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.

Unresolved conflicts can be a constant source of stress. Are you harboring anger or resentment against a loved one, friend, or co-worker? It’s time to learn how to let it go! Use these tips to help rid yourself of this type of stress:

1.  Bring it out into the open.

If you’re hurt, let the other person know. It’s possible that they’re unaware of how the event affected you. Once it’s out in the open, try to resolve it together.

2.  Express your emotions creatively.

Write your thoughts in a journal or release your negative emotions in a creative outlet like painting, composing music, dancing, or other activities.

3.  Put it in perspective.

There are much worse things that have or could have happened, right? Be thankful it wasn’t worse.

4.  Forgive them.

As you’ve experienced, holding onto this negativity has hurt only you. Refuse to let it affect your life any further. Forgive them, let it go, and move on with your life free from this stress. If the other party isn’t willing to forgive, that’s not of your concern. Once you forgive, move on.

5.  Use daily affirmations.

You can repeat these on a daily basis to help you heal from stress due to conflict:

• I let go of the anger inside me and I feel free.
• I sincerely forgive others.
• I am strong enough to overcome any negativity.

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.

Preventing, reducing, and eliminating stress (or redirecting this “fight or flight” response into positive energy) are all important. When you take daily action to create a peaceful, harmonious life, you’ll find that things more often go your way and outcomes are in sync with what you desire.

Here are a few habits to create daily harmony in your life:

Start your day stress-free. Each day is a new fresh start. It’s like they say: “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” Use these tips to enjoy the beginning of the day and let one good thing lead to another.

Throw out your alarm clock if it has a harsh sound. Loud alarms cause stress the very first moment you awaken. Accustom yourself to waking up to beautiful music or the sounds of nature. The idea is to be coaxed out of your sleep rather than shocked out of bed.

Get up early enough to arrive on time for your morning activities; whether its work, school or an appointment. No sense in making the morning “rush hour” any worse by being off to a late start.

Give thanks for the new day. Remind yourself of what you have to be thankful for, rather than jumping into stressful thoughts immediately.

Sing a happy tune. Having a happy tune in your head puts you in a good mood. Here’s a perfect song to start your day: “It’s a Good Day” by Perry Como. This song is in the soundtrack for the movie Blast from the Past.

Here’s how it starts out:

“Oh! It’s a good day, for singin’ a song,

An’ it’s a good day for movin’ along,

Yes, it’s a good day, how could anything go wrong?

A good day from mornin’ ’till night!”

An attitude like this automatically helps you overcome the challenges of the day with less stress!

“In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and energy into something positive.” – Lee Iacocca

Yea I know – we’re living in uncertain times! With the current economic climate, you’re uncertain if your retirement funds are safe, if your home is losing its value, or even if you’re  going to have a job tomorrow.

Family incomes are being reduced and eliminated by the minute while prices for necessities are rising. As if that weren’t enough, stress is coming at you from all angles due to the normal pressures of modern life!

What are you supposed to do? How is it possible to NOT be fearful of what may come? How can you reduce the high levels of stress?

The Stress Solution

When stressful situations come your way, the only thing you can control is your reaction to the situation. The better you get at controlling your reactions, the more resilient you’ll be, and the more likely you’ll be able to transform a bad situation into a positive one.

Stress forces the body to generate energy. It’s the fight or flight reaction that gets the blood pumping. That energy tends to be spent worrying or feeling anxious, but what if you could use that energy for GOOD? You’d be able to transform that negative, nervous energy into positive outlets that improve your life!

In the next few posts I’ll give actionable strategies you can use to reduce your stress and turn it into energy that will help you succeed in living a larger, more purposeful life!