Is this the end, or the start of something new?

Its almost the end of 2009, which would also make it the end of the decade. Of course that means its almost the start of 2010 and the beginning of a brand new decade.

Some look at the daily challenges we all face as ends. The end of a job. the end of a relationship. The end of a vacation. The end of the year.

I choose to perceive these things as beginnings, as the start of something new. A successful career, the chance to meet new people, the chance to begin work with new vigor.

Why do I choose this strange path? Well, because I choose to be happy. Endings are generally thought of as sad negative things that imply loss. I prefer to be as positive as possible, even when there is evidence to the contrary.

After all since you’re alive, you might just as well be happy about it:-)

Wishing you and yours prosperity, health, and the very largest of lives in the coming year.
BB
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Health Stress

Health stress can come in many forms, mental, physical and spiritual. When your body doesnt get what it needs, it becomes physically stressed, which causes increased physical and mental stress. It can easily turn into a non-stop vicious circle!

This section will explain how to provide your body what it needs to keep it from getting stressed, as well as what you can do to counteract the harmful effects of stress itself.

Without a doubt eating nutritious meals and regular exercising are the best things you can do for your body. When you feel good and look good, it helps you gain confidence and fight stress as well.

When you eat the healthy foods your body craves, you help maintain it in peak-performance condition: your body, brain, and immune system all work together to keep you healthy and alert and fight off disease.

On the other hand, filling your body with greasy, sugary or over-processed foods purposefully introduces toxins into your body that cause its functions to fail, which prevents it from getting the nutrients it needs to heal itself.

The result is an unhealthy body burdened by increased stress.

Job stress can make your life miserable and can carry over into every other area of your life, if you let it. Reducing stress at work plays a large part in making your job – and your life – more pleasant and fulfilling.

Follow these tips to reduce your on-the-job stress and become happier and more productive:

1. Create a work environment that fosters a healthy lifestyle. Arrange the lighting to reduce eye strain. Keep your desk uncluttered. Get a comfortable chair. Go for frequent “health” breaks. All these little tweaks will make your workplace more comfortable.

2. Associate with positive people. Positive people help bring out the best in you and reduce stress. Rather than gossiping, they see the good in people. Rather than complaining, they find what’s good about the job and focus on that, which makes for an uplifting workplace.

3. Adopt a positive attitude. Let yourself be one of those people whom others enjoy being around. Uplift others and you’ll find your own spirit is lifted as well. Smile and others smile with you!

4. Set realistic goals for yourself. If a project is too big, divide it into easily achievable mini-goals. This sets you up for success every day.

5. Take a tip from Santa and make a list! Each morning, determine your tasks for the day and arrange them by priority. Keep your list where you can see it and cross off each task as you complete it. This gives you a sense of accomplishment which grows as the day goes on.

6. Delegate as much as possible to the best person for the task. This lets you concentrate on the more demanding tasks while others do the legwork. All in all, the team becomes more productive and successful.

7. Ask for help. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. This is much less stressful than being unable to do something that was expected of you, and then facing the consequences of it not being done or being done incorrectly.

8. Communicate. Open, honest communication can prevent misunderstandings and hard feelings. Even if you feel upset about something, let the person know about it with the intent of resolving the issue peacefully.

9. Take frequent short breaks. Get up, shake out your muscles, and take a short walk outside. This gives your mind a rest while rejuvenating it with some fresh oxygen for mental clarity when you return.

10. Take vacations. You’re more productive and perform higher quality work when you give yourself a chance to get away for a while and relax. A vacation doesn’t have to mean a week at an exotic island. A weekend trip would serve you just as well!

11. Leave your work at the office. When your workday is done, forget about the job and concentrate on enjoying your time away from work. Make it a policy to never take work home with you. It’s much less stressful to come in a little early to get a head start on your day, instead of working all night.

12. Here are some affirmations to help you reduce job stress:
I plan my work and work my plan.
I remain calm at work.
I bring joy to my workplace.
I handle rush projects with mental clarity and efficiency.
I have patience with my co-workers.
I am a success.

As promised, over the next few posts we’re going to discuss a number of specific stresses and a number of ideas for dealing with these specific  issues. Although I was originally intending  four separate posts on eliminating financial stress, I decide to do one larger post today. Enjoy!

Horace’s concept applies especially well to your finances, just as long as you don’t consider “bold and valiant” to mean that it’s okay to be reckless with your money! If you’re suffering stress from financial woes, the best cure is to be bold: take swift, decisive action to get your finances in order, cut expenses, and bring in more money.

Here are some tips for reducing your financial stress:

1. Assess exactly where the cause of the stress lies. Once you know the culprit, you can work to eliminate the cause.

Create a budget. This will let you see how much you’re spending and what you’re spending your money on. List all of your monthly income and expenses, then you can make a plan of action.

Do you overspend on unnecessary items? If so, impose weekly limits that fit into your budget and stick to them.

Do you make enough money to pay for your basic necessities? If not, you either need to cut down on your expenses or make more money. Take action to get yourself out of debt. Don’t wait to win the lottery, it probably won’t happen!

2. If you need more money, consider your options and take action right away. Devise both short term and longer term solutions. Your stress levels will go down as soon as you start focusing on positive actions to bring in some extra cash.

Short term options might include: working overtime hours, getting a second job, having a garage sale, selling unwanted stuff on eBay, doing lawn maintenance for others (this can bring in $300 for one Saturday’s work), waiting tables, and more.

Start your own business selling products or services. This can open up the door to a whole new career for you. Online, the whole world is your marketplace. Established businesses on the web are always in need of people who can do programming, website design, graphic arts, transcription services, content writing, customer service, marketing, and so much more. Offer your services to website owners or use a marketplace like Elance to bid on jobs.

Find a better job. If you need to, further your knowledge and strengthen your skills, then get out there and start interviewing for higher paying jobs. Be bold and valiant! You can’t land a better job if you don’t take action to get one.

Once you decide on the best option for you, the best thing you can do is to take massive action on one strategy to make it happen. Go for it with all the gusto you’ve got rather than divide your energy into many different directions.

Instead of sitting around worrying about your situation, or worse, lying awake nights with insomnia from the financial stress, put that energy into taking action on bringing in more money. Just thinking about it won’t get you anywhere. Take swift action!

3. If you’ve suffered the loss of your job, (as many have) get help. Take advantage of government and other services to help you get through these rough times. A little help can go a long way to providing the much needed funds to reduce your stress.

Apply for unemployment benefits. You can even do this online in many areas. Plus, they can aid you in your search for another job.

See if you qualify for food stamps or monetary aid from your state government. Find out if there are programs that can help you at your local Salvation Army, United Way, or similar organizations.

Many churches get truckloads of groceries and give them away once a month. If you have a local food bank, take advantage of it.

4. Reduce your debt. Put your credit cards away, start a scheduled plan to pay down your debt, and stick to it. If you increase your debt by charging more on your credit cards, it’ll raise your credit card payments and makes your financial situation worse. As the bills rise, so does your stress level.

Wishing you a larger life,
BB

Breathe.

No matter what, you gotta breathe! When those stressful moments appear, pause for a moment and breathe slowly and deeply. It relaxes your muscles and delivers fresh oxygen to your brain to counter the fight or flight response to help you think clearly.

Many varied cultures from east to west and disciplines from yoga to the martial arts teach the importance of deep controlled breathing, this technique has truly stood the test of time. Try it the next time you feel stressed – it really helps!

The techniques we been posting assist you in dealing with all kinds of stress, regardless of the underlying cause. In future posts, we’ll examine additional ways to reduce, avoid or redirect stress based on different specific issues.

Use affirmations

Affirmations can also reduce your stress and redirect your thoughts and feelings to something positive. They affirm the qualities in you that you want to encourage, while thwarting negative thoughts at the same time.

Once you get in the habit of using affirmations every time a negative thought or bad habit presents itself, they automatically redirect you to positive actions, feelings, and decisions.

• • I am confident that I can handle any challenge effectively.
  • I make good decisions.
  • I look for the silver lining in every difficulty.
  • I can solve any problem.
  • I act without delay when I make a decision. I let go of the “what-ifs.”

Affirmations should follow the 3 P’s: Positive, Personal (use the words “I”, “me”, or “my”), and Present Tense (as if you already exhibit this quality).Here are some example affirmations to reduce stress:

1. For the best effect, repeat your affirmations several times each day, and also whenever you encounter a negative thought.
2. Affirmations are effective in many situations. They can help you conquer specific stressors, so we’ve also talked about affirmations in other sections of this blog.

Simplify your life

A lot of the stress we encounter every day occurs because of our cluttered lifestyles. I fight this one all the time. Between running from one errand to another, skipping meals, and taking care of everyone but ourselves, everything contributes to our stress levels. But when you eliminate the clutter, you can eliminate this stress!

1. Learn to say ‘no’. No is a perfectly good answer. Using this answer toa request can literally add hours to your day! Make a decision to only do what you feel is absolutely important. If someone asks you to do something you know you can’t fit in, politely say no.
2. Skip some of the parties. For our own sanity, we need to socialize sometimes. However, accepting every invitation that comes along can become overwhelming. Cut down on your social commitments to give you some added peace and quiet.
3. Make decisions according to your priorities. When you clarify your priorities and use them to help you make decisions, decision-making becomes virtually stress-free. When you choose the option that most closely aligns with your priorities, you’ll be more confident that you’ve made the right decision.
4. De-clutter your house and office. Getting rid of everything you don’t want or need will reduce stress and contribute to a simpler lifestyle. Yes, this will take some time. You’ll notice that things are easier to find, there’s less to clean, and you’ll feel free from some of the limiting trappings of life.

Prayer and meditation.

Take time each day to visualize living the life you desire and give thanks for it. Imagine everything as if it has already happened. Vivid, real, and positive are the key concepts which will help you achieve this life.

• Take in everything with all your senses, feel the emotions, and actually see yourself living your stress-free life.

• Feel your stress melt away and fully enjoy where you are.

• Prayer and meditation can both relax you and bring you energy. You can use the power of prayer or meditation to prepare for the day ahead and end your day on an uplifting note.

Best of all, your positive energy will attract more good things to feel good about in your life.

Make your self-talk positive.

We’ve discussed this before, but I’ll risk mentioning it again. You talk to yourself constantly. What you say to yourself affects your mood, stress level, attitudes, beliefs, self-concept, decisions, and behavior? Believe it or not, you’re quite convincing, no matter what you’re saying! So why not say something you want to hear?

• Encourage yourself. Congratulate yourself every time you do something right. Every success – even a small one – deserves to be celebrated. Tell yourself how it’s perfectly like you to do things the way you do.

• When you make a mistake, beware of stress-causing and confidence-deflating negative talk. Rather than telling yourself what a loser you are, or how stupid it was to mess that up, turn those thoughts into something positive instead.

• Ask yourself what you can learn from your mistakes so you can bring yourself closer to your goal. Practice immediately laughing, as you say something like, “Oops, I know I won’t be doing that again! What can I learn from this?”

• Realize that everyone makes mistakes. If you never made one, then you wouldn’t be human! It’s not a big deal. Admit it, learn from it, correct what you can, and confidently move on.