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Forget about getting ahead in life: you feel as if you’re running just to catch up! If you don’t have the energy to do what you want to do—or even the energy to do what you have to do—try these seven strategies to feel more invigorated. 1. Plan How many times have you come home […]
The skier perches at the gate awaiting the signal, muscles tense, throat dry, heart racing.
The patient sits in a windowless room awaiting the needle, tense, sweating, heart pounding.
Adrenaline and noradrenaline race through both of their bodies. Their bloodstreams flood with glucose, and their hearts quicken to provide oxygen and fuel to their muscles for the qualifying run or the sprint from the clinic.
The skier spent her energy on the slope. The patient passed out.
Read more about Stress: Your Worst Enemy …
Regardless of all the media hype, you need stress in your life! Does this surprise you? Without stress, life would be dull and unexciting. Stress adds flavor, challenge, and opportunity to life. We need a degree of stress to operate, to meet a challenge or goal, to laugh, to love, to live.
Four of the most sensitive subjects in marriage are sexual intimacy, in-laws, parenting, and money. Ironically, it is the last one that is often the least talked about aspect of a relationship, but the one that causes many couples the greatest problems. In fact, a survey conducted by Citibank indicates that 57 percent of divorced couples said financial disputes were the primary reason they didn’t get along. Furthermore, a study of 2,000 men and women by Roper Starch Worldwide confirms that money, more than issues of sexuality, parenting, or in-laws, is the most common source of conflict for today’s married couples.
Such studies verify this observation made at the turn of the century by spiritual writer Oswald Chambers: “Money and marriage are the two things that make men and women devils or saints.” Here are 10 smart ways to avoid money conflicts and keep them from sabotaging your relationship.
Stress. We all live with it. Yet did you know that there are easy ways to stop stress before it causes harm to your body, mind, and spirit?
Let’s think about the stressors that hit us daily-mortgage and utility payments, crowded freeways, traffic jams, rising interest rates, declining mutual funds, increased taxes, upgrading, downsizing, child care, self-care, elder care, health care … and who cares! Is it any wonder that most of us feel as if we need stronger, made-to-order defense mechanisms just to make it through the day?
It’s easy to live on “automatic pilot.” Yet doing precisely the things you have to do, or are supposed to do, day after day can make you become nearly robotlike and feel life is growing stale and ho-hum.
You can change all of that. With a bit of planning and direction, it’s possible to pack the fun and excitement of a vacation into short daily spurts. You can enjoy a change of pace, a change of attitude, and a lot less stress.
Learning to take a daily vacation is learning to recreate and re-create you. A daily vacation is more than just a lull in routine. It is a piece of time when you wholeheartedly pursue something you truly enjoy.
Scott had recently turned 45 years of age and was the owner of a prosperous retail business he had spent the past 20 years building. Then, seemingly without warning, Scott sold his retail business and the night before their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary informed his wife that he wanted to live as a single man.
You know the drill. From the moment the alarm clock sounds, you’re rushing at warp speed. Get up. Get the kids up. Grab a shower. Get the kids ready for school. Rifle through the cupboards for a cereal breakfast. Scoop the car keys. Grab the kids’ sack lunches, backpacks, homework, and you’re out the door. Whew! Before you’ve even begun the day, you’re frazzled, disconnected, and out of sync. Were we meant to live like this? Dr. Eva Shaw, Ph. D. author of Shovel It: Nature’s Health Plan, doesn’t think so.
Blame our breakneck pace on the Industrial Revolution, the need for a two-income household or just the velocity of modern times. Wherever the blame lies, sometimes it can seem like we need a dose of therapy just to cope. But before you send your fingers walking through the yellow pages for a psychologist or group therapist, take a look at your thumb. Even if it’s not green, you can benefit from a bit of garden therapy.
Read more about The Grace of Gardening …
Marie is an accountant in the Boston area. Each week she struggles to squeeze in a few hours to make telephone calls, because she handles her widowed mother’s finances, Medicare forms, and makes certain all bills are paid on time.
Do you give your yard a lick and a promise once a month purely out of respect for the neighbors? Do you enjoy gardening, but seldom take time to dig in the dirt? Maybe you need a new perspective on gardening to motivate you.
Gardening affords you access to the fresh air and exercise you need. It’s a wonderful, creative outlet. To many people, gardening is also therapeutic. One friend says, “When I’m angry or upset about something, I go out and pull weeds. When I’m depressed or sad, I putter with the plants. To me, gardening is comforting, and I always leave my garden feeling better.”
Mary is a cancer patient and an avid gardener. She says, “My garden is my therapy. It’s constant renewal. Working in my garden or just walking through it after work slows me down and helps me to refocus my thoughts.”