5 WAYS TO STAY FOCUSED ON YOUR GOAL

5 Ways To Stay Focused On Your Goals

Finish What You Started : Organize To Make Things Easy and Simple
Change The Way You Look at Things : Understand Goals Will Take Time To Reach
Study and Read Articles on Motivation << Details >>



Can You Hear Yourself Lead?

Do you find days turning into weeks, which turn into years and suddenly you're not sure where it's all gone? Does it seem like your no longer navigating your own life but your life and your schedule are navigating you instead? << Details >>



Confidence

Confidence should glow in us only till the point where our personality is boosted. Above this it leads to over-confidence that is harmful. << Details >>



Different Strokes of Our Duties

Life teaches us to live. To live, you have to exist. To exist, you should have a passport to this living world. Thanks your parents, who brought you into this world. << Details >>



Motivate Yourself

The ultimate motivator is defeat. Once you are defeated, you have nowhere to go except the top. There is no guarantee that tomorrow will come. So do it today. << Details >>



The Power of Expressions

Expressions are a way of giving some life to the thoughts and feelings inside us. When you cry, u express sadness and disappointment. When you catch a good joke, you laugh a lot and express the pleasure. << Details >>



Watch Out Before You Speak

Communication in any form is used for exchange of information. The links called words make communication work. Without words its difficult to imagine how we could have come so long in the history of human evolution. << Details >>




5 Ways To Stay Focused On Your Goals
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No matter how excited you are about your business, with so many distractions and things that may be going on in your life, you can easily find yourself losing focus on your goals and what you want to accomplish. Below you will find 5 things that will help you stay focused on your goals.

FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED

You probably have heard the saying, "So many things to do and not enough time to do them." Even though that may be true, you still have to complete them all, especially if these things help you to reach your goals. To make it easier for you, just take 1 thing you have to do and complete that task until it is done. When it is done, you will feel a sense of accomplishment and it will motivate you to move on to your next task.

ORGANIZE TO MAKE THINGS EASY AND SIMPLE

Take a moment to put things in order. If people write to you or send you orders in the mail, make 3 piles. Put the letters that need to be answered right away in the 1st pile. Letters that can be answered at a later date you can put in the 2nd pile and letters that have orders in them, you can put in the 3rd pile. Doing things like this in other areas of your life will help you keep things in priority and keep you focused on your goals.

CHANGE THE WAY YOU LOOK AT THINGS

If you find yourself at times having a negative attitude, you must realize that the way you look at things can make all the difference when it comes to reaching your goals. Even when obstacles stand in your way, maintaining a positive attitude, not a negative one and knowing that things can and will get better, will help you stay on track in reaching your goals.

UNDERSTAND GOALS WILL TAKE TIME TO REACH

Everything in life, if it is worth it, will take time. This goes for the goals you set for yourself. When you set goals, you should set 2 types of goals. A short term goal such as 6 months and also a long range goal, such as 3 years. You must realize that you are not going to reach your long term goals in 2 weeks. Whatever your goals may be, only through hard work, determination and keeping yourself focused, this is the way you will eventually reach your goals.

STUDY AND READ ARTICLES ON MOTIVATION

Reading articles, books or even listening to cassette tapes on motivation is a must if you want to keep yourself focused on your goals. Many successful people will tell you that even when they wanted to give up and throw in the towel, a paragraph in a book or something a motivational speaker said put them back on the right track and helped them reach their goals. So if you want to stay focused on your goals, take these 5 points and put them into action


Can You Hear Yourself Lead?
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Do you find days turning into weeks, which turn into years and suddenly you're not sure where it's all gone? Does it seem like your no longer navigating your own life but your life and your schedule are navigating you instead? Can you hear yourself lead? If this describes you, stop. Just stop. Stand still, be still, and let yourself remember what the silence feels like.

So often in the world we call business, we go so fast we lose our ability to keep up when, in fact, keeping up is impossible. Simply put, if you're caught up, you're out of business. Business is the competitive pull and push that can kick our navigational system clean out of whack. To get back in control, you have to stop and listen.

We are taught to listen to everyone else. That listening is the greater asset. However, we are never taught to listen to ourselves. Creativity dies in the face of too much noise. Without creativity everything in your life suffers, including your business. Sometimes the most important person to listen to is ..you. Yes, you have something to say but if you never stop to listen you won't ever get back to navigating again.

So here's what you can do to put yourself back in the driver's seat :

1. Start the day by emptying your emotions into a journal. Let all the emotional garbage out on paper. Now, don't read it. Ever. Too hard to do? Rip it up and throw it away. This is just a tool to get the frustrations processed and out of your life so you can move on. So you can hear yourself think again. Sometimes our lives get filled up with everyone else's chatter. This helps us empty that out.

2. Take 15 minutes out of the middle of your day and rest. Just stop everything. Go to a room; take off the phone, the fax, the instant messenger and the ringer on your email. Find a place where you won't be bothered and stop. Take ten deep breaths. Let your mind empty. Try to spend at least five minutes of the fifteen thinking of nothing. Don't laugh, it's really hard to do. Think of nothing. Empty your brain and give your soul a rest.

3. Walk. Walking doesn't just exercise your body, it relaxes your soul. Walk with a friend, or walk alone, but walk. This isn't about exercise, it's about letting your mind breath, outside, in the rain, in the sun, in the snow..in the fresh air. It works!

4. Okay, this is the most important. At the end of the day, spend another 15 minutes writing down all the advice that was given to you today. All those noteworthy, seemingly wise bits of advice that get hurled at us everyday. It doesn't matter where they came from, a book, a phone call, a radio station.. doesn't matter. If you can remember it write it down. Now read them all. Do any of them feel adverse to your own feelings and thoughts? Great, cross them out and forget them. Learn to trust that some things will work for you and some things won't. Once you have learned this principle you will find yourself getting back into the drivers seat of your own life again.

Remember you're important too and you are the only one that lives the results and consequences of your own life. Be gentle with yourself and take the time to take the time. Suddenly hours will screech back to normal speed, life will feel worth the effort, and your goals will be realized again.


CONFIDENCE
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Every day is a new day in our life. There is much to do today. The early morning sun inspires us to start things freshly and put back our past. Only a handful of us make use of this fresh bunch of energy. In various walks of life this affects the way we behave and our confidence level. Confidence is a key to survive in this world. It is the only key tool to win the rat race in every walk of life. Confidence in ones own capabilities combined with sincere efforts helps one to achieve unthinkable heights. But many times we see that this basic element of confidence is missing in us. As a result of lack of confidence we perform well below our caliber. Be it in a public speech, proposing your beloved, vivas in your college or in an interview or say even on the eve before your exams. This can be due to fear of being rejected or any other reason.



If we look into our hearts and think, we will come to know that fear inside us is going to get us nowhere. The confidence inside us is going to take us places. This is because with confidence we can put our thoughts into words in a better and pleasing way. So we have to get out of that shell where we think whether people will accept us as we are? Instead of living in these unending moments of fear and thoughtless analysis it is better if we project ourselves with the skills we have with the gloss of confidence. With confidence we can portray the finer points of our personality in such a way that the places where we do lack are never highlighted.

Confidence should glow in us only till the point where our personality is boosted. Above this it leads to over-confidence that is harmful.

Over confidence results in unsatisfied performance levels as the seed of ego grows into a plant into our mind. We then imagine and make big talks just to maintain our ego. So guys don't let the seed of ego to germinate in your mind, as this seed should be used only for you to live up to your expectations.

Confidence is all about being cool, calm and composed.

So guys do u have it in you? If u think u don't, boost up yourselves as your mind is your greatest mentor .You are your greatest helper



Different Strokes Of Our Duties
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Life teaches us to live. To live, you have to exist. To exist, you should have a passport to this living world. Thanks your parents, who brought you into this world.

Parents have taken care of us and satisfied all our needs. They helped whenever we were hungry, afraid or ill. They were always there by you, whenever you needed them. You almost assumed that they will always be there for you and never thought of how your life would be without them. But as you grow up, age also catches up with your parents and they need your help and support.


Man is a child first, after which he attains his youth. After youth he again goes through the second phase of childhood, also called as old age. This is the phase where everyone needs a comfort of a sense of belonging and being taken care of. Wouldn't we all expect the same sense of security when we grow old? Even our parents are expecting us to be their caretaker, as they grow old. But they never make that obvious to us. They do their further duty by taking care of their grandchildren, paying e-bills, giving the clothes for laundry etc.

Isn't it unfair on our part that we aren't giving them what they need the most? It is our prime duty to take the very best care of them. It's our pay back time. Lets give the same sense of emotional security, care and love to our parents in their old age.

Some of us mistreat our parents and consider them more of a liability than an asset. Some of us move away from them, though our conscience pricks us. We err in our duties for not being dutiful. This guilty feeling is further wrapped into a sense of regret, when we will be treated in the same way by our future generation. After all you only get what you deserve. Don't you?

Let's keep in mind that to be a manager, husband or father, we first have to be a son.





MOTIVATE YOURSELF
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One of the greatest virtues of human beings is their ability to think and act accordingly. The emergence of the techno savvy man from the tree swinging ape has really been a long journey. This transition has taken a span of countless centuries and lots of thinking caps have been involved. Inquisitiveness and aspiration to come out with the best have been the pillars for man's quest for development. Self-motivation is the sheer force, which pulled him apart and distinguished him from his primitive ancestors.



Many times, in our life, when we are reviving old memories we get into a phase of nostalgia. We feel that we could have done better than what we had achieved. Be it thinking about that nerve shattering school result, because of which you couldn't get into your favorite stream or that single mark, which could have secured you a merit seat in your engineering college. But thinking back wont rewind the tireless worker called time. All we can do is promise ourselves that we will give our very best in the future. But do we really keep up to our mental commitments? I can guess that 90% answers are in the negative. This is because of that creepy careless attitude which is slowly, but surely entering into the mind of teenagers like us. We easily forget the pains of yesterday to relish the joys of today. This is the only time in our life, when we can control our fate, by controlling our mind. So it is time to pull up our socks and really motivate ourselves so that we can give our best shot in the future. Self-motivation is the need of the hour. Only we can control and restrict ourselves. Its upto us, how we use our mental capabilities to the best of our abilities.

Here are some Funda's for self-motivation. Don't just read them digest each one of them and apply them and I bet it will make a better YOU.
• The ultimate motivator is defeat. Once you are defeated, you have nowhere to go except the top.
• Then only thing stopping you is yourself.
• There is no guarantee that tomorrow will come. So do it today.
• Intentions don't count, but action's do.
• Don't let who you are, stunt what you want to be.
• Success is the greatest motivator.
• Your goals must be clear, but the guidelines must be flexible.

Try to include these one liners in your scrapbook or on your favorite poster. You will be sub-consciously tuned to achieve what you want. Also do keep in mind that nothing can control your destiny but you!


The Power Of Expressions
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Expressions are a way of giving some life to the thoughts and feelings inside us. When you cry, u express sadness and disappointment. When you catch a good joke, you laugh a lot and express the pleasure.

Expressions are a part and parcel of every human being on this earth. Every person has the right to express himself. It is only through expressions that one can achieve a harmony between the physical exterior and the mental core. It is a way of giving life to your thoughts and feelings. But not everyone expresses freely. The main reasons are the barriers we have created within ourselves. We always think of what the world would think of us. Because of this we restrain ourselves from laughingly completely, tilting our head, or even scratching our ears! We try to be not what we are, but what we think will appeal to the world. Hardly do we realize that the world is just like us. It will be busy thinking of what we will think of it, rather than analyzing our actions.



When one expresses one self freely, it's the ultimate satisfaction for the mind. This is because the physical hardware of the human body is faithfully supporting its mental software. The person then is always comfortable anywhere with anyone and at anytime! If one doesn't express properly, it wont make the sun rise in the west, but it will only lead to increased frustrations. When frustrations increase, efficiency decreases and a person starts blaming the world, god or anyone in general.

Well to practically speak of expressions, once you start using them in your normal day to day life, u will get used to them. Also people around you will get used to your expressions. When the doyen of Indian film industry Mr. Amitabh Bachchan came into the movies, he had one eye smaller than the other. He however carried on without being self conscious about it and captured the heart of countless Indians dead and alive. Also Sylvester Stallone, who is the famous Mr. Big Muscles from Hollywood was actually having some mental problems in his childhood. Even now look at his eyes and you will get a rare glimpse. But then he came above all that and now you can all see how big he has become.

If you are angry at some one, let him know. If you admire someone, let that person know. If you love someone, let her know, because life is too short to keep these things as secret. Express yourself and spice up your life.


Watch Out Before You Speak
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Communication in any form is used for exchange of information. The links called words make communication work. Without words its difficult to imagine how we could have come so long in the history of human evolution. Word is not only a 4-letter thing, but it is something deeper than that.



Whenever a word is uttered it is due to synchronization of lip movement and tongue movement. To get out that word from our mouth, a lot of thinking and analysis has been happening in our sub conscious mind. We don't realize it because all this happens in less than one millionth of a second. Most of the times we don't think over what we have uttered. Word is not only a link, but it initiates response from the listener.

The word, which we have uttered, acts on every part of the listener's body. Like if u share a joke using a group of words, u make the listener to laugh. He may pound his hands and fist and then calm down. The very word which u have uttered has allowed him to flush his emotions out in the form of laughter or smile. If you talk about a tragic incident, the listener may close his eyes for a second and offer his condolences. Words uttered vibrate on the mind of the listener. It acts on his mind. Selection and thought prior to communication is very important.

Sometimes we say things which we shouldn't have or we carelessly utter unwanted words (mind you I am not talking of abuses). These things may affect the other person emotionally and mentally. For us it would have been just a matter of second to wag our tongue, but for the listener it is going to be the only thing at the back of his mind. By using unwanted words or speaking more than necessary, we not only hurt someone, but we also add a spot of dust to our social image. Your future interaction with the person may be based on that single word. Using proper words while talking is just like selecting the items listed out by your mom from the supermarket. You select the best brand from the specific domain, where your item is found.
So guys watch before you speak because the actions of the listener may be louder than your words!

Taming Untamed MInd

CLEAR THINKING
Want clear thinking? Resolve your "mind irritations," by watching what's going on in your head. It takes practice, but you can start right now. Sometimes a phone call you need to make quietly bothers you all day, just below consciousness. Maybe you're worried about an upcoming meeting. How do you find and resolve these things?
Take a deep breath, close your eyes for a moment, and tune in to your mind. As you become aware of these stressors, do something to let them go. Make that phone call, or put it on your "to do" list, and your mind will let go of the concern for now. Sometimes bringing a problem to full consciousness and telling yourself, "There is nothing I can do about this until Friday," will stop the unconscious worrying.
Start tuning into your mind and you'll find it becomes easier to recognize what is just below the surface, irritating you and sapping your brain power. Take care of those things, and clearer thinking is automatic. This is a powerful technique if you use it regularly.

More Tips For Clear Thinking
1. Have clear space. It's rare that a person can work better in clutter. An organized home or office space means you won't have the thought "where is that..." distracting your mind.
2. Get enough good sleep. Sleep requirements vary greatly, but the bare minimum for almost everyone is somewhere around five hours. Many of us suffer if we sleep less than seven hours. Research, however, seems to indicate that after some minimum quantity, the quality of sleep is more important for normal brain function.
3. Try meditating. Close your eyes, relax, and watch your breath. Your mind will wander endlessly, but just continually return your attention to your breath. Do this for even five minutes, and you'll feel better and think more clearly.
4. Walk. I think the research will eventually show this to be one of the best things you can do to improve the quality of your thinking. But don't wait for the proof. There are enough other reasons to take a walk anyhow.
5. Avoid sugar. Eat a large piece of sugary cake on an empty stomach, then try to do math problems twenty minutes later. You'll understand "brain fog," or the "sugar blues."
6. Breath deeply through your nose. Three deep breaths through your nose is like a mini-meditation.
7. Don't drink alcohol. A beer or two may help your creativity, but in general, alcohol is a hindrance to clear thinking.


GIVE YOURSELF CREDIT FOR DOING WELL
The world can be a pretty harsh place. People can be critical or unappreciative of what we do or how hard we try. Even worse, however, is when we are our own harshest critic?
Many people have trouble believing they’ve done well, even when told so by others. They dismiss such compliments, feeling like a failure or knowing they could have done better.
The problem is that such an overly critical attitude makes it difficult to find the pleasure and joy in your life and accomplishments. Counselors refer to this as “minimizing the positive” or “telescopic thinking.” Like looking through the wrong end of the telescope, it makes your accomplishments look smaller, rather than magnifying them.
It can be a difficult problem, but one that can be solved. A starting point to break that cycle of negative thinking is simply to remind yourself of your positive strengths.
One helpful exercise is to take a piece of paper and make a list of five things you know you do right. They don’t have to be things you do perfectly, just ones you do well.
Your list might include, “I work hard to be a good mother (or father).” Or “I care about my friends and try to help them when help is needed.”
If you’re currently overly critical of yourself, it might seem difficult to find five items for your list. But take your time and think about those things you care about and try to do well. If you come up with more than five items, write them all down.
This is a private list, one meant to help you appreciate “you.” Put your completed list in your wallet or purse. Then, over the next couple of weeks, whenever someone compliments you and you find yourself thinking the praise wasn’t deserved, pull out your list. Rather than convincing yourself you really didn’t do well, look at those things where you know you succeed, and remind yourself that you actually are a person deserving of praise and compliments. You might even want to add the latest compliment to your list.
If such exercises don’t help, and you find you can’t break that cycle of excessive self-criticism, talk to a counseling professional. A counselor can offer techniques to help you stop magnifying the negative and to discover a life that is more positive and enjoyable.
HOW TO DEVELOP A POWERFUL MEMORY
Are you constantly forgetting things? If you're like most people then you probably said yes.
And as we all know, the older we get, the worse our memory seems to become. Can you do anything about it? Of course you can!
If you want to have a more powerful memory you'll find these tips to be absolutely indispensable.
• Being able to focus and use your full attention is imperative if you want to give yourself the best chance of remembering something. If possible, make sure your surroundings are as quiet and distraction-free as possible when attempting to memorize something.
• Being interested in what you're trying to memorize is definitely an asset. If you don't have any immediate interest in the subject matter, focus on the benefits you will gain by remembering it - you'll pass that exam which will give you the best shot at a good job, your girlfriend or boyfriend will think well of you etc. This will give you the motivation to put your full attention on what you want to memorize.
• Use some creativity. Conjure up some vivid mind pictures linked to what it is you need to remember. This is a technique used by all the professionals who entertain us with their prodigious memory feats.
Here's a quick example. Suppose you are trying to memorize a shopping list. You need to buy a new hat and this is item ten on your list. Ten rhymes with hen. Imagine a hen wearing the most outrageous hat you can think of. Make the picture big, bright and bold. If you do this correctly you certainly won't forget to buy that hat!
Practice makes perfect in this as in other things. Set yourself memory challenges. It's vitally important that you exercise your memory on a regular basis if you want to see tangible results.
If you really work that memory regularly, you'll soon find that it's better than you think. Think of your memory as being like a muscle. Any muscle that isn't exercised frequently will atrophy due to lack of use. It's the same with your memory. Use will strengthen it, and you'll soon be dazzling your friends and family with your amazing memorizing ability!
Here's another useful tip. Whenever you're studying something really important that you want or need to remember, play some Mozart in the background. Studies have shown that the brain synchronizes itself to sound frequencies it's subjected to. If you need to concentrate, the frequencies found in the music of Mozart are amongst the best to harmonize the brain to.
HOW TO TRACK YOUR RIGHT CAREER
Are you lost in the wilderness when it comes to choosing a career? Once, we knew the way. As children, we played at different roles, but some became our favorites. Those favorites hinted at our gifts. They pointed the way to our exciting futures as entrepreneurs, dancers or astronauts. We did what was fun, and, in the process, we began to find and follow our paths.
As young adults, however, our paths began to fade under thickets of obstacles: other people's expectations, poor self-esteem and /or lack of faith. But, the good news is that, for each of us, the path is still out there. A cover of tangled weeds may hide its course, but it's still there.
A few tracking lessons can put you back in the hunt. An expert tracker can follow a trail that's been cold for days, months, or even years. Trackers like this can track over any terrain, under all kinds of weather, and even in the dark of night. Tracking, however, is not just about following a set of prints in the dirt.
The physical skill of observation constitutes only about 10% of what it takes to be a good tracker. The other 90% consists of awareness and intuition.
Here's how you can apply tracking techniques to your career hunt.
OBSERVATION
The first step a would-be tracker takes is to develop his or her powers of observation to a razor-sharp edge. Called the "eye of the tracker," it's the ability to discern a large amount of information from the environment with a glance.
Students spend years engaged in study and first - hand observation, or "dirt time" as it's called, to gain an intimate knowledge of the natural environment and habits of animals. For instance, when trackers want to see animals, they know where to look for them. They'll look in areas such as on the edges of forests and fields, at times of transition like twilight, or right before or after a storm.
In the process of mastering the facts, the tracker cultivates "the eye of the tracker," a questioning awareness that sees beyond the obvious. They constantly ask themselves, "What happened here?" and "What does this mean?"
Transition For Careers
After you find a career that excites you, do some "dirt time." Educate yourself about the skills you'll need, where the industry congregates, and the mental states of the people who work in the field.
Next, get some practical experience. Take a class, find a mentor, or work in the field on a part-time basis. Find out what you're getting into before you commit.
If you're still interested in the field after you've done your research, you'll find the time it takes to build a new career. Maybe you'll have to go back to school and survive on less money for awhile. You might have to make that sacrifice, but you'll feel excited and have a sense of accomplishment.
Once you have clarity, you're halfway there. After that, your mind starts looking for ways to help you reach your goals, so watch for the signs.
AWARENESS
Trackers often find themselves in dangerous environments, and when they do, they use everything they have in order to survive. To enhance their chances for survival, they continually develop their powers of observation, which leads them to ever-deeper levels of awareness of their environment.
In practice, they'll focus on details like tracks, but they stay aware of the sounds, colors, shapes, and smells of the environment at the same time. This technique is known by many names such as "peak awareness," "soft-focus" and "splatter vision." It's like looking through a camera with a wide-angle lens attached.
As trackers manage this balancing act between focusing on everything and nothing, they fall into meditative states where they become part of the environment. When something does attract their attention, they focus on it to see what it is. A master tracker can sense the presence of other animals and danger.

Transition For Careers
The key to life is paying attention to the little moments without losing touch with what's going on around you. You have to become aware of whether you are happy in your career or not; and if you are not, you must make the sacrifices needed in order for you to get out. At the same time, consider what's the most important contribution you would like to make.
So, find the time to relax, and think about a new direction. Ask yourself two questions: "what am I good at doing, and "what do I enjoy doing?" You may be good at doing something that you don't like. You need to combine both to make the perfect job.
Play with the possibilities, mentally mixing and matching your talents and interests. Stir it all in a pot, and let it simmer. Then, notice the insights, ideas and coincidences that percolate into your consciousness as a result. Act on the suggestions that feel right.
INTUITION
The best trackers have keen senses of intuition that alert them to the presence of other animals and danger. At Tom Brown's Wilderness and Survival School in Pine Barrens, New Jersey, they've developed a training method called the "blindfold technique" to teach students how to tune into their intuition.
Students' cross a sixty yard field, blindfolded, guided only by their feelings and the sound of a drum. To succeed in this exercise, you have to let go of your logical mind --the part that's telling you this is crazy. You have to trust yourself and let your feeling guide you across the field. People stumble and fall at first, but if they stick with it, they'll get it.
The blindfold technique forces you to pay attention to your other senses and intuition. Visually, we're overdeveloped. People go blind and develop other skills that we all have, but don't usually bother to develop. The blindfold technique forces you to focus on what you hear, touch, smell and feel.
You can access your inner knowing in ways less stressful than taking part in the blindfold technique. You can visit a natural area one afternoon and sit by a stream and watch the animals. Repetitive motions such as knitting or woodworking can also clear the mind, making room for new insights.
Transition For Careers
There are two basic career strategies. Do what's practical, or follow your dream. Following your dream may not be the most financially rewarding path, but in the long run, the people who make the most money are passionate about what they do. There are CEO's out there who don't have degrees, but they do have passion for their work.
To find your right career, you have to think with your heart. Although it may be hard to identify your inner voice in the beginning, you just have to do the best you can. Move ahead cautiously at first. Take a small step. Then, if everything looks good, take another step. Trackers call it "stealth walking."
CONCLUSION
Trackers develop their powers of observation, awareness and intuition so they can tune-in to their environment and make out its message. You can begin to apply the same techniques to your career hunt. It's not about trying to find your path using the intellect, but by looking for what feels right.

Mental Concentration Technique

Definition. Mental concentration: Direct focusing of the conscious mental faculties on a single subject without distractions.
Will power. Actually, a person who wants to project his/her consciousness needs nothing other than his own determined will power. It becomes unavoidable and can hardly be substituted in the intelligent actions of your conscious mind. Meditation with or without concentration can both help and harm you in the process of the conscious projection.
Molecules. There is scientific evidence that the concentration of the conscious mind can influence the molecular structure of water, metals, mercury in particular, and the cells of the human body.
Change. Knowing exactly when you should shift mental gears, i.e. when you must lose concentration or concentrate, is the key to your voluntary conscious projection with a fully lucid departure from your physical body.
Mind. For you to leave your human body through the psychosoma (astral body), regardless of the kind of take off, it is best to blank your mind and not concentrate on anything. Moreover, dynamic concentration aids the predominance of activity from the right side of the brain, which predisposes the consciousness to fantasies, interfering with the purity and quality of your extraphysical perceptions, attracting oneiric interference after you leave your body.
Focusing. When your eyes lose their capacity to focus directly and correctly, your subconscious or your unconscious will is activated impelling your psychosoma to detach itself from the human body, taking with it the consciousness attached to the para brain.
Process. One must make it clear that voluntary conscious projection is, above all, a matter of will, a conscious act of will or a process of consciously dynamizing the human will.
Fixation. Based on the previously mentioned concepts, an action which can make your consciousness project itself out of the human body is to steadily gaze at an object placed at a certain distance.
Technique. Here is a mental concentration technique, in seven steps, to induce you to project yourself consciously from your human body:
01 - Isolation. Isolate yourself in a room where you will not be disturbed while exercising. Wear light and comfortable clothes or none at all.
02 - Candle. Place a candle on a plate (to avoid fires) in a corner of the room. The candle provides the right intensity of light, besides being interesting to stare at due to its movements.
03 - Armchair. Keeping your back straight and your hands on thighs. Sit on a comfortable chair or armchair at about 3 meters (~ 9 ft) from the candle.
04 - Darkness. Darken the room entirely, so that only the candlelight exists.
05 - Steady gaze. Look steadily at the candle in front of you, concentrate on it until you become unaware of the surrounding physical world.
06 - Extension. At this point, only you and the candle exist. The candle is an extension of yourself, of your body.
07 - Visualization. When you, facing the candle near you, feel your normal awareness become suspended, first imagine or visualize your psychosoma moving out of the human body and heading towards the candle. Then, feel its departure (take-off) and yourself going towards the candle.

Chakras. These exercises must be performed with your utmost will power. You may like to focus on the fronto-chakra (forehead) or the abdominal chakra to energetically hypercharge or intensify the obstinate effort of your own will impulsion.
Classification. Mental concentration represents the second phase in deep meditation techniques. The first phase is attention and the third is contemplation.
Distractions. The opposite condition to mental concentration is distraction, that is, the ease with which the conscious mind changes its course of thoughts when under the influence of external stimuli. This is a subject which is studied within the field of psychopathology.


IMPROVING YOUR CONCENTRATION
"I can't concentrate." "My mind wanders when I try to study."
Lack of concentration is one of the most frequent complaints heard on a college campus.
Concentration: the ability to direct one's thinking in whatever direction one would intend.
We all have the ability to concentrate -- sometimes. Think of the times when you were engrossed in a super novel. While playing your guitar or piano. In an especially good game of cards. At a spellbinder of a movie. Total concentration.
But at other times your thoughts are scattered, and your mind races from one thing to another. It's for those times that you need to learn and practice concentration strategies. They involve
(1) Learning mental self regulation and
(2) Arranging factors that you can immediately control.

Training Your Wandering Mind: Learning Mental Self-Regulation for Improved Concentration
Improving concentration is learning a skill.
Learning a skill takes practice... whether it is shooting baskets, dancing, typing, writing, or concentrating. Do not confuse these strategies with medicine. When you take a medicine, it acts on the body without your having to help it.
Concentration strategies require practice. You probably will begin to notice some change within a few days. You'll notice considerable improvement within four to six weeks of training your mind with some of the skills that follow. And that's a short period of time considering how many years you've spent not concentrating as well as you'd like.
Begin by practicing these techniques:
• Be Here Now,
• The Spider Technique, and
• Worry Time.
Then try any of the Other Mental Strategies that sound promising to you. Give them an honest try -- use them for at least three days. If you notice a little change that suggests that the skill will be valuable and, with continued practice, will greatly improve your concentration. There is also Other Factors You Can Change now in your environment that may be helpful.

Be Here Now
This deceptively simple strategy is probably the most effective. When you notice your thoughts wandering astray, say to yourself
"Be here now"
And gently bring your attention back to where you want it.
FOR EXAMPLE:
You're in class and your attention strays from the lecture to all the homework you have, to a date, to the fact that you're hungry. As you say to yourself
"Be here now"
you focus back on the lecture and maintain your attention there as long as possible.
When it wanders again, repeat
"Be here now"
and gently bring your attention back.
You may notice that your mind often wanders (as often as several times a minute at times). Each time just say
"Be here now"
and refocus. Do not try to keep particular thoughts out of your mind. For example, as you sit there, close your eyes and think about anything you want to for the next three minutes except cookies. Try not to think about cookies...When you try not to think about something, it keeps coming back. ("I'm not going to think about cookies. I'm not going to think about cookies.")
When you find your thoughts wandering, gently let go of that thought and, with your "Be here now," return to the present.
You might do this hundreds of times a week, if you're normal. But, you'll find that the period of time between your straying thoughts gets a little longer every few days. So be patient and keep at it. You'll see some improvement!

The Spider Technique
This is another strategy that sounds deceptively simple. But it is the basis for concentration because it helps you to maintain your concentration and not give in to distractions.
Hold a vibrating tuning fork next to a spider web. The spider will react and come looking for what is vibrating the web. Do it several times and the spider "wises up" and knows there's no bug and doesn't come looking.
You can learn that. Train yourself not to give in to distractions. When someone enters the room, or when a door slams, do not allow yourself to participate. Rather, keep your concentration on what's in front of you.
Use the "Be here now" technique to help you regain concentration when you do become distracted momentarily.
Practice this in a variety of settings, such as:
• In lecture classes practice letting people move or cough without having to look at them - just let them "be out there" while you form a tunnel between you and the lecturer.
• When talking with someone keep your attention on that person, look at his face, and note what is being said. Let the rest of the world just be "out there."

Worry or Think Time
Set aside a specific time each day to think about the things that keep entering your mind and interfering with your concentration. For example, set 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. as your worry/think time. When your mind is side-tracked into worrying during the day, remind yourself that you have a special time for worrying. Then, let the thought go for the present, and return your focus to your immediate activity.
There's research on this, believe it or not! Persons who use a worry time find themselves worrying 35 percent less of the time within four weeks. That's a big change!
The important steps are:
(1) set a specific time each day for your time,
(2) when you become aware of a distracting thought, remind yourself that you have a special time to think about them,
(3) let the thought go, perhaps with "Be here now," and
(4) be sure to keep that appointment with yourself at that special time to think on the distracting thoughts of the day.


Other Mental Strategies:
Tallying your mental wanderings. Have a 3 x 5 inch card handy. Draw two lines dividing the card into three sections. Label them "morning," "afternoon," and "evening."
Each time your mind wanders, make a tally in the appropriate section. Keep a card for each day. As your skills build, you'll see the number of tallies decrease. And that's exciting!
Rest/Stretch Time. Remember to take short breaks. Lectures are usually 50 minutes long, and that's about the length of time most people can direct their attention to one task. But, that's just an average. Your concentration time-span might be less (20-35 minutes) or longer (perhaps 90 minutes).
When you take a break, oxygenate (get more oxygen to your brain)! Get up and walk around the room for a couple of minutes. When we sit for long periods, blood tends to pool in our lower body and legs (because of gravity). Our calves serve as pumps for our blood when we walk, getting blood flowing more evenly throughout the body. As a result, more oxygen is carried to the brain and you are more alert.
Change Topics. Many students aid their concentration by changing the subject they are studying every one to two hours. You pay more attention to something that's different. And you can give yourself that variety by changing the subject you study regularly.
Incentives and Rewards. Give yourself a reward when you've completed a task. The task might be small, such as stay with a difficult assignment until you've finished. An appropriate reward might be a walk around the block, a glass of water, or reading the day's cartoon in the newspaper..
For those special projects such as term papers, design projects, or long book reviews, set up a special incentive. Upon completion, plan to give yourself a special pizza, movie, or an evening of TV.
Incentives and rewards can be overdone. Use them for the especially difficult assignment or longer projects. When you do use them, make the rewards something you ordinarily would not give yourself.
Increasing Your Activity Level. Your concentration wanders more easily if you just read an assignment straight through. Instead, take the heading for each section and turn it into a question. For this section, that would be, "How can I increase my activity level while studying?" Then study that section to answer that question. Do this routinely. The questions give us a focus for each section and increase our involvement.
Also, as you study an assignment, make a list of questions you can bring to class. Listen to the lecture for answers to those questions.
Shift position in your seat every so often. Don't sit there frozen in one position. The move will help keep the blood circulating, sending more oxygen to your brain and helping you remain alert.
Skydivers, rock climbers, tightrope walkers, and lion tamers don't have trouble concentrating! You probably haven't done any of those. But, think back to some time in your life when you had that calm, total concentration. Close your eyes and recreate that time. Visualize it, if you can. Feel how you felt at that time. Now, when you begin studying tonight, recapture that focused attention and see how long you can hold it. Does it feel as if that might work? If so, begin all your study sessions with the feeling and see how long you can maintain it. With practice, your concentration will get better and better.


Factors You Can Control Now
Chart your energy levels. When is your energy level at its highest? When are your low energy times? Study your most difficult courses at your high energy times. Sharpest early in the evening? Study your most difficult course then. Later in the evening? Work on your easier courses or the ones you enjoy the most.
Now that's not what most students do. Instead, they put off the tough courses until later in the evening when they are more fatigued. It's more difficult to concentrate when you're tired. Reverse that. Hard courses at peak energy times. Easier ones later. This alone can help to improve your concentration.
Light. Make sure you have adequate light. It's essential to keeping your attention focused on what you are studying. So your eyes don't tire, use indirect lights (to avoid glare) and ones that don't flicker.
Chair and Table. Sit on a not overly comfortable chair at a table, not sprawled out on your bed. Your bed is where you sleep and dream.
Posture. Sit up straight to aid concentration rather than sprawled out in a similar-to-sleep position.
Clear away distractions. Don't have pictures where you'll notice them when looking up from your studies. Also, put out of sight any material for other courses. Seeing it can panic you a little about all you have to do. So put it out of sight.
Signs. Don't hesitate to put signs on your door. "I need the grades. Please let me study." "Please do not disturb." "Concentrating is tough. Help me by staying away." Some inconsiderate person will interrupt. Ask them to come back later. If they don't leave, practice ignoring them (See the Spider Technique above).
Take your phone off the hook. Yes, you might miss a call. But developing your concentration skills is important. It will be useful for the remainder of your life.
Where you study can make a difference. Think about where you concentrate best. Often it's difficult to study where you live, so look for a corner in the library that's quiet and facing a wall (not a door with people coming and going or a window with a distracting view). Some students study better where they live. Find the place or places you find most conducive to concentration.
Background music? Research on productivity with music versus without music is inconclusive. If you think you need music, choose some with no lyrics and with relatively monotonous melodies. Baroque music is the best example. Something with words, a definite beat, a catchy melody, or one of your favorite pieces can easily divert your attention, often without your being aware of it at first.
Perhaps you might try "white noise" -- it masks out environmental noises and helps minimize distractions. Your radio can be an inexpensive source of white noise. Switch to FM and team to the high end of your dial. You should get a steady static or form of white noise, unless your radio is an especially good one. Or keep a fan running.
Enough time for everything? Ever find your study of one subject interrupted by worries about getting assignments in another course done? Or waste time trying to decide what to study? Take an hour or so and do a little planning.
First, estimate for each course the number of hours you'll need to study each week. Then work up a flexible time schedule. Include all your obligations (classes, meetings, meals, laundry, etc.). Then allocate specific time periods for studying particular subjects. When studying one course you won't worry so much about others because you'll know that you have time for them.
Be flexible in your schedule. If you need an extra hour on a subject, continue with it and then do a little juggling to make up the study time you encroached on. You'll probably need to modify your schedule from time to time.
If you would rather schedule smaller chunks of time, each Sunday plan the following week and change from week to week. Check to be sure you're getting study time in on all your courses.
Rewards for Concentrating. In summary, the rewards for improving your concentration can be priceless. You'll be delighted at your ability to recall information given in lectures. You'll find yourself accomplishing more in the same period of time. It can even affect your social life. Your special friend will appreciate your undivided attention and, in return, will give you undivided attention. So will other friends. Best of all, concentration skills help your self confidence because you will realize how much more is possible when you can give your total attention.



5 Easy Concentration Techniques for Improving Concentration

Concentration is a skill that can be trained by practicing, and if mastered can greatly improve your productivity and quality of work. It is easy to say that we need to concentrate, but few people know how to do so. With deep concentration, we are also able to connect with our subconscious and enable us to achieve an inner calm.


Below are 5 easy concentration techniques for improving concentration. They are simple, straightforward, and achievable as long as you put your mind to it, in other words, employ your will power. You will start seeing the effect of these 5 techniques over some time, as these are not immediate miracles and require time and effort to build up your concentration levels.


Concentration Technique #1: Stretch your limits

You have experienced moments at work or when studying when you felt like you needed a break and you find your mind wandering and unable to focus. Learn to stretch your limits by pushing yourself to complete perhaps 15 more minutes of work, or to finish reading the chapter in your textbook before taking a break. By setting achievable targets, you are training up your mental stamina and pushing yourself to break through the limits that you have set for your mind unconsciously.


Concentration Technique #2: Focus on one thing

We have a dozen and one things to think about, such as picking up the laundry, grocery shopping, work, cooking dinner, picking the kids from work, and the list goes on. You may find your mind wandering at work because you are worried about what to cook for dinner, or that you have remembered everything you need to pick up at the grocers. It is not that you are unable to concentrate, but simply that your mind has too many thoughts, and you need to control your brain. Tell yourself that you will focus on the other issues once you are done with work, and keep your mind on your work. Acknowledge that there are other tasks that need tending to, but they can wait as they are not as important.


Concentration Technique #3: Tune out Distractions

Much like horses have blinders to keep them staring in one direction and oblivious to their surroundings, we need to develop the mental equivalent to keep focused on the task at hand. If you have an alternative place to work or study that has no distractions, by all means move your work there. However, it is difficult to chase our colleagues away or tell the phone to stop ringing because it is distracting you! Learn to place blinders over your mind, or physically cup your hands around your vision to remind your brain to focus.


Concentration Technique #4: It is Ok to Take a Break

No matter how good your concentration is, or your will power, we are merely human. This means that it is perfectly acceptable to take short breaks, and you will find that your mind will feel rejuvenated and better equipped to take on more challenges after a short rest. Do not feel bad about taking breaks, as they are essential to increasing your efficiency. Pushing yourself beyond your limits is encouraged, but overworking is not!


Concentration Technique #5: Variety is Key

Our brain is not like a computer, and it needs stimulation and variety to remain engaged and interested at the task at hand. If you must slog at an Excel spreadsheet for the whole day, take occasional breaks and engage your mind in other activities. This will keep it alert, and keep boredom at bay. If your mind is focused on one task for extended periods of time, the repetitive activity may cause your attention to waver or be reduced.



Concentrating when studying
Concentration: the ability to direct your thinking
The art or practice of concentration,
no matter if studying biology or playing pool,
is to focus on the task at hand and eliminate distraction
We all have the ability to concentrate -- sometimes. Think of the times when you were "lost" in something you enjoy: a sport, playing music, a good game, a movie. Total concentration.
But at other times,
• Your mind wanders from one thing to another
• Your worries distract you
• Outside distractions take you away before you know it
• The material is boring, difficult, and/or not interesting to you.
• See the Flash distraction (needs high speed connection)
These tips may help: They involve
1. What you can control in your studies
2. Best practices
What you can control in your studies:
• "Here I study"
Get a dedicated space, chair, table, lighting and environment
Avoid your cellphone or telephone
Put up a sign to avoid being disturbed or interrupted
If you like music in the background, OK, but don't let it be a distraction. (Research on productivity with music versus without music is inconclusive)
• Stick to a routine, efficient study schedule
Accommodate your day/nighttime energy levels
See our Guide on Setting goals and making a scheduling
• Focus
Before you begin studying, take a few minutes to summarize a few objectives, gather what you will need, and think of a general strategy of accomplishment
• Incentives
Create an incentive if necessary for successfully completing a task,
such as calling a friend, a food treat, a walk, etc.
For special projects such as term papers, design projects, long book reviews, set up a special incentive
• Change topics
Changing the subject you study every one to two hours for variety
• Vary your study activities
Alternate reading with more active learning exercises
If you have a lot of reading, try the SQ3R method
Ask yourself how you could increase your activity level while studying? Perhaps a group will be best? Creating study questions?
Ask your teacher for alternative strategies for learning. The more active your learning, the better.
• Take regular, scheduled breaks that fit you
Do something different from what you've been doing (e.g., walk around if you've been sitting), and in a different area
• Rewards
Give yourself a reward when you've completed a task
Best Practices:
• You should notice improvement in a few days
But like any practice, there will be ups, levels, and downs:
• It will benefit other activities you do!
Be here now | Worry time | Tally Card |Energy level | Visualize
Be Here Now
This deceptively simple strategy is probably the most effective.
When you notice your thoughts wandering astray, say to yourself
"Be here now"
and gently bring your attention back to where you want it.
For example:
You're studying and your attention strays to all the other homework you have, to a date, to the fact that you're hungry. Say to yourself
"Be here now"
Focus back on subject with questions, summarizing, outlining, mapping, etc. and maintain your attention there as long as possible.
When it wanders again, repeat
"Be here now"
and gently bring your attention back, and continue this practise, repeatedly. It will work!
Do not try to keep particular thoughts out of your mind. For example, as you sit there, close your eyes and think about anything you want to for the next three minutes except cookies. Try not to think about cookies...When you try not to think about something, it keeps coming back. ("I'm not going to think about cookies. I'm not going to think about cookies.")
You might do this hundreds of times a week. Gradually, you'll find that the period of time between your straying thoughts gets a little longer every few days. So be patient and keep at it. You'll see some improvement!
Do not constantly judge your progress. Take it easy on yourself. Good practice is enough to say that you did it, and that you are on the road. The mind is always different and the practice unfolds over time with many ups and downs.
Worry or Think Time
Research has proven that people who use a worry time find themselves worrying 35 percent less of the time within four weeks.
1. Set aside a specific time each day to think about
the things that keep entering your mind and interfering with your concentration.
2. When you become aware of a distracting thought,
remind yourself that you have a special time to think about them,
3. Let the thought go,
perhaps with "Be here now,"
4. Keep your appointment
to worry or think about those distracting issues
For example, set 4:30 to 5 p.m. as your worry/think time. When your mind is side-tracked into worrying during the day, remind yourself that you have a special time for worrying. Then, let the thought go for the present, and return your focus to your immediate activity.
Tallying your mental wanderings.
Have a 3 x 5 inch card handy. Draw two lines dividing the card into three sections. Label them "morning," "afternoon," and "evening."
Each time your mind wanders, make a tally in the appropriate section. Keep a card for each day. As your skills build, you'll see the number of tallies decrease
Maximize your energy level
When is your energy level at its highest? When are your low energy times?
Study your most difficult courses at your high energy times. Sharpest early in the evening? Study your most difficult course then. Later in the evening? Work on your easier courses or the ones you enjoy the most.
Most students put off the tough studies until later in the evening when they become tired, and it is more difficult to concentrate. Reverse that. Study hard subjects at peak energy times; easier ones later. This alone can help to improve your concentration
Visualize
As an exercise before you begin studying, think of those times when concentration is not a problem for you--no matter what situation. Now try to feel or image yourself in that situation. Recapture that experience immediately before your studies by placing yourself in that moment.. Repeat before each study session.

CONCENTRATION

Concentration has been defined as "the ability to direct one's thinking in whatever direction one would intend".
We all have the ability to concentrate some of the time. But at other times our thoughts are scattered, and our minds race from one thing to another. To deal with such times, we need to learn and practice concentration skills and strategies. To concentrate, we have to learn a skill, and as with any skill this means practice repeated day after day until we achieve enough improvement to feel that we can concentrate when we need to.
Our ability to concentrate depends on
• commitment
• enthusiasm for the task
• skill at doing the task
• our emotional and physical state
• our psychological state
• our environment
Commitment
We need to make a personal commitment to put in the effort needed to do the task in the way which we realistically plan to do it. If we just play at it in a half-hearted manner then it is much more difficult to take the task and ourselves seriously.
Enthusiasm
If we are interested in the task and enjoy doing it, then we find it easy to motivate ourselves to start. Once started, our feelings of involvement in the activity keep us going - we want to do it.
Skill
Knowing how to do something gives confidence that our efforts will be successful, so we don't have to deal with anxiety about will this work or not. Anxiety tends to impair concentration.
Our emotional & physical state
When we are in good physical condition - i.e. feeling rested, relaxed and comfortable - and our emotions are calm and benevolent, then we tend to be positive about things. This in turn raises self-esteem, which makes us more able to concentrate, if only because we don't have to worry about how awful we are or life is.
Our psychological state
For example, if we are in an obsessional or distracted state our thoughts are pre-occupied, leaving little mental space to think about anything else.
Environment
It is much more difficult to concentrate if our surroundings keep intruding on our awareness, perhaps because it is noisy, too hot or too cold, the furniture is uncomfortable or the people around us are stressing out.
Expanding your concentration span
People sometimes refer to a concentration span : this is the time we can concentrate on a specific task before our thoughts wander. In learning concentration skills, we aim to extend our concentration span - bearing in mind that we will have a different span for different tasks. It cannot be expanded to infinity! Most people find their level for most tasks round about an hour, but for some people and some tasks it will just be a few minutes, while for others it might be two or three hours.
The main barriers to concentrating are boredom, anxiety and day-dreaming. Thus in improving our concentration skills we need to counteract these barriers. The following three skills are basic to concentration: if you want to improve your concentration, start by practising them. They will be followed by further strategies which will allow you to build onto the basic skills.
1. STOP!!!
This sounds very simple, but it works. When you notice your thoughts wandering, say to yourself STOP and then gently bring your attention back to where you want it to be. Each time it wanders bring it back. To begin with, this could be several times a minute. But each time, say STOP and then re-focus. Don't waste energy trying to keep thoughts out of your mind (forbidden thoughts attract like a magnet!), just put the effort into STOP and re-focus.
To begin with you will do this hundreds of times a week. But you will find that the period of time between your straying thoughts gets a little longer each day, so be patient and keep at it.
2. Attending
This is about maintaining concentration and not giving in to distractions. It could be described as a sort of tunnel-vision, or as being focused: you keep your concentration on what is in front of you. If you are distracted, use the STOP technique to regain concentration. You can practice attending in many situations:
• eg. in a lecture, if people move or cough, ignore them, don't look at them, actively exclude them from the link or tunnel formed between you and the lecturer.
• eg. in a social situation, keep your attention solely on one person - what they say, how they look etc. - and ignore what is going on round about.
3. Worry time
Set aside one or more specific periods in the day when you are allowed to worry. It can help to set them just before something that you know you will do, to ensure that you stop worrying on time - e.g. before a favourite TV programme, or a meal-time. Whenever an anxiety or distracting thought enters your mind during the day, banish it until your next worry time, and re-focus on to what you are supposed to be doing. Some people find it helpful to write down the banished thought: it is easier to banish a thought if you are sure you won't have forgotten it when you get to your worry time. It is important that you keep your worry time(s), and make yourself worry for the full time. If you find that you can't fill the time available, then make a conscious decision to reduce it.
You may notice, particularly if you keep a list, that certain things keep reappearing: this is a fairly clear indication that you need to do something about them.
4. Active Learning
Everyone has their own distinct learning style. Some learn by reading and then asking themselves questions, others learn by making condensed notes and memorising them, others learn by the associations they make to the material, and yet others retain a pictorial image of the material. Once you know your learning style, organise the material to suit it: if you don't, learning will be more of a struggle than it need be and your concentration will suffer. Having your own learning style involves having your own internal 'language': briefly, this means the words you use to translate and understand the material so that it has meaning for you. If you don't know how you learn best, try to analyse your experience either with someone who knows how you work, or with someone with expertise in this area.
Other things that can help
• once you know what your concentration span is for a specific activity, decide whether it is acceptable or whether you need to train yourself to expand it - e.g. a listening concentration span of 10 minutes and a lecture of 50 minutes is a mismatch! To expand your concentration span, just try to keep focused for a little longer each time by using STOP! and Attending. Practice with something that doesn't matter in terms of the task: you could expand your lecture concentration span by practising listening to the news on the radio.
• in between periods of concentration, do things to change your physical and mental activity. You could move around to boost your circulation if you have been sitting, or you could think about something completely different - and fun - to give your brain a new focus.
• give yourself incentives and rewards appropriate to the level of concentration you have had to maintain. Quite often they can be linked to the things that usually distract you. If you dream of sitting out in the sun when you are in a library trying to study, make your reward a period of sun-worship (with the appropriate sun-screen cream).
• be 'active' in mental activity! Use a hierarchy of questions to help you focus when reading reference material or listening to a lecture, rather than passively reading through it or listening and hoping that something will stick - and then write brief notes about the answers to your questions. Ask yourself how you will use the material, where it fits into what you already know, what new questions it triggers.
• ensure that your environment aids concentration - reduce distractions but don't be so comfortable that you nod off.
• do tasks that need most concentration at times when you are mentally and physically fresh: concentration is harder to maintain when you are tired. This means you need to know the times of day when you work best: people vary as to when is their best time.
• experiment and see whether working with another person helps you keep focused on the task. It can often refresh interest in the subject by sparking off new trains of thought which then re-involve you in the task.
• check if you feel stuck whether the problem is one of poor concentration rather than lack of the necessary knowledge or understanding - and if its the latter, do something about it.
• don't look for an easy answer in stimulants such as caffeine. They only have a short-term effect of making you feel alert, and too much or too long an exposure can have serious effects on your physical and mental health.
Combating specific problems with concentration
1. When you have been concentrating well but your brain now feels saturated.
Take a short break and then recharge your mental batteries by reviewing what you have done so far, considering whether it might help to switch to a new topic now. If you feel too tired to restart after a short break, review what you have done and where it fits into the overall task, and define where you need to pick it up again. If necessary make a note of this. Then decide, before you stop, when you will restart the task.
2. How to concentrate on a topic which you hate or which bores you.
Actively search in the material for aspects of the subject that can be turned into useful information (and might even be interesting!): you could do this by focusing on finding five central, important ideas to think about. Use mind-maps or spider diagrams to record the search, and write test questions to summarise your learning after each study session.


Focus on the personal rewards of completing the topic satisfactorily (even if its only to be rid of the task) and build in treats to reward yourself as you progress through the task. If all else fails, see it as a personal challenge - don't let it beat you.
3. Day-dreaming
Use the STOP! technique and Attending to counteract it. Maybe make being allowed to daydream a reward after a period of concentration.
4. Negative thinking
Loss of concentration can lead to negative thoughts about yourself. Deal with them as with other distractions, and banish them into your Worry Time, when you can check out their reality.
5. Being vague
If you are not quite sure what you are supposed to be doing or why you are doing it then it will be difficult to maintain concentration. You could try to define the task in terms of its content and purpose, and then to make a realistic estimate of how much time and effort will be required to do it.
6. Feeling overwhelmed
Sometimes what we have to do is just too much for us to get our head around. When we think about it, it is too huge a task to contemplate and our feelings of inadequacy take over. Both contribute to losing concentration because it all feels impossible. In such circumstances, look for ways of breaking the task up into smaller discreet parts that feel manageable. Then treat them as individual tasks, summoning up your concentration for each of them separately. It then doesn't need so much effort to fix them all together later on to make a complete whole.
7. Self-doubt
Intellectual activity takes place mainly in the brain and is thus not shared without making a special effort. If we don't discuss what we are doing with others it is very easy to wonder whether what we are doing is OK. This can lead us to feel ineffective and fragile, which in turn can become self-doubt. You need to reduce or banish your doubts if they are not to interfere with concentration. If it isn't possible to discuss what you are doing with others, you could try using the four steps mentioned under Negative Thinking to check out the worth of what you are doing.
Strategies for critical thinking in learning
Critical thinking studies a subject or problem with open-mindedness.
The process begins with a statement of what is to be studied,
proceeds to unrestricted discovery and consideration of possibilities,
and concludes with a pattern for understanding that is based on evidence.
Motives, bias, and prejudice of both the learner as well as the experts are then compared and form the foundation of judgment.
Enter with an open mind:
• Define your destination, what you want to learn
Clarify or verify with your teacher or an "expert" your subject
Topics can be simple phrases:
"The role of gender in video game playing"
"Political history of France between the Great Wars of the first half of the Twentieth Century"
"Mahogany tree cultivation in Central America"
"Domestic plumbing regulations in the suburbs"
"Vocabulary and structure of a human skeleton"
• Think about what you already know about the subject
What do you already know that will help you in this study?
What are your prejudices?
• What resources are available to you, and what is your timeline?
• Gather information
Keep an open mind so as not to close your options
and for chance opportunities
• Ask questions
What are the prejudices of the authors of the information?
• Organize what you have collected into patterns to understand it
Look for connections
• Ask questions (again!)
• Think in terms of how you would demonstrate your learning for your topic
Yes! how would you create a test on what you have learned?
From simple to more complex (1-6) operations:
1. List, label, identify Demonstrate knowledge
2. Define, explain, summarize in your own words Comprehend/understand
3. Solve, apply to a new situation Use your learning; apply it
4. Compare and contrast, differentiate between items Analyze
5. Create, combine, invent Synthesize
6. Assess, recommend, value Evaluate and explain why
Think in terms of making your learning an adventure in exploration!
Summary of critical thinking:
• Determine the facts of a new situation or subject without prejudice
• Place these facts and information in a pattern so that you can understand them
• Accept or reject the source values and conclusions based upon your experience, judgment, and beliefs


Thinking like a Genius
"Even if you're not a genius, you can use the same strategies as Aristotle and Einstein to harness the power of your creative mind and better manage your future."
The following eight strategies encourage you to think productively,
rather than reproductively, in order to arrive at solutions to problems. "These strategies are common to the thinking styles of creative geniuses in science, art, and industry throughout history."
1. Look at problems in many different ways, and find new perspectives that no one else has taken (or no one else has publicized!)
Leonardo da Vinci believed that, to gain knowledge about the form of a problem, you begin by learning how to restructure it in many different ways. He felt that the first way he looked at a problem was too biased. Often, the problem itself is reconstructed and becomes a new one.
2. Visualize!
When Einstein thought through a problem, he always found it necessary to formulate his subject in as many different ways as possible, including using diagrams. He visualized solutions, and believed that words and numbers as such did not play a significant role in his thinking process.
3. Produce! A distinguishing characteristic of genius is productivity.
Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents. He guaranteed productivity by giving himself and his assistants idea quotas. In a study of 2,036 scientists throughout history, Dean Keith Simonton of the University of California at Davis found that the most respected scientists produced not only great works, but also many "bad" ones. They weren't afraid to fail, or to produce mediocre in order to arrive at excellence.
4. Make novel combinations. Combine, and recombine, ideas, images, and thoughts into different combinations no matter how incongruent or unusual.
The laws of heredity on which the modern science of genetics is based came from the Austrian monk Grego Mendel, who combined mathematics and biology to create a new science.
5. Form relationships; make connections between dissimilar subjects.
Da Vinci forced a relationship between the sound of a bell and a stone hitting water. This enabled him to make the connection that sound travels in waves. Samuel Morse invented relay stations for telegraphic signals when observing relay stations for horses.
6. Think in opposites.
Physicist Niels Bohr believed, that if you held opposites together, then you suspend your thought, and your mind moves to a new level. His ability to imagine light as both a particle and a wave led to his conception of the principle of complementarity. Suspending thought (logic) may allow your mind to create a new form.
7. Think metaphorically.
Aristotle considered metaphor a sign of genius, and believed that the individual who had the capacity to perceive resemblances between two separate areas of existence and link them together was a person of special gifts.
8. Prepare yourself for chance.
Whenever we attempt to do something and fail, we end up doing something else. That is the first principle of creative accident. Failure can be productive only if we do not focus on it as an unproductive result. Instead: analyze the process, its components, and how you can change them, to arrive at other results. Do not ask the question "Why have I failed?", but rather "What have I done?"

• Since behaviour is directly observable, it can be measured and changes in behaviour can be attributed to intervening processes such as learning

• Behaviourism has been the predominant influence in North American Psychology during the past century

• During the last part of the century, however, interest rekindled in studying states of consciousness (response to the limitations of behaviourism)

• Today, contemporary psychology is concerned with both the study of behaviour as well as with the study of consciousness.


What is consciousness?

• Today, we define consciousness as:

• awareness of ourselves and our environment
• a process which allows us to exert voluntary control over ourselves
• a way of communicating mental states

• We direct our consciousness through attentional mechanisms

• Consciousness consists of several levels or layers

• We can obtain some insight into how the conscious mind works by looking at how humans perform certain types of tasks

• When we first engage in a task like driving a car, our conscious mind focuses on variables such as the traffic, pedestrians, the operation of the vehicle, the feel of the car on the road, etc.

• As we become more practiced at driving, the task becomes more automatic and requires less conscious effort (skilled behaviour).

• Becoming a skilled performer leads to the conscious mind becoming less and less burdened by the task

• The task becomes under the control of subconscious processes

• This freeing up the conscious mind allows us to parallel process e.g. daydreaming, reading while driving the car

• When behaviour becomes skilled, the conscious mind is free to monitor behaviour, do other things and to deal with novel situations

• Therefore, less familiar tasks and situations require more conscious effort or attention

• This division of labour (conscious / unconscious) is seen as a way that allows our mind to use it’s resources more efficiently


The mind can be mapped into three areas:
the conscious mind
the preconscious mind
the unconscious mind
The Conscious
That part of the mind of which we are aware.
Includes all the memories, ideas, feelings, thoughts that we know we are thinking about.
Includes our identity.
The Preconscious
Poorly developed idea.
Information that is not conscious but which can be retrieved into conscious awareness.
The Unconscious
A relatively large part of our mind where we keep memories, thoughts, wishes, fantasies, and wishes that, for a number of reasons are unacceptable to our conscious mind.
Access to the Unconscious
Dreams, the “royal road”
manifest content
latent content
Slips of the tongue
Free Association
The “Iceberg” analogy
10% of personality is conscious (above the surface)
90% of personality is unconscious (below the surface)



Firstly you all are aware that was is a subconscious mind or power, we are ruled by our subconscious power, and if know and if we can conquer this power then we are the most powerful person in this whole world, we are divided in 2 parts one outer side that is controlled by our brains and one inner side that is controlled by our subconscious mind.

For example, when we breathe, we don't have to think that we have to breathe it is controlled by our subconscious mind power, again for example when we think in our mind that we need to get up early in the morning and some times you see that you do get up early at that time, and you are confused that how this has happened, so the answer is here, it is the subconscious mind power that is responsible for waking you up, also when you forget some thing, you are very confused and you don't know where it is, but then later when you are cool suddenly you remember or at times you are forced to go at that place where you may find your lost good etc, so the basic concept is that your subconscious mind is very strong and if you can control it then you can do any thing in this world.

Also any type of disease, sickness any thing can be completely cured by the power of subconscious mind.

Now you may ask or have a question that how can you achieve this power, so the answer lies in meditation, you will have to order your subconscious mind by the help of meditation to work for you, and as I have explained earlier how to go ahead and start meditating
Now Astral Projection, what is this, well you may be surprised but even if you are in your own house you can go any where you want even outside your country and come back, this is by the power of subconscious mind, for example there was a person, who while he was sleeping had witnessed a murder in another country when he got up he did an enquiry about it and found out that it was true and murder had taken place he was surprised, the reason was that while he was asleep, his soul had traveled to another country and had witnessed the murder, so that is astral projection by which while you are asleep you can see the whole world with the help of your should, but again this is possible by conquering your subconscious mind.

Stress Management

What is stress?
‘Stress’ is not a medical condition. Rather, it is a description of a state of affairs in which demands are placed on a person. Pressure is part and parcel of work and can have a positive effect that helps to keep us motivated. But excessive pressure can lead to dangerous levels of stress, which undermines performance, is costly to employers and can make people ill. The Health & Safety Executive define stress as 'the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them'.
8
Event or situation as only mildly challenging, you will probably feel only a little stress; however, if you perceive the situation or event as threatening or overwhelming your coping abilities, you will probably feel a lot of stress. Importantly, your perception of how negative an outcome could be will significantly determine what degree of stress you experience. So, having to wait for a bus when you have all the time in the world triggers only a little stress. Waiting for that same bus when you are running late for an appointment triggers much more stress. The difference between the demands of the situation and your perception of how well you can cope with that situation is what determines how much stress you will feel.


Are Stress Reactions
in Males and Females Different?

People have always reacted and responded to stress. That's probably one of the reasons the human race exists. And, the people who did react and survive passed those genes on. About 70 years ago, Walter Canon, a physiologist, studied the way a person physically responds to stress and coined the "Fight or
Flight" response.


The study of how the human body responds to stress continues today. What we do know is that our stresses are different than they were seventy years ago, but our physiology is the same. Our "threats" or stressors are more psychological-than physical.


The Big Difference

When we get stressed, it's because we believe our "balance" (psychological and/or physical) has been disturbed. To get back to balance we have to do something. Immediately we assess our resources to get back to a balanced state. If we cognitively decide we don't have the resources, our brain signals our
body to go into "stress mode".

At this point, our body's nervous system goes into action. The sympathetic system secretes hormones to stimulate us (breathe faster, heart rate increases, etc.). The para-sympathetic system secretes hormones to calm us. Actually, the basic neuro-endocrine core of stress responses doesn't vary much between males and females. However, as the stress response endures males and females secrete different hormones-males secrete testosterone and females secrete oxytocin.


Hormonal Differences


Even though males and females produce both oxytocin and testosterone, the stress response alters the amount secreted. Males secrete more testosterone-which in turn represses secretions of oxytocin. Females secrete more oxytocin. How does this alter the response to stress for males and females?

Testosterone helps fuel the "Fight or Flight" response. It prepares the body to run away or to fight. This hormone has long been associated with hostility and aggressive behavior. Research shows that testosterone increases with acute stress (including high-intensity exercise) and psychological stress.
Females can also display aggression, but it is usually less physical.

Oxytocin calms the nervous system, and fuels the "Tend and Befriend" response. Basic "Tending" is referred to as the quieting and caring for offspring and blending into the environment (for survival). "Befriending" is the creation of networks or associations that can provide resources to help the stressed female get back to "balance." Research shows that oxytocin enhances more affiliative and affectionate contact, which in turn, enhances the flow of oxytocin. Some research contends that, when stressed the females' desire to affiliate with others is the most "robust" gender difference in adult human behavior.

What are the signs and symptoms of stress?

The signs and symptoms of stress can range from a major physical crisis like a heart attack, to more minor symptoms like tiredness and disrupted sleep patterns. The more serious stress-related problems usually emerge in the context of prolonged periods of exposure to intense stress. It is important therefore to be able to recognise and manage the early signs and symptoms of stress, in order to avoid the more serious effects of stress on your health and well-being. Think about how you have been feeling in the last few months. How many of the physical and psychological signs of stress listed on the following page have you experienced?

• Tiredness, fatigue, disrupted sleep patterns
• increased pulse rate and blood pressure
• Shallow, rapid respirations
• Muscular tension
• Loss of appetite, overeating, indigestion
• Constipation, diarrhea
• Dry mouth
• Excessive perspiration, clamminess
• Nausea
• Decreased libido
• Nail-biting
• increased use of alcohol or other drugs
• Irritability and impatience
• Frequent worry and anxiety
• Moodiness, feeling sad or upset
• Loss of sense of humor
• Poor concentration, memory lapses
• Ambivalence
• Feeling overwhelmed by even minor problems

Symptoms of Stress

When you are stressed, your body creates extra energy to protect itself, which then creates an imbalance within your system. This energy needs to be directed into responses to regain a sense of balance. The American Psychological Association (APA) identifies four different types of stress: acute stress, episodic acute stress, chronic stress, and traumatic stress. Here is a summary of the symptoms for each type of stress (Lazarus, Stress Relief & Relaxation Techniques):

Level 1 - Acute Stress

Stressors defined as acute are the things that hamper your plans or your day: transportation problems that make you late to work, a missed deadline, an unexpected meeting with your child’s teacher. Acute stress happens to everyone and tends to be manageable.

Symptoms of Acute Stress:

• Emotional distress: worry, anger, irritability, anxiety, frustration, impatience
• Physical problems: fatigue, headache, back pain, jaw pain, trembling, cold hands and
feet, and Muscular stiffness that can lead to pulled muscles, tendons, and ligaments
• Digestive problems: heartburn, acid stomach, diarrhea, constipation, flatulence, irritable
bowel Syndrome
• Vital-Sign disturbances: rise in blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, heart
alpitations, Dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pain
• Mental disturbances: confusion, inability to concentrate, indecisiveness, mind racing,
Mindlessness or blankness

Level 2 - Episodic Acute Stress

Episodic acute stress is characterized by intense reaction to everything: the classic type a personality, an excessive competitive drive, aggressiveness, impatience, and having a sense of time urgency. Episodic acute stress involves worry that a disaster is going to happen any minute.

Symptoms of Episodic Acute Stress (In addition to symptoms of acute stress):

• Persistent headaches
• Hypertension
• Asthma
• Chest pain
• Heart disease

Level 3 - Chronic Stress

Chronic stress is the long-standing stress that wears people down. It can be associated with such problems as poverty, illness, dysfunctional families, or work dissatisfaction.

Symptoms of Chronic Stress:

• Loss of appetite, or overeating
• Feeling of insecurity & inadequacy
• Weakened immune system
• Heart disease
• Chronic pain in joints, back, jaw, or shoulders
• Pessimism
• Resentment
• Extreme or chronic anger
• Inability to concentrate
• Peptic ulcers
• Diminished coping ability
• Depression
• Chronic fatigue
• Migraine headaches
• Persistent anxiety
• Reclusiveness
• Constant irritability
• Cynicism
• Low performance levels
• Digestive Disorders

Level 4 - Traumatic Stress
Traumatic stress occurs when a person has had a traumatic experience such as being in an accident, witnessing a terrible crime, losing a job, or having extreme financial problems in keeping the farm as a result of a drought or any natural or human disaster. Individuals experience extreme emotional responses. The shock can make you dazed and the denial is the coping mechanism – putting off feeling the intensity of the experience.

Symptoms of Traumatic Stress:

• Feelings: unpredictable, intense mood swings; anxiety; nervousness; depression
• Thoughts: flashbacks; vivid memory of event; inability to concentrate
• Physical reactions: rapid heartbeat; sweating; headache, nausea, chest pain, general
pain, and Digestive problems
• Relationship problems: strained, frequent arguments with family members and/or
coworkers; Withdrawal and isolation from group activity

Is Stress Affecting Your Health

Stress is something we all face, yet many of us don’t really understand what stress is or appreciate the problems it can cause.

Stress is actually a combination of two separate things. The first is the “stressor,” the situation that triggers the physical and emotional reactions that we feel. It might be a family problem, a money issue or just that traffic jam going to work.

Our “stress response” is our natural response to a stressor. Our bodies release chemicals that increase our breathing, heart rate, alertness and muscle response. That reaction is inherited from our ancient ancestors for whom survival meant reacting quickly to the threats they encountered. We call it the “fight or flight” response.

But while that was a good reaction back when the stress source was a bear or similar life-threatening situation, today’s problems are seldom so immediate or quickly resolved. Instead, we often face prolonged or repeated stress over which we have little or no control.

For many of us, repeatedly facing stressful situations can leave us feeling constantly nervous or exhausted, and can result in very real physical and emotional ailments.

How do you know that stress is negatively affecting your life to the point where you need help? The warning signs can include changes in both behavior and physical well-being.

Stress-related behavioral changes might include anger or impatience over relatively minor things. You might find yourself unable to relax, anxious almost all the time, sleeping poorly and experiencing sexual problems. Major changes in eating, whether no appetite or constantly overeating, are also common reactions. Excessive stress can make it difficult to make decisions or set priorities. You may make more mistakes or become accident-prone.

Physical ailments, such as frequent headaches and neck or back pain, can also be stress-related symptoms. You might find yourself suffering from frequent indigestion, diarrhea or constipation. Shortness of breath, heart palpitations, or skin problems like acne or psoriasis can also occur.

Excessive stress is not a problem to be ignored. It has been linked to a variety of serious health and emotional issues. If you find yourself facing high levels of stress that are affecting your health or overall quality of life, seek help. Your family physician or a counseling professional can offer assistance in helping reduce or cope with unhealthy stress in your life.

The Effects of Stress

What is stress?

Stress is a part of daily life. Everyone has stress. Some people appear to have more stress than others. Stress is one way we react to specific events in our life. There are times when you might feel that too much is happening at once and feel overwhelmed. Other times, you feel the pressure of time or a deadline and realize you need to take care of something before it is too late. Having been in a similar situation before will create anxiety. How we perceive a situation will affect how we respond to it. There is good stress and bad stress.

Good stress can be a motivator. Knowing that you have an obligation to address and a timeframe. That type of stressor puts you into action in order to meet a deadline. Or you might be in an unexpected situation where you need to make a split second response in order to avoid danger. This could be slamming your foot on the brake to avoid an accident. Anticipation of a competition or performance will cause tension and nervousness prior to the event. This nervousness is due to an increased flow of adrenaline going through your body. Your body is preparing for the “fight or flight” syndrome. The release of adrenaline prepares your body to take the steps to deal with the situation, including improved focus, strength, stamina and heightened alertness.

People also have bad stress in their lives. Whether we perceive a situation as being stressful or not depends on previous experiences. One person might see being in a multi tasking job as very stressful, feeling overwhelmed and becoming anxious about their work. Another person might find multi tasking enjoyable because they continue to stay busy and time goes by faster. Your body is capable of dealing with stress for short periods of time. When the stress is ongoing i.e. dealing with a divorce or bankruptcy, this can wear a person down. Long term stress contributes to feeling tired, overwhelmed and contributes to lowered immunity.

The body’s reactions to stress

Once you view something as being stressful, whether positive or negative, your body reacts to that perception. The response is a survival technique and a defense mechanism. The reaction is referred to as the “fight or flight” response. Either you are going to fight the attacker or you will choose to flee from the threat. This includes increased heart rate and blood pressure, perspiration, hearing and vision become more acute and hands and feet might become colder since blood is being directed to larger muscles in preparation for a fight or to flee. Your body is being prepped to handle the situation. When the threat is over, your body will return to normal.

If your body has difficulty returning to normal, then you would experience stress overload. This is when you stress out too much or have ongoing stress in your life and never get a chance to relax. Pressure in your life might be too intense or go on for too long without a break. People that have experienced trauma are likely to have stress overload. If trauma is not resolved then you might become hypervigilant, a sense of being overly aware of possible danger. You might always be “on guard.” Stress overload has an emotional and physical effect on the body. This could include panic attacks, depression, sleep problems, physical pain i.e. headaches and allergies as well as abuse of alcohol or other drugs. Having unresolved trauma will affect your perception. Situations that might not have caused tension prior to the trauma can have the ability to create anxiety after the trauma. Becoming aware of how your perception has changed and seeking support to address the trauma issue can be helpful to reduce ongoing stressors and to reduce anxiety. Seeking counseling that focuses on cognitive perceptions will help to decrease hypervigilance and will help to reduce the likelihood of continuing to be retraumatized. In addition, your body has memory of the event as well. Being able to release that reaction to the memory of the event from your body will help to reduce stress overload and triggers.

Stress and control

Stress is contributed to the desire to be in control. This not only includes control over yourself, but control over other people and your environment. Trying to control others and your environment, however, is impossible. You only have control over your own thoughts and actions. In order to relieve stress and anxiety it is important to let go of trying to control things outside of yourself. We are unable to foresee the future and cannot control what events will happen next. Focusing on future potential problems contributes to anxiety. On the other hand, people are able to prepare for things that might occur and have a plan of how you would like to respond to events. This could be as simple as having a repair kit in your car for getting a flat tire or preparation for an interview and the questions that might be asked during the interview process.

Part of living life is that things always change. Change is normal. How you perceive something will impact how you react to it. This is where the fight or flight reaction occurs. You can decide to be proactive and address the situation. Making a choice to take care of things when they occur. Or you can expend a lot of energy avoiding issues and letting them build. Taking action will actually help to reduce stress and anxiety in the long run. In addition, there will be a feeling of empowerment as you begin to deal with problems as they arise. Trust your intuition and creatively think of all ways you could resolve the issue at hand. Even if you try to tackle a problem and don’t succeed, you could then view this as a temporary setback. Review what happened and try to approach it differently. Setbacks can be temporary. Find who your friends are and develop a support system. Another option is to seek counseling in order to have someone that is impartial as part of your support system. You don’t have to always take care of problems by yourself. Ask your friends, counselor or other support persons what they think about a situation. They might have ideas that you would not think of on your own. Learning to address problems as they occur will help you to change your perception of things from problems to challenges. Doing so will continue to help you build your sense of self esteem and empowerment. Identifying challenges as they occur, developing a plan to deal with the challenge, asking others for their point of view, taking action and keeping focus on the goal you are working toward will help to strengthen your resiliency.

Steps to reduce stress

Each one of us is a unique individual and we all have different experiences throughout our lives that affect our perception. What might be a stressful event for one person, might not be viewed as stressful for someone else. In addition, some activities are more stressful than others. Self care including eating well and getting enough sleep are important for stress reduction. Making time for doing activities that are relaxing is preventative to reducing stress overload. Relaxation is important, but there is no one right way to relax. Some people find that sleeping or going to the beach is relaxing. Others choose to be involved in an enjoyable activity or hobby as a way of relaxing. The goal is to find an activity that allows you to escape from everyday worries and problems. There is no right way to do that. Relieving stress can be done by meditation, exercise or doing an activity. Making the time to care for yourself is a priority that helps to reduce stress overload.

As you focus on making positive change in your life that will help to reduce stress and anxiety, be forgiving of yourself if you don’t resolve your problems immediately. Being critical of yourself is very easy to do, especially when people close to you have been critical of you for a long period of time. That critical voice can be very loud when you don’t get it right the first time. A suggestion is a positive response to the changes you are trying to make and to be forgiving of yourself when things don’t go perfectly as planned. These are some suggestions that might work or to come up with your own.

“As things develop, I will, through listening to guidance from my unconscious, adapt to changing circumstances and grow with them.”

“I may not get what I want when I want it; I trust that things will work out in their own good time, for my ultimate benefit, as long as I remain calm and peaceful.”

“I may not get what I want at all, and yet, in remaining calm and attentive, I may discover something else that I need even more than what I thought I wanted.”

How you perceive a situation will affect how you respond. Whether you choose to address the issue or to avoid it. If you have a negative perception then you are more likely to experience anxiety and not be able to effectively take care of the problem. This will then reinforce that you have no control over the outcome and reinforce the perception of being helpless. On the other hand, a positive perception will help you to find a way to deal with the challenge you are presented with. If you choose to take responsibility for your feelings and actions then you are more likely to have a positive outcome. This will reinforce the sense of resiliency and empowerment. Breaking old patterns of behavior is difficult, especially when trying to do it by yourself. Being willing to look at yourself and to identify changes you would like to make takes a lot of energy and time. The more effort you put into making a positive lifestyle change, the greater the feeling of accomplishment you will experience. Develop a support system, whether family, friends or a counselor. Having someone that helps you to make positive change will increase the likelihood that the change will be long term instead of temporary



Stress
Control Plans
Risk Factor Possible Controls
Workload
 Work overload / long hours. Time pressure.  Encourage staff to take regular breaks.
Plan workload more carefully to allow enough time to complete tasks.
Offer training in time management, goal setting and problem solving.
Delegate sub-tasks to other staff members if possible.
Regular meetings with all staff to talk about workload etc.
 Co-curricular activities  Organize schedules so that after-school activities do not conflict with marking deadlines or new subject preparation etc.
Where possible, make more use of alternative volunteers e.g. parents, guardians and capable older students or prefects (where applicable).
Environment
 Education out of the classroom  Risk analysis and assessment of proposed activity and location.
Identify any hazards likely to be encountered by students and staff. See EOTC hazard register.
Ensure staffs are trained to cope with first aid or other emergency.
Ensure communication is available (cell phone, radio etc)
 Negative office politics  Encourage greater staff participation in decision making processes.
Ensure staffs are consulted before changes are introduced.
Keep staff informed on a regular basis.
Encourage discussion on procedures etc at staff members
 Fear of accusation of improper conduct  Have clear policies on being alone with children e.g. always have another staff member present when administering first aid etc.
Ensure support mechanisms and systems (including counselors) are available in case an allegation is made.
 Working alone / at night  If possible, reduce the need to work alone.
Establish policies for staff working alone or at night e.g. ensure security and lighting are adequate, ensure there are enough telephones available which can be used for emergencies etc.
People
 Recognition of stress and how to manage stress  Ensure training is given to all staff to be able to recognize symptoms of stress, and to learn various stress management strategies.
 Conflicts with management, conflicts with other staff, conflicts with parents / students  Ensure a mediator is available, either appoint someone in house or have a professional mediator come in when needed.
 Aggressive or violent students • Ensure there is a management plan in place to deal with problem students or parents. Ensure all staff is familiar with the plan.
• Strategically place problem students into the most appropriate classes with teachers most likely to cope with them. Be sure not to overload those teachers.
 Staff absenteeism  Ensure there are plans in place for dealing with an absent teacher’s class until a relieving teacher is present.
Policies established for staff absences that cannot be covered by relief staff.
 Work stress causing problems at home - leading to more stress  Recognize that there is a problem, and then identify the stressors.
Make use of Employee Assistance programs and / or counseling.
Have a list of support groups and information on stress management available for staff and their families. Explore Wellness programs and Work/Home life balance strategies.
Task
 Unclear / ambiguous role  Have clearly defined job descriptions and role definitions.
Regular staff meetings to talk about roles and tasks.
 Role conflict  Evaluate job demands and tasks, and ensure that job objectives are being met satisfactorily.
 Unfamiliar tasks  Ensure there is adequate training for all staff and competencies are matched with skills.
Management
 Workplace stressors  Identify stressors and if possible make the necessary changes to the workplace to eliminate or minimize the stress caused.
 Make use of existing programs eg Mental Health @ Work, Mental Health Foundation of NZ
 Develop policies on stress, fatigue and mental health. Implement.
 Lifestyle stressors  Make necessary lifestyle changes – exercise, relaxation, cut down on alcohol or tobacco, dietary improvements etc.
 Attitude and perception of stress at work  These can be changed (slowly) with professional help and good information being made available, and support from colleagues.

STRESS PROGRESSION

Alarm Reaction Resistance Stage Exhausting Stage
Symptoms:
- heart palpitations
- shallow, fast breathing
- lower back, neck tightness
- dry throat
- nausea, anxiety
- dizziness, light headedness
- sweating
- limb numbness Survival or coping
- may drink heavily or take drugs Symptoms:
- more accidents
- loss of clarity of though
- reduced performance
- difficult concentrating
- lateness or absenteeism
- increase in mistakes
- increase in excuses
- sudden loss of short term memory








Stress risk assessment

Lecturers, technicians, instructors, learning centre staff


Number
Stress factor
Hazards
People at Risk
Existing Control Measures
Risk Rating
Further Action

1
























Demands
Heavy emotional demands


Managing conflictual situations

Dealing with aggressive and/or violent behaviour




Lone working



Dealing with over large classes

Unrealistic work targets



Workload too great





Tight deadlines

No opportunity to delegate

Dealing with conflicting priorities


Long working hours




Difficult to take regular breaks


Use of contract/agency/part time workers


Offsite/ multi site working

Over large admin workload





Job demands assessed
Job related training

Training


Student discipline policy
14-16 policy and risk assessment
Violence policy
Measures to reduce violent behaviour


Lone working policy
Timetabling structured to ensure lone working does not happen

Agreement on maximum class sizes and maximum workshop sizes

Achievable work targets

Job demands assessed

Workload agreement.
Reallocating tasks and increasing resources.
Provide more admin support.
Work life balance initiatives

Achievable deadlines.

Job demands re-assessed

Job demands re-assessed
Clear planning and communication of priorities by management

Workload agreement
Admin tasks delegated to admin workers.
Work life balance initiatives

Breaks to be taken
Workload re-assessed

Effects of such contracts on workers assessed. Permanent contracts encouraged.

Allowance for offsite/ multi site working
in workload agreement
Workload agreement
More admin staff to deal with workload


Number


Stress Factor
Hazards
People at Risk
Existing Control Measures

Risk Rating
Further Action

2


















Control
Unable to exert control over demands made



Unable to participate in the decision making process

Job changes take place without consultation


Lack of support from management



Lack of admin support


Too much work linked to deadlines and targets
No regular breaks/long working hours
Job tasks assessed.
Workload measured/reduced.
Safe working practices procedure.

Strategies to encourage staff to participate in decision making.

Consultation with staff before job changes
Two-way communication policy.

Support mechanisms developed, e.g. adequate resources for changes in the curriculum and job role

Provision of adequate admin support.

Tasks planned in advance.
Workloads re-assessed.
Cuts in working hours.
Regular breaks scheduled




Number


Stress Factor
Hazards
People at Risk
Existing Control Measures

Risk Rating
Future Action

3
Relation-ships


Bullying and/or harassment from managers/other staff/students




Heavy emotional demands


Staff feel undervalued
Lack of line management support.

Poor communication – both vertical and horizontal.
Isolation in curriculum areas



Lack of social space/canteen facilities.

Systems for dealing with bullying and harassment, e.g. Bullying and Harassment policies. Equal Opps Policy. Complaints procedure – complaints treated seriously and acted on.

Safe working practices document
Staff development opportunities.

Measures to value staff’s contributions
Staff development and professional development opportunities

Establish cross institutional committees to generate ideas/involvement, e.g. academic board/working parties.
Half day meeting slot.

Measures to improve physical facilities.




Number
Stress Factor
Hazards
People at Risk
Existing Control Measures

Risk Rating
Future Action

4















Role
Job responsibilities heavy and demanding


Unclear job description


Conflicting demands in job role

Lack of participation in decision making processes


Lack of support in job role



Organisational and job changes without consultation


Lack of promotion and career development opportunities

Job demands assessed
Workload re-assessed


Clearly defined job roles
Job descriptions re-assessed.

Clearly defined job roles
Job descriptions reviewed.

Strategies to encourage staff to participate in decision making processes.

Support mechanisms developed, e.g. adequate resources for changes in the curriculum and job role.

Improved consultation measures before changes take place.
Two-way communication policy

Staff development and career development opportunities



Number
Stress Factor
Hazards
People at Risk
Existing Control Measures

Risk Rating
Future Action

5
Support





Over competitive culture
Management style confrontational not supportive



Lack of consultation with staff
Poor communication

Staff feel under valued

Lack of career development/promotion routes.

Staff given responsibility without the authority to take decisions

Analysis of ‘culture’ of the organisation
and measures to improve the working environment.
Management show concern and empathy for those they manage.

Staff consulted and participate in decision making. Better communications systems in place

Measures to value staff’s contributions

Provision of staff and professional development opportunities

Strategies to encourage staff to participate in decision making




Number
Stress Factor
Hazards
People at Risk
Existing Control Measures

Risk Rating
Future Action

6
Change





Pace and intensity of change
New educational initiatives

High degree of uncertainty about work as the result of re-organisation, restructuring, redundancies or mergers

The impact of restructuring on workload and job responsibilities

Large increases in the number of part time/temporary/agency staff.

Changes without consultation.
Lack of participation in decision making processes.


Provision of time and resources to support new educational initiatives.

Improved consultation and communication about changes in ‘good time’ with the recognised unions


Job responsibilities assessed
Tasks re-allocated.


Improved contracts



Consultation procedures in place.
Improved communication strategies
Staff involved in the planning process before changes take place.



7 Successful Stress Management Techniques
Everyone needs successful stress management techniques. Easy to learn and easy to implement, you can use them for your own stress management or teach them to help others manage theirs.
Manage your stress and be a healthier, happier and more pleasant person to be around. Let’s cut to the chase…
1. Make stress your friend
Acknowledge that stress is good and make stress your friend! Based on the body’s natural “fight or flight” response, that burst of energy will enhance your performance at the right moment. I’ve yet to see a top sportsman totally relaxed before a big competition. Use stress wisely to push yourself that little bit harder when it counts most.
2. Stress is contagious
Stressed people sneeze stress germs indiscriminately and before you know it, you are infected with stress germs too!
Protect yourself from stress germs by recognizing stress in others and limiting your contact with them. Or if you’ve got the inclination, play stress doctor and teach them how to better manage their stress.
3. Copy good stress managers
When people around are losing their head, which keeps calm? What are they doing differently? What is their attitude? What language do they use? Are they trained and experienced?
Figure it out from afar or sit them down for a chat. Learn from the best stress managers and copy what they do.
4. Use deep breathing.
You can trick your body into relaxing by using deep breathing. Breathe in slowly for a count of 7 then breathe out for a count of 11. Repeat the 7-11 breathing until your heart rate slows down, your sweaty palms dry off and things start to feel more normal.
5. Stop stress thought trains
It is possible to tangle yourself up in a stress knot all by yourself. “If this happens, then that might happen and then we’re all up the creek!” Most of these things never happen, so why waste all that energy worrying needlessly?
Give stress thought-trains the red light and stop them in their tracks. Okay so it might go wrong – how likely is that, and what can you do to prevent it?
6. Know your stress hot spots and trigger points
Presentations, interviews, meetings, giving difficult feedback, tight deadlines……. My heart rate is cranking up just writing these down!
Make your own list of stress trigger points or hot spots. Be specific. Is it only presentations to a certain audience that get you worked up? Does one project cause more stress than another? Did you drink too much coffee?
Knowing what causes you stress is powerful information, as you can take action to make it less stressful. Do you need to learn some new skills? Do you need extra resources? Do you need to switch to de-caffeinated coffee?
7. Eat, sleep and be merry!
Lack of sleep, poor diet and no exercise wreaks havoc on our body and mind. Kind of obvious, but worth mentioning as it’s often ignored as a stress management technique. Listen to your mother and don’t burn the candle at both ends!
And those are the 7 successful stress management techniques! Take time to learn them, use them and teach them, and be a great stress manager.


Journaling for Stress Relief

Journaling is a great way to deal with chronic stress. It is one of the most powerful tools for self growth and can help you release negative emotions, clear confusion and sort out puzzling or traumatic events.

The best way to begin is to set a time to write and put down whatever thoughts and feelings pop into your head. Your journal can be used to reflect on the events currently affecting you that are particularly traumatic or overwhelming. It can also be used to process other things, such as dreams, childhood events, and long and short term goals.

Research has shown that writing not only about your feelings but also your thoughts about your feelings is more helpful than just venting your feelings. In other words, write from both an emotional and an intellectual angle,

Don’t worry about spelling or grammar. The purpose of what you’re doing is to relieve stress and release pent up emotions, not to cause yourself more stress by censoring your own writing. Keep what you’ve written private. If you think privacy is an issue, keep it under lock and key. If you’re journaling on a computer, password protect your file.

A journal can be written on lined or plain paper, in a special bound book or a plain spiral notebook, or you can use a computer. The important thing is to make a commitment to write for 10-20 minutes each day if you can. Schedule a time to write, whether it’s first thing in the morning or last thing before you go to bed, preferably a time when you’re free from interruptions. Experiment with writing at different times of day and in different locations.

Don’t think of journaling as a chore. If you miss several days of writing, simply pick up and write again when you can. Chances are the more you practice journaling, the more you will look forward to it. Your journal can be thought of as a friend who is always willing to listen. In a journal you have the freedom to express deep emotions that you may not be able to share with anyone. No one will be affected by what you write.

If you review what you’ve written over time, you’ll be able to see your own growth. If you’re processing a traumatic event, you’ll be amazed to see how far you’ve come and
how much you’ve healed.


Journaling is a lot less expensive than most other methods of stress relief. It’s a great tool for self-knowledge and emotional healing. Like other healthy habits, you will improve with practice, and the benefits you attain from journaling will build the more you work on
this life-changing habit.


Handling Workplace Stress
So many people take workplace problems and make them into workplace melodramas. Fears pile up, and stress becomes an everyday scene.

Since you are their leader, others look to you for guidance and can take on your emotional state. Therefore, your stress can contribute to a stressful atmosphere. On the other hand, if you relax, everyone who works with you will also begin to feel more relaxed.

So... if your workplace resembles a soap opera, here are some tips for changing your workplace melodrama.

Become a Movie Director

If you think about watching a movie, many times there is a humor worked into a scary situation so that people will laugh for a moment and relieve their tension. Movie directors want to take you on the roller coaster of experiencing extremes of many emotions. They know that humor immediately lowers stress.

The truth is that you actually are a movie director - directing the movies in your mind - all the time. You can direct scary movies... or funny ones.

Here's how to find the funny side of your situation by changing the movie in your mind.

Look for the Humor

There are many ways to look at problems. One way is to look for humor in the situation... Just stop for a few minutes and look for the funny side using these techniques.

Laugh at Yourself

Learn to laugh at yourself - after all, you are only human, and we all do things that we can either beat up ourselves about... or we can laugh about.

Exaggerate your situation.

If there is one difficult person in your stressful situation, imagine hundreds of difficult people doing the same thing. You can also imagine difficult people as babies, or you can picture them as cartoon characters... or even animals.

Change Your Location

In the movie in your mind, change the place where you feel stressed. If it is your office, imagine it's a room in a castle and that everyone is wearing clothes from the 1400's.

It's About Time

Many people stress themselves about time. You rarely hear someone say, "Well, it's 10AM and I have all my work done for the day. All I have to do is sit here and do nothing for the rest of the day."

On the contrary, most people never have enough time to get their work done. So, exaggerate your situation. If your deadline for a project is next week, imagine that it is due in two minutes and that you haven't begun getting ready and everyone is standing around waiting for it.

Draw a Cartoon

Draw a cartoon of your funny situation. Keep that cartoon where you will see it - to remind you to look at the funny side of workplace life.

Perform Skits

If your stress is something that is shared with your department, ask employees to make up funny skits about it, and have a special lunch or a meeting where you perform the skits.

The bottom line is that stress is caused by your mind creating a fearful image of a situation. When your mind creates a funny image, your stress is lowered. From now on, every time you are feeling stressed, take a minute to look at the funny side.

12 Stress Reducers For You
If you are familiar with the concept of “Inside Out Thinking,” then you already know that I don’t conceptualize stress as something that exists outside of you. It is actually something you create inside. Stress is a behavior you create to help you get something you want. The only way to reduce stress is to empower yourself to take control of what you can control—namely your actions and your thoughts. You may not believe you can control what you think but with patience, persistence and practice it is not only possible but critical to maintaining a positive state of mental health.

Because the holidays are often a stressful time of the year for many, I wanted to give you a dozen ideas for things you can do or think differently to help reduce your stress level.

1. Rational Thinking — often irrational thoughts contribute to your stress levels. What are irrational thoughts? Things like “everyone must like me for me to be worthwhile.” Or, “I have to complete everything on my ‘To Do’ list everyday in order to be a success.” Or, “I can’t let anyone in my house unless it is spotless.” Irrational thoughts are not true—that’s why they are called irrational. However, you can actually convince yourself these beliefs are true, and when you believe them your stress level can soar. For example, if I actually think the only way for me to be worthwhile is if every person I meet likes me, can you imagine the stress I will create for myself trying to get everyone to like me? Check your thinking and make sure your thoughts are rational. You may need to ask someone you trust to help you with this because if you actually believe the irrational thoughts, then you will have a difficult time recognizing they are irrational.

2. Inside Out Thinking — Instead of spending your time focused on things over which you have no control, look at the situation and choose the best response available to you. The only things you really have control over is what you do and what you think. You really can’t change others. Make sure you take a proactive approach to life’s situations by looking at what you can do or think differently to improve the situation. This also means no longer pointing the finger outside of you for the source of your problem or unhappiness. If you are in pain over something, then it is your responsibility to fix it the best you can.

3. Time Management — find a time management system that works for you and implement it. You have the same amount of time in a day as everyone else, yet some people are far more productive than others. They have discovered a way to maximize their moments to get the most out of each of them. There are many time management experts out there who have different systems. However, I think time management is similar to dieting. There is not a one size fits all approach. You need to find a system that works for you and follow it.

4. Fun Activities — make a list of things you love to do: pleasurable activities. When was the last time you engaged in them? Taking care of yourself and making sure you schedule some “me” time is essential to keeping stress at bay. Even though you may think you have no time for pleasure, taking that time will increase your productivity when you do get down to business.

5. Relaxation — do you meditate, visualize your “happy place,” get massage or do some deep muscle relaxation? This is a sure way to reduce stress. When you get good at meditation and relaxation, it is something you can do in a very short period of time almost anywhere. It’s a great skill to develop and it will substantially help you manage the stress in your life.

6. Exercise — there has been a lot of research that shows a regular exercise program can be helpful in managing the negative, physical symptoms of stress. This does not have to be any strenuous exercise. It could be as simple as going for a walk but physical activity provides a release of the stored energy of stress.

7. Healthy Living — there are some known links to substances that stress our bodies. If you reduce or eliminate these things from your lifestyle, you will reduce physical stress. Some things to look at are drugs, alcohol, nicotine, sugar and caffeine. If you use any of these substances on a moderate or higher level, you can be creating stress for yourself.

8. Sense of Humor — when you can find the humor in stressful situations, you can laugh your way through life. Laughing releases the body’s natural endorphins and will ward off potential stress before it even begins. It is most helpful when you can laugh at yourself and find humor in everyday situations.

9. Support System — having a healthy support system will help. You need to decrease the toxic people in your life and increase the nourishing ones. We all have those who will suck the life out of us if we let them and then there are others who will support us in our time of need. Look at reducing the former and expanding the latter.

10. Assertiveness — develop the ability to take care of your needs without interfering with others getting their needs met. Be able to say “no” when it will best support you. You can stress yourself out when you always put other people’s needs and desires ahead of your own.

11. Experience the Arts — there is something about the arts that will sooth many. It could be music, art, dance, or nature’s art but setting aside time to appreciate life’s beauty can act as an immunization against stress.

12. Spirituality — develop a personal sense of your spirituality.This does not necessarily have to be religion. It can be a calm, a peace, a sense of the order of life. When things get stressful, you can rely on your spirituality to help you through. You may develop beliefs about everything happening for a reason, the Higher Power will take care of things or there are always positive experiences with the negative. Spirituality can help you make sense of things that otherwise wouldn’t make sense.

Stress is not inevitable. You definitely do NOT have to be a victim of it. Know that you are choosing it. Know that you are getting something from it and then make a conscious decision about whether or not you want to continue on your same path or do something different.

Lower Your Stress with Just Three Deep Breaths!
Got stress? Have you multi-tasked your way right out of the joy of being fully present and fully alive? Is it possible to get off of this merry-go-round of complexity and busy-ness, and by so doing, come away more successful, healthy, and energized?

The answer is a hearty Yes! But first let’s face the dilemma. Traffic jams, technological change, information overload, time-crunch, relationship struggles, and other stressors can jeopardize our vitality, our creativity, our productivity, and our joy while costing individuals and businesses a fortune.

According to a 2001 report from the American Institute of Stress, U.S. businesses pay 300 billion dollars a year in job-related stress costs.

Unmanaged stress can influence the onset of heart attacks and strokes, gastro-intestinal problems, diabetes, insomnia, headaches, and depression, to name a few. Studies show that 75% to 90% of all visits to primary care practitioners are now known to be stress-related.

What is Stress?

When I am doing one of my Three Deep Breaths “Stress-buster” workshops, I often ask participants to tell me how many of the following scenarios cause them stress: having a significant fight with their spouse or boss, taking a vacation on a south pacific beach, being late for a critical meeting, and having finally moved into their dream home.

Most of them will say that only two of those, the fight and being late, cause stress.

But science will state emphatically that all four could cause stress, because stress occurs when any significant change – positive or negative – happens to the mind, body or environment in which we live.

If we are alive, we will have stress.

Whether it’s dis-stressful on our mind, body, or spirit or actually beneficial has a great deal to do with how we respond.

Stress is one of the best opportunities to become wiser, stronger, and more flexible. Every elite athlete knows that he or she must put stress on the body and mind, training regularly to grow strong and more adaptable.

Managing Stress Is A Balancing Act

The autonomic nervous system is responsible for all those systems that happen involuntarily within us: our heart rate, our breathing, our perspiration, the dilation of our pupils, our digestive system, etc.

There are two complementary systems in the autonomic nervous system — the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. The sympathetic can be called the “Red Alert System,” or the “Fight or Flight” System. The parasympathetic, which does the opposite, is the “Green System,” or the “Rest and Digest” system. When one is turning on, the other is turning off.

When a zebra is chased by a lion, the red alert system is turned on, with everything in the system delegated to the chase: explosive muscles, increased heart rate, pain-killing chemicals, hyper alertness — all to elude the lion and avoid death.

(Read Stanford researcher/author Robert Sapolsky’s Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers for all the details. It’s one of the few scientific books on stress that reads like a great historical novel.)

But when you are sitting in rush-hour traffic already ten minutes late for a critical appointment, your mind also delivers the thoughts, “I’ve got to get going, or I’m finished!” And guess what? Your autonomic nervous system has not evolved enough to make a distinction between death by a lion and death by your imaginary thoughts.

So, your Red Alert lever is also switched on, pumping hundreds of chemicals and hormones into your system so that you can fight or flee. But it’s inappropriate to leap out of the car and bite the fender of the lady in the SUV in front of you or sprint down the freeway screaming (although I’m sure these behaviors have been tried by some!). So, you just sit there with the heartbeat rising, and the perspiration flowing.

Let’s say you eventually make it to the critical appointment and the client himself is late. Ah, now you can relax and let the “Rest and Digest” part of the autonomic nervous system clean up the mess in your body, right? But the phone rings and another client informs you that they are going with your competitor. Red Alert! Then a memo arrives hinting at a company-wide layoff. Red Alert! You finally get to go home at the end of the day to relax but you find bills in the mailbox, your kid’s flunking algebra, and your spouse has a headache. Red Alert, Red Alert, Red Alert!!

Are you getting the picture here? You are on Red Alert 24/7.

There is an imbalance between the Red Alert/Green Alert systems in the autonomic nervous system. The stress response/recovery ratio is off kilter and causing suffering to the body, mind and spirit.

What To Do?

In the past 30 years, there have been well over 2000 peer-review studies of mind/body medicine, as well as writings by leading researchers in the field, such as Herbert Benson, Greg Jacobs and Ellen Langer of Harvard; Robert Sapolsky of Stanford; Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin; and Paul J Rosch of New York Medical College to name a few.

They show us that mind/body techniques, which focus on proper breathing, deep relaxation, and mindfully choosing our perspectives, can actually bring balance to our autonomic nervous system.

They teach us that mind/body exercises can be far more valuable than any symptom-treating pill for modern-day stress.

Since the autonomic nervous system is involuntary, how can we interact with it directly and effect its workings?

Most people have not been trained to lower their pulse rate or blood pressure or change their body temperature at will. And yet everybody can immediately impact their involuntary nervous system through breath work.

Breathing is the one direct interface between our voluntary and involuntary systems. It is the one activity that can happen without our conscious effort and yet we can also choose to control it consciously, right now.

You can use a simple practice, the Three Deep Breaths, to balance yourself anywhere, any time. Right in the moment, even in the heat of anger or upset, the first breath can calm and soothe your body, the second breath can restore the tranquility of your mind, and the third breath can reunite you with the spirit.

The Three Deep Breaths Practice

The Centering Breath
• Exhale completely to relax the body and empty the lungs of air. It will support you to place your hands on your abdomen, to be aware that the breathing includes the belly or center of the body.
• Inhale, noticing that, after a complete exhalation, how deeply and naturally, the inhalation follows.
• As you continue to inhale and exhale, whether you are sitting or standing, let your body become more symmetrical and aligned, feet flat on the ground, and upper body erect, as if someone is suspending you from a string through the top of your head.
• Visualize gravity flowing through you, the weight settling underneath of your feet, leaving you weightless, yet grounded.
• Simply focus on the breath and notice its involuntary nature, how it happens effortlessly without your conscious energy or intellect. Inhale naturally through your nose. Exhalation can happen through nose or mouth. Notice how the inhalation expands the belly out and the exhalation recedes it in toward the spine.
• Give this breathing your full attention. No need to do anything – just watch the breath. You will notice that your breath will tend to get slower, deeper, quieter, and more regular.
• Allow your attention to become present in the moment. You will have a sense of “witnessing the internal and external sensations and thoughts without getting plugged into them. Your choices and thoughts will become more purposeful and creative.
The Possibility Breath

As you continue with the Centering Breath, simply access (breathe in) the “best me I can be.” Another way to think of it is to breathe in “my highest purpose.” This may change from situation to situation.

On the way to work it could be, “I’m a real team player, giving my job 100% focus and energy.”

Or, when you’re entering your home at the end of the day,“I am a loving, joyful, nurturing parent” or “I am a compassionate and considerate spouse.”

The important point is to breathe the possibility in with deep diaphragmatic breaths, imagining it penetrating every cell in your being.

The Discovery Breath

Breathe in the question, “Are my next words or actions going to come from an intent to defend or from an intent to learn?” Is this going to be a fight to be right or a wondrous adventure of discovery? Breathe in the Mystery, the magic of life, and let go of judgments.

Research shows that the keys to managing stress are to be able to control your response to life events, to treat stressors as challenges, and to have a sense of commitment to something larger than your ego (i.e. family, service, life philosophy, faith, etc.)

The Three Deep Breaths do exactly that. The Centering Breath gives you control over your response. The Possibility Breath gives you a higher purpose than your ego. And, the Discovery Breath turns a stressful situation into a learning opportunity.

When To Do The Three Deep Breaths

Anytime you remember, you can do this simple powerful practice! It can be done anywhere:
• When you fasten your seat belt
• Sitting in rush hour traffic
• Waiting in line
• Waiting for an appointment
• Before a meeting
• Before entering your home
• When the phone rings
• When you boot up your computer
The Three Deep Breaths opportunities are endless! But it is the doing of it, in the practice, that counts! And the good news is that it doesn’t take time, it takes “intention.” In addition, the practice is simple, joyful, and energizing.
7 Leading Causes Of Stress
In 1967, Thomas H. Holmes and Richard H. Rahe, from the University of Washington, did a study on the connection between significant life events and illness. As part of that study, they compiled a chart of the major causes of stress. That chart, which contained 43 causes of stress in 1967, was updated to 55 causes in 2006. Apparently, society is finding more causes to feel stressed.

If you knew the leading causes of stress in your life, would you take action to eradicate them? Can you eradicate stress – or is it an inoperable condition that will be with you all of your life, possibly causing your eventual death?

Which Is Your Leading Cause of Stress?

1. Finances

Most studies agree that finances are a leading cause of stress. In an online poll conducted in 2005 by LifeCare, Inc., 23 percent of respondents named finances as the leading cause of stress in their lives. Financial stress has led the list in many modern polls.

Some who name finances as the leading cause of stress cite major purchases they have to make, such as a home or car. Others are stressed by a loss of income, or mounting credit card debt. For some, financial stress will eventuate in bankruptcy. While college students stress over paying for an education, Baby Boomers and older senior citizens find that retirement income can be a major cause of stress.

2. Work

Closely tied to finances as a cause of stress is work. Our jobs or careers seem to cause constant stress. In the LifeCare poll, 21 percent of those responding listed this as the leading cause of stress in life.

How is the workplace a cause of stress? We worry about getting and keeping adequate employment. We worry about new types of work or new responsibilities. We struggle to climb a career ladder, overwhelmed by the demands. Work conditions may change, or we may have interpersonal trouble at work. Students, especially teenagers and college age students, cite school work as a cause of stress. Sometimes, work stress is brought on by others. Sometimes, we bring it on ourselves.

3. Family

Family, wonderful though each member may be, is also a leading cause of stress. Arguments erupt with a spouse or other family member. Parents divorce. Children marry. The ebb and flow of family life is filled with stress. A child moves out – an aging parent moves in.

Family health is also a leading cause of stress. A sick family member, a serious injury, pregnancy, miscarriage, or abortion all cause stress. Family changes of other kinds bring stress, too. Adoption, relocation, and job changes for just one family member can cause stress for all.

4. Personal Concerns

Personal concerns that are only indirectly created by others are another top cause of stress. Lack of control tops the list of personal concerns. Every human has a deep-seated desire for control over his or her own life. When control is weak or missing in a given area, we experience stress. To many people, a lack of control over their own time is a leading cause of stress. We want to determine when we do tasks around the home, or at work. Holding a job, participating in the children’s carpool to school, driving family to soccer practices, shopping, and scout meetings while trying to keep the household running can create major stress. You would like to control your time, rather than let others’ demands control it, but that is not always possible.

We may be involved in legal proceedings that cause stress. We may be wrestling with a bad habit. We may be going through changes. Personal change of any kind can be a cause of stress.

5. Personal Health and Safety

Most people find that personal health is a leading cause of stress. For some, the stress is linked to obesity, and a desire to lose weight. For others, the stress is a personal bas habit that affects health and must be changed. For example, smoking, abuse of alcohol or other drugs. Illness or injury, whether less or more serious, can be a leading cause of stress for many people. Incontinence can be an ongoing concern. Personal health is more or less stressful according to the degree of seriousness and our personal outlook on health.

Personal safety is also a leading cause of stress. Women, more than men, tend to stress about their own and others’ safety. Adults tend to stress more than young people, who may act invincible. Crime is a factor, as is.

6. Personal Relationships

Whether it is a friendship, dating, separation, marriage, divorce, or re-marriage, a relationship can be a leading cause of stress for many. We all want love, and that is potentially available in relationships, but getting from A to B can be very stressful. Some resort to online relationships that are easier to handle. Others withdraw and become recluses. Either way, the demands on time, finances, and emotions can cause ongoing stress.

7. Death

Probably the most wrenching cause of stress is the death of a loved one or close friend. Even the death of a pet can be stressful. Children are always a source of stress for parents, but when a child dies, the stress is overwhelming. The same is true when a lifetime spouse passes on.

Win or Lose

Causes of stress change as we age. The stressed child who threw tantrums becomes a young student, stressed by the school bully. The young student becomes a teenager, stressed by acne, hormones, and dating. The teenager becomes a young adult trying to handle the stresses of leaving home, adjusting to college life, and managing finances. Life progresses to first jobs, marriage, children, and so on. Even if you move to a secluded cabin in the woods, stress will follow you.

Gaining knowledge of the leading causes of stress is important. Using that knowledge to win over unhealthy stress is vital.

Ways to Manage Stress
• Think positively and surround yourself with others who do so.
• Don’t demand too much of yourself. Ask for help.
• Accept that you can’t control everything and be flexible.
• Make a list of things to do each day and set reasonable priorities. (Get Organized)
• Divide big tasks into smaller ones.
• Eat healthy and avoid sugar.
• Get plenty of sleep each night.
• Exercise some each day to boost energy and improve your mood. Don’t sit too long. Use stairs instead of elevators.
• Make time to relax. Listen to music, meditate, read or do something you like.
• Avoid alcohol, tobacco and drugs which act as a pacifier to stress & aggravates stress.
• Use mistakes to learn.
• If possible, say “no” to tasks that you know will be stressful for you.
• Talk about things with a friend so that frustrations don’t build up.
• Appreciate nature.
• Laugh and have fun.
• Let yourself cry.

Stress Relievers
Deep Breathing
While in a comfortable position, take a long deep breath to the count of 5. As you exhale to the count of 5, imagine breathing out tension and breathing in relaxation. With each breath, think “relax.”

Stretches that can be done either sitting or standing.

Bubble Technique
Close your eyes and sit quietly. Imagine yourself floating underwater with air to breathe and no tension. Picture your thoughts inside of air bubbles and watch as they float away.

Sandbag Technique
Close your eyes and sit quietly. Imagine yourself standing in a hot-air balloon that is still on the ground. In the basket with you are bags of sand that represent your worries. As you toss each bag out of the basket onto the ground, the balloon begins to lift. When all the bags are gone, you are floating freely with no worries. Return when you are ready. Notice the change in your attitude.






NORMAL REACTIONS TO A DISASTER
• No one who responds to a mass casualty event is untouched by it.
• Profound sadness, grief, and anger are normal reactions to an abnormal event.
• You may not want to leave the scene until the work is finished.
• You likely will try to override stress and fatigue with dedication and commitment.
• You may deny the need for rest and recovery time.
SIGNS THAT YOU MAY NEED STRESS MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE
• difficulty communicating thoughts, remembering instructions, maintaining balance, concentrating, and making decisions
• being uncharacteristically argumentative
• limited attention span
• unnecessary risk-taking
• tremors, headaches, nausea, tunnel vision, muffled hearing, colds, or flu-like symptoms
• disorientation or confusion
• loss of objectivity
• easily frustrated
• unable to engage in problem solving or let down when off duty
• refusal to follow orders or leave the scene
• increased use of drugs or alcohol
• unusual clumsiness

Examples of best practice

There is no single best solution to occupational stress; it will depend upon what has been identified as the main contributor to the stress and other factors. The following paragraphs identify where potential problems may lie and provide some examples of possible management response. The possible responses should not be taken as appropriate for any particular situation, but may be considered as a guide to the type of approach that may be used, after due consideration of the circumstances.

1. Demands of the job

Potential problems:

• too much to do;
• too little to do;
• boring or repetitive work;
• poor working environment.

Possible management response:

• help prioritise tasks;
• provide task related training/time management training etc.;
• increase the variety of tasks;
• consider changing the way tasks are allocated;
• consider giving responsibility to groups, involve other staff etc.

2. Job Control

Potential problems:

• lack of opportunity to provide input into planned change.

Possible management response:

• encourage the involvement of staff in the planning of work, including how
to address problems, seek alternative views etc.

3. Relationships

Potential problems:

• poor relationships with others;
• bullying or harassment.

Possible management response:

• identify early signs and address them promptly and firmly;
• provide access to training in interpersonal skills;
• ensure awareness and use of the University Bullying and Harassment
control procedures.

4. Change

Potential problems:

• uncertainty of future role;
• fears about job security;
• uncertainty of skills for new tasks.

Possible management response:

• ensure good communication with staff;
• provide support for staff throughout the process;
• provide access to appropriate training.

5. Role

Potential problems:

• uncertainty of role;
• lack of understanding of others’ contribution.

Possible management response:

• meet with all staff to clarify roles;
• establish clear objectives and responsibilities.

6. Supporting the individual

Potential problems:

• lack of support from managers and co-workers;
• inability to balance the demands of work and home.

Possible management response:

• support and encourage staff, even when things go wrong;
• investigate the possibility of flexible working, part time work, career break
etc.

The above is not a complete list of the potential sources of occupational stress nor
responses to them. The purpose is to illustrate the type of approach which may be
effective.

Advice

What should you do if a member of your staff complains about being stressed?

1. Treat the complaint seriously.
2. Provide time and the appropriate interview circumstances to determine the
source of the stress.
3. If the source is within your area of control, discuss with the individual how
The situation might be improved. If the source is outside your control it
may be necessary for you or the individual to seek help from the
Personnel Department or one of the resources listed below.
4. Encourage the individual to seek advice from the Occupational Health
Service.
5. Maintain confidentiality.

What should you do if you feel you are suffering from occupational stress?

1. Raise your concerns with your line manager/head of department.
2. Seek advice from a work colleague, friend or your trade union
representative.
3. If you are not satisfied with the response consider contacting one, or
several, of the following as appropriate to your circumstances:

• line management (again) ;
• University Occupational Health Service;
• Trade Union official;
• Personnel Department;
• own GP.

4. Don't suffer in silence - colleagues may be in a similar situation.
5. Occupational stress is preventable and can be constructively addressed
FACT SHEET – Disaster Stress Management (continued)

WAYS TO HELP MANAGE YOUR STRESS
• Limit on-duty work hours to no more than 12 hours per day.
• Make work rotations from high stress to lower stress functions.
• Make work rotations from the scene to routine assignments, as practicable.
• Use counseling assistance programs available through your organization.
• Drink plenty of water and eat healthy snacks like fresh fruit and whole grain breads and other energy foods at the scene.
• Take frequent, brief breaks from the scene as practicable.
• Talk about your emotions to process what you have seen and done.
• Stay in touch with your family and friends.
• Participate in memorials, rituals, and use of symbols as a way to express feelings.
• Pair up with a responder so that you may monitor one another’s stress.