3 Easy Ways to Reduce StressWritten by Marla Sloane
Stress, America’s #1 health problem, is a leading cause of major illness. In fact, heart disease, high blood pressure, and depression are just some of harmful effects of stress. Research has shown that releasing stress and learning how to relax promotes a healthier, happier, and more fulfilling life.Here are 3 easy ways to reduce your stress fast. 1. Breathe Deeply Take 3 slow deep breaths. Taking breath from your diaphragm, through your nose, holding for about 2 seconds and then slowly exhaling through your mouth. Why slow deep breaths? Because when we are under stress, we tense up, constricting oxygen to our body. Taking slow deep breaths brings oxygen throughout our body resulting in feeling centered and releasing stress. Giving your body much needed oxygen will release tension and stress fast. 2. Meditate The purpose of meditation is to relax and to release stress. Meditation allows body to relax and permits a means to release "chatter" in your mind. It is important for you to know that there is no right or wrong way to meditate. Meditation is simply a form of concentration and focus; it is a process that quiets mind. Since much of our negative stress is caused by our own thoughts, this is an especially useful method. Here are steps for a popular, quick, and easy guided mediation: 1. Get into a comfortable position and close your eyes. 2. Take 3 deep breaths. 3. Visualize all stress in your mind and body as a cloud of gray smoke. Allow this cloud to be released through crown of your head. Imagine gray cloud floating into sky and disappearing. Feel weight of stress being releasing out of your body and into cloud. Allow your shoulders to drop and continue until you have no more gray smoke or for about 10 minutes. 4. Imagine a healing white light that has surrounded your body. Feel warmth of this light and allow it to infiltrate your body. Slowly open your eyes. 3. Try Hypnosis This technique involves sitting comfortably with your eyes closed while listening to suggestions. Hypnosis is relaxation, focus, and suggestion. Using these three elements your mind and body will enter into a deeply relaxed state that gives you an overall sense of well being and tranquility. Hypnosis is one of oldest and most natural modes of healing dating back to 1000 B.C. In 1958 American Medical Association approved therapeutic use of hypnosis. This brought mainstream recognition that hypnotherapy was a valid and legitimate form of healing. During this time hypnotherapy was respected and accepted in America.
| | Real FriendsWritten by Skye Thomas
About a year ago, I was talking to a friend of mine on telephone. He had just experienced a big success in his career and wanted to brag. We had a great time cheering and laughing over his big moment. Then as we were wrapping up our phone call, he apologized for gloating to me. I blew it off telling him, "Don't apologize! Real friends are people that you can cry with during bad times and gloat with during good times. Everyone else expects you to be politically correct in your behaviors." What's point of having friends if you can't be yourself around them?A friend is someone to cry with during bad times. Everyone knows how great it is to have a friend during your time of need to cry on their shoulder. In reality, people don't like it if you cry on their shoulder for very long. So sign of a real friend is that you can cry on their shoulder until you're done crying. And if you're crying too long, your friend will make you snap out of it. They help you to pull yourself back together rather than just give a superficial "There there dearie" and then going on about their lives. You'll be able to tell real quick who your real friends are during crisis and uglier times of your life. They're only ones still hanging around. A friend is some to gloat with during good times. We're all raised that it's distasteful to brag and to come across as egotistical. The result is that most of us are afraid to say much of anything positive about ourselves. You're allowed to celebrate a job promotion, a marriage, or birth of a child, but it's supposed to be done with class and style. A real friend is someone that you can call up and spend twenty minutes telling them what an awesome job you just did on a project at work and how you feel so incredibly proud of yourself and they are going to be happy for you. They are not going to chastise you for being arrogant. When you have some serious politics going on at work and you pull of a brilliant career move, your friend is going to cheer with you and laugh along with you as you succeed. A friend is someone to rage with when life is really unfair. That's not to say they're going to help you plot your ex's murder or anything like that, but when you're really ticked off and need to vent, they'll be there for you. You can safely tell your real friends just how angry you are and they'll help you find ways to dissipate anger and to eventually let it go. Humor is a wonderful way that friends have of helping us to let go of our anger. Rather then help you plot murder, they can throw out a few wonderfully witty comments about your ex and get you laughing again. Know matter what it is that you're upset about, your real friends will be there for you.
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