Learn about two stress hormones: Adrenaline and Cortisol.
100 ways to keep up on your exercise routine.
This stress video from National Geographic will share with you a scientific overview of the body's stress response system involving the stress hormones known as adrenaline and cortisol.
Understanding the link between cortisol and stress is a particularly compelling subject in the study of the science of stress because there can be some fairly major consequences, physically, if this stress hormone is not managed correctly.
When the body is exposed to a stressful experience (mental or physical), it begins to release the stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, allowing you to deal with the situation.
Adrenaline helps improve our speed and force, making us more capable of reacting/responding to the stressor, and cortisol provides the energy burst needed to support that extra speed and force.
The video explains that when the stress is physical, the cortisol burst is used up as the body burns energy, but when the stress is mental, the body cannot eliminate the hormone as easily.
Left unchecked over a long period of time, a buildup of cortisol can deplete bone density and cause other chronic diseases.
The basic message of this presentation is that, if you are going to live a life filled with mental stress challenges, then you must have a healthy and rigorous exercise routine in order to eliminate all the cortisol produced in your body.
100 ways to keep up on your exercise routine.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Time for an Attitude Adjustment!
We are all leaders in our own lives. We have to be because no one else is going to do it for us. Michael Gerber, author of the E-Myth says, “Leaders are at their best when operating from their strengths and core values.”
However, most of us don’t think of ourselves as leaders. Many of us just think we are like a small cog in a large wheel, doing what we can to get by. Many of us don’t really believe that what we do, say and feel has much impact on the world or even the people in our immediate surroundings — our community.
A great example is the environment. For decades, people have believed that their individual actions don’t matter, but now we see that the collective actions of billions of "individuals" have destroyed this planet and we are now working feverishly to repair the damage.
The truth is that we do matter as individuals, but there is more than one way that individuality can be understood. One way is through a sense of entitlement. A few years ago, Dr. Jean Twenge wrote a book called, ”Generation ME”, which discussed the idea that the post baby boom generation in North America, called Generation X, felt entitled to receiving things not earned.
Dr. Twenge explained that Gen-Xers walked around with their hands out. In this first book, the dynamic was limited to Generation X, but in her latest book, ”The Narcissism Epidemic”, she reports that this dynamic has taken over in all age groups, including seniors and children. I am sure most would agree that extreme narcissism is not a good plan for any society.
A second and perhaps better way to “DO” individuality is what Michael Gerber, author of “The E-Myth”, calls, “Putting your life first.” He does not mean entitlement. He does not believe that life owes anybody anything, not earned. He does believe, however, that people compromise their dreams far too often. I agree with him and I believe that we pay a high price; in terms of wellness, for compromising our dreams.
We all compromise all the time and we have been doing this since birth. In fact, as we grow older, we become masters of compromising. Dr. Gabor Maté, author of “When the Body Says NO, The Costs of Hidden Stress”, says that as babies, before our brains are fully developed, we are forced to constantly compromise our needs as our parents try to function in this high-stress world. Dr. Maté believes that all this compromising leads to repressed emotion and repressed emotion leads to chronic degenerative disease later in life. As I said, we pay a very high price.
Many other doctors, such as Dr. Ray Strand, Dr. Bruce Lipton, and Dr. Kenneth Cooper, all support the notion that extreme emotional stress is a major component of chronic degenerative disease. The reality is that we have confused our need for individuality by taking the destructive narcissism and entitlement path too far, and completely overlooking our own core strengths, values and dreams. It seems that the further we put our hands out, the lower on our own priority lists we fall.
The result has been epidemic levels of chronic degenerative disease across North America. The Centers for Disease Control in the US and Canada now believe that 75% of us suffer from one chronic degenerative disease and 50% of us suffer from two or more chronic degenerative diseases. I don't know about you, but, I think it's time for an attitude adjustment.
However, most of us don’t think of ourselves as leaders. Many of us just think we are like a small cog in a large wheel, doing what we can to get by. Many of us don’t really believe that what we do, say and feel has much impact on the world or even the people in our immediate surroundings — our community.
A great example is the environment. For decades, people have believed that their individual actions don’t matter, but now we see that the collective actions of billions of "individuals" have destroyed this planet and we are now working feverishly to repair the damage.
The truth is that we do matter as individuals, but there is more than one way that individuality can be understood. One way is through a sense of entitlement. A few years ago, Dr. Jean Twenge wrote a book called, ”Generation ME”, which discussed the idea that the post baby boom generation in North America, called Generation X, felt entitled to receiving things not earned.
Dr. Twenge explained that Gen-Xers walked around with their hands out. In this first book, the dynamic was limited to Generation X, but in her latest book, ”The Narcissism Epidemic”, she reports that this dynamic has taken over in all age groups, including seniors and children. I am sure most would agree that extreme narcissism is not a good plan for any society.
A second and perhaps better way to “DO” individuality is what Michael Gerber, author of “The E-Myth”, calls, “Putting your life first.” He does not mean entitlement. He does not believe that life owes anybody anything, not earned. He does believe, however, that people compromise their dreams far too often. I agree with him and I believe that we pay a high price; in terms of wellness, for compromising our dreams.
We all compromise all the time and we have been doing this since birth. In fact, as we grow older, we become masters of compromising. Dr. Gabor Maté, author of “When the Body Says NO, The Costs of Hidden Stress”, says that as babies, before our brains are fully developed, we are forced to constantly compromise our needs as our parents try to function in this high-stress world. Dr. Maté believes that all this compromising leads to repressed emotion and repressed emotion leads to chronic degenerative disease later in life. As I said, we pay a very high price.
Many other doctors, such as Dr. Ray Strand, Dr. Bruce Lipton, and Dr. Kenneth Cooper, all support the notion that extreme emotional stress is a major component of chronic degenerative disease. The reality is that we have confused our need for individuality by taking the destructive narcissism and entitlement path too far, and completely overlooking our own core strengths, values and dreams. It seems that the further we put our hands out, the lower on our own priority lists we fall.
The result has been epidemic levels of chronic degenerative disease across North America. The Centers for Disease Control in the US and Canada now believe that 75% of us suffer from one chronic degenerative disease and 50% of us suffer from two or more chronic degenerative diseases. I don't know about you, but, I think it's time for an attitude adjustment.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Parenting Stress at the Hands of McDonald's Restaurants
It seems that parents are being harassed by their kids to buy McDonald's Happy Meals. In the Globe and Mail, an Associated Press article by Mary Clare Jalonick on Jun 22, 2010, reports that a US consumer advocacy group has actually filed a lawsuit claiming that McDonald's "unfairly and deceptively" exploits children in order to sell the Happy Meals. Shock!!
It all seems to be the height of parental stress when parents feel so disempowered that they aren't even in charge of what their kids are eating. How times have changed! And the consequences are very real, too. The Center for Disease Control, in the US, reports that one in three children born after the year 2000 will have Type 2 Diabetes in his/her lifetime and if the child is of African, Hispanic or First Nations heritage, the statistics rise to one out of every two children (50%), born after 2000, will get this debilitating disease in his/her lifetime.
Michael Jacobson, executive director of the consumer group, says parents must take responsibility to feed their kids properly, but that they get worn down by all the pressure from the hard marketing directly to kids.
In my own family, we don't have that problem, but then we also don't have cable or satellite. When my kids go out into the world, they haven't been brainwashed into believing that McDonald's food tastes good, so the odd time they are served a McDonald's product, they won't eat it.
We normally eat whole-grain bread products and non-processed meats and cheeses, in our home, so fast food is quite a turn-off for my children. A few years ago, if we passed a Happy Meals sign at a Walmart, the kids would go look at the poster and ask for just the toy, not the food. We indulged a couple of times, but they stopped asking.
I guess the question is, "Has my family suffered without access to TV?" In fact we own two TV's and four computers with Internet, plus a myriad of other electronic devices, but we don't have the cable or satellite hook up. Nobody dictates a programming schedule to us and nobody forces us to watch 15 minutes of commercials in one hour of programming.
And no we have not suffered. We rent, buy, and borrow movies and full TV seasons and watch them as we want. At different times, we watch a lot of TV and movies, but then we also turn it off and forget about it for extended periods, as well.
Perhaps this advocacy group would do better to empower parents to turn off the TV rather than fight McDonald's. If parents better understood their parenting styles, they may not be so intimidated by their kids' demands. Using EFT or Emotional Freedom Techniques to get back in that parenting driver's seat may be just what the doctor ordered.
Of course, it wouldn't be anywhere near as profitable for the advocacy group. It seems the consumer advocacy group may be the most exploitative of all.
It all seems to be the height of parental stress when parents feel so disempowered that they aren't even in charge of what their kids are eating. How times have changed! And the consequences are very real, too. The Center for Disease Control, in the US, reports that one in three children born after the year 2000 will have Type 2 Diabetes in his/her lifetime and if the child is of African, Hispanic or First Nations heritage, the statistics rise to one out of every two children (50%), born after 2000, will get this debilitating disease in his/her lifetime.
Michael Jacobson, executive director of the consumer group, says parents must take responsibility to feed their kids properly, but that they get worn down by all the pressure from the hard marketing directly to kids.
In my own family, we don't have that problem, but then we also don't have cable or satellite. When my kids go out into the world, they haven't been brainwashed into believing that McDonald's food tastes good, so the odd time they are served a McDonald's product, they won't eat it.
We normally eat whole-grain bread products and non-processed meats and cheeses, in our home, so fast food is quite a turn-off for my children. A few years ago, if we passed a Happy Meals sign at a Walmart, the kids would go look at the poster and ask for just the toy, not the food. We indulged a couple of times, but they stopped asking.
I guess the question is, "Has my family suffered without access to TV?" In fact we own two TV's and four computers with Internet, plus a myriad of other electronic devices, but we don't have the cable or satellite hook up. Nobody dictates a programming schedule to us and nobody forces us to watch 15 minutes of commercials in one hour of programming.
And no we have not suffered. We rent, buy, and borrow movies and full TV seasons and watch them as we want. At different times, we watch a lot of TV and movies, but then we also turn it off and forget about it for extended periods, as well.
Perhaps this advocacy group would do better to empower parents to turn off the TV rather than fight McDonald's. If parents better understood their parenting styles, they may not be so intimidated by their kids' demands. Using EFT or Emotional Freedom Techniques to get back in that parenting driver's seat may be just what the doctor ordered.
Of course, it wouldn't be anywhere near as profitable for the advocacy group. It seems the consumer advocacy group may be the most exploitative of all.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Don’t Waste Your Time Lobbying the Government for Drugs.
Carly Weeks of the Globe and Mail recently shared a great article on a new treatment for Multiple Sclerosis (MS), based on the research of Italian doctor, Paolo Zamboni.
It seems that MS sufferers are lobbying hard to gain access to Zamboni’s new drug treatment for MS before drug authorities are ready to make it available. Authorities are citing safety concerns as the reason for the foot-dragging. Paul Hébert, editor-in-chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal and co-author of an editorial in the journal, said in an interview, “There are a lot of people out there that have illnesses that are difficult to treat, and impossible to cure. The difficulty we now have is picking priorities.”
This is yet another example of wellness disempowerment. MS, and most other chronic degenerative diseases (200 and counting), is a disease known to be caused by free radical damage or oxidative stress. The research (Dr. Ray Strand, Dr. Kenneth Cooper, Dr. Steven Warren) supporting this statement is compelling. The truth is there are many treatments for MS, but as one commenter to the Globe article said, "It is not in the best interest of big pharma to let the masses know about them."
Treatment #1:
Thomas Burke , Ph.D., visiting scientist at the Mayo Clinic and Yale University, building on the work of Nobel Prize winning researchers, Robert Furchgott, Louis Ignarro, Ferid Murad, for their discovery of nitric oxide and its role in health with a specific focus on the effects of nitric oxide on the circulation, has hypothesized the role of nitric oxide in treating Diabetes.
Without simplifying Dr. Burke’s research, too dramatically, it follows that if nitric oxide can dilate veins and arteries to treat Diabetes and Cardiovascular disease, it can also dilate the veins and arteries in the brain to relieve the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. Therefore, MS sufferers should take steps to increase the flow of nitric oxide in the body.
According to several researchers, including Dr. Steven Warren, gerontologist, one of the best ways to increase nitric oxide flow is to consume high quality and high-flavonal dark chocolate. In order for any chocolate to be high in the flavonoid compounds, catechins and epicatechins, it must be cold-processed, a chocolate-processing technology only found through Xocai Healthy Chocolate.
Treatment #2:
According to Kenneth Gross, MD, we live in inflammatory times. Dr. Gross reports that MS is closely linked to research on inflammation. There are many non-drug solutions to inflammation including grape seed extract and high-quality omega 3 fatty acids. There is also significant research into super-antioxidants, such as Ubiquinone and Glutathione as solutions for inflammation.
Don’t be fooled, however, into thinking that store-bought antioxidants will get the job done. Not all vitamins and minerals are created equal. If you are truly fed up with your illness and want to start working on a real solution, then you must get serious about understanding vitamins.
Treatment #3:
Gabor Maté, MD, author of When the Body Says NO, the Hidden Costs of Stress, reports that diseases like MS are linked to serious repressed emotion, which may have begun to develop as early as the first three to five years of life and then further developed over a lifetime. Dr. Maté believes that if you want to rid yourself of disease, then you must begin to release all that repressed emotion.
One very effective tool for eliminating repressed emotion is EFT or Emotional Freedom Techniques. If you learn all the EFT tapping points, and use this treatment several times a day, you may find significant improvement in your MS symptoms.
So, in summary, if you reduce inflammation, strengthen your immune system, increase flow of nitric oxide and release repressed emotion, you may just find that you don’t need the drug that the government is currently withholding.
Since drugs often create more problems than they solve, this withholding may actually be a blessing in disguise. Don’t sit around waiting for the government. It’s time to take back control of your health and your life today.
It seems that MS sufferers are lobbying hard to gain access to Zamboni’s new drug treatment for MS before drug authorities are ready to make it available. Authorities are citing safety concerns as the reason for the foot-dragging. Paul Hébert, editor-in-chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal and co-author of an editorial in the journal, said in an interview, “There are a lot of people out there that have illnesses that are difficult to treat, and impossible to cure. The difficulty we now have is picking priorities.”
This is yet another example of wellness disempowerment. MS, and most other chronic degenerative diseases (200 and counting), is a disease known to be caused by free radical damage or oxidative stress. The research (Dr. Ray Strand, Dr. Kenneth Cooper, Dr. Steven Warren) supporting this statement is compelling. The truth is there are many treatments for MS, but as one commenter to the Globe article said, "It is not in the best interest of big pharma to let the masses know about them."
Treatment #1:
Thomas Burke , Ph.D., visiting scientist at the Mayo Clinic and Yale University, building on the work of Nobel Prize winning researchers, Robert Furchgott, Louis Ignarro, Ferid Murad, for their discovery of nitric oxide and its role in health with a specific focus on the effects of nitric oxide on the circulation, has hypothesized the role of nitric oxide in treating Diabetes.
Without simplifying Dr. Burke’s research, too dramatically, it follows that if nitric oxide can dilate veins and arteries to treat Diabetes and Cardiovascular disease, it can also dilate the veins and arteries in the brain to relieve the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. Therefore, MS sufferers should take steps to increase the flow of nitric oxide in the body.
According to several researchers, including Dr. Steven Warren, gerontologist, one of the best ways to increase nitric oxide flow is to consume high quality and high-flavonal dark chocolate. In order for any chocolate to be high in the flavonoid compounds, catechins and epicatechins, it must be cold-processed, a chocolate-processing technology only found through Xocai Healthy Chocolate.
Treatment #2:
According to Kenneth Gross, MD, we live in inflammatory times. Dr. Gross reports that MS is closely linked to research on inflammation. There are many non-drug solutions to inflammation including grape seed extract and high-quality omega 3 fatty acids. There is also significant research into super-antioxidants, such as Ubiquinone and Glutathione as solutions for inflammation.
Don’t be fooled, however, into thinking that store-bought antioxidants will get the job done. Not all vitamins and minerals are created equal. If you are truly fed up with your illness and want to start working on a real solution, then you must get serious about understanding vitamins.
Treatment #3:
Gabor Maté, MD, author of When the Body Says NO, the Hidden Costs of Stress, reports that diseases like MS are linked to serious repressed emotion, which may have begun to develop as early as the first three to five years of life and then further developed over a lifetime. Dr. Maté believes that if you want to rid yourself of disease, then you must begin to release all that repressed emotion.
One very effective tool for eliminating repressed emotion is EFT or Emotional Freedom Techniques. If you learn all the EFT tapping points, and use this treatment several times a day, you may find significant improvement in your MS symptoms.
So, in summary, if you reduce inflammation, strengthen your immune system, increase flow of nitric oxide and release repressed emotion, you may just find that you don’t need the drug that the government is currently withholding.
Since drugs often create more problems than they solve, this withholding may actually be a blessing in disguise. Don’t sit around waiting for the government. It’s time to take back control of your health and your life today.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The Hamilton Anxiety Scale is an Excellent Benchmark for Rating Anxiety Levels.
Hamilton Anxiety Scale - Questionnaire
On a scale of 0 to 4, with 0 being "there is no problem" and 4 being "the situation is disabling to you", how do you rate yourself for each of the following symptoms of anxiety.
Symptom Rating Scale (0 = No Problem, 4 = Disabling)
Anxious Mood
1. Worries _____
2. Anticipates worst _____
Tension
3. Startles _____
4. Cries easily _____
5. Restless _____
6. Trembling _____
Fears
7. Fear of the dark _____
8. Fear of strangers _____
9. Fear of being alone _____
10. Fear of animals _____
Insomnia
11. Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep _____
12. Difficulty with nightmares _____
Intellectual
13. Poor concentration _____
14. Memory impairment _____
Depressed Mood
15. Decreased interest in activities _____
16. Anhedonia (inability to experience pleasure) _____
17. Insomnia (inability to get restful sleep) _____
Somatic Complaints: Muscular
18. Muscle aches or pains _____
19. Bruxism (clenching and grinding teeth) _____
Somatic Complaints: Sensory
20. Tinnitus (ringing in ears) _____
21. Blurred vision _____
Cardiovascular Symptoms
22. Tachycardia (abnormally rapid heartbeat) _____
23. Palpitations (noticeably rapid, strong, or irregular heartbeat) _____
24. Chest pain _____
25. Sensation of feeling faint _____
Respiratory Symptoms
26. Chest pressure _____
27. Choking sensation _____
28. Shortness of Breath _____
Gastrointestinal symptoms
29. Dysphagia (difficult or painful swallowing) _____
30. Nausea or Vomiting _____
31. Constipation _____
32. Weight loss _____
33. Abdominal fullness _____
Genitourinary symptoms
34. Urinary frequency or urgency _____
35. Dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation) _____
36. Impotence (inability to achieve an erection) _____
Autonomic Symptoms
37. Dry mouth _____
38. Flushing _____
39. Pallor _____
40. Sweating _____
How Did You Act As You Completed This Questionnaire
41. Fidgety _____
42. Had Tremors _____
43. Paced Around _____
Once you have completed the Hamilton Anxiety Scale questionnaire, total up your score.
0-17: Normal
18-24: Mild anxiety
25-29: Moderate anxiety
30 +: Severe anxiety
No matter your score, if you feel any of the symptoms outlined on the Hamilton Anxiety Scale, there is help available. I strongly recommend that you try Gary Craig's Emotional Freedom Techniques or EFT to get rid of anxiety and start taking back control of your health and your life today.
On a scale of 0 to 4, with 0 being "there is no problem" and 4 being "the situation is disabling to you", how do you rate yourself for each of the following symptoms of anxiety.
Symptom Rating Scale (0 = No Problem, 4 = Disabling)
Anxious Mood
1. Worries _____
2. Anticipates worst _____
Tension
3. Startles _____
4. Cries easily _____
5. Restless _____
6. Trembling _____
Fears
7. Fear of the dark _____
8. Fear of strangers _____
9. Fear of being alone _____
10. Fear of animals _____
Insomnia
11. Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep _____
12. Difficulty with nightmares _____
Intellectual
13. Poor concentration _____
14. Memory impairment _____
Depressed Mood
15. Decreased interest in activities _____
16. Anhedonia (inability to experience pleasure) _____
17. Insomnia (inability to get restful sleep) _____
Somatic Complaints: Muscular
18. Muscle aches or pains _____
19. Bruxism (clenching and grinding teeth) _____
Somatic Complaints: Sensory
20. Tinnitus (ringing in ears) _____
21. Blurred vision _____
Cardiovascular Symptoms
22. Tachycardia (abnormally rapid heartbeat) _____
23. Palpitations (noticeably rapid, strong, or irregular heartbeat) _____
24. Chest pain _____
25. Sensation of feeling faint _____
Respiratory Symptoms
26. Chest pressure _____
27. Choking sensation _____
28. Shortness of Breath _____
Gastrointestinal symptoms
29. Dysphagia (difficult or painful swallowing) _____
30. Nausea or Vomiting _____
31. Constipation _____
32. Weight loss _____
33. Abdominal fullness _____
Genitourinary symptoms
34. Urinary frequency or urgency _____
35. Dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation) _____
36. Impotence (inability to achieve an erection) _____
Autonomic Symptoms
37. Dry mouth _____
38. Flushing _____
39. Pallor _____
40. Sweating _____
How Did You Act As You Completed This Questionnaire
41. Fidgety _____
42. Had Tremors _____
43. Paced Around _____
Once you have completed the Hamilton Anxiety Scale questionnaire, total up your score.
0-17: Normal
18-24: Mild anxiety
25-29: Moderate anxiety
30 +: Severe anxiety
No matter your score, if you feel any of the symptoms outlined on the Hamilton Anxiety Scale, there is help available. I strongly recommend that you try Gary Craig's Emotional Freedom Techniques or EFT to get rid of anxiety and start taking back control of your health and your life today.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Learning How To Stop Worrying is a Matter of Understanding Risk Management Better.
Life is full of risks! If you are a worry wart, then learning how to stop worrying is simply a matter of gaining a better understanding of risk management.
Effective risk management is usually thought of as a business skill, but it can be used just as effectively in your personal life. Risk management and the skills involved with learning how to stop worrying go hand in hand.
Just like in business, personal risk management involves six basic steps. First you take the time to plan for risks. Then you identify what those risks may be. Third, you analyze those risks, quantitatively, to determine their severity. Fourth, you analyze those risks qualitatively. Fifth, you decide how you will respond if the risk occurs. Sixth, you monitor and control the situation so that you are ready when and if the risk occurs.
If you don't believe that this is all there is to learning how to stop worrying, please know that these six basic steps to effective risk management form a part of an internationally recognized problem solving business model and this model is used by corporations all over the world. In fact, it's considered to be the global standard for risk management. I learned about it from the Project Management Institute in the US. The book is called "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge."
Consider a personal life challenge like going on a hike with a couple of kids. You could just throw caution to the wind and go for the hike and then you will be at the mercy of the risks that are out there. By living life this way, you create a very reactive situation. In other words, you are simply forced to react as things go wrong or right as you really have left yourself no other alternative. If your goal is to learn how to stop worrying so that you can reduce your stress level, then this model is not a good one.
Living reactively will create all the right conditions for constant worrying and even obsessive worrying. As a poorly managed situation, such as a wilderness hike with children, begins to fall apart, the effects of worrying are felt by everyone involved. For someone who wants to know how to stop worrying, this model is a really great way to set yourself up for failure and because of the potential safety risks, the failure could be a big one.
However, a hike is not usually something that is a regular part of life and so may not be a great example. Let's consider something that is a part of daily life and that is just getting through the day. If you are reactive and have no plan or systems in place for managing a day, then you will be forced to be at the mercy of whatever the day throws at you. It's a perfect recipe for constant, obsessive worrying.
Conversely, if you develop a few systems, such as a to do list or some support systems for how you will handle each routine thing that happens in the day, then you will not be caught off guard when life just happens. This will free you up to be better able to respond effectively to occurrences that are out of the ordinary. Since day to day life will not be so stressful, you will have more energy to be able to deal with anomalies. As you become better at risk management in day to day life, you will also naturally be better at risk management when crazy things happen.
Being a good risk manager is not really something you do once in a while; it's more a way of being. If you use effective risk management skills in every area of your life, then the need to worry disappears because you feel like you have a lot more control. Basically, if you want to learn how to stop worrying, then becoming an effective risk manager is definitely a habit you want to pick up.
Effective risk management is usually thought of as a business skill, but it can be used just as effectively in your personal life. Risk management and the skills involved with learning how to stop worrying go hand in hand.
Just like in business, personal risk management involves six basic steps. First you take the time to plan for risks. Then you identify what those risks may be. Third, you analyze those risks, quantitatively, to determine their severity. Fourth, you analyze those risks qualitatively. Fifth, you decide how you will respond if the risk occurs. Sixth, you monitor and control the situation so that you are ready when and if the risk occurs.
If you don't believe that this is all there is to learning how to stop worrying, please know that these six basic steps to effective risk management form a part of an internationally recognized problem solving business model and this model is used by corporations all over the world. In fact, it's considered to be the global standard for risk management. I learned about it from the Project Management Institute in the US. The book is called "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge."
Consider a personal life challenge like going on a hike with a couple of kids. You could just throw caution to the wind and go for the hike and then you will be at the mercy of the risks that are out there. By living life this way, you create a very reactive situation. In other words, you are simply forced to react as things go wrong or right as you really have left yourself no other alternative. If your goal is to learn how to stop worrying so that you can reduce your stress level, then this model is not a good one.
Living reactively will create all the right conditions for constant worrying and even obsessive worrying. As a poorly managed situation, such as a wilderness hike with children, begins to fall apart, the effects of worrying are felt by everyone involved. For someone who wants to know how to stop worrying, this model is a really great way to set yourself up for failure and because of the potential safety risks, the failure could be a big one.
However, a hike is not usually something that is a regular part of life and so may not be a great example. Let's consider something that is a part of daily life and that is just getting through the day. If you are reactive and have no plan or systems in place for managing a day, then you will be forced to be at the mercy of whatever the day throws at you. It's a perfect recipe for constant, obsessive worrying.
Conversely, if you develop a few systems, such as a to do list or some support systems for how you will handle each routine thing that happens in the day, then you will not be caught off guard when life just happens. This will free you up to be better able to respond effectively to occurrences that are out of the ordinary. Since day to day life will not be so stressful, you will have more energy to be able to deal with anomalies. As you become better at risk management in day to day life, you will also naturally be better at risk management when crazy things happen.
Being a good risk manager is not really something you do once in a while; it's more a way of being. If you use effective risk management skills in every area of your life, then the need to worry disappears because you feel like you have a lot more control. Basically, if you want to learn how to stop worrying, then becoming an effective risk manager is definitely a habit you want to pick up.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Does Repressed Anger Plague You In Your Adult Life?
Do you suffer from serious repressed anger and other repressed emotions? Most people don't remember the first three years of life and so are not aware if those years were spent building up a store of repressed anger and other repressed emotions.
Dr. Gabor Mate is a medical doctor who works with drug addicted patients in the downtown core of Vancouver, British Columbia's East side and he is also the author of an excellent, bestselling book called, "When the Body Says No, The Hidden Costs of Stress."
In his book, Dr Mate goes to great lengths to show the medical consequences of emotional stress and repressed anger. It seems that when we are born, the brain is not yet fully developed and so the environment, to which we are exposed in those first three to five years of life, has a huge impact on us, as the brain completes its development. What's really interesting is that, according to Mate, the human being is one of the only animals in nature that is born without a fully developed brain.
Given this fact, parents have to be extra careful, to ensure that the environment, to which a baby is exposed in those very early years, is not highly stressed and the parent must be very emotionally present during that time period. If not, the child will develop a behavior pattern of serious repressed anger and other repressed emotions as a way of coping with that early childhood trauma.
Many, who read this, would think that Dr. Mate is speaking of parents who are addicts or who are abusive, but he is not. Of course, people with these dramatic problems, certainly do not make great parents, but unfortunately, Dr. Mate is not limiting this problem of repressed emotion to these extreme examples.
Emotionally unavailable and highly stressed parents could simply be a family with two working parents. In other words, the stressful environment does not have to be extreme, in modern terms. The outcome of even a moderately stressed environment is that the child learns, very young, to repress emotion and bottle it all up inside.
On the surface, you might think this is just the way it is and kids need to toughen up, but it seems there is a consequence for highly stressed kids that occurs much later in life.
Dr. Gabor Mate's book primarliy focuses on the links between repressed emotion and chronic disease. Stressed kids that make it to adulthood are far more likely to develop a serious chronic degenerative disease than children who grow up in low stress homes with emotionally available parents.
So, what's a child to do?
Well, it's not so much that the parents can do anything. Often it's far too late for the parents to fix the problem, since the kids have usually long since passed those early childhood years. Rather, the solution lies in the adult child learning how to release all that repressed emotional stress.
Many of us live in denial that we had troubled childhoods and so we deny, as adults, that we have problems that need to be addressed. We simply suffer the consequences and struggle along because there seems to be a social stigma attached to the idea of a rocky childhood. And yet, most of us had one.
It seems to me that a better solution would be for everyone to simply accept that life was stressful when we were young and that we all suffer from varying levels of repressed emotion.
In most cases, it's not a family's fault if both parents had to work or if the single parent must work. This was and is the socio-economic model of our North American society. Rather than try to find someone to blame, live in denial and be upset all the time, it seems wiser to just assume we all have repressed emotion that needs to be released and deal with it.
The only question that really remains, if you follow my logic, is how do you release that repressed anger and other repressed emotions and solve the problem of emotional stress, without spending a fortune on counselling and without popping millions or antidepressants. Something must be done, though, because living in denial and letting chronic disease take over has completely overwhelmed our medical systems in North America.
The first step, in solving this massive problem, is acceptance, and the second step is to find a tool to use that is 'low to no cost' that can get the job done, effectively and efficiently.
Thankfully, one such tool does exist and it is very powerful. The best tool, I have ever found, for just this purpose is EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). No other counselling tool is more suitable than EFT.
My best recommendation is don't let repressed anger and other repressed emotions, that developed when you were a baby, continue to take you down the path to chronic degenerative disease. Stop that process now by using EFT to release all that emotion and start taking back control of your health and your life today.
Dr. Gabor Mate is a medical doctor who works with drug addicted patients in the downtown core of Vancouver, British Columbia's East side and he is also the author of an excellent, bestselling book called, "When the Body Says No, The Hidden Costs of Stress."
In his book, Dr Mate goes to great lengths to show the medical consequences of emotional stress and repressed anger. It seems that when we are born, the brain is not yet fully developed and so the environment, to which we are exposed in those first three to five years of life, has a huge impact on us, as the brain completes its development. What's really interesting is that, according to Mate, the human being is one of the only animals in nature that is born without a fully developed brain.
Given this fact, parents have to be extra careful, to ensure that the environment, to which a baby is exposed in those very early years, is not highly stressed and the parent must be very emotionally present during that time period. If not, the child will develop a behavior pattern of serious repressed anger and other repressed emotions as a way of coping with that early childhood trauma.
Many, who read this, would think that Dr. Mate is speaking of parents who are addicts or who are abusive, but he is not. Of course, people with these dramatic problems, certainly do not make great parents, but unfortunately, Dr. Mate is not limiting this problem of repressed emotion to these extreme examples.
Emotionally unavailable and highly stressed parents could simply be a family with two working parents. In other words, the stressful environment does not have to be extreme, in modern terms. The outcome of even a moderately stressed environment is that the child learns, very young, to repress emotion and bottle it all up inside.
On the surface, you might think this is just the way it is and kids need to toughen up, but it seems there is a consequence for highly stressed kids that occurs much later in life.
Dr. Gabor Mate's book primarliy focuses on the links between repressed emotion and chronic disease. Stressed kids that make it to adulthood are far more likely to develop a serious chronic degenerative disease than children who grow up in low stress homes with emotionally available parents.
So, what's a child to do?
Well, it's not so much that the parents can do anything. Often it's far too late for the parents to fix the problem, since the kids have usually long since passed those early childhood years. Rather, the solution lies in the adult child learning how to release all that repressed emotional stress.
Many of us live in denial that we had troubled childhoods and so we deny, as adults, that we have problems that need to be addressed. We simply suffer the consequences and struggle along because there seems to be a social stigma attached to the idea of a rocky childhood. And yet, most of us had one.
It seems to me that a better solution would be for everyone to simply accept that life was stressful when we were young and that we all suffer from varying levels of repressed emotion.
In most cases, it's not a family's fault if both parents had to work or if the single parent must work. This was and is the socio-economic model of our North American society. Rather than try to find someone to blame, live in denial and be upset all the time, it seems wiser to just assume we all have repressed emotion that needs to be released and deal with it.
The only question that really remains, if you follow my logic, is how do you release that repressed anger and other repressed emotions and solve the problem of emotional stress, without spending a fortune on counselling and without popping millions or antidepressants. Something must be done, though, because living in denial and letting chronic disease take over has completely overwhelmed our medical systems in North America.
The first step, in solving this massive problem, is acceptance, and the second step is to find a tool to use that is 'low to no cost' that can get the job done, effectively and efficiently.
Thankfully, one such tool does exist and it is very powerful. The best tool, I have ever found, for just this purpose is EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). No other counselling tool is more suitable than EFT.
My best recommendation is don't let repressed anger and other repressed emotions, that developed when you were a baby, continue to take you down the path to chronic degenerative disease. Stop that process now by using EFT to release all that emotion and start taking back control of your health and your life today.
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