Managing Stress - Is Your Glass Half-Empty…or Half Full?
How would you answer this question? Your answer may very well mirror your viewpoint and attitude toward yourself and your life in general.
Managing stress is sometimes difficult, but if you are able to maintain a generally positive outlook on your life and circumstances—you’re way ahead in the game of stress management.
I guess the real question is, “Are you an optimist or a pessimist—or somewhere in between?” The answer to this question holds great importance and, in fact, may determine your quality of life and even how long you live.
A positive attitude can literally propel you to success in your life. Too simplistic? Not really, it’s a learned life-skill to maintain a positive outlook on life, no matter what stressful circumstances come you way.
In fact, the power of a positive attitude and self-image can literally turn your past failures into future successes—if you let it.
Unfortunately, during times of stress and anxiety, it’s a part of our human nature to re-hash and repeat negative statements and interactions with regard to the events of our lives. In doing this, we may very well be bringing more of these undesirable scenarios into our lives by focusing on them.
Your words have the power to build up or destroy and often times dictate whether good things or harmful things come into your life.
So what’s the answer? First of all, you need to take an evaluation of your “self-talk”. No need to deny it—we all “talk” to ourselves, whether it’s out loud or not. Is your self-talk positive or negative? Do you look for the good in difficult or stressful situations or do you give in to whatever emotions overwhelm you at the time?
Positive Affirmations
Positive affirmation techniques can be very effective and can literally help you reprogram your unconscious and conscious mind from negative thoughts and attitudes to a positive attitude toward life—which will ultimately lead you to good health, success and the ability to manage the stress that comes into your life.
Positive affirmations are simply positive statements that reflect what you would like to see manifested in your life. The idea is to repeat these statements until they become part of your normal thought patterns and concept of the world around you. Positive affirmations work in the same way negative self-talk does, but to your benefit instead of to your detriment.
One good guideline to use to avoid negative self-talk is this: Never say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t say to someone else.
Examples of Negative and Positive Affirmations
Here are a few examples of negative self-talk and the opposite positive affirmation:
Negative - I don’t know how to do that.
Positive - This is a good opportunity to learn something new.
Negative - This is too difficult.
Positive - I’ll try a different approach to getting this done.
Negative - I don’t have enough time to get this done.
Positive - I’ll re-prioritize in order to get this done.
Negative - I can’t communicate with him/her.
Positive - I’ll make an effort to open new channels of communication.
Negative – This is going to be a stressful day.
Positive – I am not stressed and will not let the stress of those around me affect me.
Take time to create your own personal affirmations that apply to your life and circumstances.
You might even start a daily journal briefly documenting your journey to becoming an optimistic and positive individual. You’ll more than likely begin to see patterns of improvement in your professional and personal relationships, if you continue to cultivate your positive outlook toward managing stress in your life.
If you tend to have a negative or pessimistic outlook, don’t expect to become a complete optimist overnight. With determination and practice your positive self-talk will begin to over-ride self-criticism with self-acceptance. An added benefit may be that you also become less critical of the world around you.
Don’t forget to practice your positive self-talk every day. When you begin to take control of your negative critical thoughts you will be better able to manage stress in a constructive and effective way.
Recommendation:
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- Conquering Stress is an incredibly helpful guide to managing stress, anxiety and depression naturally without making major “life changes” or taking prescription antidepressants. It’s very well thought out and has helped a lot of people gain control of chronic stress in their lives.Take the time to educate yourself and make a serious plan to take control of your mental, emotional and physical health by kicking stress, anxiety and depression out of your life quickly and permanently! Click Here!
Warning: If you are currently on prescription anti-depressants, you must work with your doctor to safely discontinue use, if desired. Do not abruptly discontinue use of such medications as this could cause severe withdrawal effects.
