Counteract Stress with Relaxing Downtime

Nothing is a waist of time if it puts your brain to rest. Planning your downtime daily helps to deal with daily stress and prevents it from accumulation.

We all suffer the mid-afternoon slump: that lethargic, lack-of-motivation apathy that sets in and kicks our internal engine to idle. Instead of willing yourself to sludge through it slowly and painfully, do the opposite. Embrace it. Give yourself permission to take a 5 or 10 minute mental break.

“Frustration stems from your inner critic and only serves to make us crazed,” says Loretta LaRoche.  “Have fun. There are no tombstones that say, ‘Did everything, died anyway.’”

Examples of downtime include reading a mindless book, doing facials, taking bath, doing household chores. What is your way to putting your brain to rest and filling yourself with joy?

“Mind Sweep” – Clearing the Stress of Mental Clutter

You can’t live a balanced life and find peace if you are in constant state of chaos and clutter. It just can’t happen! I don’t know about you but clutter adds stress to me. The home can be very organized and clean of physical clutter, but the mental clutter can keep me “stuck” in life. Unfinished tasks, be it projects, relationships or other, are open loops that drain the energy, causing mental clutter and distraction and adding stress to our already stressful lives.

When you think of clutter, what is the first thing that pops up in your head: do you think of stuff or disorganization around your home? How about the clutter added by unfinished projects that are hanging over your head, tolerations that you put up with in life, unhealthy relationships, bad habits, postponed medical check ups, negative thoughts or destructive emotional states?

Essentially, clutter is anything that interferes with living balanced life and adds stress and drains your energy. Even more: the clutter is self imposed stress. With as much stress and anxiety as most women have in their lives anyway, who needs this additional stress, which comes from clutter? A nagging sense about 'things to do' is not going to help you be productive and fresh in your thinking. Brains need open space to think, problem solve, and refine ideas, be creative. You don’t have it free when your physical, emotional, and mental space are all clogged up with 'stuff.' It's very stressful when you realize that you can't focus and think in the way that you need to - and that you know you are capable of.

Performing “mind sweep” or unclutter mentally simply means taking a load off your mind. Being clutter free gives you an instant feeling of control. Uncluttered mind is a key to an uncluttered life.

Take an honest look at your life. Start by noticing everything that clutters your life and steals your precious life energy. Awareness is the first step.

• In what areas could I use a little de-cluttering? 
• What needs to change to help me live my best life and be my best self?

Here are some areas to consider in order to alleviate stress and increase balance in your life.

De-clutter physically: honor your body. Take the steps to eat healthy, exercise regularly, and sleep well even when under stress. Address any health concerns and keeping regular checks ups with your doctor.

De-clutter emotionally: honor your mind and spirit by doing whatever it takes to live a serene and balanced existence. Maintaining emotional balance includes managing your negative thoughts and emotional life – doing your best to keep your mind positive. It means you are intellectually stimulating your brain, fostering creativity, and avoiding the things that are damaging to your mental state, like overworking or watching too much TV. When you’ve de-cluttered yourself, you look and feel good.

De-clutter relationships: look critically to the relationships in your life (your family, friends, co-workers, boss). Start by considering ending the relationships that regularly drag you down or drain you. You might need to forgive everyone who has hurt you and put full closure to the relationships that are no longer in your life. In order to maintain healthy relationships requires you to speak truthfully, avoid gossiping, criticizing and judging others. Healthy relationships are an essential part of your long term stress reduction plan. When you’ve de-cluttered your relationships, they provide the love and support you need on this journey through life.

De-clutter from your past.  The ruminations over the past and worrying about the future fill up all of your mental space, keeping the mind unproductively busy. Rumination clutters mind and can become an unhealthy obsession which is not balancing or productive; it is stress inducing instead. Learn from your experiences, let go and move on. All you really have and where you really live and create is now.

Studies show that mindfulness can be helpful in stopping ruminations over things that cause stress. Mindfulness – being present, being here and now helps to keep you from dwelling on negative thoughts about the past you can’t change anyway. Mindfulness can also be used to decrease anxiety over the future. It can provide a break from stressful thoughts and allow you to take a mental break and gain perspective, among other things. Set an intention at the beginning of your day to stop and be present frequently. You will have a sense of control within your self, which reduces stress. (See more about mindfulness for stress reduction)

De-clutter from information overload

Today we are constantly surrounded by information that often clutters our mind. TV shows, Facebook, Twitter, opinions of people around you, news, magazines and more… You need to have some clear room in your mind that will let you hear yourself and not voices of other people. Mental clutter of information overload tremendously affects your sense of wellbeing.

Limit your exposure to any media at least a few times a week. Try to keep a positive attitude towards any news you hear. Spend some time in quietude and solitude daily.

De-clutter from thoughts (anxious, unproductive, negative)

When it comes to the thoughts in your head ask yourself one simple question: Is it real? Can I change or improve this?

It's a simple yes or no question. If your answer is yes, you can start looking at what adjustments you want to make. But if your answer is no, why stress yourself by getting wrapped up in something beyond your control? If you can't change something why stress and waste mental energy over it?

Locus of control it's a much more comfortable and effective place to operate from than stressing over things that are totally beyond your control. (Find out more about Locus of control)

When there is clutter there is no space for things, people, activities you would live to have in your life. Taking time to sort through your life, to clear the clutter you ACTIVELY make space for your hopes, dreams and ambitions, for love, for family, for work that inspires you; for a healthy body, spirit and balanced life. Now you can FOCUS on what you want in your life and on the solutions how to get what you really aspire for.

 “If you don’t clear room to walk, you’ll never find the path to your dreams”, Peter Walsh

Start small. Don't try to tackle the whole life in one weekend. When dealing with mental clutter, start with the most burning/draining issue. As you will take care of the clutter and energy drains, you will immediately feel an energy boost. You will suddenly have time for actions that support your priorities, and mental space for creativity. Stress will melt away together with the clutter. 

Before you roll up your sleevs and let the ball rolling check out  great de-clutter deals from FranklinCovey Europe!

Now its time breathe deeply and know that you have done a good thing. Bask in your peacefulness.

Finding it difficult to do this on your own? Coaching helps…….

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How to Get Quality Sleep during Stressful Times?

Good night's sleep: there is nothing like it that would help you to be productive, mentally sharp, emotionally balanced, and full of energy all day. But what if your days are too stressful on a permanent basis and you just can’t get any not to talk about good?

You rush, you worry extensively, and you are harsh to yourself, you...( fill in the blank). Your body is over-producing stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol and they fail to shut off at night causing  difficulties to either fall asleep or stay asleep. Being sleep deprived can be both a cause and an effect of being stressed.

Women are more likely to have insomnia than men. One reason is that hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle and menopause can affect sleep. During perimenopause, women may have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Hot flashes and night sweats often can disturb sleep.

Sleep is an integral part of a good self-care program for women leaders: a basic condition for well-being and health.

Unfortunately good self-care happens to be the first thing high-achieving women neglect during stressful times: they stop exercising, they start eating foods that increse stress level (sorry, carrots and celery sticks, nobody wants you when stress increases!) and we sleep badly. Our good intentions about our wellbeing and health just go out of a window.

When you are not able to sleep well you are not able to cope with all of the demands and stresses the life throws on you during the day. Your thinking is foggy, you are more irritable, depressed, and anxious; your concentration suffers and your energy levels decline. You are more prone to suffer from job-related stress and burnout. You drink more coffee during a day or alcohol in the evening which conversely impedes a good restoring night sleep…and here you are in a vicious circle.

Not the best scenario.

How to slow down, destress after a busy day and induce sound sleep?

Start a relaxing bedtime routine.

Do the same things each night to tell your body it's time to wind down. This may include taking a warm bath or shower, reading a book, or listening to soothing music.

Here are some of my favorite stress reduction bed time strategies you can apply in order to slow down.

1. Put on some relaxing music.

Gentle music will allow your heart beats to slow down and in turn our breathing and this puts our brains in relaxation mode and allows us to feel calmer and destress. Music has been found to improve sleep quality, decrease nightly wakenings, lengthen sleep time, and increase satisfaction with sleep.

(Read about benefits of relaxing music)

2. Follow with some simple stretches or yoga

Simple exercises before bed is very relaxing and helps sleep as it release tension without overstimulating the body. Nothing too vigorous, just a few simple yoga poses and stretches will do fine. This is especially useful if you have a desk job or something that has you sitting around all day.

In a 2004 preliminary study involving 20 people with chronic insomnia, researchers found that eight weeks of daily yoga practice led to significant improvements in several sleep-related factors (such as total sleep time and number of awakenings in the middle of the night).

3. Make a warm glass of milk.

Warm milk contains tryptophan – sleep-inducing amino acid that is a precursor to serotonin, which is then converted to melatonin, and calcium which helps the brain to absorb tryptophan. As an alternative you can choose chamomile tea or foods that can help you get a good night's sleep.

4. Time for journaling.

Journaling has many stress and health benefits, making it a great way to end the day.

Write down some things you are thankful for. You don’t need to spend much time on this just note down four or five things that went well today and store them in a journal on your bedside. A gratitude list can get you in a positive frame of mind for sleep, and over time helps you change your whole frame of mind to a more positive, less stressed one.

5. Time for visualization.

Visualize the next day. This takes just 10 minutes and can set things up for your next day. Close your eyes and focus on your breath. Think about things you want to achieve the following day or the week. (Learn visualization simplified)

6. Write down tomorrow’s tasks

This is huge. Your mind should be empty in order to sleep well. Writing down next day’s tasks helps to get things out of your mind. This allows you to clear a load of mental clutter that might normally keep you up at night ruminating and worrying.

7. Time for a hot bath or shower.

The best thing about a hot bath or shower is that it will calm your mind, rinse away tension. and relax your tensed muscles. (Your tense muscles as you might know are the ones where your daily stress tends to accumulate). You will also find it easier to fall asleep if you are warm. Try to add several drops of lavender aromatherapy essential oil to a bath to enhance your relaxation experience.

8. Read something relaxing and inspiring

Firstly and most importantly make sure it is something that interests you. This normally comes hand in hand with relaxing and inspiring. A good book before bed will calm the mind and fill your mind with positive ideas and hope for the next days. Here are a few of my book recommendations.

Lying in bed, take the time to breathe deeply, use mental imagery and conjure up whatever is bothering you. Use The Scarlet O'Hara Approach: "I don't have to deal with that now. I'm going to let that go. Tomorrow is another day".

I hope you find my tips useful. You are welcome to leave comments or share your ‘get-ready-for-bed’ routines.

 

Finding difficult to create effective bed-time routines on your own? Stress management coaching helps…….

How to Get Stress Under Control in 3 Steps

In the middle of the 20th century physiologist Hans Selye labeled our reaction to life's challenges with a simple word: stress. Now, 50 years later, there's a conversation you hear so often, it's almost a chorus: You ask a friend, "How are you?" and she replies, "I'm OK, but I'm feeling a little stressed."

In fact in the 21st century, stress has become synonymous with life and is associated with almost every aspect of our lives, personal and professional alike.

Not all stress is bad, though. Stress does however become a danger when it goes unrecognized, is poorly controlled or becomes pent up over long periods of time.

For most women, stress ranks at the top of the list of daily problems.

What is the natural stress response?

Whenever you perceive that you are physically or psychologically threatened, an inbuilt alarm-system in your brain triggers the adrenal glands to release complex hormonal cascade of over 30 stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol.

Those stress hormones give you the extra strength and speed you need to deal with the threatening situation. This reaction is known as the "fight-or-flight" reaction, or the stress response. Stress isn't always bad. In small doses, it can help you perform under pressure and motivate you to do your best.

The problems start when you're constantly running in emergency mode, and you are unable to cope well with the stress in your life, your mind, body, overall health and performance may pay the price.

If you frequently find yourself feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, it's time to take action to bring your life back into balance.

How to control stress?

The good news is that you can learn getting stress under control.

To get stress under control Take Action:

- Find out what is causing stress in your life and identify your own stress symptoms.
- Find out your habitual ways of responding to stress.
- Learn healthier and more effective ways to manage and reduce the amount of stress in your life. 

Dealing with stress is about dealing with change. Change isn't always easy, especially when you doubt about where to start. 

Finding it difficult to do this on your own? Coaching helps…….

 

Improve your stress management and create balanced life simplified

I would like to share a story I just heard from my friend and The Change Expert Ariane de Bonvoisin ,author of The First 30 days .

Here is an inspirational story:

A son and his father were walking on the mountains.

Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams: “AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
To his surprise, he hears the voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain: “AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

Curious, he yells: “Who are you?”
He receives the answer: “Who are you?”

And then he screams to the mountain: “I admire you!”
The voice answers: “I admire you!”

Angered at the response, he screams: “Coward!”
He receives the answer: “Coward!”

He looks to his father and asks: “What’s going on?”
The father smiles and says: “My son, pay attention.”

Again the man screams: “You are a champion!”
The voice answers: “You are a champion!”

The boy is surprised, but does not understand.

Then the father explains: “People call this ECHO, but really this is LIFE. It gives you back everything you say or do. Our life is simply a reflection of our actions.

• If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart.
• If you want more competence in your team, improve your competence.

This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life.

Life will give you back everything you have given to it.

 ”YOUR LIFE IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. IT’S A REFLECTION OF YOU!”
– Unknown Author

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