Five Tips to De-stress Your Life

Written by Kathy Paauw


Copyright 2005 Kathy Paauw

I recently received this e-mail message about stress management (author unknown)…

------------------------ A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?" Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it."

"If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. "In each case, it'srepparttar same weight, butrepparttar 149005 longer I hold it,repparttar 149006 heavier it becomes."

He continued, "And that'srepparttar 149007 way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens allrepparttar 149008 time, sooner or later, asrepparttar 149009 burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on." "As withrepparttar 149010 glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on withrepparttar 149011 burden." -------------------------

What burden can you put down to help you reduce stress? Notice that I did not ask if you had stress. I assume you do. The question is, what are you doing to manage or reduce it?

I’ll bet that you can identify something generating stress in your life right now that you've been carrying for a while ... something that was probably stressing you a month ago, or even a year ago. So what are you prepared to do about it? Here are five tips to help you reduce stress.

1. Identify what is burdening you right now. What do you hate about your life? What are you tolerating? By stating what you hate or are putting up with in your present circumstances, you can then identify what you want. As you answer this question, consider each ofrepparttar 149012 categories mentioned below. Make a thorough list and be specific. This list is for your eyes only, so spill onto paper whatever you hate about your present circumstances, without trying to sugar-coat how you are feeling. Here are some examples:

* Relationships: I hate feeling like I always have to be right. I hate how my son never wants to spend time with me.

* Health & Wellness: I hate being 20 pounds overweight. I hate getting so out-of-breath when I takerepparttar 149013 stairs. I hate that I am so stressed that I cannot fall asleep at night.

* Financial Health: I hate how I always defer my tax returns because I am so disorganized with my financial records. I hate how many tax deductions I forfeit because of my lousy record-keeping practices.

* Environment: I hate how my office is cluttered with piles of paper. I hate that I waste so much time looking for things. I hate how much money I waste because I have to buy something I have but cannot find. I hate that I cannot park my car inrepparttar 149014 garage because of allrepparttar 149015 junk stored in there.

Be Content Yet Never Satisfied!

Written by Charlene Rashkow


Many years ago a particular phrase came across my desk and caught my full attention. It was at first a bit confusing to me sincerepparttar utterance seemed incongruent. The phrase was "Be Content Yet Never Satisfied!"

Interestingly enough, asrepparttar 148921 years go by it becomes clearer to me that they were in fact truly different words with very different meanings. They were not as I first thought synonymous.

The phrase evoked a lot of questions and left me wondering. Did I derive pleasure from my day to day occurrences or was I overlooking them? Did I acknowledge my achievements throughoutrepparttar 148922 day and give notice to allrepparttar 148923 wonderful things that occurred or was I consistently in search of more?

I began to notice that many of my achievements left me with a deep sense of accomplishment yet several were gone inrepparttar 148924 blink of an eye. Not being satisfied with my reaction, I made an agreement with myself to sincerely practice noticing and enjoying my successes. I started to faithfully acknowledge how I felt each time I made even a small accomplishment. To make sure I didn't forget it, I jotted them down in a notebook.

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