Go On And Unstress Yourself Today
By Dr. Dennis O'Grady
If I told you that you should take an entire day to un-stress your life, would have a clue how to do it?
I don't mean you should go out and unstress yourself by shopping or getting your sports fix. I am saying that you can talk to yourself more positively when you're feeling down and out or obsessing about issues that cause you to worry. Following are a few "worry and depression" songs that I often hear played by my "stressed out" communications clients:
1. "If I keep thinking negative thoughts...bad things are going to happen to me!" Your gloomy thoughts DO NOT cause bad things to happen! They're just negative thoughts trying to scare the pants or skirt off of you...making you feel naked and vulnerable. Don't go there...there's nothing useful to learn from fear that seeks to put a stranglehold on your confidence and crash your mood.
2. "I hate not having control!" The harder you try to control what you don't have control over, the 'behinder' you will get in your mood and tasks that you DO have control over. That's the paradox: fear will command you focus on what you don't have control over and fret too much about this or that - thus disrupting you and distracting your attention away from focusing on what you DO have the power to impact and change in positive ways.
3. "Why do I allow negative energy in my team to drain me and bring me down?!" Frustration (frustrating yourself) is like cigar smoke that sticks to your clothing and person, whether you "allow" it to or not. BUT you can go outside for some fresh air, shower yourself with loving and caring thoughts, take a few deep breaths of fresh air, remind yourself what the most important tasks are to do today.
4. "Why am I SO stuck in the negative?!" All of us do the negative far easier than the positive because of old habits and lazy emotional thinking. Let negative feelings roll off your back like water off the feathers of a duck's back. Sure, you and I look like a calm duck on the surface, and we're paddling like heck underneath the surface to get from here to there. You've got nothing to worry about because you're not alone!
5. "I'm falling behind and failing!" If you're not failing once in awhile...than you're not doing anything worthwhile or important to benefit your work and family world! Are you just driving yourself nuts by demanding that each and every performance on your part must be perfect...or else?
6. "I want to run away or fade into the woodwork!" Go ahead and hide behind a "business wall" at times to soothe feelings and repair damaged self-esteem. But don't stay in your cubicle cave, for gosh sakes...you aren't a Neanderthal. Go out and smile, and ask: "SO, how's it goin' today?" Fear not...it's not going well for most of us.
ARE YOU A "PSYCHO"-THERAPIST?
Once, during a session, one of my "humorous" communications clients asked me if I am a "psycho"-therapist. Well, I suppose I am. I lose my mind many times a day to scary places and thoughts that are pure bullcrap. And I have been known to keep chomping into that manure sandwich long before lunch time on Moan-Day...I mean Monday morning. Isn't fear simply a figment of your (and my) very active imagination? So talk positively to yourself for a change of mental scenery! And when the road gets tough, take a brief pit stop to refuel.
You can focus on doing what's important instead of getting caught up in everyone else's emergencies.
