“A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the “half empty or half full” question.
Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: “How heavy is this glass of water?”
Responses ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.
She replied, "The absolute weight is not relevant. It depends on how long I 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's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."
She continued, "and that's the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on."
She continued, “The stress and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything.”
Whatever burdens you're carrying now, try to release them, relax, and pick them up later, if you need to; because after you've rested, you may realize that that ‘stress’ is no longer an issue.
REMEMBER, STRESS IS SOMETHING THAT WE MOSTLY DO TO OURSELVES !
The holiday season is upon us!! Talk about stressful! Time to take control of the
holidays!
The holiday season often brings unwelcome guests — stress and depression. And it's no wonder. The holidays present a dizzying array of demands — parties, shopping, baking, cleaning and entertaining, to name just a few.
The average American spends 42 hours a year on holiday activities. That's one standard work week spent shopping, wrapping, and returning presents, attending holiday parties, and traveling from place to place. Often these extra activities get squeezed into already busy schedules.
Don't let the holidays become something you dread. Instead, take steps to prevent the stress and depression that can descend during the holidays. Learn to recognize your holiday triggers, such as financial pressures or personal demands, so you can combat them before they lead to a meltdown. With a little planning and some positive thinking, you can find peace and joy during the holidays.
Put Stress in its Place: It's Not About the Holidays!
People who get stressed easily are most likely to feel intense stress during the holidays. It's really all about you, and not about the holidays. But there's good news. You can learn to put stress in its place, and take the pressure off throughout the year.
If you are already experiencing stress in other areas of your life, you may be especially vulnerable to increased anxiety during the holidays.
The Science of Stress
Stress is an epidemic. It’s one of the most widespread and debilitating conditions in our society, yet many people act as if it is completely normal. Stress sucks up the energy reserves you should be using to create more resilience.
Stress is the disruption of the balance and order in your body. Disrupting the balance is not always bad. Exercise, for example, can be stressful on your muscles, but it drives your body to grow. Similarly stressing your brain in new ways — learning a new language, solving a math problem, creating a new business/product — strengthens it and keeps it functioning well. Most of us are able to handle intermittent bouts of stress and adapt to them. The trouble starts when stress becomes chronic.
Common effects of stress
Constant, prolonged stress is bad news, and its effects on your body are very real. The symptoms of stress come in four varieties: cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral. Here is a short list of the various symptoms:
1-They can affect your body, your thoughts and feelings, and your behavior. Not paying attention to them can contribute to health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
2-On some levels, the brain is like software. Negative emotions, hostile feelings, and recurring irrational thoughts corrupt your consciousness. After years of being stressed, if you’re like most people, you’ve probably programmed your body to become hardwired for tension.
3-If you feel constantly under the burden of stress, it can manifest in other ways; like a weaker immune system, lack of vitality, loss of wellbeing and happiness in life, or depression and anxiety.
Stress may be affecting your health, even though you might not realize it. You may think illness is to blame for that nagging headache, your frequent insomnia or your decreased productivity at work. But stress may actually be the culprit.
Stress holds you back in all aspects of life. It costs you precious time that should be spent enjoying life. It hurts your interpersonal relationships and alienates others. It decreases your ability to make rational decisions and perform at work.
Most people have no clue how important it is to manage stress — or that it’s even possible. They go through life thinking they’ll just bear it until retirement or vacation. Or even worse, they convince themselves that they don’t really feel any stress because they don’t have a reason to feel it. In the meantime, they go through mini nervous breakdowns on a daily basis, mistreating themselves and the people around them.
Here’s the secret: stress is not a rational thing — it is an irrational feeling, and it will only get worse unless you learn to manage it. The good news is that stress, is manageable, so you can change the stress into something that makes you stronger instead of sapping your energy.
Don’t let stress control you — take control of your stress!
Taking pills to reduce the effects of stress is like mopping the floor while the water continues to pour out of the faucet! Let’s Turn the Faucet Off!!
That’s why it’s important to learn how to release your stress and to focus your energy into positive pursuits that help both the mind and body flourish.
There are conscious steps you can take to prevent holiday stress and ensure a worry-free season-all year!!
Explore stress management strategies, such as:
However, if you find you still need help in understanding and releasing the stress that troubles you, I suggest you seek advice from a holistic practitioner who deals with emotional release.
References:
https://www.yahoo.com/health/6-ways-to-hack-your-stress-128029098532.html
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20047544?pg=2
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress.aspx
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-symptoms/art-20050987
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/family-health-12/reduce-holiday-stress?page=3
This is a poem which is read in many 12 Step meetings around the world.
Today I hope it helps someone reading who feels like the mountain of life looks too large to scale.
Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: “How heavy is this glass of water?”
Responses ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.
She replied, "The absolute weight is not relevant. It depends on how long I 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's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."
She continued, "and that's the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on."
She continued, “The stress and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything.”
Whatever burdens you're carrying now, try to release them, relax, and pick them up later, if you need to; because after you've rested, you may realize that that ‘stress’ is no longer an issue.
REMEMBER, STRESS IS SOMETHING THAT WE MOSTLY DO TO OURSELVES !
The holiday season is upon us!! Talk about stressful! Time to take control of the
holidays!
The holiday season often brings unwelcome guests — stress and depression. And it's no wonder. The holidays present a dizzying array of demands — parties, shopping, baking, cleaning and entertaining, to name just a few.
The average American spends 42 hours a year on holiday activities. That's one standard work week spent shopping, wrapping, and returning presents, attending holiday parties, and traveling from place to place. Often these extra activities get squeezed into already busy schedules.
Don't let the holidays become something you dread. Instead, take steps to prevent the stress and depression that can descend during the holidays. Learn to recognize your holiday triggers, such as financial pressures or personal demands, so you can combat them before they lead to a meltdown. With a little planning and some positive thinking, you can find peace and joy during the holidays.
Put Stress in its Place: It's Not About the Holidays!
People who get stressed easily are most likely to feel intense stress during the holidays. It's really all about you, and not about the holidays. But there's good news. You can learn to put stress in its place, and take the pressure off throughout the year.
If you are already experiencing stress in other areas of your life, you may be especially vulnerable to increased anxiety during the holidays.
The Science of Stress
Stress is an epidemic. It’s one of the most widespread and debilitating conditions in our society, yet many people act as if it is completely normal. Stress sucks up the energy reserves you should be using to create more resilience.
Stress is the disruption of the balance and order in your body. Disrupting the balance is not always bad. Exercise, for example, can be stressful on your muscles, but it drives your body to grow. Similarly stressing your brain in new ways — learning a new language, solving a math problem, creating a new business/product — strengthens it and keeps it functioning well. Most of us are able to handle intermittent bouts of stress and adapt to them. The trouble starts when stress becomes chronic.
Common effects of stress
Constant, prolonged stress is bad news, and its effects on your body are very real. The symptoms of stress come in four varieties: cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral. Here is a short list of the various symptoms:
1-They can affect your body, your thoughts and feelings, and your behavior. Not paying attention to them can contribute to health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
2-On some levels, the brain is like software. Negative emotions, hostile feelings, and recurring irrational thoughts corrupt your consciousness. After years of being stressed, if you’re like most people, you’ve probably programmed your body to become hardwired for tension.
3-If you feel constantly under the burden of stress, it can manifest in other ways; like a weaker immune system, lack of vitality, loss of wellbeing and happiness in life, or depression and anxiety.
Stress may be affecting your health, even though you might not realize it. You may think illness is to blame for that nagging headache, your frequent insomnia or your decreased productivity at work. But stress may actually be the culprit.
Stress holds you back in all aspects of life. It costs you precious time that should be spent enjoying life. It hurts your interpersonal relationships and alienates others. It decreases your ability to make rational decisions and perform at work.
Most people have no clue how important it is to manage stress — or that it’s even possible. They go through life thinking they’ll just bear it until retirement or vacation. Or even worse, they convince themselves that they don’t really feel any stress because they don’t have a reason to feel it. In the meantime, they go through mini nervous breakdowns on a daily basis, mistreating themselves and the people around them.
Here’s the secret: stress is not a rational thing — it is an irrational feeling, and it will only get worse unless you learn to manage it. The good news is that stress, is manageable, so you can change the stress into something that makes you stronger instead of sapping your energy.
Don’t let stress control you — take control of your stress!
Taking pills to reduce the effects of stress is like mopping the floor while the water continues to pour out of the faucet! Let’s Turn the Faucet Off!!
That’s why it’s important to learn how to release your stress and to focus your energy into positive pursuits that help both the mind and body flourish.
There are conscious steps you can take to prevent holiday stress and ensure a worry-free season-all year!!
Explore stress management strategies, such as:
- Physical activity
- Relaxation techniques
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Tai chi
- And be sure to get plenty of sleep, eat a balanced diet, and avoid tobacco use and excess caffeine and alcohol intake.
However, if you find you still need help in understanding and releasing the stress that troubles you, I suggest you seek advice from a holistic practitioner who deals with emotional release.
References:
https://www.yahoo.com/health/6-ways-to-hack-your-stress-128029098532.html
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20047544?pg=2
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress.aspx
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-symptoms/art-20050987
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/family-health-12/reduce-holiday-stress?page=3
This is a poem which is read in many 12 Step meetings around the world.
Today I hope it helps someone reading who feels like the mountain of life looks too large to scale.
Two Days We Should Not Worry
By Author Unknown
There are two days in every week, about which we should not stress or worry,
two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares,
its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.
Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control.
All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday.
We cannot undo a single act we performed;
we cannot erase a single word we said.
Yesterday is gone forever.
The other day we should not stress or worry about is Tomorrow
with all its possible adversities, its burdens,
its large promise and its poor performance;
Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.
Tomorrow's sun will rise,
either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise.
Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow,
for it is yet to be born.
This leaves only one day, Today.
Any person can fight the battle of just one day.
It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities
Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down.
It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad,
it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday
and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring.
Let us, therefore,
Live but one day at a time.
By Author Unknown
There are two days in every week, about which we should not stress or worry,
two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares,
its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.
Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control.
All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday.
We cannot undo a single act we performed;
we cannot erase a single word we said.
Yesterday is gone forever.
The other day we should not stress or worry about is Tomorrow
with all its possible adversities, its burdens,
its large promise and its poor performance;
Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.
Tomorrow's sun will rise,
either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise.
Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow,
for it is yet to be born.
This leaves only one day, Today.
Any person can fight the battle of just one day.
It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities
Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down.
It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad,
it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday
and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring.
Let us, therefore,
Live but one day at a time.
Written by Dr. Felicia Santelli, Santelli Healing Center, Niwot, CO
Copyright 2015 Dr. Felicia Santelli, All Rights Reserved
Copyright 2015 Dr. Felicia Santelli, All Rights Reserved
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