Just For Today Don’t Allow Stressful Thinking To Affect You

You  encounter stress from day-after-day, but how you deal with stress determines whether it moves you forward or holds you back. Stressful thinking is frenzied, inaccurate, and unreliable, even so a lot of  you go through life thinking and behaving in stressful ways. Many of you assume that this is the way life has to be, and there is no getting around it, but this is certainly not the case! 

Silencing negative thinking may be easier than you ever imagined it could be, but it begins with a positive thought.

Negative Thinking, Positive Aspirations, and You

Negative thinking not only controls the way you approach life, but it also can affect your body, mind, and relationships. When you substitute negative thoughts with positive ones, you have the ability to move ahead in a healthier and more productive way.  With adequate time and effort, you’ll be able to alter your thought process, and it all begins with just a few words.

The Power of A Few Words…

When you see a list of affirmations, you see nothing more than a list of words with idealistic phrases that do not seem to apply to your thinking. If you look closer at each affirmation, you may find that many of them summarize the way you would like to think.

When you see a positive phrase that speaks to you, hold  onto it and use it to wipe out the negative thought you want to eliminate. Basically, you’ll be replacing your negative thinking pattern with a positive approach. This is what positive affirmations are all about!

Affirmations are positive statements that stimulate your mind to achieve all of the great things you would like. Words have the ability to move mountains because they can evoke emotions within you.  If you use an affirmation that speaks to you on a deep level -“ and you reaffirm it by repeating it often“ you can make the statement your mantra and your reality.

If you are overcome by negative thinking to the point where you believe no affirmation can work for you, don’t lose hope! There are many affirmations that can help you deal with just that!  Using an affirmation such as, “Negative thinking is not my way of thinking” will give you the ability to alter your thought process and your life. It may feel awkward at first, but as you reaffirm the positive emotions you desire, your negative thinking will be replaced with positive thoughts.

There are a lot of different affirmations to help you with negative thinking.  Something as simple as, “Negative thoughts cannot enter my mind” will allow you a moment to replace anger and frustration with a positive thought.

Does this sound too good to be true? There are a lot of people who, just like you, think this strategy is too simple to be effective. The only way to know for certain is to try it for yourself. What do you have to lose? No one has to know but you, and you just may find that the benefits are so great that you want to share them with everyone you know. Here are a few other affirmations you can use:

I see myself realistically and objectively
I find deep inner peace with myself as I am
I say positive things about myself to myself
All of my false images of myself from the past are now dissolved
I love and accept all parts of myself
I love and accept all of my thoughts and feelings as part of myself
I have positive self esteem apart from others judgments and criticisms
I love and approve of myself without pleasing others
I accept myself completely as I am, though I recognize areas for improvement
I value and honor myself as I am, though I recognize areas for improvement
I am loving and accepting of who I am and who I am becoming
I feel total peace with my powerful positive self-esteem

Number One Stress Killer – Nature

I bet you would have never guessed 20 years ago you’d be sitting in front of computer monitors in stuffy cubicles under florescent lights for at least eight hours a day five  days a week. By the time you leave, there’s barely enough time to run into the deli to grab dinner, then collapse in front of the television – or worse yet, open your briefcase to more work yikes!   

Isn’t it strange that you get to look forward to that tranquil screen saver just to see the great outdoors.  Fresh air and nature just isn’t on your schedule.  You may not even realize that a drawer full of anti-acids and aspirin isn’t a fraction as good for your stress and tension as spending time outdoors.  

Want to live in a Drug Free Zone – go outside calm your nerves.  The only way to get the full benefit of nature is to experience it firsthand. You can’t read about it, see photos or watch it on television and get the same stress-relieving effect.

Stop saying that you don’t have time. Unless your chained to your desk you could take your brown bag lunch and eat outside. Or you could drive to a park and have lunch there. And instead of taking a coffee break, go outside and walk around the parking lot  -don’t take too many deep breaths though but least you’ll feel a lot better when you get back to your office. You’ll get more healthful energy from fifteen minutes outdoors than a triple shot in a latte. 

And while you’re outdoors, stop, look and listen. Stop your brain from running at full tilt  thinking about your task list or replaying that last irritating phone call. Look around you – really look.  

What do you see? A tree – what kind of tree? A bush with flowers? Touch and smell the flowers. Did you see a squirrel playing under the tree? Watch him – squirrels tend to be entertaining and if you bring peanuts, the squirrel will put on a show for that treat.  

Do you hear birds chirping? How many different kinds of birds do you see?  If you look at everything closely, you’ll see things in nature that you haven’t noticed since you were a curious child. Those things never left, you just stopped looking. 

Are you still sitting there? Well what are you waiting for?  It’s so easy even a child can do it!

I hope this made you think about how you can handle stress.  Let me know how you’re going to put this information into action.  Leave me a comment see the link below this sentence?

Eliminating Fear and Stress

Feel the fear and do it anyway. 

You may have heard of the book “Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway” by Susan
Jeffers. Although this is not my favorite way of dealing with stress it does work and it
is a useful approach at times.  In my opinion this is the most stressful and difficult way to deal with your fears.
The idea is to consistently move beyond your own self limiting behavior.
For example let us say you are afraid of approaching people at networking events.
Your goal would be to gradually aim higher despite your fears. Here are the few approaches you can do over time
Attend a meeting with the goal of talking to just one new person.
Go to a meeting and this time initiate a conversation with three new people
without putting yourself under pressure to strike up a great conversation.

Self Talk and Stress

Self-talk refers to the dialogue that goes on inside your head when faced with conflict or life challenges or even simple day-to-day concerns. This aspect of yourself has a running commentary about everything you do. It never lets anything go by with out some comment, remark or evaluation.
Becoming aware of this process is the first step in taking charge of this part of yourself that can create a lot of unnecessary stress.

You’ll recognize these thoughts because you have heard them all your life; I’m not smart enough, something is wrong, I can’t do it, I never finish anything, this is too hard, change takes too long, etc. In effect you don’t need those people to tell you what to do anymore, they are living inside your own head!!!

How to make a change
First…awareness. You must become aware of the inner dialogue. Begin to notice when it shows up, what it is telling you.  Pay attention to what you thinkSee if you can start to recognize the repetitive nature of the thoughts.

Second…you don’t HAVE to react to the thoughts your mind presents you. It is a habit you can break with awareness. The moment you notice that it is just a THOUGHT and not a COMMAND you have a choice. You are in touch with your “observing self”. That gap or moment of awareness allows you to notice the thought and CHOOSE to do what you have always done or CHOOSE to do something different.