Strictly-Stress

The Business of Parenting - Part 3

2010-11-23T14:45:00.000-08:00

So now, we go farther with laying out the project. We are still just at the beginning stages, but it’s time to get just a little more detailed.

The question to ask, at this point, is "What exactly does empowered and well- balanced look like as far as children are concerned?"

Does it mean your future adult is polite and respectful? What about self-sufficient and independent? Or does it mean the child is all of these plus a whole bunch of other personality traits and characteristics.

I think, it’s relatively easy to raise a child to have a small handful of positive traits, but not quite so easy to pull off a fully, well-rounded future adult. A child who is polite, respectful and obedient is raised one way, but a child who is polite, respectful and obedient, as well as self-sufficient, independent and empowered, must be raised in quite a different way.

People who say my children are well-behaved, often think I must be very strict and that is how I get my children to behave in this way. However, this is not the case. My children do not behave in this way because they are scared of me. Rather, my children choose to behave this way, because they are empowered and they realize that it’s the best way to get what they want out of life. My children do not see the point in acting in ways that will sabotage their life goals. Of course, they have their bad days, but don't we all; however, overall, they have been given tools that allow them to be empowered most of the time.

If you want real empowerment for your children too, then you have to break out the really big "child development" guns, and the best resource I have ever found to make this happen is Dr. Peter Bensen and the Search Institute. Dr. Peter Benson has a list, a seemingly simple list, of 40 items that he calls Developmental Assets and this list forms the foundation of my parenting technique.

Given that my specialty is stress management, I choose to call Dr. Bensen's developmental assets by another name. I choose to call the 40 items on the list stress management assets and problem-solving tools.

You can see Dr. Bensen’s site by going to

The Business of Parenting - Part 2

2010-11-18T17:53:00.000-08:00

So, now it’s time to decide how far you’re going to go with the design or redesign of your future adults. You don’t have to make all the decisions right away, but you do have to start to get a handle on what you would like to see happen. So far, you have decided that something needs to happen with regards to planning or modifying the behavior component or the attitude component of your child and you’ve decided that this project is important enough that you are going to get fully behind it and commit as many resources as you have available to you.

Of course, if there are two project managers on this project -- two parents, that is -- by now, you have also secured the commitment of the other project manager. I can’t think of very many projects out there, that were finished easily or on budget, if there were two owners and both didn’t want to see the project completed successfully.

For example, if you are designing a new computer software program and one project manager organizes getting a whole bunch of programming completed and then the other comes along and deletes all the files, just think how far you would NOT get fast.

Parenting is like that. Both project managers have to be fully on board at all times and working as a high-functioning team. Like any major project, the stakes are too high to allow destructive actions from one or more team members.

Even if you are operating solo, unless the other project manager is deceased, both project managers have to decide jointly to get behind the project to produce a well-balanced, well-behaved adult. The behavior and attitude components in unfinished adults tend to be highly sensitive and once damaged, they are not easily repaired and can malfunction repeatedly for years to come. It is by far the best idea to do everything possible to avoid damage in the first place. If you have one project manager constantly sabotaging the other’s efforts, this project will fall flat on its face fast.

In business, we call this industrial espionage and in parenting, it’s called psychological warfare. Just ask any unfinished adult (child) how he or she feels about living in a war zone between two project managers who have decided not to work together as a team.

If you are currently, a project manager and you have been using these types of tactics, then knock it off immediately. Become organized now and join the project team in a constructive manner or I can assure you that you will more than fail your 20 year performance review.

Eventually, the unfinished adult becomes the owner of the project and when that happens, they tend to be far less forgiving than when they were still in process.

The Business of Parenting - Part 1

2010-11-12T18:58:00.000-08:00

Sometimes good stress management is just a matter of changing how you think about life. As a businessperson and trained project manager, I often think of life in terms of projects that have a beginning and an end. For that reason, I am going to use project management and business language to explain the stress involved with parenting.

People often say to me, your kids are so well-behaved - how did you ever get such good kids. Well, believe me, when I say, it’s no happy accident that I have well-behaved kids. I put in a lot of time and effort to making this a reality and I use an approach called empowerment. This means that I go out of my way to teach my kids how to think for themselves and make good decisions; I set boundaries and offer love and support and all that good stuff, but the three biggest things I do to produce such well-behaved kids is that I control what crosses their lips, I control what they see and hear in the media and I control their schedule. None of this is rocket science, but it is also not for the weak-hearted. As I said before, my parenting accomplishments are no accident. It may sound strange, but I have carefully planned how I will raise my children and you can too.

The first step to solving any problem is to decide how serious you are about fixing the problem. If you aren’t going to get serious, then don’t even bother getting started. Parenting is not like a New Year's Resolution. You can't just forget about it once you are bored or at the first sign of trouble.

If you are going to be a parent, then it’s going to take hard work and a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Don’t try to fool yourself or anyone else into believing that you will be successful if you're always too tired or too busy or too anything else. In the business world, any business that wants to solve a big problem, like building a bridge or filming a movie or designing a new computer program has to get behind that project with all of the company’s resources. Parenting is no different. If you truly want to turn your kids into well-behaved, empowered and healthy and well-balanced, then you have to get behind the project and commit all the resources you have available. It will require change and often it’s big change. Are you prepared to make these big changes or are you just planning to PLAY at fixing the problem? If you aren’t planning to fix the problem for real, then you will probably do more harm than good.

Over the years, I have witnessed parent after parent whine about their kids’ behavior. They blame it on the system and they blame it on this label or that label, but the truth is that kids haven’t changed much in the last 100 years, except that maybe they have access to way more information. What has changed is what we feed them that messes up their body chemistry, what we let them see and hear, which messes up their mental health and what we let them do which messes up their future.

I am not talking about going back to the days of Little House on the Prairie, but I am talking about big changes.

So, to sum up, the first step in solving any wellness challenge is to get serious. I call it developing a Wellness Charter. You have to commit to solving the problem or you have to charter the project. To charter something means to give it the go ahead. There is no project in history that has been completed successfully without the company first fully chartering the project. Solving your parenting wellness challenge will be no exception to the rule.

Panic Attacks -- Anxiety Disorders Eclipsing Country as Millions Victimized by Panic Attacks.

2010-08-17T10:27:00.001-07:00

Panic attacks and general anxiety are sweeping across North America at alarming rates. The whole situation is quite distressing to read about. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, over 18% of American adults, have anxiety disorder and the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry [Vol 60, No.7, July 1999], reports health costs for anxiety exceed 42 billion dollars annually.

In doing a little research into companies that could help, I found BMD Publishing and its tested and proven Panic Away Program to help panic sufferers achieve immediate anxiety relief. (Go to End Panic Forever.)

Mr. Barry McDonagh, former panic attack sufferer, and founder of Panic Away says, "People are often afraid that their anxious feelings indicate mental illness; however, this is a myth." Mr. McDonagh emphasizes the root cause of panic and anxiety is behavioral and not about mental illness at all. By addressing the behaviour problem, 42,656 grateful users have successfully stopped panic attacks.

BMD’s Panic Away addresses the real issue behind panic attacks. “A person's initial panic attack can be so impacting that it leaves a strong imprint on the psyche", says Mr McDonagh. He adds, "This mental imprint generates a cycle or loop of anxiety whereby the person develops an unhealthy fear of having another panic attack and people can spend anywhere from months to years caught in this repetitive cycle of anxiety." The fear can then expand considerably and manifest as physical symptoms such as minor illnesses, pain and even serious disease.

Panic Away’s One Move Technique gives people the immediate ability to stop fearing another panic attack. It is very simple, yet amazingly effective. BMD stresses, “There is absolutely no need for an anxiety sufferer to regress into the past to discover the cause of the initial panic attack. All that is needed is a willingness to break out of the anxiety cycle right now."

It was very interesting to read about a solution that was not drug based. The Panic Away solution matches directly with the teachings of Dr. Norm Shealy, the stress management and pain management pioneer, who reports, "It is the interaction of the four main fields of stress; the chemical, physical, electromagnetic, and emotional; that is the cause of all illness...not some, all." Given how broad and complex, is the problem of disease, it makes sense that drugs alone could never do the job.

Alison Petrie, great-grandmother and 57-year anxiety sufferer says, “Thanks to Panic Away, at the age of 62, I am starting a life I dreamed of living for over 50 years.” Ms. Petrie is one of hundreds of people with good things to say about the Panic Away Program.

To find out more about Panic Away and the One Move Technique, please visit "End Panic Forever".

For additional information about other stress management solutions, please visit Strictly Stress Management.

Stress Video: The Science of Stress!

2010-07-21T10:03:00.000-07:00

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.

More Miracles Of Cocoa - 'vitamin' Health Benefits Could Outshine Penicillin

2010-07-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

Buy Healthy Chocolate Now!

It's a modern medicinal miracle. Health food advocates haven't been this excited since Psyllium took the nation by storm. Cocoa is for real and it apparently does everything.

A short while ago, it was said to make us smarter and before then it could improve blood flow and maybe deter cancer. Even the news that most of these studies are funded by chocolate maker Mars, Inc. didn't break into the national news.

According to the latest rave study, the benefits of epicatechin are one more reason to be in love with cocoa.

The health benefits of epicatechin, a compound found in cocoa, are so striking that it may rival penicillin and anaesthesia in terms of importance to public health, reports Marina Murphy in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI. Norman Hollenberg, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, told C&I that epicatechin is so important that it should be considered a vitamin.

Hollenberg has spent years studying the benefits of cocoa drinking on the Kuna people in Panama. He found that the risk of 4 of the 5 most common killer diseases: stroke, heart failure, cancer and diabetes, is reduced to less then 10% in the Kuna. They can drink up to 40 cups of cocoa a week. Natural cocoa has high levels of epicatechin.

'If these observations predict the future, then we can say without blushing that they are among the most important observations in the history of medicine,' Hollenberg says. ‘We all agree that penicillin and anaesthesia are enormously important. But epicatechin could potentially get rid of 4 of the 5 most common diseases in the western world, how important does that make epicatechin?... I would say very important’

Nutrition expert Daniel Fabricant says that Hollenberg’s results, although observational, are so impressive that they may even warrant a rethink of how vitamins are defined. Epicatechin does not currently meet the criteria. Vitamins are defined as essential to the normal functioning, metabolism, regulation and growth of cells and deficiency is usually linked to disease. At the moment, the science does not support epicatechin having an essential role. But, Fabricant, who is vice president scientific affairs at the Natural Products Association, says: 'the link between high epicatechin consumption and a decreased risk of killer disease is so striking, it should be investigated further. It may be that these diseases are the result of epicatechin deficiency,' he says.

Currently, there are only 13 essential vitamins. An increase in the number of vitamins would provide significant opportunity for nutritional companies to expand their range of products. Flavanols like epicatechin are removed for commercial cocoas because they tend to have a bitter taste. So there is huge scope for nutritional companies to develop epicatechin supplements or capsules

Epicatechin is also found in teas, wine, chocolate and some fruit and vegetables.

http://www.science20.com/news/more_miracles_of_cocoa_vitamin_health_benefits_could_outshine_penicillin
Source: Society of Chemical Industry.
By News Staff
March 11th 2007

Time for an Attitude Adjustment!

2010-07-03T15:05:00.000-07:00

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.

Parenting Stress at the Hands of McDonald's Restaurants

2010-06-29T22:22:00.000-07:00

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.

Don’t Waste Your Time Lobbying the Government for Drugs.

2010-06-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

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.

The Hamilton Anxiety Scale is an Excellent Benchmark for Rating Anxiety Levels.

2010-05-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

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.

Learning How To Stop Worrying is a Matter of Understanding Risk Management Better.

2010-05-24T19:44:00.001-07:00

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.

Does Repressed Anger Plague You In Your Adult Life?

2010-05-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

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.

Social Withdrawal Is Hard to Identify In Today's Coccooning World.

2010-05-20T22:56:00.000-07:00

In psychology texts, social withdrawal is identified as a dysfunctional behavior. There are many conditions and diseases, which could be identified, if a patient exhibits the symptom called social withdrawal.

One of the most obvious conditions, of course, is high stress levels. Our bodies are hardwired with a fight or flight mechanism for dealing with stressors and if the flight aspect of this protective feature is used too often, a medical professional would probably say that you have moved into a somewhat unhealthy arena.

While needing occasional downtime is considered a healthy coping solution, extreme social anxiety leading to full withdrawal from society would be considered bad. The most extreme version of this problem is called agoraphobia, in which, the anxiety sufferer is terrified to leave home for even a few minutes.

However, in modern times, it may be very difficult, indeed, to identify a person who may have progressed to an unhealthy state because it is so easy to function very well without ever leaving your house. It makes me wonder if our high-stress world has not created more agoraphobics that we realize.

Marketing guru, Faith Popcorn, named this phenomena "coccooning", nearly 30 years ago. More and more companies are designing products and services that allow people to never have to leave their homes. You can have an online business, work online, shop online, and even go to school online. You would never know if someone was just being normal or if they were actually needing medical help.

It is becoming very hard to know whether a person is doing a good job of self-care by making sure they have enough alone time or "me" time or if they are afraid of the world and hiding out from all the stress.

If you think you or someone you know may be suffering from the early or advanced stages of social withdrawal, resulting from severe stress in your life, make sure you get some help because even though the world can be a big scary place, there are many tools out there to help improve coping abilities.

For example, you can use EFT or Emotional Freedom Techniques to help manage stress so that you don't feel the need to hide and then you can enjoy a full and abundant life.

The EFT Technique could really go a long way to helping you deal with irrational stress levels so that social withdrawal does not become necessary.

A specific set up phrase to use to begin tearing down that stress mountain is as follows:

"Even though, my stress level is out of control and I feel so frustrated all the time, I truly love and accept myself and all my feelings."

OR

"Even though, I have way too much going on in my life right now and I feel out of control, I deeply and completely accept myself."

Then for the reminder phrase, you could just say, "stress is out of control" or "way too busy to think straight".

So with that tool available, let's hope we can all get stress under control and stop feeling that extreme social anxiety and social stress. It's always a sad thing when a person begins to feel so helpless that he or she moves into full social withdrawal.

Are You the Parent of an "Orchid" Child?

2010-05-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

Are You the Parent of an "Orchid" Child? Orchid Children are Highly Reactive to Stress and Need The Right Kind of Support.

By Anne McIlroy, Science Reporter

From The Globe and MailPublished on Friday, Feb. 05, 2010

They are called “orchid children,” highly sensitive youngsters who are vulnerable to behavior and learning problems if they live in a stressful environment, but nevertheless can outperform their peers if they come from a supportive home.

Research published Friday bolsters a new theory that there is a positive side to traits and genes associated with susceptibility to emotional problems and cognitive deficits.

It recasts those vulnerabilities as potential strengths, and says they can help children excel, given the right kind of care and attention.

Read full article

Beat Oxidative Stress by Neutralizing Free Radicals with Healthy, Natural Chocolate.

2010-05-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

Stressful lifestyles and unhealthy food leads to massive free radical production in your body...

Free radicals lead to oxidative stress or free radical damage...

Oxidative stress or free radical damage leads to serious chronic degenerative disease...

The mega-antioxidants in healthy chocolate neutralize free radicals...

Fewer free radicals equals less oxidative stress or free radical damage...

Less oxidative stress or free radical damage means reduced risk of disease...

Eat healthy chocolate today to fight disease!!!

Get Healthy Chocolate Now!

EFT Tapping, The Ultimate Stress Solution

2010-03-30T22:33:00.000-07:00

EFT Tapping or the Emotional Freedom Technique is not just the newest kid on the block as far as really amazing stress management techniques is concerned, it's much more than that. EFT can, not only, help you manage your stress, it can help you eliminate stress from your life forever and just about every other negative emotion or physical ailment that you have ever experienced.

The really amazing thing is that it's not that complicated. In fact, it could very well be one of the easiest stress solutions ever discovered. And it is very cheap to access. If fact, it's free and you do it on yourself. It is completely self-administered.

So what's ailing you? Do you have repressed emotion in your life? Do you have physical pain? Do you have a weight problem? Do you have really ridiculous levels of stress? EFT tapping can help get rid of all of it.

Dr. Gabor Mate, author of When the Body Says No: The Hidden Costs of Stress says that a very high percentage of chronic disease in life, including all the big ones like Cancer, Alzheimer's, Multiple Sclerosis, Asthma and many others, all have very big links to serious repressed emotion. The development of your brain (healthy or unhealthy) in the first 3-5 years of your life sets the stage for a lifelong battle with repressed emotion, often leading to disease.

Dr. Mate tells us that if we never get rid of that repressed emotion and start living to our full potential, we are far more likely to end up with serious chronic disease than people who had a far less stressed early childhood. EFT tapping can help you release those emotions and give you back your life.

On a personal level, I have used EFT for all kinds of issues, all with great success. I use it to shut off the chatter in my head when I can't get to sleep, I used it to get through a really big test for my Master's degree, and I have even used it to restore my vision (I have been near sighted for over fifteen years). Sometimes the stress release is immediate as was the case with my test stress and my sleep stress and other times the process takes a little longer as has been the case with my vision. My vision has improved, but it is not perfect yet. Maybe my vision will never be perfect, but I have noticed a marked improvement since I started using this technique.

So try EFT Tapping and start taking back control of your health and your life.

Dr. Oz says, "You're the Army!"

2010-02-21T13:34:00.000-08:00

Wow, I just had the pleasure of watching a short conversation on YouTube between Dr. Oz and Jorge Cruise, author of the Belly Fat Cure. It's well worth the watch. Sugar is the silent killer.

If you want to start addressing the problem of sugar in your diet, please visit Dr. Ray Strand's Releasing Fat Website and sign up for the Healthy for Life program. If you use my discount code "futurefocus" it will only cost you $39.96 USD for the 3 month program (12 weeks). You will receive tons of information, access to a lifestyle journal, recipes and recommended food lists.

The reality is that sugar is more addictive than cocaine and heroin, and it's more destructive than a natural disaster when you consider how many people die from sugar-related chronic disease each year. Are you just going to sit around waiting to become a statistic or are you going to fight oxidative stress and live? Join the army! Let your friends and family hear Dr. Oz's message today.

Oxidative Stress Report:Diabetes in Pregant Women Increases Birth Defects in Children by Four Times

2010-02-19T11:47:00.000-08:00

The more research scientists do, the more they learn how dangerous is the problem of free radicals and oxidative stress. An article from Reuters Online News Service reports that women who already have diabetes before getting pregnant are four times more likely to produce a child with a birth defect, such as Spina Bifida, Cleft Palate or heart defects. It has long been understood that the main cause of all chronic degenerative disease, including Diabetes, is free radicals and oxidative stress. More simply put, the better job you do of eliminating free radicals, the less likely you are to get sick from chronic disease.

The more I read and study about wellness, the more I realize how absolutely helpless we are against disease and dysfunction without the help of antioxidants. This is so because antioxidants are capable of neutralizing free oxygen radicals before they can do more damage. We also, absolutely must, engage in extreme lifestyle change (Dr. Ray Strand).

One way for people to stabilize their blood sugar, reverse diseases such as Diabetes and lose weight is through the consumption of foods high in antioxidant flavonoids.(Dr. Steve Warren).

One such food is pure, unadulterated cocoa beans made into healthy dark chocolate. The cocoa can't be beat up and highly-processed, like most of the food we eat today, and it can't be filled with unhealthy milk and refined sugar, like most chocolate on the market today. No, it has to be cold-pressed and gently treated and made into healthy and yummy dark chocolate using low-glycemic sweeteners such as Agave Nectar, Palatinose, and of course, naturally-occurring, low glycemic fructose.

If you want to get the healthiest, yummiest dark chocolate on the planet, just follow this link to Xocai.

Of course, there is more to reversing disease and losing weight than just eating healthy chocolate, but increasing the amount of antioxidants you consume is a very big step in the right direction. Isn't it time to give your future children a fighting chance?

Click here to read the full Reuters Article.

The Ever-Increasing Sound Assault On Our Bodies.

2010-01-16T21:19:00.000-08:00

Stress Quote: When Mozart was composing at the end of the eighteenth century, the city of Vienna was so quiet that fire alarms could be given verbally, by a shouting watchman mounted on top of St. Stefan's Cathedral.

In twentieth-century society, the noise level is such that it keeps knocking our bodies out of tune and out of their natural rhythms. This ever-increasing assault of sound upon our ears, minds, and bodies adds to the stress load of civilized beings trying to live in a highly complex environment. Steven Halpern.

Now, we're in the 21st century and there is no sign of improvement in sight.

See a stress quote list and a cure for anxiety and panic.

Reciprocal Wellness - Our Generosity Is Key For Haiti Right Now.

2010-01-15T13:15:00.000-08:00

The Children's Hunger Fund (CHF) is on the ground in Haiti. If you have $24 to spare, they could really use your help. Helping others increases feel good Dopamine hormones (good stress) and Oxytocin Hormones (trust and more good stress) in our bodies, so give today. Here is a great video from the CHF.

Ignorance is Not Bliss When It Comes To Financial Stress

2010-01-12T22:59:00.000-08:00

Get Steve G. Jones' End Finance Stress Hypnosis Program Now!

How much debt are you in? $5000? $10,000? $20,000? More? What a sad state affairs for people in North America. We are obese, stressed out, sick with serious disease and laden with debt. We aren't just chubby or rotund - we are fat; we aren't just stressed - we are suffering from clinical anxiety disorders and depression; we aren't just "under the weather" - we are dying from quality-of-life-stealing, chronic degenerative disease; and we aren't just in a little debt - we are drowning under a mountain of bills that we may never get out from under in our lifetimes. What a sad commentary. What ever happened to our quality of life? Where did it go? Can we even get it back? Ever?

Money is a big one for many people these days. They are so stressed out about money. Debt loads are huge, income levels are dropping, job security is disappearing and costs, of course, are rising and rising fast.

I would love to be able to say that the cure is as simple as 1,2,3. With many of my stress topics, I have been able to point to a food that you can stop eating or a scientific solution that can be implemented or a specific herb that can be taken and suddenly the unbearable stress or disease that so many suffer from can be lifted away.

This is not the case with money. Money stress or financial stress is a learned thing. You are either comfortable with it or not. If you are comfortable with money, then debt will not bother you. If you have a good relationship with money (even if you don't have much), then getting more will simply be a journey or a quest. You might seek out different money making ventures, you might increase your knowledge as you go through life and, overtime, money will not cause you much stress.

If, however, you are not comfortable with money or you have issues with money that have been left over from childhood, then money will be a problem for you. Debt will cause you stress, losing a job or being temporarily unemployed will drive you to the brink, and earning money will always be a chore. You will probably continually sabotage yourself. It's all in your head.

One of the best ways to overpower your mind so that you can begin to relax around money is through hypnosis. You have to start learning some new money patterns. You need to give yourself permission to have money. Only then can you take the steps needed to have money. To show the power of suggestion, watch Steve G Jones perform some humorous street hypnosis that temporarily renders people no longer able to count to ten.

Get Steve G. Jones' End Finance Stress Hypnosis Program Now!

One of those steps is education. As with any stress related issue, education is key. The more you know about food and your body's physiology, the more likely you will be to lose weight and keep it off. Money is the same, the more you know about money and finance, the more likely you will be to find ways to earn money and keep it flowing into your life.

Does Emotional Eating Have You Stressed Out.

2010-01-11T22:24:00.000-08:00

Check out the FAT BURNING FURNACE now!!

Emotional eating is a hoax. It may been something emotional that got you started on over eating in the first place and it may be partially due to bad habits that you continue eating too much, but the single biggest reason why we are all so overweight is North America is because we are addicted to processed, high-glycemic carbohydrates.

Check out the FAT BURNING FURNACE now!!

STOP SPIKING YOUR BLOOD SUGAR!

You have been on a blood sugar roller coaster for far too long. You eat a high sugar meal (all the whites/wheats), which spikes your blood sugar and for a short time you become hyperglycemic (high blood sugar).

Then you come down off this high and your body drops into a low blood sugar range called hypoglycemia. When this happens, your brain freaks out and starts to panic because it needs glucose (sugar) to function and so it starts screaming at you to eat more sugar.

When this happens, you feel terrible and it has nothing to do with emotional eating. You get cranky, feel faint, get headaches and feel like you are going to starve. But take a deep breath, because this is just your brain having a temper tantrum.

Remember when your child threw himself or herself down on the floor and started kicking his or her feet and screaming and crying. It's exactly the same thing. Your brain is throwing a hissy fit. It's behaving like a spoiled child.

But, just like with parenting, each and every time your child behaves this way, you have a choice as to how you will respond to your child, or in this case, respond to your brain's demand for glucose. Will you give it everything it seems to want, even if it means your child will grow up to be a spoiled rotten brat or will you give that child what he or she needs, which can sometimes be tough love and discipline.

Now, you don't want to completely ignore your brain, like you might a naughty child, but you also don't have to come running and give in to every single demand.

We all know that some parents truly don't understand or accept this phenomenon and they give into the child's every whim, but there are enough parents out there who do understand this reality that they are able to raise their children to become relatively well-balanced adults.

The point is, if you see hyperphagia for what it is, which is not emotional eating at all, but rather a scientific problem, then you will be able to control your unruly toddler or your unruly brain and as a result you will be able to tackle the largest factor that is keeping you fat.

Check out the FAT BURNING FURNACE now!!

TOUGH LOVE AND DISCIPLINE

When your brain gets grumpy because it has dropped into the low glycemic range and begins to throws its daily, sometimes hourly, hissy fit or temper tantrum, you have the choice to give it more sugar or you can choose to give it protein and complex carbohydrates.

If you give it more sugar, you just create the conditions for another hissy fit in a couple of hours, when you drop into the low blood sugar range again, but if you give it protein and complex carbohydrates, then you will not spike your blood sugar, and you will not create the conditions for another temper tantrum in two or three hours.

You see, the brain does not care where the sugar comes from and all foods have some sugar. Your brain doesn't need a lot to be happy and it doesn't need the sugar to be simple or highly processed. If you give your body some protein or complex carbohydrates, your brain will be just as happy as if you gave it a double fudge, banana split sundae with caramel, nuts and colored sprinkles. Unlike children, your brain, in fact, likes broccoli and spinach.

IF YOU CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT HIGH-GLYCEMIC CARBOHRDRATES FOR 2-4 WEEKS, YOU WILL BREAK YOUR CARBS ADDICTION AND THEN EATING WILL NO LONGER FEEL LIKE SUCH AN EMERGENCY.

Once you have broken the addiction, you can begin to investigate, calmly, all the things you need to do to lose weight forever, but for as long as you are addicted to carbs, you will never stop yoyo dieting.

Check out the FAT BURNING FURNACE now!!

Signs of Stress, Anxiety and Panic

2010-01-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

See video farther down page.

About 15 years ago, I sat eating lunch in a restaurant, something I used to do on a fairly regular basis. I was about 15 minutes into the meal when all of a sudden, I felt an overwhelming need to get out of the restaurant. It was very serious. In a matter of minutes, I flagged down a server, paid my bill and left. Once outside, I began to breath normally again. Then I looked around and became a little upset. What the hell was the matter with me? This had never happened before. The sense of urgency to escape was so intense, I felt like I was going to die. From that point forward, every time I tried to go to a restaurant, I had a similar experience in varying degrees of intensity. I didn't understand it and I couldn't explain it.

A short while later, I moved away from that town (a small town) and I moved back to the city. I was a city girl at heart and had moved to that small town about two years earlier. Once back in the city, I resumed my restaurant activity, as normal, but it was some time before I noticed that going to restaurants no longer caused a panic reaction in me. What was the difference? Why, for that 2 year period, was restauranting such an unpleasant experience?

Well time passed and with age comes wisdom. Years later, I've had occasion to look back on that time in my life and I have, of course, realized that I was experiencing panic attacks and since becoming a stress management consultant, I have learned about panic and anxiety and I now know that the experience of living in that small town was very stifling to me for some reason and that feeling of suffocation was manifesting itself in panic attacks at restaurants.

The human mind is a very strange creature. It will come up with many ways to protect you from whatever causes you fear or trauma. The Endocrine System is responsible for producing hormones for all kinds of things and each hormone has a counterpart to balance it out. It really doesn't take much for things to get out of balance. Long-term chronic distress is one of the biggest causes of imbalance in the body's hormone production center. Thankfully, there are many natural solutions to rebalancing the body's hormones.

The solution to my problem happened by accident - I moved away from the place that was making me feel stifled. I wonder, if I knew then what I know now about stress, hormones, panic and anxiety, how I would have handled my developing panic attacks. Perhaps I would have tried flower essences or aromatherapy, perhaps I would have cut sugar out of my diet (sugar messes with the pancreas, a major component of the Endocrine System), perhaps I would have gotten into the great outdoors more often, perhaps I should have gotten some more exercise, perhaps I could have visited the city more often, and the list goes on.

As I have grown older, I have learned that recognizing and accepting stress when it is happening is the first step and I have also learned that we can all benefit greatly just from understanding more about stress and the body's response to it. If you know what stress is and how your body responds to it, then you will be far more likely to keep your toolbox stocked with the right stress management tools for you.

I was lucky, my panic attacks were mild and they only lasted for two years and the cure was accidental. Not everyone is so lucky. For some people, anxiety and panic, literally controls their lives as was the case with Charles Linden which led to his development of the Linden Method for curing anxiety disorder. Watch the video below and then click on the link to cure your anxiety once and for all.

Click here for the Linden Method!

Click here for the Linden Method!

A Stress Free Creed To Live By

2010-01-09T18:18:00.000-08:00

When I was 15 years old, I was fortunate to win two major awards for service and citizenship. One was the Youth Appreciation Week Award for my city and the other was a major service award for my school. Both awards came as a surprise and I received many accolades as a result of this good fortune. My most prized possession was a plaque that listed the ten tenets of The Optimist Creed as promoted by the Optimist International organization (similar to Rotary, but its efforts are directed at youth and youth issues).

This creed (see below) is, as to be expected, all about following an optimistic path in life. In some ways, it is the original SECRET. Living a happy and stress-free life is a choice. You can choose to let life push you around and you can choose to see everything through a negative filter and you will reap what you sew. You can also choose to follow The Optimist Creed or to respect the Laws of Attraction and you will be the engineer of your life instead of having to accept what life hands you. Being an eternal optimist doesn't mean you have to stop being pragmatic or realistic but it does give you the power to start each day with fresh hope and inspiration. Any person who starts his or her day in this manner will live with far less stress than someone who does not. My plaque still hangs on my wall in my workspace where I refer to it often to remind myself to be optimistic about life. Since my youth, two more items have been added to the list.

The twelve tenets are as follows:

PROMISE YOURSELF:

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds.

To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

32 Double-Duty, Stress-Reducing Gifts.

2010-01-07T21:39:00.000-08:00

I know Christmas just ended, but it’s not too early to get started on next year’s gift giving. So, give some things away this coming Christmas. Not just on Christmas, but during all the weeks leading up to December 25. We could call these weekly gifts “our Christmas projects.” Maybe do one per week from now until December 25th. Here are a few suggestions and when you exhaust the list, go back to the beginning and start again. Let’s make Christmas one long, extended gift of ourselves to others. Unselfishly. Without announcement. Or obligation. Or reservation. Or hypocrisy.

Each one of the things on the list below is a double-duty, stress-reducer. A little kindness shown towards another person is an obvious way to help another person reduce stress. In addition, many people don’t realize that when we do something nice for someone else it increases the Oxytocin (trust hormone) and Dopamine (feel good hormone) levels in our own bodies. Higher levels of both of these hormones is highly desired in a good stress management program.

1. Mend a quarrel.
2. Seek out a forgotten friend.
3. Dismiss suspicion.
4. Write a long overdue love note.
5. Hug someone tightly and whisper, “I love you so.”
6. Forgive an enemy.
7. Be gentle and patient with an angry person.
8. Express appreciation.
9. Gladden the heart of a child.
10. Find the time to keep a promise.
11. Make or bake something for someone else—anonymously.
12. Release a grudge.
13. Listen.
14. Speak kindly to a stranger.
15. Enter into another’s sorrow.
16. Smile. Laugh a little. Laugh a little more.
17. Take a walk with a friend.
18. Kneel down and pat a dog.
19. Read a poem or two to your mate or friend.
20. Lessen your demands on others.
21. Play some beautiful music during the evening meal.
22. Apologize if you were wrong.
23. Turn off the television and talk.
24. Treat someone to an ice cream cone (yogurt would be fine).
25. Do the dishes for the family.
26. Pray for someone who helped you when you hurt.
27. Fix breakfast on Saturday morning.
28. Give a soft answer even though you feel strongly.
29. Encourage an older person.
30. Point out 1 thing you appreciate about someone you work with or live near.
31. Offer to babysit for a weary mother.
32. Give your teacher a break: be especially cooperative.

Adapted from Charles R. Swindoll’s “The Finishing Touch.”

Stress in the City...or NOT!

2010-01-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

I moved away from the city in 2005. I spent most of my life living near Vancouver, BC, Canada and then in 2005, I uprooted my family and moved to the southern interior region of British Columbia, Canada (near Alberta and the Idaho pipe). It was the best decision I have ever made in my life. If, however, you want to stay stressed, then fell free to stick with the big city rat race. Initially, I moved to a little town with 7500 people and then I moved even smaller and now I live in a tiny town with only 1800 people. There are only about 15-20,000 people in the whole trading area.

Now don't get me wrong, the transition was not easy. When I first arrived here it was a culture shock - big city girl meets small town cliques. Upon arrival, I was told by many that time doesn't move as fast as in the city so don't get your hopes up. Were they ever right! It's a whole different time zone, known locally as "Kootenay Time."

But four years later, I have slowed down and I have adapted and now I feel quite at home. I don't even have the desire to go back. Since leaving, I have only been back to Vancouver one time and I have ventured to other cities (Spokane, Calgary, Kelowna) only a handful of times.

There is less shopping, there are few attractions, there are fewer amenities, stores are not open all hours and the lifestyle is much more family oriented as a result. This is a very good thing. We are still busy, but not in the same high pressure way, and of course, the cost of living is much cheaper so we have far less financial stress as well.

All in all, what started as an unplanned, even reactive, move out of the big city has turned into a excellent stress-reducing life transition. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Environmental Stress Leads to Serious Oxidative Stress.

2010-01-03T14:32:00.001-08:00

Environmental stress leads to oxidative stress, which then leads to serious chronic degenerative disease. 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 (carbon dioxide) is the upper safe limit. Get involved and take action.

Check out www.350.org today!

Inspirational Tips for Reducing StressTry Videos of Success Affirmations.

2009-12-23T00:20:00.000-08:00

The best tips for reducing stress that money can buy are actually FREE. If you want to live a stress-free life, then you must first believe you are worth it and that you deserve it.

True stress-free living comes at the top of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (see picture of hierarchy at bottom of this page) in the form of self actualization and the only way to get to the top is to go through levels three and four (love of self and others and self esteem). For as long as you spend your life stalled at level one or two, you will never achieve a continuous and profoundly stress-free life.

If you have a lot of stress in your life, then commit at least 30 minutes per day to watching inspirational videos such as the ones below. There are tons more on YouTube. Also read as many inspirational stories and poems as you can get your hands on. These stories, poems and videos are filled to the brim with tips for reducing stress.

Stay away from all media that is negative, angry or stressed. Your brain could use fewer mixed messages. To attract abundance, you must live abundantly.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Disney's Stress Management Philosophy

2009-12-21T12:23:00.001-08:00

Timon and Pumbaa from Lion King got it right as did Baloo the Bear from The Jungle Book. "No Worries" and the "Bare Necessities of Life". If we could all watch more Disney, perhaps we would have a lot less stress.

Happy watching and have a Merry "STRESS FREE" Christmas.

Figuring It Out For Ourselves...Or Not.

2009-12-19T11:40:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been in a conversation with a friend and made the mistake of offering some well-meaning advice? Perhaps, you were discussing a relationship or work-related problem. Maybe it was something to do with the kids or a home-based business challenge. No matter the nature of the problem, somewhere along the way, you felt it was appropriate to share some advice.

This innocent advice might have started with the words, "You should..." or "Have you ever tried...." The moment you did this, the tone of the conversation changed. Your friend, who up to this moment, had been regaling you with endless problems, likely with immense passion, suddenly did one of two things and you probably didn't even notice.

The first possible behavior change was to jump on the defensive and begin generating massive excuses for the situation just described. This person does not take responsibility for herself and comes up with reason after reason, why the problem is someone else's fault or why it can't or couldn't have been prevented. The defensive person apologizes for living, but probably is not interested in solving the problem at all. Truly, she just wants to complain. When you offer a solution (some advice) she has to work twice as hard to get back to discussing the problem and away from a solution-oriented conversation.

The second behavior change is anger and resentment. Unlike the defensive person, the angry person probably would like to find a solution to the problem, but she can't hear or appreciate your advice or any advice, for that matter, but the resistance happens for a very different reason.

When this happens, you probably won't know that the person is no longer listening to you. Your friend has likely taken the route of silent anger or hostility and you have been completely tuned out. Of course, this person is polite and still appears to be listening and engaged in the conversation, but that person is no longer hearing you. In fact, she is actually mad at you.

What did you do to deserve this unkind, albeit unknown treatment? Were you pushy, interfering or rude? Probably not. Were you demanding, condescending or disinterested-sounding, as you delivered your advice? This, too, is unlikely.

No, your well-meaning advice is not accepted because your friend wants to figure things out on her own. She doesn't want to be told what to do. She doesn't want to be coached. She is resentful of you because you have just become the proverbial know -it-all. You have implied that you have all the answers when she doesn't.

Oftentimes, the problem runs still deeper. Not only do you seem to have the answers and she doesn't, but she, very likely, lacks the skills to find the answers on her own. It is not a lack of intelligence that causes this reality, rather it is a lack of skill, a lack of problem solving skills. Strong problem solving skills, possibly the single best stress management technique or tool available today, is not something we are born with and unfortunately, it is not something we learn in school to any great degree.

In the old days, we may not have been any better at problem solving, but we had back up systems in the form of extended families, we spent more time outside the home listening to others ideas and opinions, and the problems were far less complicated than they have become in the last 50 years. Some would say it is a lost cause.

So there is no shortage of problems to discuss or complain about endlessly, but many of us lack adequate problem solving skills and are too embarrassed to ask for help. We have become islands and we believe that we must go it alone. We think we have to figure it out for ourselves. We are so sold on this crazy idea, that we would rather suffer endlessly than reach out for advice or ideas from those we care about. We say we are not ready; we shut doors on friends and family who may have good, even great ideas; and worst of all, we endure our problems and stress endlessly.

Like most chronic diseases today, stress and problems are self-inflicted and self-perpetuated. There are solutions and answers available and you never know, one of the best solutions or answers just might come from some innocent advice offered by a friend or family member. So instead of becoming defensive or resentful and angry, take a moment to listen to friendly advice and evaluate it objectively. Try it out or ask some questions or do some research, but whatever you do, don't overlook or tune out those jewels of wisdom from a friend.

We are in the midst of the information age or knowledge economy or whatever you want to call it and it hasn't been possible for a single person to know everything there is to know since the days of Leonard Da Vinci. Essentially, you have three choices, you can improve your problem solving skills, you can listen to advice and ideas from people who care or you can suffer, preferably in silence, because there is nothing worse than listening to someone who complains all the time about everything and never seems to move forward or never tries to solve the problem.

Managing Financial Stress: As easy as 1, 2, 3!

2009-12-06T21:31:00.000-08:00

Doesn't it seem strange that different people react so differently with regards to money? You would think that, in difficult economic times, everyone would be bent out of shape about money. However, this is not always the case. Take me, for example. Even when times have been really tough, I have not really felt extreme amounts of financial stress and managing financial stress has never really seemed like an unwieldy task.

Now, don't get me wrong, there have been times when I have nearly lost my marbles because of financial stress; however, for the most part, these times have been few and far between and they have not lasted for very long each time. It seems that I have an uncanny ability to pick myself up and dust myself off and start all over again, even when debt loads have been really extreme and in all of it, I have never felt a need to declare bankruptcy. Am I just a special person or is there another reason for my supposed financial serenity?

Recently, I was reviewing my work history as I prepared a resume for a contract application. There is nothing that will make you feel older than a detailed resume review. As I did this analysis, I realized that I have operated a very wide variety of businesses covering all different types of business models and I have held a large number of jobs in many different career fields.

That resume exercise got me thinking about two different, but related ideas. My first thought revolved around variety as a tool for managing financial stress. Was the extreme variation in my work history a key factor in my feelings about money and finances?

My second thought revolved around passive income. Most of my business ventures were structured to create passive income streams. In other words, I did a whole bunch of work up front and then, once the structure had been created, I continued to earn money, whether I was working or not.

I came to the conclusion that my unique ability to manage financial stress came from both the variety in my work history - there are very few business sectors, in which I have not worked; as well as from the fact that many of the business models, I created, over the years, allowed for passive income generation. It seems the difficulty level of managing financial stress is reduced considerably when you know you have lots of options. Without even really realizing it, I have developed multiple streams of income in my life.

Over the past 25 years, I have run service and manufacturing businesses, I have done network marketing and Internet marketing, I have done real estate and stock market investing, I have done private consulting work and I have even tried my hand at self-publishing. I had different levels of success with each venture, but the one thing that has become very clear to me is that I am not afraid of finances or, put another way, I don't get stressed out about money because I have confidence that I can always go out and earn what I need to pay off debt or work toward achieving my goals. My experience has allowed me to be financially independent, so to speak, even when I was broke. I am happier, I believe, because I don't suffer from the classic idea of 'money worries' or financial stress.

Another key factor that jumped off the page as I completed the resume exercise was the extent of my financial knowledge. Whether it was banking terms, real estate jargon, stock market language or accounting rules, I realized that I am fairly comfortable with the language of finance and I now understand that this knowledge helps me to be far more confident in managing financial stress as well.

So what's the take away here? It is a good idea to have a wide variety of financial experiences under your belt, even if you only engage in each venture on a very small scale and all along the way, every person should try hard to increase his or her financial knowledge as much as possible. Some famous person once said, 'KNOWLEDGE IS POWER' and someone else said, 'VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE'. I think I finally understand these phrases and I hope others can experience my idea of financial freedom as well.

For more ideas on managing financial stress, check out
Three Steps to Managing Financial Stress

OXIDATIVE STRESS REPORT - Vitamin C & E Leads to Lower Mortality Rate

2009-11-25T23:57:00.000-08:00

Dr. Strand's Health Nugget
An article published in the American Journal of Epidemiology reported the results of a study which found that vitamin C and vitamin E supplement users had a lower risk of dying over a five-year period than those who did not supplement. The supplement users had a lower risk of dying from any cause. When mortality was examined by cause, those who supplemented with vitamin C and vitamin E had a 28% lower risk of dying from a cardiovascular disease. This highlights the health benefits of supplementing your diet with a variety of antioxidants and their supporting nutrients, which I advocate in my concept of cellular nutrition. Join Dr. Strand's Online Medical Practice.

Time To Solve This Environmental Wellness Challenge Once and For All.

2009-11-19T18:19:00.000-08:00

I just received an e-mail from www.350.org about the Copenhagen Summit coming up December 11-13, 2009. It seems world leaders are once again assembling to try to come up with a solution to the global warming crisis. Here is the body of Bill McKibben's e-mail, which he asked to have circulated.

"Dear friends,

Usually we write you with good news. This time it's much more mixed.
Help Plan a "Vigil For Survival"

Mid-way through the climate talks in Copenhagen, people around the world will gather in solemn solidarity with the nations and peoples for whom delay on climate action could mean extinction. Can you help plan a vigil?

What: A candlelight vigil.

Why: To send a clear message to world leaders deciding the fate of the planet's future.

Where: Somewhere in your community that is iconic (beautiful and picturesque) or strategic (like U.S. Senate offices, consulates, and embassies)

When: The night of Friday, December 11th or Saturday December 12th.

Who: You, your family, friends, neighbors and people all over the world.

Click here to get started and register your local vigil: www.350.org/vigil

Earlier this week Barack Obama and the leaders of some other large nations announced that they weren't going to reach any kind of legally binding climate agreement in Copenhagen--declaring that they need more time, despite the five years of preparation they've already had.

That's sad and it's dangerous--the planet is running out of 'next years'. But it does give all of us more time to organize a movement to make them respect the science.

So it's time for the next big steps. The world needs your help once more.

There's a global mobilization coming together for the weekend in the middle of the Copenhagen conference--Dec. 11-13. Our collective message? "The World Wants a Real Deal" -- people all over the planet are demanding a binding global climate agreement guided by the latest science and built upon principles of justice and equity.

There will be big rallies on Saturday the 12th in many cities, and on Sunday the 13th communities of faith the world over will ring church bells, beat drums, blow horns -- all 350 times.

Our main hope is that you will help organize a candlelight vigil at some iconic or strategic place near you on Friday or Saturday night, December 11th or 12th? Around the world people will gather to light lanterns or candles, in solemn solidarity with the citizens of those nations who will be first to face the challenges to their very survival.

Click here for details about staging a local vigil and to register one in your community: www.350.org/vigil

Eventually all of us will be hard-pressed by rising seas, spreading drought, and temperatures too hot for growing food. But right now--this year, this decade--there are countries being pressed to the brink. They're at the forefront of a fight for real change in Copenhagen, and need your help to amplify their voices.

As Maldives President Mohammed Nasheed said last week at a summit of the most vulnerable nations:

"We will not sign a global suicide pact, in Copenhagen or anywhere."

Instead, he and the other nations called for a "survival pact," for commitments by the developed world to cut emissions enough to get the atmospheric concentration of CO2 back to 350. They know the simple, mathematical truth of global warming: 350=Survival.

Some of the planned candlelight vigils will take place at iconic places in communities all over the world. Others will be outside American consulates and embassies, and at senators' offices throughout the United States. Partly this is because the US is, historically, the country most responsible for the carbon in the world's atmosphere. But it's also because America, if it chose, could lead the way to a sane global climate policy. The election of Barack Obama ended America's automatic veto on progress--but the U.S. is still offering insufficient actions, far short of what scientists say is necessary. And Obama has yet to offer the leadership the crisis requires.

In a very real sense, the short-term survival of many nations, and the long-term health of the whole planet, rests in the hands of Obama and the United States Senate. Their positions, along with the level of leadership provided by the European Union, China and a few other nations, can make or break a global climate treaty. The decisions made by this small group of people will, in large part, determine whether or not the world forges a real deal--not just any deal, but one that is strong enough to pull us back from the brink of climate catastrophe and put the planet on a path to 350. Their courage--or lack of it--will help set the future of the planet for geologic time.

The candles we will light are candles of hope.

Onwards,

Bill McKibben for the whole 350.org Team

P.S. Can you share this call to action? Please take a few seconds to share the message on Facebook, Twitter, and anywhere else you can."

About 5 minutes later, a note appeared on Twitter, from a highly-respected web presence, questioning a news feed from Spiegel Online International stating that it appears the climate crisis may be coming to an end. See excerpt and link below:

"The planet's temperature curve rose sharply for almost 30 years, as global temperatures increased by an average of 0.7 degrees Celsius (1.25 degrees Fahrenheit) from the 1970s to the late 1990s. "At present, however, the warming is taking a break," confirms meteorologist Mojib Latif of the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences in the northern German city of Kiel. Latif, one of Germany's best-known climatologists, says that the temperature curve has reached a plateau. "There can be no argument about that," he says. "We have to face that fact." Spiegel Article Link.

My question is simple. Do they really think we are that stupid? How can they truly believe that we are so gullible as to believe that this could br true and it's only a coincidence that the information is coming out exactly one month before the Copenhagen Summit.

Please get in touch with 350.org as soon as possible and get on board with the work they are doing. It's time we solved this environmental wellness challenge once and for all. There is enough stress in my life without having to add this to the mix.

56 Ways To Go About Managing Workplace Stress While Volunteering

2009-11-16T00:30:00.000-08:00

Helping others can reduce your stress because when you volunteer, you will have higher levels of the feel good hormones and the trust and bonding hormones, naturally created in your body.

Of course it helps if the volunteer experience is a good one and we all know that's not always the case. So, in order to ensure that your volunteer experience and the volunteer experience of others is relatively stress free, here are 28 behaviors to live by and 28 more behaviors to avoid at all cost.

Managing Workplace Stress While Volunteering - Get The Real Benefits Of Volunteering.

# Smile
# Find reasons to be thankful
# Ask what you can do to help
# Respect people's privacy and confidentiality
# Be a good ambassador for the organization
# Work out conflicts respectfully and peacefully
# Speak only for yourself
# Show up a few minutes early and stay a few minutes late to meetings
# Follow e-mail etiquette guideline - DON'T ABUSE E-MAIL
# Stay a few minutes late to meetings
# Take on only the tasks you can manage within your schedule
# Leave your ego at home
# Ask for help if you are feeling overwhelmed
# Have a positive attitude
# Show your appreciation of others
# Be a part of the solution
# Be honest and ethical
# Don't make mountains out of molehills
# Stay within the bounds of the law
# Keep your defensiveness in check
# If your toes are being stepped on, pull in your feet
# Lend a hand, even if it's not your job, if you have the time
# Stay in communication and stay informed
# Be resourceful
# Don't be afraid to share your ideas
# Get your friends involved
# Say thank you to the organizers
# Leave the organization if you start to hate it
# Report problems before they become too big

Managing Workplace Stress While Volunteering - Behaviors To Avoid.

# Spreading gossip
# Micromanaging others
# Not following through on commitments
# Forming cliques
# Bringing a personal agenda (especially a negative one)
# Monopolizing meetings
# Not attending meetings
# Being late for meetings
# Spreading yourself too thin, taking on too much
# Subversive bullying
# Emotionally abusing paid employees or other volunteers
# Being too sensitive and taking things too personally
# Not staying informed
# Putting down or knocking the organization
# Looking the other way when problems happen
# Speaking for others without their permission
# Not doing your best
# Participating in unethical activities
# Participating in illegal activities
# Participating in immoral activities
# Wasting the organization's time
# Wasting the organization's money
# Wasting the organization's resources
# Staying involved after you have lost interest
# Creating problems
# Complaining and griping about everything
# Being judgmental of other volunteers and staff
# Being negative all the time.

Go to http://www.strictly-stress-management.com/managing_workplace_stress.html to watch a great video on this important subject.

Stressed about weight/health? Try H4L - Lifestyle change w/ side effect of losing weight/inches.

2009-11-13T01:31:00.000-08:00

Hey, I just became a Certified Team Leader for Dr. Ray Strand's Healthy for Life Program. What an awesome program it is. I have lost 37 pounds so far and I have never felt better. I used to have a serious problem with Asthma, too, and I've been Asthma free and drug free for almost two years.

It's not a DIET!!!!!

It's a program of real lifestyle change following a well-defined, scientific model and it just happens to have the side effect of serious weight loss and reducing your waist size.

It's not expensive, it's user-friendly and it's full of education and training to make sure that you learn what you need to know to keep the weight off permanently.

Best of all, there is no weekly weigh in, no weighing and measuring of food or counting calories, and no cravings once you break your carbohydrate addiction.

Did you know that sugar is more addictive than cocaine or heroine.

Go to http://www.realeasingfat.com and make sure you use my discount code "futurefocus" to get a 20% discount. Click Join Now and at the top it will ask you id you have a discount code. Click yes and follow the prompts.

If you use my code to sign up, I will log in to your file once a week to help keep you on track.

Good luck with getting Healthy for Life, like me.

Can't Keep Up With All The Stress? It's Time To Get REAL Help!!

2009-10-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

Not all energy drinks are created equal and in today's high-stress, fast-paced world, we need all the help we can get. But, who wants to get all revved up just to crash again a half-hour later? That's the Rev3 difference - NO CRASH! Get juiced and stay juiced! Get Rev 3 and other stress management products NOW!! Click Usana for Rev 3.

Stress At The Speed of Light

2009-10-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

Never before has there been a need to get our stress management skills in tip top shape. Effective stress management should almost be an Olympic sport. Only the best of the best will survive is today's fast-paced, competitive world. But it would be difficult to text a gold medal anywhere. Nevertheless, forewarned is forearmed, so they say. Good luck keeping up. Click here to strengthen your stress management muscles.

Communication Anxiety May Be One Of The Biggest Causes Of Stress Of Them All

2009-10-21T21:15:00.000-07:00

The need to communicate is everywhere. With the world becoming more scary all the time, people are choosing to isolate themselves more and more. Solving our Interpersonal Wellness Challenges is becoming very difficult as people turn to e-mail, texting and social networking instead of live, face-to-face communication. It seems the more ways that are created to communicate, the more unreachable people become. Check out this article for more info.

Public Education System - A Major Cause of Stress

2009-10-21T20:48:00.001-07:00

Have you noticed the increasing trend in homeschooling lately? There are several hundred thousand kids being homeschooled in North America these days and the numbers are growing everyday. Why is this happening? Could it be that we are fed up with not being able to access quality education for our kids? Is this trend intended to send a clear message to schools? No matter what the homeschoolers are doing, the reality is that dealing with the education system, on behalf of our kids, can be very stressful. And let's not forget the kids, they are stressed out too. Something has to be done. Click here to learn more about this problem.

Top 4 Stress Reduction Techniques

2009-10-21T10:01:00.000-07:00

There are many excellent stress reduction techniques. Here is a list of 4 of the best ones.

Bach Flower Remedies
Bach Flower Remedies easily top my list. These 38 remedies discovered in the 1920's and 30's are flower essences that respond to moods and feelings. Each remedy seems to minimize the negative aspects of feelings and moods, while at the same time emphasizing the more positive aspects of feelings and moods. Click here for more information or to buy Bach Flower Remedies.

Usana Health Sciences - Nutritionals You Can Trust
Number Two on the list of excellent stress reduction techniques is to build up your immune system's natural defenses with high quality nutritional supplements and probiotics. This technique focuses on neutralizing free radicals, reducing oxidative stress in your body and repairing the damage from oxidative stress. If you have a stronger immune system, your stress response hormones will all be more effective as well, which helps to keep emotional stress under control. Click here for more information or to buy Click here for more information or to buy Usana Nutritionals.

Journey To Wild Divine
A third great way to reduce stress is to use the body's natural biofeedback rhythms. The Journey to Wild Divine is an excellent tool (computer game) that teaches you how to control the natural biorhythms of your body. Many of us are very reactive in the ways that we manage stress; therefore learning to listen to and understand your body's natural biorhythms is an excellent way to learn to reduce stress. Click here for more information or to buy the Journey To Wild Divine computer game.

Solving The Wellness Challenge
Number Four on the list of excellent stress reduction techniques is not yet available. Coming soon is a series of stress management courses that teach problem solving skills. You will learn how to solve personal problems, in every area of life, using a business and project management approach. Businesses take these tools for granted, as they break down and solve really difficult challenges, each and every day. Isn't it time for individuals to have access to these skills and tools without having to have a Master's Degree in Business Administration. Stay tuned for "Solving the Wellness Challenge" so to be available from Strictly-Stress-Management.com.

Definition of Stress

2009-10-21T01:19:00.000-07:00

When most people think of the definition of stress, they think of emotional stress and stress is almost always considered to be a bad thing. What most people don't know, though, is just how bad stress can be. There is another kind of stress besides emotional stress and that is oxidative stress. You may have heard the term "free radicals", but what are they and what's the big deal about them? This blog is dedicated to teaching you the real definition of stress. I am going to talk about emotional stress and oxidative stress and I am going to help you understand how one creates the other and what you can and must do about them in order to take back control of your health and your life.

My name is Jill Prince and I am the author and founder of Strictly-Stress-Management.com. I aim to give you all the information and tools you needs to get back in the driver's seat of your life.

Let's start with a definition of stress. The emotional stress response is a hormonal reaction in the body to a stress put upon it. It was Hans Selye who, first, defined, emotional stress. He said that something or someone places pressure on you, such as a danger or perceived threat, and your body releases hormones like cortisol and adrenaline to help you respond to the threat or danger.

With oxidative stress, the definition of stress is quite different. With oxidative stress, the furnace system in your cells (the mitochondria) fires up to create energy in your body, but sometimes an unpaired electron shoots off. These unpaired electrons are called free radicals or oxygen radicals. These need to be neutralized, quickly, before they can do damage to your cells. If they are not neutralized, they can make a real mess and this damage is known as oxidative stress.

Emotional stress and oxidative stress are linked because emotional stress causes even more of these free radicals to be produced in your body, which, in turn, leads to the cell damage called oxidative stress. In fact, emotional stress is one of the greatest causes of oxidative stress out there. It is critical to understand how to manage stress in your life so that you can reduce the number of free radicals that your body produces and it is even more important that you know what to do about the free radicals that have already been created and how to correct the damage already done.