Are You Winning Against Stress?

This may be a season where managing your stress is more difficult than ever before. Don’t take it lightly and assume it is ok to bear more stress because of these difficult times.

According to the Hearthmath organization, stress may be the number 1 health problem in America today. They claim as well as others, “Depression, hypertension. Type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal distress have all been directly linked to excessive stress.”

Depending on what is included in the stress category, researcher Dr. Caroline Leaf claims as much as 87% of all illnesses are stress related. It is clear folks, stress is the enemy and not a measure of how important our job is.

What is the point? If you want to be healthy, reduce your stress and do it now.

There are numerous successful methods of reducing and relieving stress and they play a significant role; prayer, yoga, exercise, meditation and so forth. But I am more interested in managing it at the source first, so that it doesn’t become excessive and cause serious health problems.

Our problems don’t “produce” the stress, it is the way we think about our problems. Unhealthy thinking (worry, anxiety, negativity, etc.) is a major source of the stress. When I choose to focus on what is wrong at work or in my life, I’m going to create stress. Notice I said create it. There are choices we must make to keep stress low. I can choose instead to focus on opportunity, blessings, and what might be possible.

I am definitely not saying to deny the problems in your life. Rather accept them for what they are and turn the opposite way (in your mind) and move towards what you want; live in the solution as some would say. How in the heck do you do that? Stay focused in the present moment and do what is next.

Don’t drag yesterday’s mistakes into today or tomorrow’s worries either. Discover what you can do right now to move forward. What is the next step to move forward? Choose a healthy mindset and put a stop to stress.