World’s Best Stress Reliever: Positive Thinking

26/05/10 1 COMMENTS

World's Best Stress Reliever: PositiveThinking

Stress is a killer— both mentally and physically. In fact, mental (psychological) stress can cause sudden death (physical) by affecting your normal heart rhythms. Stress can have negative effects on nearly all the major systems in our bodies. Depending on the amount and the duration, stress can add any number of health problems to your body — including the susceptibility to be diagnosed with diabetes, asthma, and high blood pressure.

What can we do about stress? Nothing, you say? Well, you’re partially right. Not a single one of us can avoid stress. It doesn’t matter your age, where you live, or your ethnic background — stress is a part of everyday life. But, you can’t live with your head in the clouds or act like the proverbial ostrich with their head in sand. All of us need to keep stress under control; some consider this skill to be a key factor in long term personal success.

When stress comes your way, do you wear the name tag of optimist or pessimist? If you’re an optimist, you have positive outlook on life and probably handle even the most severe stress headache days with minimal obstacles. On the other hand, if you’re a pessimist then you expect the worst outcome in a given circumstance. This is where your stress level increases and mental and physical health suffer.

Here’s how to apply positive thinking into your own life (work and home):

  • Perform a quick mental check several times a day

  • Healthy lifestyle (exercise and diet)
  • Practice positive self-talk

The mental and physical benefits derived from positive thinking include increased life expectancy, lower rates of clinical depression, and even greater resistance to the common cold. Be an optimist and THINK POSITIVE!

MARRIAGE & MONEY = STRESS

11/05/10 0 COMMENTS

Marriage & Money = Stress

Every marriage faces its own ups and downs. Sometimes couples recover from these obstacles and in other cases the stress from a disagreement seems insurmountable and the marriage ends in divorce. Handling marital problems in a healthy way can be very challenging — even when going through a counselor.

One of the most common topics of discussion (or rather argument) in a marriage is money. The discussion doesn’t even need to be about the lack of money; a full-blown fight can stem from what to do with the money you do have. For example, savings earmarked for a family vacation but spent on an impulse-buy ATV can surely raise the stress level of a marriage.

Some working couples get married with the premise they’ll be wealthier now that two incomes can be combined. Not necessarily true. Larger living quarters, two car payments, two (or more) credit cards, and children all take a large bite out of the discretionary income of a family.

Stressors in a marriage can come from other sources but escalate when money problems arise. Oftentimes when couples fight about money, their dispute is actually overshadowed by something behind the scenes — power struggles, stress at work, or other basic issues surrounding household finances.

In addition, today’s economic roller coaster can send an otherwise well-composed husband or wife to the emotional edge because financial stress can actually cause more stress in general. Not only can the topic of an argument be money-centered, but the frequency of arguments can increase dramatically. A harmless discussion about a home repair can turn into the blame game about an entirely different scenario.