Got Stress?

It's SUNDAY! The day of rest as they (whoever 'they' are) call it. I choose to rest whenever given the opportunity - but make no mistake - lazy I am not. Resting is a way of recharging the self - a regeneration like plugging in the batteries. Too many of us go-go-go-go and never stop to see where we actually are.

I just choose to avoid stress and stressful situations where possible - it is really that simple.

This blog post is an oldie - but a goodie. Enjoy!

There are a bazillion stress management techniques out there in that big old stress filled world. It's up to us to find ones that work for us - yet don't land us in prison for any length of time because we snapped and went too far. We are responsible for our own 'stress.'

I still find it so interesting that I could ask anyone on the street today to go out and find me a bucket of stress. A box....heck, an envelope...even a handful of stress is impossible to bring back to me. No one would come back with anything.......we can't see what stress looks like - although some would reply, 'Oh yeah? I look in the mirror and see stress....'

I found new, hilarious ways to deal with stress - ways normal (what....?) folks like us will love.

The first one is of Karyn Buxman. She is a motivational speaker, but this clip inspired me to share - hilarious stuff!

This next gal made me laugh for the full 12 minutes the clip lasted.

Her simple message had me rolling on the floor....'You're only here to distract yourself 'til you die.'

True, right?

I loved these two women.....

Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Rock your day!

Don't Hold Your Breath Over Stress

I used to walk through my entire life feeling like I was holding my breath. I didn't seem to breathe the same way I observed others doing it. Now, I didn't immediately freak out and start wondering if I was a mermaid hybrid (looked into it later though, pretty certain I'm not) - instead, after I became 'aware' of this happening, I explored what was going on.

I didn't seek out a counsellor (for this) and I didn't phone a friend. I stopped worrying about it and started being honest with myself. There was something going on, but I couldn't make the connection.....yet.

Once I did, and I acknowledged that I always seemed to be waiting for 'the other shoe to drop in my life' or was subconsciously worrying about who people thought I was versus who I really was.....my life opened up in ways I never imagined (but I should have)!

I had to change the stressful way I was thinking. The easiest way for me was distraction, music and visualization.

I secretly imagined my own life 'movie' playing in my head, played my 'life soundtrack' to myself and created a life for myself that I had only daydreamed before. I'm screaming cheesy 80's tunes in my head at the grocery store and playing out hilariously fun scenarios while people watching waiting for an appointment. I said 'yes' to more fun and less stress and life improved.

I had to take a serious look at what I wanted for myself. I suppose some people call it 'growing up' - I'm not sure I grew up - but I'm certain that gaining awareness, experience and a more broad outlook at my role in the universe had something to do with it. I've seen 80 year olds who don't seem to get it, and I've seen 11 year old cancer patients who do seem to get it. This tells me that it isn't the age of any of us, but the experiences and awareness we gain. I'm still trying to figure out what 'it' is myself, but with the help of many others, I'll make it after all (a little Mary Tyler Moore reference for all you fans).

I find it so interesting that there were also many small details that changed the course of the path in front of me. Without them, things again would have been different. I was at a doctor's office years ago and I looked down to see an article in a magazine. It looked like someone had just folded it to that page and left it there just for me. I (of course) picked it up and started reading it.

At the time I was a Youth Care Worker - and although I hadn't physically acknowledged my stress, I was riddled with it. The article in the magazine was about determining levels if you were a sufferer. According to the magazine, if you sit in a relaxed state, the position of your tongue is critical to determine your stress. I was intrigued!

If we sit in a relaxed position, our tongue should be resting flat on the floor of our mouth. Immediately I checked tongue position - it was slammed against the roof of my mouth, seemingly the opposite of what it should have been. The article went on to say that tense tongues mean tense folks. I couldn't argue about that.

After that day, I was always aware of my stress. I sometimes giggle because I know how full of crap some magazines are - but if all it took was that for me to move forward one step and become aware of my stress and how to deal with it - great article.

Every human being on earth deals with something. It is a necessity in this obstacle course we call life. We have good things, bad things and mediocre things occurring in our lives and we are each given a choice every single time. We take a path. There are 'consequences' to those paths - every one of them.

Each path connects to the next path and the one behind it. Often, we feel confused as to what choices to make - or we create worry as to what will happen to us if things go 'off the path' due to those choices.

Did you catch that word.....'create' - to make up. Why do we tend to create negative things with our very super creative minds?? We have capabilities that go far beyond what any of us can really grasp, but we'd rather imagine horrible things happening in the parking lot at the grocery store rather than dream the positive. Humans are funny.

I have always thought of life as one of those 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books that I used to read. I am fully aware that some of the choices I made throughout my life weren't terrific (or good for me) but I made them, and took whatever consequence karma delivered - whether I wanted to or not. I understand now that my experiences (all of them, even the crappy ones others still point out to me as a wonderful remembrance of who I used to be) all created who I am now.

This is how life is. Mine used to be a tad rockier in the mind, body, spirit balance - but we move forward and learn and change.

Life happens and the ebb and flow is what makes the journey a collection of our individual experiences.

Simple reminders to ourselves help in wonderous ways (like daydreaming does!);

My intentions are positive and so is my attitude.

I don't look back on anything with regret. I may not have always felt like I had control in my life, but I always had a choice. My life was set to unfold - and it was going to - and it did - and here I am. 

This is me. The good, the bad and the ugly. I am a spiritual being....and I am having a human experience.

Thanks for being a part of it.

Namaste. Rock your day! ;)

Stress - Tell It To F*** Off!

Stress.

We hear the word and shoulders everywhere tighten up. No one wants to let stress in, or admit they already have done so. Stress is looked at these days kind of like the way we breathe in pollutants all day long and we say nothing. We just live with it - another pollutant.

Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way. When you sense danger – whether it’s real or imagined – the body's defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction, or the stress response. Psychologist Connie Lillas uses a driving analogy to describe the three most common ways people respond when they’re overwhelmed by stress:

• Foot on the gas – An angry or agitated stress response. You’re heated, keyed up, overly emotional, and unable to sit still.
• Foot on the brake – A withdrawn or depressed stress response. You shut down, space out, and show very little energy or emotion.
• Foot on both – A tense and frozen stress response. You “freeze” under pressure and can’t do anything. You look paralyzed, but under the surface you’re extremely agitated.

I was always the 'foot on the gas' stressed out person. I could get it done if you just  got out of my way - and when I couldn't, I never quit just in case I could. It was irrational and ridiculous to even think I should have to stress myself over anything.

I remember back when I had to leave my house to go to work, the winter weather would make me nuts. I was stressed out every night going to bed wondering how the highway drive in to work would be the next day. I would play out scenarios about my husband and child in a car together - the 'worries' we create out of nothing are simply our silly selves creating unnecessary stress.

I was also the type of gal who never admitted to having stress.

First things first - we have to admit it.  We all have some elements of stress in our lives - it is how we deal with it that counts. If we find ourselves displaying behaviors as seen in the lists above, some adjustments are on the way. Everything can cause us to lose our ability to cope if we let it.

Our coping skills matter. Do you have innovative ways of dealing with stress? Share in the comments section.....and then tell stress to f*** off. ;)

Thanks to this website for the information!

Hilarious Stress Management Techniques We Can Really Use!

There are a bazillion stress management techniques out there in that big old stress filled world. It's up to us to find ones that work for us - yet don't land us in prison for any length of time because we snapped and went too far. We are responsible for our own 'stress.'

I still find it so interesting that I could ask anyone on the street today to go out and find me a bucket of stress. A box....heck, an envelope...even a handful of stress is impossible to bring back to me. No one would come back with anything.......we can't see what stress looks like - although some would reply, 'Oh yeah? I look in the mirror and see stress....'

I found new, hilarious ways to deal with stress - ways normal (what....?) folks like us will love.

The first one is of Karyn Buxman. She is a motivational speaker, but this clip inspired me to share - hilarious stuff!

 

This next gal made me laugh for the full 12 minutes the clip lasted.

 

Her simple message had me rolling on the floor....'You're only here to distract yourself 'til you die.'

 

True, right?
 

 

I loved these two women.....

Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Rock your day!

Let's Make a Deal!

Hey - do you remember that old television game show called 'Let's Make a Deal?' It's on T.V these days with a new and popular celebrity host, but the old show was more fun. It was new - these days remakes, prequels and anything but originality reigns, and I've stopped watching television altogether. I keep saying, 'they don't call it programming for nothing.'

I was a kid when Let's Make a Deal was on and I remember feeling like if only get on that show, I could choose a curtain and all my dreams COULD come true. I could also end up with a goat or a giant tricycle and be mocked, laughed at and ridiculed forever - but it was worth the risk! I was excited and knew one day I would be on that show. I knew it.

OK, so I've yet to be on that show, but it doesn't mean that I've given up on that dream. So, back to the point.....

If you think about it, our lives are exactly like a game of Let's Make a Deal. We each have our own versions of it, but essentially all of the elements are there.

We each get 'choices' all of the time - and we each make choices all day every day. How will you wake up? Cheery? Crabby? How will you start your day? A greasy heavy breakfast versus a filling, nutritious breakfast to get your body working right. Notice how I slipped the wellness aspect of choice in there? One choice gets us things we want, like and dream of - and one gets us a bunch of negativity and all that it entails.

The point hits home not when we think of the choices we face during a day, but when we use the same 'template' to address the past issues we have yet to work through.

When people decide that something from the past has to be 'fixed' because it left an emotion in them that they don't know what to do with, it puts them in a continual 'pattern of the past' until that emotion is dealt with.

Imagine someone who had a junky past - bad stuff happened (as it does to us all at some time). We judge 'worst' and 'best' based on our own experiences - so when someone has difficulty moving away from an experience in their past....I suggest Let's Make a Deal.

Take the experience from the past (that you are having trouble moving past) and bring it up....again. We get tired of replaying the same scenarios, yet we have nothing to 'replace' it with so we do nothing. We each will have something unique to us to deal with, work on or work through - and I've found this is the least 'therapy' type avenue to understanding how to do that I could come up with. I'm not a 'medical jargon' type of gal, I learn much better this way. Perhaps others do too.


We need to create 3 curtains. Behind each curtain are choices we had at the time. Remembering that we have always tried to do the best we could with what we had where we were at the time, the curtains represent real results that could have happened. One of the curtains must be the choice you actually made.

If anyone is having a difficult time understanding this, here is how I demonstrate this lesson visually:

Find three pieces of the same paper. On each one, write a choice you had regarding the situation.

Take the 3 pieces of paper, flip them over and randomly shuffle them around......then give each one a number (1 to 3). Now it's time to play! Feel free to make more curtains depending on choices available to you at the time.....it's your deal!

First, without looking under each 'curtain' - set them up like the show, in order from #1 to #3. There's no particular reason for this, I just thought the game should be orderly.

Choose a 'curtain.' Flip it over - this is going to be the choice you WOULD have made in the situation. What is the first feeling you get about the choice you selected at random? Remember, you have to trade everything you have in this present time for that choice and you must realize that a.> you can't actually do that and b.> it may not have been a good choice and you understand that now.

If the choice you selected is one you would rather not have made, great news! There's another option to choose from! Select another 'curtain' to reveal the choice you COULD have made. Is it better than the first curtain? Can you come up with every consequence of every different action to make the best choice for yourself now?

Do you keep the first curtain or trade for the second? Choices aren't tough - think about how many you actually make in a day. We all do very well!

So if you dislike both of your options at this point, there is always that last curtain. Awww, go on - open it! Get the full experience - and remember this.....one of those curtains was your present consequence to a 'choice' you wrote down. Looking back on our lives, we know we can never trade experiences and memories and go back to certain places in time......we have to close the curtains on the 'what if's' and know 'what is.'

A secondary lesson:

Flip all of the papers so that the choices are facing up. Looking at 'the big picture' now, knowing what you know and having lived what you have lived - make your choice again as though you were back when fill in your own thing here. Is it the same choice you made back then? If it is, you are holding emotion for no good reason besides maybe needing a little company. You can relax and let it go - the right choice was made for you at the time.

Always remember too, that our present day perspectives are much different (and more experienced by the second) than they were in the past. The more time that passes, the more distant some memories and facts may get.

If you see that another choice (that was available back when __________) then you have only two simple things left to do. Forgive yourself and move on. You can see clearly now, time has moved forward and you have seen the consequence of a choice you made. Again, we cannot revisit this place and we can't stand in front of an imaginary screen reliving the past. It's unhealthy and futile.

Perspective and experience of the 'here and now' looking back are different than perspective and experience of living back 'then.' I remember thinking how normal certain things used to be to me and now, they just aren't a part of my life. There are reasons for everything.

Living life in the here and now is the only thing that matters - and if we still feel that we owe the past anything (or that it owes us), then the awareness that we can only live our best life now is key. Happiness doesn't lie in the past, it should tornado around the present with the intention of leaping into the future.

Today will soon be our past, and if you happen to look back on today 5 years from now, what will you see? How will it make you feel?

Make it surreal! Rock your day!

'The Obesity Reducer'

 

Just......Wow.....

 

 

 

The Non-Existence of Stress

What is the number one thing that 'gets to people?' If you answered 'stress' - you're right! Stress is the number one killer of human beings as far as any stats person can figure out to date. Over and above every single other thing in our lives, stress is the first 'danger area' we need to worry about when it comes to health.

People take pills for it, others carry it between their shoulder blades for years and then become ill, and there are still others that talk about how busy they are constantly and always look like they just drank six pots of coffee.

Yet 'stress' doesn't exist.

Did you catch that? It DOES NOT EXIST.

Wayne Dyer, self development guru said it best, "If I asked you to go out and bring me back a bucket of stress, you couldn't do it."

Think about that.......we couldn't even bring back a handful of stress. Why not?

Stress is something that is only created out of thinking about it. It isn't something we can hold in our hands or load into the car on the way to work, yet it kills more of us than anything else?

We need to re-think stress - and I mean that literally. When we begin to create hurt in our own lives through simple thoughts repeated and believed constantly - we're going in the wrong direction. 

There are tonnes of ways to de-stress, de-compress and relax after a long productive day. The catch is that if we aren't having a productive day, that may very well be the reason we're feeling stress..

We thrive on doing, creating, interacting. When we don't do those things, we start to fade. Fears climb aboard and then we're really in for a ride!

We get so 'busy' working on other projects that we forget the most important one - ourselves. There will be no projects to do if we aren't there to do them, so focusing on ensuring we are all in a place where we can function and still feel good is crucial.

I mentioned the many ways of releasing stress. Some really simple, cost-free examples are listening to your favorite music (crank it!), going for a walk (force yourself), talking to a confidante, writing, painting, playing with our pets (this is a great one!) or reading and learning something new.

I've asked others why it is so difficult for us to do these things when it is so important to our wellness. The one answer I got the most was, 'because no one will pay you to do those things.' This being true doesn't change the fact that it is crucial for well being. One evening without a television, surrounded by paints or loved ones and a board games is going to change minds if we just try it. 

Unpack the stress suitcases and let's get moving forward!