Stress Management Tips

Of course everyone was rightfully stressed over the conflicker worm but the stress I’m talking about is that caused by the possibility of having contracted the worm in the past.

I have a couple of different virus checking programs on various computers, some paid and some free but one never knows what each will find so sometimes it is a good idea to check each of them out.

As one of the free anti-virus programs keeps telling me that it was not going to be updated after a certain date in the near future, I decided to replace it with another free program.  While installing the new program on one computer I noticed that it did a real thorough scan for trojans and worms which my paid for anti-virus program apparently doesn’t catch.

I thought, if this program searches for trojans and worms maybe I should install it on all my computers in addition to what may already be there.  Let me tell you, there are various configurations or combinations of anti-virus programs you do not want to install on one computer.

This did not work out well for me as my computer completely locked up after installation and scanning, and I was not able to do anything short of power cycling the computer to regain control.  Needless to say, I immediately uninstalled the new program and spent the rest of the day trying to get everything cleared up on my other computers as well.

My point is that sometimes things beyond our control conspire to stress us out by making it impossible to do anything productive.  Who said computers would make our lives simpler?  I think in many cases they have led to more stress than anyone ever imagined.  Yes, they are time savers - when everything works, but they can also lead to a lot of wasted time.

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Worry caused by stress can block positive vibrations from becoming manifested in our lives.  If we insist on spending time worrying it becomes entrenched in our psyche and is nearly impossible to root out.  worry can also place one into a trance that we aren’t aware of thus making it even more difficult to combat the worry.

Once we become entranced, it is difficult to shake off and it often requires external feedback or some event to shake us up before we realize we have become entranced.  It may even take years before we believe we have been living in a trance because our internal thought process is such that once it makes a choice, it won’t go back and make a change to what it knows as truth.  Our inner psyche automatically accepted what it thought as truth and to reconsider that truth requires a risk.

While common thinking says that everyone has worries it may be an incorrect filter.  And fortunately this belief can be changed.  But first it must be challenged as worry is usually the easiest thing to do so it is painless to stay on that path.

I’ll present some methods, alternatives, and experiences to get us off that merry-go-round.

Listen to emotional music. The kind that makes your soul sing, brings out the warm fuzzies, returns a fond memory, or warms your spirit.

Use muscle relaxation. Start with one muscle group and progressively move to the next, and continue. Doing muscle relaxation for 10 to 15 minutes daily can remove stress, and worry.

Do abdominal breathing exercises which increase oxygen to the brain and muscles.  This in turn stimulates the nervous system, and promotes positive energy  Breath the way a baby breathes, deeply from the abdomen rather than merely using the chest.

Get some physical exercise. Indoors or outdoors is not important, just get some exercise.

Watch TV, go to a movie, play a video game, research on the Internet, read an inspiration poetry or story, anything to distract you from worrying.

Do something with your hands. Take up a hobby, gardening, sewing, even doing Sudoku.

Do something to distract yourself - play a mind game, jigsaw, or crossword puzzle.

Get into verbal discussion with someone about the worry. You’re not looking for solutions just compassion.

Put this list on the fridge so you have it easily at hand when worry arises.

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Can Spring Break bring any more stress?

Grandma is on the way to recovery and that is good because another set of grands shows up as well.  Now all twelve grandchildren are in the same city and even in the same house for dinner Thursday.  Unfortunately that nite the father of the three sisters goes to the ER for vomiting and stays there while they give him a bag of fluids.  He gets home around six in the morning.  Nobody is feeling very well but these children are chomping at the bit, bored to tears that the adults won’t take them anywhere interesting to entertain them.  We send them to their old school to bother their prior teachers (they aren’t on spring break until the following week) and look for something to do to entertain twelve children under the age of thirteen.

Things are looking up, aren’t they???? aren’t they?  whoops, Friday night the youngest of the sisters ends up in the ER for vomiting.  She didn’t vomit while she was there and they didn’t give her any fluids as she hadn’t been throwing up enough to become dehydrated.  She and her father get home about five am.  What is it with emergency rooms that they have to keep you until it is almost daylight before releasing you?  Guess they have to keep you a certain length of time to be able to charge their outrageous fees.

Yesterday we got the bill from the hospital for my wife.  She spent less than five hours being taken care of and the bill is for almost three thousand dollars.  For giving her two liters of fluids, taking some blood and doing the blood work, being seen by a doctor for less than ten minutes and getting a shot in the IV for the vomiting.  I know I’m in the wrong business…

To tell the truth the whole trip wasn’t that stressful for me as I didn’t let events get the better of me and influence my self talk or thinking.  If I hadn’t been writing about stress in this blog I wouldn’t have learned as much about managing stress as I have and I might have really been pulling my hair out about the situation.  But having all this learning experience allowed me to put it to good use in a pratical situation.  I’m glad I had the opportunity to learn and also to apply that learning.

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Is it possible that Spring Break could bring on stress?
Well let me tell you a little story - true too!

Since three of our granddaughters were out of school and supposed to spend the week with their father, my wife volunteered us to take them to see him and spend the week with them.  An eight hour trip if you don’t stop to make too many potty breaks.  Oh, wait, it gets better…
Two other grandchildren were also out of school and had not seen these cousins in several months so the next volunteerism was that we pick them up and take them along with us for the week.  Sounds like fun so far, doesn’t it?  Oh, by the way, an uncle of these children is moving, can I loan him my 18 foot flatbed trailer.  And take it along on the trip to leave with him?
Even more fun…
Friday night my wife picks some of the grands up and brings them to the house and the three sisters are delivered by their mother.  In the middle of the night my wife wakes up with diarrhea and vomiting and every hour she is in the bathroom with this mess.  She finally gets to sleep about five am and we were scheduled to leave around eight am.  Needless to say, we didn’t leave then and grandpa got to serve breakfast to five hungry grandchildren who wanted to know “when are we going to leave?”  As soon as grandma gets up and feels like it is my response.

We finally get on the road around eleven am and have to make a couple of stops along the way but nothing major.  Feed the children pb&j sammiches and grapes and juice.  Grandma doesn’t eat anything cuz she is afraid she won’t be able to keep it down.

We finally get to our destination about ten pm.  Grandma is still not feeling well.

We go to bed about eleven-thirty and grandma is up three times during the night going at both ends.

Sunday is a little better for grandma but she isn’t feeling too hot.  We get over-the-counter advice from a pharmacist and try to cure this problem ourselves.  To make a long story short, Tuesday night we end up at the emergency room where they give my wife two liters of fluids because she is so dehydrated and a shot to stop the vomiting and finally send us home at five am.  Grandma is on her way to recovery.  yay!!!

oops, we still have a few more days to go before spring break is over.  More to follow tomorrow!

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While it may be difficult for management to remove all sources of stress when competition is kicking down your door or in these trying economic times it is important to realize that leadership requires the top level of management to make the tough decisions.  Reducing staff is sometimes not as tough as making decisions to improve productivity by making the job less stressful for employees who remain.  The following are some more suggestions for changes that can improve stress reduction for employees;

If there are unpleasant tasks then apportion them out fairly.  And let everyone know what is happening and why.  Don’t try to snowball your employees - they won’t appreciate it when they figure out what you have done to them.

Policies that apply to the least paid employee should apply to the highest paid employee as well.  The CEO may feel like it is his privilege to fly first class, and it is, but if he is seen to be riding in the cattle car along with the peons it will do more to raise morale than he could ever dream.  And if employees on the production floor are expected to put in eight hours on the clock that should also be the policy for upper management.  Likewise if an employee stays after hours to complete a project that employee should not be penalized for coming in a few minutes late.

Put in place a fair and acceptable conflict resolution system.  Issues brought to the attention of management should not always be resolved in favor of management if it is not in the best interest of the company.

If it is necessary for empolyees to work long hours or to travel away from home then make allowances for that and implement family stress control strategies.  A parent can never regain a child’s lost youth.  If an employee must travel for an extended time period then on return provide time for them to be with their families.  While the time lost can never be regained, the company can make it easier on the parent to spend more time with their family on their return.

Show concern for employee welfare by making sure they have the tools they need to do the job properly.

Do away with intolerable conditions or situations.  The company should not expect employees to short their families in order to remain employed.  While some within the company may not feel expecting employees to put the company ahead of their family is intolerable that is not a situation that is coducive to productivity.

It may be difficult to remove some of these causes of stress from the workplace but an attack of one or more will pay off in happier employees and an improved bottom line.

For a free report on Managing Stress, Click Here.

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