Five Instant Ways to Reduce Environmental Stress - Part TwoWritten by Ed Sykes
It’s time for part two of series to reduce environmental stress in your life. In Five Ways to Reduce Environmental Stress - Part One, I shared with you five ways you can immediately reduce stress by controlling your environment. Now I will share five additional ways for you to make a difference in your life, be more relaxed and productive, and reduce stress.The five ways are as follows: 1. Make Air Play Fair Control air humidity in your environment to a level that's comfortable for you. Too dry or very humid air can produce unpleasant environments. Air humidity can even produce various physical symptoms. Dehumidifiers can take control of air quality to make rooms feel more livable. You can acquire these portable humidifiers from any department or discount store. Must sure you acquire one with a “quiet” button to reduce noise when running. If needed, add a few plants to provide a bit of moisture. 2. Lose Clutter Rid yourself of all clutter that surrounds you. Improve your time management skills so that you can prioritize what “stuff” is important and what isn’t important. If you are not immediately working on an item, move it out of line of sight. Not only will your environment become more visually pleasing and relaxing, but you'll avoid stress of constantly searching for important items among excess. 3. Get Rid of Static noise Everyday we are experiencing “static” noise. Phones ringing, computers dinging, radios playing, TVs with “talking heads” playing, coworkers interrupting, etc., are all examples of static noises. These noises create stressors that impede our abilities to think and ultimately create work and life solutions. They also can take their toll over time on our moods and energy. Do what you can to reduce background and unwanted noise. Turn off radios and TVs when not using them with purpose. Reduce or turn off all computer noises if they are not necessary. Use noise reduction materials such as partitions, curtains, etc., to quiet your environment. When you can, take a “silence is golden” break in a quiet room to recharge your emotional and mental batteries.
| | Finding BalanceWritten by Janis Sharkey
Balance isn’t static. It is dynamic and ever-changing. It exists within a relationship of opposing forces. Gravity is force from below. It tells us where we are and where we come from. We situate ourselves in relation to gravity. We move away from it as natually as trees grow. This action is what Alexander teachers call direction. Balance. How do we achieve it? We have two feet to stand on. The feet are designed to support our weight. The natural arches allow our feet to support an immense amount of weight and still remain balanced and upright. In fact, in our culture, because of how we’ve had to adapt our bodies to design of our furniture and tools, we easily forget where balance is. It is lost in slump toward computer or TV screen. It is lost in squinting and straining to see a blackboard. The daily mis-use of our bodies, over time, becomes permanent habits. Keeping that in mind, we begin to look for balance in our feet. The design of foot is that as we press weight into it, arch springs open and lifts us up. We rise up, tension is released and circulation improved
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