Stress can make us lose perspective. The teachings of Abraham-Hicks can help bring it back. Abraham, in case you don’t know, are (yes, plural!) a group of non-physical beings who share their wisdom with us by speaking through Esther Hicks. They have a lot to say about the need to feel good.

In fact, they said: “The most important thing is that you feel good.” I take that to mean that if you do, everything else will fall into place. Abraham also provide us with an entire collection of tools that help with that challenging task. If you’d like to learn more, you could buy one of their books. I especially love both Ask and It Is Given and Money and the Law of Attraction. Here are some of Abraham’s techniques:

a) Which thought feels better

In periods of stress or unhappiness, ask yourself: “Which thought feels better”? Always reach for the next better thought, they say. This isn’t too hard, especially once you have some practice. An example: I’m really stressed out about all those bills. Better: I’m grateful for the services that these people provided for me (including money-lending services in the case of credit cards).

Why not reach for the best-feeling thought from the start? Why not go all the way? Why not think “I’m so happy to be a debt-free millionaire!” Wouldn’t that be even more effective?

The answer is no — because it’s not possible. Have you ever noticed that when you feel in the dumps, you find cheerful people really annoying? There is a reason for that. If you feel miserable, you’ll have to go to a slightly better feeling first. Then one that feels a little better yet. And so on until you are where you want to be.

b) Positive Aspects: No matter how miserable you feel, you can always find SOMETHING positive about almost anything. Make a list.

c) What DO You Want? Instead of complaining about the things you don’t like about your life, focus on what you DO want.

Don’t whine about wanting but not having enough money. Focus on how to get more. Think about how nice it will be when you have more. According to Abraham, the Universe doesn’t understand “no.” So if you say “I don’t want to work so hard.” it hears “work so hard,” and gives you more of the hard work you so dislike.

Focus instead on the kind of job you WOULD like. Include some of the details. Reasonable hours, friendly coworkers, appreciative boss and customers, and excellent pay. And the universe will bring you more of those things.

When people find out that I’m a music therapist, the comments I hear most often are “I wish I could sing!” or “Oh, I love to sing, but I’m not good enough to do it in front of anyone”. Some of these people tell me that, as children, a parent, teacher or someone else told them that they should just mouth the words because they didn’t have a good enough voice.

Singing is our birthright! Singing is a natural and pure expression of how glad we feel to be alive, and the way we show our love of music. Here are my top five reasons to sing:

1. To connect with your body: We sing with our whole bodies. Because singing is so connected to closely with breath, singing helps us “be in our bodies” and let go of the thinking (or worrying) we do much of the day. Singing can be a joyful activity and can release endorphins (those feel-good chemicals that the body creates).

2. To connect with yourself: Meditative toning, singing along to a favourite song or simply humming to yourself are all ways to tap into your inner landscape and see what’s going on in there.

3. To connect with others: Singing with other people – in meditation, prayer, at a sing-along, at a concert, or even over the telephone or Internet – helps us experience in a very deep way that we are all truly connected.

4. To express your feelings: Many times a singer, songwriter or composer has expressed our feelings in a way we could never have – if there’s a song that expresses what you want or need to say, try singing along (keep in mind that this is just for you and it’s not about “sounding good”).

5. To boost your good feelings: Whatever you focus on, you’ll invite more of into your life. You can choose uplifting, joyful and celebratory songs to sing.

So sing out! Be proud of your own unique voice. Experiment with what works for you – keep a journal of what you notice in your mind and body when you sing specific songs. Then you can choose the right song for the right moment and make use of the power of singing in your own life.

(c) Copyright 2006, Linda Dessau.

Stressed levels do seem to reduce when a horse is around other horses; even if a horse cannot be in the same pasture with other horses, they tend to feel more at ease when they are at least able to see other horses around them in fairly close proximity.

When working with horses stress is often grouped into a total of four categories, and they are:

1. Behavioral or psychological

2. Mechanical

3. Metabolic

4. Immunological

Behavioral Stress – horses do not see the world as you or I do. They look through totally different eyes that allow them to react in a completely different manner. Horses have two types of vision that allow this to happen. The first type of vision that the horse has is known as monocular vision, which allows them to see the sides of their heads. The second type of vision that the horse has at its disposal is binocular vision and this allows them to see objects that are in front of them. Both of these types of visions allow the horse to have a much keener vision sense than you or I have. One important point is even though these two types of vision are better than ours there is a definite drawback; the horse is unable to see objects in front of them for approximately four feet in distance.

Mechanical Stress – Whenever there is an injury of any sort the stress level has a tendency to increase greatly, examples of this could be: lameness, local inflammation, swelling, heat, and/or pain of any kind.

Nutritional Stress – When looking at the digestive system of the horse we see that it is designed to handle frequent small meals; this is why when a horse is allowed to be left in a grazing environment allowing them to maintain optimum health. One of the greatest contributors to the lowering of stress is the injection of roughage in the correct proportion. Along with roughage there needs to be both vitamins and minerals in your horse’s diet, not exceeding the requirements for the job that they are doing as well as the age of the specific horse.

There are three metabolic problems that are closely related and are integrated with nutritional requirements, and they are:

1. Colic

2. Laminitis

3. Tying up

Immunological Stress – This stress that is experienced by horses is caused by disease and/or parasites and the results can range from superficial discomfort to death; here a good and well-managed vaccination and worming schedule will combat drastic reactions from this type of stress.

One of the constant, realities of life, is, there is, and will probably be, some degree of stress. Sometimes, it may be minor, and, at other times, seem – to – be, far more serious, etc! There have been many studies, and reviews, of a variety of issues, related to stress, stress – management, and how to proceed, but, rather, this article will attempt to consider, the relationship, between how each of us, handle it, and will briefly, consider, examine, review, and discuss, 4 possibilities, and possible strategies, many people utilize, and, the potential ramifications, and implications, of each of these.

1. Letting it control you: When you become stressed, will you permit it to control you, and your behavior/ actions, or confront it, directly, and, in a focused manner? Far, too often, we take the path of least resistance (or, what we perceive, as being that path), and permit our fears, to dominate our thinking, and cloud – our thoughts! Obviously, although this may be, the way, used most often, it is probably, potentially, the most harmful, to our health, well – being, and personal welfare, etc! The only thing we have to fear, is fear, itself. Although, we have all, read this, often, too few of us, heed its message!

2. Try to overcome it: Some refuse to let stress, control them, and proceed, in an attempt, to use, a stress – focused, action plan. Although, probably a far better approach, than the first one, discussed, this process, often, creates a sort of fixation, on perceived problems, rather than focusing on seeking the best, personal, path forward!

3. Procrastinate/ Deny: Far – more often, individuals resort to procrastination, either, because, they fear, or don’t know, how to proceed, but, rarely, does it do them, any good, because, procrastinating, and denying, never gets quality, meaningful results! Only, proactive analysis, and giving yourself, a thorough, realistic, check – up, from the neck – up, with the intention of transforming obstacles, to challenges, rather than emphasizing problems (actual, and/ or, potential), will we proceed, with the best course of action!

4. Learning, consistently, and effectively, from stress, and/ or, stressful circumstances: The late, Nobel Prize Winner, Dr, Hans Selye, received his prize, for his work in the area of human stress. He broke this, into, two categories: (1) debilitating stress; and, (2) eustress. Selye determined, eustress, or the ability/ willingness, to learn effectively, and become better, from every situation, creates an ability to become better, more prepared, and capable, of handling life’s so – called, lemons, and focusing on the best way, to turn them, into, lemonade!

It’s you life, and your stresses! What one considers, debilitating, and emphasizes his personal fears, and resorts, to procrastination, another will learn from, and see life’s obstacles, as challenges, to overcome, instead of, merely, problems!

Motherhood is a prime source of anxiety and stress

Before becoming a new mum, you would never have believed the amount of stress that could come from expecting yourself to be perfect. Not only do mothers expect themselves to be the perfect parent, but there is added internal and external pressure to be the perfect partner, friend, employee, family member and so on… So it’s no wonder so many mothers report feeling stressed about not being able to get enough done in their day, or feel anxious about regularly falling behind. These feelings often lead to further stress and a lack of self-confidence and self-esteem.

The best cure of stress is to take control

When you are feeling anxious or stressed, it can be very debilitating and can lead to procrastination or inefficiency as your mind is not is an efficient state to cope with all the demands on your plate.

However, one of the keys to feeling calmer and more composed is to take stock of what you can and can’t control. For instance, as a busy mother, you may have a huge list of tasks to get through in your day. You have made the assumption that you can achieve this ‘monster’ list because you expect that when you place your child down for a nap today you will have 2 hours of ‘free-time’ to get everything done. Unfortunately, something has upset your child today and she has taken much longer to settle and only sleeps for 30 minutes. You normal reaction might be to feel like a failure, to get angry or upset and to even criticise yourself for not being able to control this situation and have your child in a regular sleep routine. But what if you decided to rethink about what you can and can’t control. This scenario is a very common one for mothers with young children. There is an expectation that babies SHOULD just follow and routine. What mothers are often not considering is, like adults, children are not always predictable. How many times have you struggled to get to sleep or to sleep well because you were feeling sick; it was too hot; you were uncomfortable; you were upset; you were too cold and so on? A young child or toddler is unable to explain why he/she is having difficulty sleeping, yet parenting experts claim children just need to be placed in a routine to sleep and everything will work out fine. So it’s no wonder that mothers blame themselves or their child when things don’t go according to the experts’ plans.

If on the contrary, in situations like these, you stopped yourself from feeling upset about the ‘uncontrollable’ situation and you re-evaluated your list of tasks, you would begin to take control of your emotions and amend your routine throughout the day accordingly. For instance, you may decide to play with your child for a while and then engage in the activities you had planned together. Even if you were planning on getting some chores done, you could let your child play next to you whilst your cleaned. You could also make the safe assumption that your child will most likely be extra tired that evening, so you could get those chores completed then. Either way, YOU have taken control and adapted to the ‘uncontrollable’ in a way that has reduced your stress levels and still enables you to complete the things on your list – with much less stress.

Gaining control reduces depression

Depression comes from a feeling of being helpless and hopeless, so it makes sense that when you regain a sense of control, you begin to feel happier and more hopeful about the future.

When you take control of your own health and wellbeing, you also reduce stress and boost self confidence

Some good examples of this are taking control of your:

• Wellbeing: Committing to reducing salt and sugar intake
• Self esteem: Being mindful of negative self-talk
• Relationships: Taking a breathe to think before speaking in a ‘snapping’ tone to your partner or kids
• Finances: Making an appointment to see a financial planner
• Career, Taking stock of what will truly make you feel happy and balanced now that you have a family
• Personal life: Feeling comfortable with your parenting decisions and your personal beliefs and values

All these examples above are ways that you can regain control of your life. It is through this behaviour that you can boost your self confidence in times of stress and provide guidance and support for those you love most.

Take a few minutes now to think about what you would like to regain control of this week and commit to doing this as soon as possible.

Excellent stress management techniques are around every corner. However since everyone is unique and stress has many different sources and impacts everyone differently what may work for one person may not necessarily work for another. From the many strategies to relieve stress and generate feelings of relaxation there will definitely be a workable idea for you.

High on the list of stress management techniques is to get a pet. Pets require some work but the benefits are considerable and far outweigh the possible drawbacks. Studies have shown but spending daily quality time with your pet; helps elevate your mood; has the advantage of relieving depression and tension; reduces your blood pressure and heart rate; and provides you with needed exercise when you take your dog for a walk.

Walking your dog provides you with companionship, the added exercise is beneficial, and you definitely will meet new people while walking your dog. Other benefits with a pet include unconditional love, they keep secrets, help fight off loneliness, go a long way to reduce anxiety and stress and reduce feelings of isolation. All these benefits result in a range stress relief that at times studies have found to be remarkable.

Another successful stress management technique is to change your outlook and retreat from the trait of perfectionism. By acquiring a healthier, less stressful approach by overcoming perfectionism will definitely help reduce your daily stress. Uncontrolled perfectionist traits cause stress, a lack of self-esteem, little enjoyment and a troubled mind.

If things are not perfect, look for the good and restrain your criticism of things that are not perfect. As you become more aware of your perfection tendencies, try to find a number of positive qualities in yourself and things around you for each negative item you notice. Turn this into a habit by practice and daily reminders and your stress level will go down and your self-esteem will be on the increase.

A third technique is to leave your work at home when taking a vacation. This includes your laptop, cell phone and other electronic devices. A vacation is for having fun, give you time to relax, unwind, and fight off burnout and to spend some quality time with loved ones.

Even if you do not go away for a regular vacation, plan on spending some time in quiet reflection every day. Schedule time to read a motivating book, take a quiet walk or just the time to quit everything down. Maybe spending a quiet day with the phone turned off will allow you the required time to unwind and relax.

These three techniques are not expensive; they require some thought and reflection and they will pay big dividends. Reducing everyday stress will make you more productive, improve you attitude and reduce your physical problems. Stress management with a great payoff while reducing overall stress and tension.

Stress is natural force that affects the individual. Stress is a fact of nature.

It is simply stated as that. From a biological standpoint, stress is either a negative, positive, or neutral experience. But we usually think of it negatively in our modern lives. The factor that causes stress is called a stressor.

Stress-causing factors could be internal, which includes our nutrition, and emotional well-being. The external factors are what we know so well. The expectations, frustrations and complications that we are faced with day to day. I know how it feels…and I recognize my stressors or identify if I am the stressor with these simple 5 W’s.

What: Your job, relationship, home, expectations, challenges and things that are specifically stressful to you.

Who: Your irritable boss, nosy neighbor, cheating partner, dysfunctional family, and other people that are just difficult top put up with.

When: You are trying to please the in-laws, you are having wedding jitters, you have butterflies in the stomach before an important presentation. These are situations which may already be stress starting to play, but still it is causing you more stress.

Where: You may be stressed out in the gym, your office or any workplace. There are just some places that lets your spirit down. These are usually interrelated with the who, what, and when.

Why? Yes, the question WHY. Why am I confronted with these things? Why am I feeling stressed? Why am I not dealing with it optimistically? We often wonder a lot. We wonder what if, and we wonder why.

This type of stress kicks in when you’re about to give a speech or make a toast in public. The thought of embarrassment makes you all the more determined to stay sharp and clear-minded.

However, chronic stress (prolonged periods of worry) often over nothing major can have very harmful effects on your health. Besides being a known gateway into depression, chronic stress raises your blood pressure and can cause you to have a stroke or a heart attack.

Chronic stress is habitual, so it will take some time to get rid of. Identifying what sets you off is one of the first steps you can take towards a lighter heart and a happier mind.

1. Keep a Stress Diary

Yes, this old chestnut again. Jot down everything that stresses you out in the day: traffic, your boss’s voice, the painfully slow waiter, the lady who cuts queue when you’re already running late. It doesn’t have to be rational – you just have to note it down. You may also want to score each situation on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most stressful.

The idea is to get a look at the amount of stress you handle on any given day. Once you do, it’s likely that you will realize just how much and how soon you need some stress management techniques.

2. Look for Stress Patterns

After you’ve diligently noted everything for two weeks, look for patterns. What has stressed you out the most? Was it the ‘snail’s-pace’ waiter? If so, why? Is it because you were running late? Or was it his general laid back attitude that annoyed you intensely?

If you were running late for an appointment, just start out 10 minutes earlier. Try it a few times and see if you feel better getting your coffee. If this doesn’t work, simply switch coffee places.

The idea is to look at what sets you off on a daily basis. Start your day stressed and there’s virtually zero chance of it getting better.

3. Thought Control Stress Help

Thoughts become feelings very fast, and what follows negative feelings is usually stress and anger. For example: a colleague may have made a remark that sounded nasty and hurtful to you. You didn’t deal with it in the moment but now it’s in your mind festering.

You’re angry, you feel let down, you can’t believe that you have to work with such a person every single day. You’re probably at home losing sleep over this and unable to do anything because it’s the middle of the night.

This is as familiar a scenario as it gets.

So, when the thought of “vicious colleague” comes to mind, cut it off immediately. It will try to come back, so you need to be alert and cut it off again. Choose one of two ways to deal with it. Ask yourself if this colleague is the sort of person who’s in the habit of making such remarks.

If it’s a definitive “no”, then the remark was probably worded badly and not aimed at diminishing you.

If you can’t say for sure, tell yourself that you’ll approach this colleague as soon as you can. Prepare a script before you go. The last thing you need is for the situation to blow up and cause you more stress.

Say something like “Hey, you said something about my assignment this morning. It sounded like you were taking a dig at me. Did I get this wrong?”

This way, you’ll find out if you did indeed get it wrong. If you didn’t, you can tell this person that you won’t take any snarky attitude lying down. If they know they’ll be confronted after a certain type of behavior, chances are high that they won’t repeat it.

4. Deep-rooted Stress Triggers

Let’s assume that you have a boss who speaks to you in a certain tone of voice. Others seem to be able to deal with it easily but try as you may, you just can’t tolerate it and it aggravates you on a daily basis… and you don’t know why.

In instances such as these, it may be useful to go through some of your stress issues with a counselor. Another option is to do guided meditation with a certified practitioner who can help you figure out why you are particularly sensitive to that tone.

It may be that you were bullied as a kid and something about your boss’s voice reminds you of that. It could be that the tone brings back an incident that made you feel small and unworthy.

Your boss may not actually be trying to do any of those things, but that sound brings back emotions that puzzle and hurt you. Once you’ve identified the trigger, you can separate your boss from incidents of your past, and you will be able to listen to that voice without feeling fearful or upset.

It’s important that you work through these issues with a qualified practitioner. An app is no substitute and in this instance, could end up doing more harm.

Stress is a fact of life. There’s no way to avoid it so the only thing you can do is prevent it from hurting you. You gotten through life this far and you will continue. Better days lie ahead.

Stress is not just a feeling or condition that can be annoying. It can be detrimental to one’s health and wellbeing as well. The good news is that different forms of natural therapies can help you release and avoid the negative effects of stress.

Deep tissue massage is one of the types of natural, hands-on therapies that can alleviate the build-up of stress in the muscles. This, in turn, can prevent stress or at the very least, reduce its effects on a person’s health and wellness.

Through deep tissue massage, the fibers that make up your muscles are taken apart. This is because the massage releases tension through the application of pressure and friction along the muscle so that adhesions in the connective tissues can be broken down. This process also helps restore range of movement. Deep tissue massage also flushes out toxins, breaks up scar tissue, and helps the body relax. As such, this form of massage can be both therapeutic and corrective. By concentrating on the deep layers of muscles, deep tissue massage enables the release of chronic muscle tension that can be the cause of stress.

Deep tissue massage can also make a person feel good physically – something that is highly beneficial for one’s health and well-being, emotionally, mentally, and psychologically. Once the muscles are stressed, oxygen and nutrients can build up, thereby causing an inflammatory effect and an accumulation of toxins within the muscle tissue. As a result, your muscles won’t function properly under these circumstances and you will start to feel sore and aching. The tension even gets to a point where it can affect your ability to cope raising stress levels ever higher. This form of massage loosens these muscles and helps increase oxygen and blood circulation. When normal function is restored, the toxins can be flushed from the body which reduces inflammation and tension.

Lastly, another fact worth knowing is that when treating stress, this type of massage has proven to be an extremely beneficial part of stress management. Systematic, rhythmical rubbing and manipulation of the muscles is one of the oldest and most effective forms or methods of pain relief. Massage can positively affect the nervous system and calm the body’s natural fight or flight responses since it can reduce harmful stress hormones. Deep tissue massage also stimulates the lymphatic flow around the body which can affect tissue drainage and the immune system.

People in general are strong and resilient to certain levels of stress, in fact some stress can be healthy and motivating. That deadline for the project can push you to work the extra hour to complete it. That success feels good.

Let’s look at when stress isn’t healthy, for example bullying in the workplace, belittling from management, staff cutbacks, financial cutbacks, traumatic events to name a few. These are just a few of the underlying causes of chronic stress that is unhealthy and creates negative work environments.

Studies and statistics say that 58% of the work force feel overworked and 46% are stressed? One in four people leave a job due to stress. Workplace stress in the States costs an average 26 billion in medical fees and $95 billion in lost productivity

Businesses and Corporations spend millions of dollars on Health and Safety Training, with little feedback and participation from employees. It’s needed, it’s required, it’s mandated, and it’s boring. Workplaces are becoming safer because of the training and the mandates. Employees are experiencing fewer serious injuries on the job. So why is there still an issue of negativity and stress in the workplace?

The old line of “Be kind, because you never know what war another person is battling comes to mind.” Some stress comes to work with the employees. Some stress can’t be avoided. Statistics in the United States say that 85% of all accidents at work are caused by stress. That’s outstanding. With the millions spent on avoiding accidents, would it not be better spent on teaching employees how to deal with and counteract the effects of stress?

We cannot escape stress, it’s in our environment, it’s in our food (preservatives, chemicals), it’s in our relationships, it’s everywhere. If it’s everywhere, it is certainly being brought into and fostered in the workplace.

It’s time to counteract it. Time to bring healthy activities, habits and beliefs into the workplace to encourage employees to stay grounded and connected within. It’s cheaper in the long run to encourage an employee to say meditate to relieve stress, than it is to pay out a WSIB claim for an accident that occurred due to stress.

Rather than sweeping stress under the rug, hoping it will go away, like has been happening in the workplace for years, maybe it’s time to start creating an atmosphere that looks stress in the eye, and offers activities to counter act it. Why not shift the attention to supporting employees through stress so they feel safe, validated and comfortable in finding balance.