De-stress yourself on the fly while you work
By Dr. Dennis O'Grady
Do you believe that you can't do anything to change your mood? Not true! You aren't a victim of your own thinking or relationships. Below are six lazy ways (and my challenges) that my communications clients and you strategically use to negatively think yourself into a stressed-out, depressed blue state of mind, even on a day when you've been given the opportunity to excel:
1. "I'm the guy or gal responsible for it all!" True, you've got the power to make things happen FAST. As long as you don't get a long face, you can accomplish what the closed mind says you can't pole vault with a ten-foot pole.
2. "I don't want to lose what I've got!" True, you support yourself and your family, but you don't have to allow fear to run the show. You can go easy down the road of change at work and feel grounded and centered in this very second by using positive self-encouragers.
3. "There's no time to get everything done!" True, you can't do it all. But why would you cramp yourself into a too-tight time box with a ticking time-bomb clock that says: "You won't…you can't…there's not…there's no way…it's not possible…it's not fair…you won't be able to pull this off…what are people going to think…you will fail and embarrass yourself…no one cares anyway…why even bother…yak…yak…yak!"
4. "I'm SO tired I can't think straight!" Perhaps you haven't been sleeping very well because you've been filling your mind with worries you can't do anything about at bedtime. So, as you crawl into the sack let your mind relax…feel how cozy and warm being in a "safe" bed can be…and thank your lucky stars that you have a second life to do what you've always wanted to do.
5. "I should've gotten along better with my partner (or kids) last night!" Hey, sorry, but that's par for the social course. BUT why would you "push" homefront stresses with your partner or the kids into your work week…as if a pipeline of stress flows between your home and the office and back home again? Simple, you wouldn't.
6. "My mind is crammed and jammed and races away with itself!" Due to the horsepower under the hood…your mind can race away with itself (and a jumpy you along with it!) Don't forget that you have a pair of brakes, and can decelerate and pull into a "pit stop" for five minutes during your day any time you need to.
What to do to feel better when you're bummed out or you bum yourself out by treating yourself like a bum? Read something positive, make a fast fun call, meditate or pray, write compassionate thoughts about yourself in an e-mail and send it to you for careful reading. A crammed mind is always open for review!
ARE YOU NUTS?
Over 80% of the negative things you hear daily are spoken by YOU. That's right, in your "inner skull" talk you play those old, scratchy worry and depression records. Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired? Change the mental channel...be kinder to yourself for a change. Well, you get the idea. Strive for peace of mind instead of allowing your mind to become splintered and split into pieces or fragments of "can'tism."
