prime candidate for high blood pressure - the silent killer. Medical experts estimate that 90 percent of Americans will have high blood pressure at some point in their lives. With staggering statistics like this on their minds, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh embarked on a 13-year study to see if early-life stressors impacted someone's future blood pressure levels. Following more than 5,000 men and women between the ages of 18 and 30, the researchers studied the subjects' cardiovascular activity through a series of rather unusual tests, including submersing the subject's hands in ice cold water and having them engage in stressful video games. After taking each person's blood pressure, they hypothesized that participants with the highest blood pressure readings would be precursors to high readings later in life. Thirteen years later, when the test results were re-evaluated--you guessed it--a significant number of those same participants had become hypertensive. The study was published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation. So how do you go about minimizing your tendency towards getting stressed? Is it even possible in today's fast paced, information-overloaded and hectic society? The answer is yes and you're about to learn how. First, I'd like you to consider the fact that I'm not suggesting that you stop everything you're doing. You don't necessarily have to slow down, you simply need to calm down. With that thought in mind, here are some action steps you can take starting today, which will make a big difference in keeping your stress levels under control, and minimizing the negative effects of stress that cannot be avoided. (1) Exercise - Besides being good for your body, exercise is good for your brain. Exercise stimulates the release of endorphins, which make us feel happy, and at ease. It also helps to increase the flow of blood in the brain, ridding the mind of waste products that develop in the course of stressful times when mental processes are in excess. Furthermore, the more fit you are, the more you're able to cope with events in life that bring about stress. I recommend a minimum of 30 minutes of walking most days of the week, gradually increasing to 45 minutes to 1 hour most days of the week. A study published in the December 2005 issue of "Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise" concluded that walking on a treadmill for just 30 minutes can boost your mood and feeling of well-being. (2) Eat Regularly and Healthfully - Skipping meals is probably the worst thing you can do for your health. Low blood sugar levels that result from skipping meals not only slow down the metabolism but slow down virtually every system in the body. This in turn affects your ability to think clearly and contributes to stressful feelings because of hunger pangs. Have a healthy breakfast for starters. One of my favorites is one cup of slow cooked oats, (not instant oatmeal which is loaded with preservatives) with banana, blueberries and a tablespoon of lecithin granules (very effective for lowering cholesterol). Avoid processed foods such as bacon and sausage, which are high in fat and lack fiber and nutrients. You should also eat small portions throughout the day. This will keep your metabolic fire burning hot and keep your blood sugar levels stable. (3) Learn to Meditate - Research indicates that meditating for less than 20 minutes a day is extremely conducive to mental health and minimizing stress levels. The key is finding the time to meditate and then sticking with it once you start. A study published in the journal of Psychosomatic Medicine concluded that a short program in "mindfulness meditation" produced lasting positive changes in both the brain and the function of the immune system. The University of Wisconsin-Madison research team found that meditation, long promoted as a technique to reduce anxiety and stress, might produce important biological effects that improve a person's resiliency. There are many ways to meditate, but start by finding a serene location, one where there are little to no distractions, where you can separate yourself from the world. Then, just like you see on television or in any other place that illustrates meditation, sit upright with your legs crossed and take long, deep breaths in and out. Focus as much as you can on your breathing and try to not let your mind wander. Be an observer; focus on your inner self. One of the reasons meditation is so effective at reducing stress is because of the power of breathing properly. Go ahead and try it - right now. Take a long, deep breath through your nose... hold it, hold it.... Then slowly let it out through your mouth, and say to your self, silently, RELAX. Even with that one single breath, you felt a wave of relaxation pass through your body as tension drained away. Now imagine what a session of twenty, fifteen, ten or even just five minutes per day, whatever you can manage, of deep breathing meditation or guided relaxation will do for you. The benefits of meditation are remarkable and this is not just some mystical Eastern "new age" prattle - the scientific research now proves it. One way to easily get started with a meditation is with hypnosis audios. Did you know that hypnosis sessions begin by using deep breathing to induce a state of deep, deep relaxation? In fact, when you "let go" and let a hypnotherapist guide you through it, whether in person, or more conveniently, by listening to audio, you automatically release tension, reduce stress and reach a deeper state of profound relaxation than any other way.
About The Author
Frank Mangano is a natural health expert and best selling author who teaches you how to dramatically improve your health naturally without expensive and potentially dangerous prescription drugs. Download a special F-R-E-E 38 page report titled, “The Best Natural Ways to Lower Your Blood Pressure, Reduce Your Waistline and Take Back Your Health” by visiting: http://www.thesilentkillerexposed.com.

Stress At Work

Stress in the work place is on the rise. A survey by healthcare consultancy, IHC highlights that 13.4m days are lost each year due to stress, anxiety and depression. This costs industry £11bn each year! Work place energies are dropping to an all time low according to another survey carried out by Adecco and the Chartered Management Institute. The survey also revealed that managers are working 14 hours longer than they are paid for and are not getting to spend enough time with their families. Life is becoming more time pressured and we're all faced with challenges that sometimes we feel we cannot cope with, leading to stress. If you're suffering from stress then you may recognise any of the following symptoms: mood swings, anxiety, skin problems, tiredness, muscle tension, poor concentration, changes in sleep or eating patterns, low self esteem or poor memory. If any of these symptoms are all too familiar it is essential that you take positive action promptly, as long term stress has a detrimental impact on overall health. Perhaps you're in need of some time off work? However, if you're not due a holiday for a while, here are a few tips to help you get through the working week: 1) Exercise improves mental health, emotion, and mood, and is an essential part of stress busting and relaxation. So why not get down the gym or join a regular exercise class? 2) The worst reaction is to use alcohol, cigarettes or drugs to relieve tension. Instead, take time out for enjoyable physical activity such as sports or dancing. You can involve your whole family in this and get fit at the same time. 3) When you do get tense, you also find that your breathing is much shorter, so you need to take deeper and slower breaths, and you'll feel instantly calmer. 4)Yoga is also recommended for combating stress, as it relaxes the mind as muscular activity is increased. 5)Make changes in your diet such at cutting down on sugar or caffeine, which could be contributing to the problem. Of course, eating a balanced diet is vital, with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and drinking lots of water will help concentration. 6)Try to make time for rest and relaxation each week; it's vital for your sanity! Spencer cuckney, fitness expert, certified personal trainer with over 15 years experience and founder of Fitnessmaster offers 1-2-1 personal training, online training, nutrition services and specialized fitness services that fit your budget and schedule. Visit www.fitnessmaster.co.uk or call 07919101208 and begin meeting your fitness goals today
About The Author
Spencer Cuckney, fitness expert, certified personal trainer with over 15 years experience and founder of Fitnessmaster offers 1-2-1 personal training, online training, nutrition services and specialized fitness services that fit your budget and schedule. Visit http://www.fitnessmaster.co.uk or call 07919101208 and begin meeting your fitness goals today.

How To Manage Stress Through Meditation

Stress is often referred to as the curse of modern era. Meditation is one of the proven methods for stress management. Meditation is a natural healing therapy, famous for its multifarious effects on a person. The routine practice of meditation therapy in the daily life has been seen to remove most of the ill effects of stress. The reasons of stress include busy schedules, change in working patterns and revisal of the relationship concepts. However stress management techniques are given much importance because of the serious impact of stress in the physiological, psychological and social aspect of the person. The relevance of meditation in stress management is mainly due its capability to provide alleviation to the effects of the stress. Meditation is primarily a concentration technique, in which you focus to provide relaxation to mind. The relaxation of the mind is the basic necessity of stress management. Meditation is not a new technique; it prevails from ancient times as the method to bring tranquility to the mind. The increased acceptance of meditation in stress management is mainly because of the scientific evidence that support its effectiveness in that area. Experiments have shown that meditation will shift the brain waves from the right frontal cortex to left front cortex, which helps to change the mind from a tensed condition to a calmer state. With this practice, the body can switch the brain waves to resting alpha state or relaxing theta state and the stress inducing endocrine secretions such as cortisol and adrenal hormones can also be suppressed. The secretion of endorphins is also substantiated, which is a natural stress and pain reliever. You can manage your stress through meditation effectively by including it in your daily routine. There are many different types of meditation techniques such as mindfulness meditation, concentrative meditation and transcendental meditation. Meditation practice is simple irrespective of the technique and requires only 15-20 minutes daily. It will be an effortless procedure and does not require any other probes to perform the meditation. To begin your meditation, simply sit or lie down and concentrate on a particular object or your breath. Meditation is actually referred to as a fourth state of consciousness and regular attainment of the state will reflect in your outlook about the life positively. Not only your mind, but the body is also well maintained by the meditation. Meditation will reduce the psychological symptoms of stress such as depression, anxiety and panic attacks. This will provide behavioral and social changes, which will make you more creative and boost the talents to increase productivity. The regular practice of meditation will help to manage stress as well as to avoid stress inducing situations. The natural enhancement of talents and mental capability will help for better planning, time utilization and proper management of the situation.
About The Author
Jason Rickard is the owner of http://www.yourfavouriteshop.com - Offering a variety of White Noise CDs to help block noise and relieve the symptoms of tinnitus, hypertension, colic and more - Visit http://www.hapahapa.com for more articles.

Yoga Techniques for Taking the Stress Out Of Vacations

Yoga techniques act as a stress reliever. Yoga techniques help to reduce the stress that rises from our daily activities. Even during vacations people are getting attacked with the outside stressful factors, which can damage a very good vacation period. Vacation stress is somewhat an aggressive expression but it is real and it can cause serious disturbances and damages. The reasons for getting stress and angry during your vacation are numerous. The reasons could be poor services, awful weather, high charges, crowd, noisy tourists, irritating insects and many more. In order to avoid the vacation stress, it is better to follow yoga techniques for stress management. Yoga techniques for stress management provides relief by making the body relaxed for the maximum flow of energy through yoga poses, breathing exercises that give energy by pranayama and peacefulness to the mind by meditation. Yoga techniques provide numerous ways of reducing the effects of these negative elements in the form of meditation, sakshin, pratyahara and pranayama. Meditation is a suggested practice when vacation stress factors become active and it helps to avoid these vacation stress factors. Meditation is one of the five principles of yoga. It is one of the important yoga techniques to achieve mental stability and health. There are some simple techniques of meditation that can be used by people to combat vacation stress problems. To have progress in meditation it is more important to meditate at least once a day. • Meditation helps you get ready for any possible stressful conditions. It also helps during and after combating these obstacles. • Sakshin is a separate state of consciousness that provides you a way of getting a better understanding of the realities around you. • Pratyahara is a state of peace that is achieved by reducing all outside interferences to an optimum level. By using pratyahara, the mind gets tranquil and relaxed, focusing towards the inside of your own body. • Pranayama helps in increasing the ability to calm yourself nearly in any difficult conditions by regulating your breathing and hence balancing the energies in your body. It is more important to get prepared for any type of stress factors that arises in a vacation period. Expecting the probability of getting a problem doesn’t imply worrying about it before it arises. It only means that you need to have a good understanding over the situation and the problem that arises. Always, you will achieve much better consequences by dealing an issue with a peaceful and clear mind, rather than acting on an inclination. It is better to “step out” of your body and see yourself in that particular situation, when a problem occurs. Impartiality is hard to attain, particularly when it comes to your own self, nevertheless it helps to get a balanced point of view on situations or things. Stimulating an action by the strategy of an objective mind will illustrate more successful than jumping in head initially into a situation. There are some thoughts such as, it will be hard to help myself from these situations, need to eliminate completely from your own thoughts and dictionary. It will be great if you take control of your inner self because it helps you to have control over the outside things of your body in the surrounding world. You must primarily feel the body’s reaction to an outside element and react only after getting a clear judgment of the things to do. Breathing exercises provides a great help in relaxing an impulsive spirit and getting peacefulness to your mind in a particular event or situation. It is necessary for you to interrupt the events of your subconscious mind before you take control of a situation. Early responses are speedy and often very hard to evade, however it is necessary that, with a regular practice of yoga techniques, you find a constant feeling of control over your reactions. The first reaction to a negative element of vacation stress can be either combating back or escaping. In any of these cases, there will be a significant amount of tensions that fills your body, and it could stay for days or weeks until you manage to get over these unfortunate events. A peaceful and balanced response will have more chances of removing any kind of tension before it even gets an opportunity to start rising. Consider that the most vacations are short and do not afford to waste half of your vacation period in a negative mood. So, yoga techniques and meditation are there to recharge your body energy, and do not try to waste your vacations on worthless stress and tensions.
About The Author
Nishanth Reddy is an author and publisher of many health related websites. For more information on yoga, benefits of yoga, yoga exercises, yoga techniques and yoga postures, visit his website: http://www.onlineyogaguide.com

Stress Eliminating Affirmations

Our thoughts create our reality. Here are some Affirmations which create a more positive, happier more fulfilling reality. A. About Ability and Security 1. Anxiety solves no problems – actions do. 2. Some problems are problems only because I believe them to be. 3. I have the inner power and strength to deal with whatever life brings me. 4. I am capable of handling any possible difficulties which might occur. 5. I feel safe and secure in every situation. 6. While making my own sincere effort, I entrust my life, my family and the results of all my efforts into God’s (the Universes) wise and just judgment. 7. Life gives me in each moment exactly what I need in every situation in order to be happy, perform my life and purpose and grow spiritually. 8. I am intelligent and capable enough to succeed in any endeavor which is important to me. B. About Self-Worth 1. My self-worth is a function of my inner being (0f who I am) and not what others think of me or how much I accomplish. 2. The results of my efforts depend on many different factors including also my efforts. 3. My self worth is totally independent of any external factors such as: intelligence, wealth, my home, appearance, talents, professional success, my children’s success, being attractive to the opposite sex, making friends, disciplines, "spiritual" activities. 4. I am worthy of love and respect even when I am not perfect in what I do and even when I make mistakes. 5. My self-worth is totally independent of whether others agree with me or are satisfied with me. 6. My self-worth is totally independent of how people behave towards me. 7. My self-worth is totally independent of how much others work or how they work or what they believe about me. 8. My self-worth is a reflection of my divine nature and not my gender, religion, social class etc. 9. I am a good person, a worthy person. C. Freedom and Love 1. I respect and love all persons (especially my parents and family) without feeling any need whatsoever to live my life according to their beliefs or values. I live my life in harmony with my inner values and beliefs. 2. I am in no way responsible for others people’s reality but only for my own motives and behavior towards them. 3. No one else is responsible for my reality. I am totally responsible for what I feel and experience in life. 4. I am responsible for my purity of my motives and quality of my efforts and not for the results of my efforts or their affect on others. 5. All beings deserve my love and respect, including myself 6. I understand the fears behind each person’s negative actions. 7. I am free in each moment to be myself. 8. No one can limit my freedom unless I need something from them. 9. Real freedom is freedom from fears, needs and false limiting beliefs. 10. Real freedom is the ability to do what ever is in my best interest as a soul in the process of evolution. 11. Real freedom is the freedom to experience peace, love and happiness regardless of what happens or others’ behavior. For further work on this and many other subjects log on to www.HolisticHarmony.com (Adapted from the "The Psychology of Happiness" by Robert Najemy)
About The Author
Robert Elias Najemy, a life coach with 30 years of experience, is the author of over 20 books, 600 articles and 400 lectures on Human Harmony. Download wonderful ebooks, 100's of free articles, courses, and mp3 audio lectures at http://www.HolisticHarmony.com. Find 8 of his books at http://www.Amazon.com.

Stress Eliminating Affirmations

Our thoughts create our reality. Here are some Affirmations which create a more positive, happier more fulfilling reality. A. About Ability and Security 1. Anxiety solves no problems – actions do. 2. Some problems are problems only because I believe them to be. 3. I have the inner power and strength to deal with whatever life brings me. 4. I am capable of handling any possible difficulties which might occur. 5. I feel safe and secure in every situation. 6. While making my own sincere effort, I entrust my life, my family and the results of all my efforts into God’s (the Universes) wise and just judgment. 7. Life gives me in each moment exactly what I need in every situation in order to be happy, perform my life and purpose and grow spiritually. 8. I am intelligent and capable enough to succeed in any endeavor which is important to me. B. About Self-Worth 1. My self-worth is a function of my inner being (0f who I am) and not what others think of me or how much I accomplish. 2. The results of my efforts depend on many different factors including also my efforts. 3. My self worth is totally independent of any external factors such as: intelligence, wealth, my home, appearance, talents, professional success, my children’s success, being attractive to the opposite sex, making friends, disciplines, "spiritual" activities. 4. I am worthy of love and respect even when I am not perfect in what I do and even when I make mistakes. 5. My self-worth is totally independent of whether others agree with me or are satisfied with me. 6. My self-worth is totally independent of how people behave towards me. 7. My self-worth is totally independent of how much others work or how they work or what they believe about me. 8. My self-worth is a reflection of my divine nature and not my gender, religion, social class etc. 9. I am a good person, a worthy person. C. Freedom and Love 1. I respect and love all persons (especially my parents and family) without feeling any need whatsoever to live my life according to their beliefs or values. I live my life in harmony with my inner values and beliefs. 2. I am in no way responsible for others people’s reality but only for my own motives and behavior towards them. 3. No one else is responsible for my reality. I am totally responsible for what I feel and experience in life. 4. I am responsible for my purity of my motives and quality of my efforts and not for the results of my efforts or their affect on others. 5. All beings deserve my love and respect, including myself 6. I understand the fears behind each person’s negative actions. 7. I am free in each moment to be myself. 8. No one can limit my freedom unless I need something from them. 9. Real freedom is freedom from fears, needs and false limiting beliefs. 10. Real freedom is the ability to do what ever is in my best interest as a soul in the process of evolution. 11. Real freedom is the freedom to experience peace, love and happiness regardless of what happens or others’ behavior. For further work on this and many other subjects log on to www.HolisticHarmony.com (Adapted from the "The Psychology of Happiness" by Robert Najemy)
About The Author
Robert Elias Najemy, a life coach with 30 years of experience, is the author of over 20 books, 600 articles and 400 lectures on Human Harmony. Download wonderful ebooks, 100's of free articles, courses, and mp3 audio lectures at http://www.HolisticHarmony.com. Find 8 of his books at http://www.Amazon.com.