15 Ways to Destress Your Life

Although Deborah is a librarian, stress is no stranger to her. Each of Deborah’s days in the reference section of her city library is a constant juggling act. She deals with questions from library patrons, telephone reference calls, organizing and managing workshops in the library, as well as general administrative duties. At one time stressful days were more associated with certain jobs in our society–firefighter, police officer, neurosurgeon, or emergency room nurse.
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8 Serenity Suggestions

During an interview Pearl Buck, winner of the 1938 Nobel Prize for literature, was once asked the secret of her extraordinarily productive life. The author responded saying she learned an important lesson from her fatheme her far when the family lived in China. At that tither was a missionary and received a sizable amount of money from supporters in the United States. They made it clear that the money was to be used to build a new chapel.
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Ten Ways Your Outlook Enriches Your Life

Writer Joseph Goldstein tells of an experiment he did that helped him better understand the power of our speech to impact the mind. He decided that for a period of three months he would not speak about any third person. “That is, I wouldn’t speak to someone about someone else.” Here is what came to light for him during that three-month experiment when he eradicated gossip from his life: “First, my mind became much less judgmental, because I wasn’t giving voice to the various judgments in my mind. . . . And as I judged others less, I found that I judged myself less as well. Second, I discovered in this experiment that about 90 percent of my speech was eliminated. This silence led to a lot more peace in my mind. It was astonishing to see so clearly how much of the time our talk is about other people.”

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24 Ways to Reclaim Peace of Mind

It is not an understatement to say that these are stressful times. Almost routinely there are news reports that further heighten our anxieties-airport security is lax; the country is vulnerable to chemical, biological, and even nuclear attacks; our water can be poisoned and our food contaminated; sleeper terrorists are in our midst. The litany of dangers can unnerve even the strongest, most optimistic person. In spite of challenging times, it is possible to be a person who lives with serenity and tranquillity. Here are two dozen ways to reclaim your peace of mind.

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The Grace of Gardening

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.
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