Change your thinking, change your stress level

Feel everyday pressures are taking over from the good things in life? There is some easy ways to redress

the balance

The stress reaction follows a standard sequence. First, the trigger or “activating event”. Next, your “beliefs” about it, which send signals to the body to

create the “consequence”, also known as the “fight-or-flight response” – that surge of hormones,

adrenaline and cortisol, which raises heart rate and blood pressure, and releases glucose.

● Thinking of the three steps as an acronym, ABC, can help remember the sequence.

Now unpick the subconscious beliefs that are causing your stressed feeling. Think back over recent stressy moments and identify your trigger. A massive row between your two

teenage kids this morning? Ignored by a shop assistant while you stood around feeling stupid? How

did you feel? Perhaps upset and somehow responsible during the family row? Angry and humiliated

as you stood around in the shop. Next, go deeper.

What is the hidden belief underpinning those feelings? “My family should always get along.” “I’m

responsible for keeping everyone happy.” “I’m invisible.” “I should never be ignored.” These are your

stress-inducing thoughts. We all carry beliefs that are self-defeating and impossible to live up to – and

it’s these, not the small stuff of life that cause the stress surge.

● Stress-inducing thoughts often begin with “I must” and “I should”. “I must find solutions to everyone’s

problems.” “My house should always be clean and tidy.” “Life should go smoothly.”

Now identify alternative, stress-alleviating thoughts, to counter them. Examples could be “I can support my teenagers to find solutions, I don’t have to find solutions for

them.” Or “A situation is rarely 100 per cent my fault – or anyone else’s.”

● Try stepping back to ask: “Will this matter in an hour? A week? A month?”

These quick tips to counter stress

Smile… to lower your heart rate It may sound crazy but there’s evidence that changing your facial expression really can alter stress

levels. Research where two groups were given short but stressful tasks to complete – but one group

was asked to smile throughout – found the smilers experienced lower levels of stress and lower heart

rates. Good for confounding anyone who may have hoped to unsettle you!

Think this… to avoid a meltdownA modern alternative to the count-to-ten rule, this simple mantra from brain-training expert and

health psychologist Laurel Mellin is a damage-control tool for the most testing times. If you feel on the

verge of a stress meltdown, repeat the following phrases in your mind ten times to calm you and

regain control: “do not judge” (that’s yourself or others), “minimise harm” (eg, don’t lash out or react

badly on impulse), “know it will pass.”

Brain dump… to switch ofOur tech devices are brilliant for the flexibility to keep tabs on work wherever we are, but the other

side is that carrying our work around with us, dipping in and out, checking emails and never putting

anything down wires us to feel stressed. A good practice is to decide when your working day will end

(particularly if it’s out-of-office hours) and take five minutes to jot down all work-related thoughts,

the tasks you didn’t tackle, ideas you’re mulling over. When five minutes is up, leave it behind.

Light touch… to still a whirring brainTry this at night if you wake with thoughts spinning around your mind. Close your eyes and, using the

tips of your fingers with two hands, lightly touch two points just above your eyebrows. These areas

activate reflexes that bring more blood to your frontal lobes. Focus on the issue that’s causing

distress, recalling as much detail as you can, still touching these points. Notice the negative feelings

become harder to hold on to and gradually fade. When you open your eyes, you should feel

rebalanced.

Source: http://www.irwand.info

http://lihat.us/lowerol

http://lihat.us/eyesecrets