Money, Work, Family, Safety, and Death (or Loss)

Are these the top 5 stress starters?  Could worrying about these areas in our lives create stress?  You bet.  But, what if you could turn the thinking around to include the best scenarios of these top 5 areas?  STOP STRESS IN ITS TRACKS, from the inside out.

Money:  The thought of not enough money is more than a bit stressful.

Cash flow is a planned event for many, and for others, an elusive hope.   To look at money in a different way is the key to stop financial stress.

Focus on gratitude for the glass half full and it's bound to lead to a feeling of just a little relief from stress.  In that small shift, there is great power.

Work:  The uncertainty of whether there will be work or not keeps many a person under the thumb of stress.

The hard worker of the earlier part of last century lived a lot shorter as a result of physical and mental stress.  Now, in less physical jobs, we experience more mental stress, which can also take a physical toll as we hear in the health research news frequently.

Even if you have work coming in or you have a job to barely pay the bills, it may be that the work you do no longer suits your skills, needs, and lifestyle.  You can experience a cloud of stress as  you choose the minimal pall of security over taking the risk of discovering a way to live stressfree and happy in your work environment.

Again, it's the way you look at it.  If you are seeing this position you are in now as a temporary stepping stone, and looking at the best rather than the worst of it, stress cannot find a foothold...

Family:  Living with others as a family holds a high priority in our society.

In the good times and bad, in the better or worse, a married couple promises to be there for the other.  Connectedness in all relationships brings with it the stress of keeping a loving atmosphere, not one of argument, fear of loss, distrust.  All that stress takes its toll.

That bond of marriage, family, children, living together can be solidified or broken apart by stress.  Consider the way you look at it and focus the picture lens on what feels like relief for you in your particular situation.  A good family is a blended one today, a good parent is flexible and strong and allows a spouse and a child to become who they truly are.

Safety:  Fight or Flight uses stress in a good way to make the right decision in a pinch.

We utilize our strongest instincts for survival to get out of the "DANGER" situation.  Danger is not as specific or clear in our present day environment.

If we (in a once in a lifetime occurrence) see a grizzly bear on a hike in the woods, we stay way clear!  Other not so dramatic things occur more regularly though, that lead to stress.

• • That person we work with is acting like they want our job.
  • The stranger on the street might do something dangerous that affects our well-being.
  • The trucker driving next to us on the highway may fall asleep at the wheel & cause a crash.

There is more uncertainty and in that fact, stress abounds.

Eliminating the outside circumstances is impossible.  Changing the way you view the circumstances in your mind's eye is possible!  That is where our power to stop stress begins.

Death:  Loved ones dying can be a blow to anyone, especially when more than one occurs in a year.  2008 was one of those years.

My Mom-in-Law Peg went through a very short illness and died within a few months of her diagnosis.  What was most curious to me was the fact that her son, my brother-in-law had died very suddenly a few months before.

It seemed very strange to me at the time, but since then,  I've read about studies that shows a loved one passing soon after a spouse or child is common. Dealing with that stress affects health of those who handle death by focusing on the pain of it more than celebrating the best memories.

We have the power to make life and death choices each and every day just by reaching for relief in the thoughts we think.  How can you and I consider the best of it rather than the worst of it, and no longer give stress a stronghold?

Feel free to share your thoughts below.  I'd like to hear from you.

Best,

Be Stressfree Now!

• The Stress of NOT Doing What You are Meant to Do…

When faced with creative outlet, sometimes there are blocks to publishing content that is begging to come out. The stress part for me comes with committing to the form of implementing the creative outlet. For example, I have started many blogs, many projects, and have a myriad of interests online and offline. To focus on one seems to me to be counter-intuitive. In the meantime, I am feeling the stress of going off in many different directions and not accomplishing what I want to, NOT CREATING ANY content at all. I'm seeing the pattern as creating stress in my life.

So, as an answer to stress, I am writing about what I grapple with inside and some ideas that are a solution for me.

What I want to do with this blog is to consistently create content that can help you discover what you can do to relieve your stress.

My challenges may or may not be yours but in the sharing of it, I hope solutions come.

Best for now, Mary

Be Stressfree Now!

• Top 5 Stress Starters & How to Stop Them
• Longer Days, More Time?