Let Go Of Stress And Show Yourself Some Love

I have found a really great article about How to turn your stress into happiness. Some articles written about stress and anxiety makes me want to roll my eyes but this article is a must read for anyone dealing with stress. I know you will love Blon Lee's article 12 Ways To Turn Your Crippling Stress into Happiness.

I really love Lee's article. There were so many useable ideas in this article that it was hard for me to pick just a few favorites.

One of my top favorites was his first point “Consider getting a pet”. Lee said “Sharing negative feelings with close friends can significantly reduce stress. Studies show that spending time with pets relieves stress in the same way. Also, when you're accompanied by a pet in stressful situations, it prevents your stress level from rising”. Lee makes a great point here. There was a point in my life a few years ago when I was very sick. I was having a lot of pain from head to toe and I was popping pain pills like candy. 

I couldn't walk and I couldn't sleep. I was beyond stressed because of my illness and all the medication I had to take. Just out of the blue I thought it would be a great idea to get a kitten. My husband thought I was crazy. It was funny because I never had a pet before and I wanted a kitten. My husband and I found a Himalayan Siamese mix kitten with blue eyes. She was special. She always knew when I was sick and whenever I went to sleep she would sleep on my chest. She was a very light weight cat and I didn't feel her sleeping on me. Whenever I was sick she was right there then when I was ok she went away did her cat thing and didn't want to be bothered until she wanted me to pet her.

What was strange is that I had my cat for 8 years before she died and on the day she died I noticed that I had a really hard time seeing. The next day my vision was very blurry. My husband took me to see the eye doctor the following day and the doctor told me that the Macular in my eyes are severally damaged and she was surprised that I was seeing anything at all. Weeks later I was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration. I didn't notice my eyesight before my cat died. Did my eight year old cat keep me seeing? Did she keep me healthy? I do know one thing she really did help me with stress. She will be missed.

Another great point that Lee made about how to combat stress is “Shower yourself with gifts”. For obvious reasons, I looove this suggestion. Lee said “Reward yourself for reaching goals. Research shows that when you're rewarded for an action, you're likely to repeat it. This is called a positive feedback loop. It's much more effective than punishment”. This is an important point because many times we spend more time pointing out our own flaws and tearing ourselves down then we do rewarding ourselves. I think many people feel that rewarding ourselves for the little things we do is indulgent. I would suggest that rewarding ourselves every time we reach our goals keeps us focused on success and leaves no room to focus on our failures. Make it a point to reward yourself for your success and your stresses will naturally fade away.

“Exploit bad habits to your advantage” this is another great point. This is an awesome idea because it makes you more conscious of your actions. Instead of mindlessly jumping into a bad habit stretch, meditate or do some light exercise for 30 seconds “then you are free to indulge” says Blon Lee. Lee suggests increasing your good habit time weekly until your bad habits are gone. Doing this you will build an automatic response to stress and the stress becomes less and less over time. I would also add reward yourself when you expand your good habits to keep you motivated to keep expanding your good habits.

Lee made a hilarious point in talking about “Reach great heights by letting yourself suck big time”. Lee says “Some people cannot accept mistakes. Everything has to be perfect from the start. They think others will look down on them if they appear to be flawed. These people are frequently stressed. The happiest and most successful people focus on improvement. They love mistakes and flaws because they see them as opportunities to grow”. “Have lofty goals, but have realistic standards. Don't judge yourself based on the results of your action. See them as feedback, and seek improvement from there".

Happiness does not come from perfection. Happiness is in the journey.

That leads me to my last favorite on Lee's list “Be shameless about not doing things”. Lee said “You don't have the time and energy to do everything you want to do. Inevitably, things are left undone, and you beat yourself up. This creates stress. Consider what's truly important to you. Kill the rest shamelessly. This way, you gain more time and control over your life while making more progress”. I have learned to put all of my focus on what is really important to me. Even though I get pressured by people to do everything but what is important to me I remain shameless and focused on my goals and dreams.

The point of this article and Lee's article is to show you how not let stress dominate your life. One point I must make is that stress is not your enemy. When you are feeling stressed it means that you are out of balance and you must take mindful actions to get back into balance. Don't beat yourself up because you are stressed. Live in the moment and do the steps you have learned to get beyond stress and never give up.

If you are looking for a way to overcome stress please read Blon Lee's article 12 Ways To Turn Your Crippling Stress into Happiness. You have everything you need to succeed.

God Bless

Artisticsoulwithin.com

You Don't Owe Anyone An Explanation

I really enjoy reading this very short article written by Steven Aitchison titled 7 Things You Don't Owe Anyone An Explanation For. It is very short but very to the point. It had me cheering saying YES RIGHT ON!!! I know you will love this short article that will have you cheering for your own life.

My husband and I just moved from Oklahoma to Las Vegas and we just got settled in. This is a rough transition time for the both of us right now but we are doing ok. It was a crazy trip and things don't always turn out the way you planed it but we made it here safely. [You can read all about my crazy adventures here]

Speaking of things that are not planned, you know how when you are in rough times in your life you have this great need to explain what you are doing with your family or friends? You just want them to understand that you are not crazy and you have everything under control. Sometimes you really don't know what you are doing or how things will turn out but you have this need to keep going. When I am going through tough times the last thing I want to do is explain myself. Only when I got older I started to understand that I don't have to explain myself to anyone.

In Steven's Article he talks about 7 things you don't have to give an explanation for and my favorites in his article is your level of education, your beliefs in God and your alone time. I have some collage and many certificates but nothing compares to the education that I received outside of school. I read and study something every day. I love studying the bible and metaphysics but I don't have a degree in religious studies. If a person reads everyday how do anyone explains their level of education? Even if they did try to explain that persons explanation may not be enough. So why even try to explain? You don't have too. Steven in his article said “Your level of education does not define you”.

Another point in his article is that you don't have to explain your belief in God. Growing up in the church I understand the pressure to explain what you believe. As I got older hehe just recently I learned that my relationship with God is between me and God. What Steven said in his article is that some people will not believe you anyway and an argument can be never ending. I use to believe that I needed consensus with my beliefs but I learned that with God that is a strong majority and that is good enough for me.

Alone time is also very important. You need your space to relax and recharge. Some people think that taking a lot of alone time is antisocial but only you know how much alone time will rejuvenate your spirit. You don't need to explain your alone time to anyone.

Braking the habit of explaining yourself can be a challenge but I learned that the trick to braking the habit of explaining yourself is a matter of having a peaceful confidence within yourself and know you don't need other peoples approval. You and God makes a majority. Another great lesson that I learned is that we must become mature. In other words grow up. Have you noticed that the people up in years don't care about what other people think? They just keep doing what they do even if you don't like it. That comes from years of learning that no one outside of themselves have any sway over what they think or what they do. They are happy doing what they do. To brake the habit you must have a quiet confidence within you. Let people say whatever they want to say while staying focused on your goals and dreams. 

I love this article written by Steven. It had sooo many great points in it and I could easily add to the list of things that you don't have to explain to anyone. The point is that this is your life. This is your life to live to the fullest. Do not spend an endless amount of energy trying to explain anything to anyone who is not trying to help you get to where you want to be. Unless they can help don't say anything. If you are looking for a REALLY encouraging and uplifting article that will having you cheering please read Steven Aitchison's article titled 7 Things You Don't Owe Anyone An Explanation For.

What is on your list of things you don't owe and explanation for? Please leave your comments below.