Your Health strategies

Don't wait until it's too late to get your relationship back on track. Did you know that most divorces aren't really necessay. The biggest reason they even happen at all is a lack of understanding of how to get out of the destructive behavioral loops that tear couples apart.

The biggest secret to not only preventing relationship meltdown but also re-igniting passion and love is to recognize that judgment and blame are the things that you need to get rid of.

Until you have released the need for judgment, you will always have it reflected back to you in your relationships. This is one of the main causes of stress. All too often we assume that we know what others mean by what they say or do without bothering to gain a clear understanding of what’s really going on. Inevitably this leads to a breakdown in communication and conflict.

Stress management techniques for relationships

The biggest secret to stress free relationships is to master the skill of being agreeable! If you think about it just for a moment this makes a lot of sense. How did you feel the last time someone disagreed with what you though, said or did?

Did you thank them, give them a big hug and then ask for more disapproval? Probably not! The bottom line is that people don’t like being disagreed with. This is what leads to arguments and conflict.

You have a choice every time you relate with another person. You can either be agreeable in nature or you can be disagreeable. The first choice will cause people to be more relaxed and enjoy your company. The second creates stress and frustration.

It costs nothing to agree with someone else’s point of view even if you think it’s ridiculous. Who are we to judge how another person views their life and the world around them. Conflict always arises from disagreement’s which then leads to power struggles.

This means that either one or all parties are trying to prove that they are right and someone else is wrong. This is a no win scenario because if one person is made wrong, then the outcome is tension and resentment.

So what do you do if you disagree with what someone is saying? Ask if it’s ok to share your opinion. If the answer is no then to keep your relationships stress free keep your mouth shut. Changes topics if you need to or go do something fun together but let it go and move on.

The next secret to effective stress management in relationships is to master the skill of understanding.

The key here is to learn to be a good listener. Can you remember a time recently when you were talking with someone and they either interrupted you before you finished talking and started talking about themselves or completely ignored what you said and talked about something totally unrelated?

I know that’s happened to me thousands of times. Well guess what, if you didn’t like it I can guarantee you that others won’t like it if you do it to them.

By listening attentively to what others say and not interrupting you will prevent the possibility of causing stress and tension in your relationships because the people you are communicating with will feel seen and heard.

This builds trust and respect which are two of the most important ingredients of a happy, healthy and productive relationship.

Here are 4 stress management tips to master the skill of understanding:

• Don’t interrupt unless you have something urgent to attend to. Then excuse yourself politely and make a time to meet with them that you can give your undivided attention.
  
• Look them in the eye and keep your body language open.
  
• Only ask questions that are relevant to the topic. This lets the person who is talking know that you are really listening to them.
  
• Never assume you know what someone means, always ask for clarity before sharing you’re opinion. Don’t be afraid to keep asking questions until you are 100% sure about what is being said.

The best time to seek to be understood is only after you have taken the time to first understand them. Then they are more receptive to what you have to say.

This skill is one of the most important in building good bonds between people that are stress free. There is nothing more powerful than letting others know that they matter.

Happy, healthy and stress free relationships are no accident. They are skillfully developed over time by people who care about people.

These secrets will only work if you apply them. The more you apply them the greater the stress relief you’ll have in relationships. I know this for a fact because they have been working for me for more than 15 years.

To Your Great Life and Health,

Let’s face it one of the biggest challenges facing busy people today is how to fit everything you need to do into a day. From the demands of raising a family, meeting deadlines at work, giving quality time to a relationship, exercising, looking after your health and taking time-out each day for yourself it can be a struggle to find enough time to even get a good nights sleep.

There’s a ton of material already available on how to maximize your time and get more done each day through setting priorities, being more organized and planning for the future so let’s look at some more left-of-field strategies that’ll give you an even better opportunity to gain back precious time and energy while giving long-term stress relief.

Stress Management Tips to Save Time and Energy 

Waste Not, Want Not

We all have the same 24 hours a day at our disposal. The difference is how wisely you use it. Why waste a precious second on something that has no value or meaning in your life? The more you choose to use the time you do have that’s brings you joy and fulfilment, the more satisfying your life will be.

Live Each Moment Fully

What do you think is going to matter most when you’re laying on your deathbed looking back over your life? Will it be how many sales you made at work? Or how clean you kept your house? Or how many things you didn’t get done? Probably not! Make each moment count as you never know when your last moment will be.

Don’t Forget to Take Time-Out Each Day

No matter how busy or hectic your life gets it’s vital that you give yourself 5, 10 or 20 minutes a day just being with yourself. This time allows you to reflect on your day and do whatever it is that brings you joy or helps you to relax. Relaxation techniques that progressively relax the muscles of your body while calming your mind are well worth investing time in.

Stop Telling Yourself You Don’t Have Enough Time

The more you affirm what you don’t have, the more you will attract it into your life. One of life’s laws is that what you focus on you get. So when you focus on what you don’t have, you will have even less in the future. Instead, start affirming that you have an abundance of time and energy to get everything done that matters.

Stop Wearing a Watch

Put away your watch for the next seven days in either a cupboard or dresser.  I did this for a period of three months and by the end of this time my internal clock had me waking up in the morning, getting to appointments and being where I needed to be in perfect timing. At first, this may stress you out a little but after 7 days you’ll experience a deep sense of freedom at not having to be a clock watcher all the time.

A Stress Management Saying From The Wise

A wise man once said that money may come and go. If you lose your money, you can always make it back, but when you lose a minute, it’s gone forever. To live a life without regret is to know that you have followed the path of your heart and spirit without hesitation.

Don’t waste another moment letting the apparent lack of time be the reason you live a life of stress and anxiety. Stress is the biggest killer on the planet and you have the power to get rid of the majority of your stress just through learning some simple stress relief techniques to enjoy a happier, healthier, relaxed and more productive life.

To Your Great Life and Health,

How many times have you agreed to do something that you actually didn’t want to do? Was it a family member, a friend, a lover or even someone at work? You really wanted to say no, but it just never came out.  So you end up doing something that you later on resent. The result – stress!

Resentment is something to be avoided at all costs. The reason being that resentment eventually turns into bitterness. Bitterness is a toxic emotion that eats away at you from the inside turning everything it touches into decay.

Effective Stress Management Techniques for Resentment

The other thing to know about resentment is that it is really unexpressed anger. Whenever you say ‘yes’ when you mean ‘no’ there’s two kinds of anger taking place; The first is you  blame the other person for forcing you to do something you really don’t want to and the second is you get angry with yourself for compromising your personal integrity.

The second form of anger is much harder to recognize because most people get stuck on blaming others for trying to control them. The fact is that no-one can ever control you unless you allow them to so this excuse can be dropped immediately.

Once this has been dropped it becomes apparent that you are really only hurting yourself and your self respect when you give others the power to control you. There are anger management techniques that you can apply to transform anger into calmness but here's the fastest way to drop it.

The answer – stop doing it!

Yes, it may be challenging at first to say ‘no’ to others who are used to getting their own way around you because that means they have to accept that you are an individual with the right to make your own choices.

You have the right to say 'no' whenever you choose.

While you think that this is the way most people think about themselves the sad reality is that it is the exception rather than the norm. Why? Because we are condtioned from birth to 'do as we are told'  or risk being punished. Then to avoid the pain opf being judged or abused we learn that submission is the path of least resistance. The price  - the needs of others become more important than your own needs.

The bottom line is that you have spent most of your life training others how to treat you. If you don’t like the way you’re being treated then it’s time to re-train them. By saying 'yes' when you mean 'no' you’ve trained people to believe that you are a push-over and you are there to serve their needs.

Instant Stress Relief from years of giving your power away to others just from one word!

Just by changing one word that you speak the message you send out to those very same people is that your time and needs are important to you. This is so liberating, so energizing, healing and self-empowering that even after applying this just once you’ll experience an immediate rush of energy, confidence and power flowing through your body.

Do you always have to say 'no' to others? Of course not, only when you absolutely mean it. You’ll know if you don’t want to say 'yes' because the moment you say it you’ll feel annoyed. If that happens then have the courage to let the other person know that you mean 'no' immediately.

To your Great Life and Health,

Michael