From Amanda's very early writing (1990s to early 2000s), shared as it was originally written.
NEEDS WORK JASON!
You can fool your mind, but you can’t fool your body. Stress hormones may have been running around your system for years -causing dramatic damage in your body - without you recognizing that you are at risk.
Even if you convince your mind that, despite the four million things that have gone wrong in your life over the past month, (or even vaguely wrong!) you are feeling fine, all is well and that stress is not a problem for you, you can’t deny it in your body. Your body lways responds physiologically (big word meaning responds with the release of chemicals) and it stores this 'stress'. It stores it up in all sorts of ways - tight muscles and ligaments, exhausted kidneys and adrenal glands, internal organs may not be functioning too well, chronic fatigue, listlessness, ulcers may be forming, who knows what else?
New research into what makes humans ill in today’s society is demonstrating strong links between unresolved stress and disease. This unresolved stress is buried deep inside you and creates havoc with your body systems and (gasp) rapidly increases the aging process.
One of the most significant effects of prolonged, unresolved stress is a mal functioning immune system. Your immune system is the part of you that fights off all diseases (including viruses). It’s essential to have a healthy and strong immune system if you want to be well.
busters 2
the truth is out folks - stress speeds up the aging process! Oh oh. And it's beetter to bust stress in small bits as we live each day rather than hanging out as a walking stress ball until our annual three week holiday. it's on the cards that if you live this way , you will be sick the whole holiday anyway- only to recover when it's time to return to work!
If this is the story of your life, then plan your days around some of the following stress busting strategies.
Buy one of those ceramic or glass oil burner kits - one with a deep dish for hte oil and water so it will last most of the day - and a supply of 9 hour candles. Add to your shopping list good quality aromatherapy oils like lavender, bergamot and orange. Then add a couple of drops of oil to the dish of water, light the candle and place your mobile stress buster kit near your desk. Breathe deeply every half hour. there are aromatherapy oils to relax you, to enhance yoru creativity, to stimulate you, to lift yoru spirits - in fact, there's an aromatherapy oil for nearly everything!
Take a walkman with you to work after you have made a tape of all your favorite comedy skits. Bill Cosby or Billy Connelly or Mr Bean (not easy onaudio cassette!) or anyone that makes you laugh. Or even smile. And every couple of hours take a five minute break and listen to a skit. Hopefully it will make you laugh or smile which will increase your endorphin (the body's natural happy hormone) level , which in turn makes you feel good. Play another comedy tape to and from work. or a laughter tape. Or a tape of beautiful , soothing music.
Have a problem book at work - a simple writing book will do. And every time you find yoruself worrying about issues that are not related to yoru immediate work, write them down in this book so you can , at a later time, refer to yoru scribblings and spend serious time worrying about what you wrote down! You'll be surprised at how many of yoru worries vaporise between the time you wrote them down and the time you decided to worry about them!
That's all you need to do to trigger the release of endorphins. Even if you bare your teeth in a vicious grin, your brain can't tell the difference between a real smile or the forced grin! As long as you pull your lips apart and show all your teeth, your brain (happily) interprets this as a grin , which sends a message to your brain, which cools down the hypothalamus which then sends a message to the rest of your brain - "they're smiling, send endorphins!".
Think of anything that calms you. How about repeating the word calm silently to yoruself for five minutes? Or finding a quiet spot away from the phone for a couple of chest loosening breaths? Or exchange jokes with another stress relief seeker. Or play your favorite soothing music silently to yourself. Or play it out loud if it's acceptable to yoru work mates. Think of and re-live past tranquil moments.
If there is a video machine , take a Mr Bean or Absolutely Fabulous or any of yoru favorite comedy videos to work and play them at lunch. Or once a week, take out a new comedy video and gather the whole family to watch and laugh together.
In fact, you don't even have to smile. All you have to do is put a pen or pencil between your teeth - make sure your lips are not touching the pen. Yoru brain will intepret this as a grin and bingo! Endorphins will start flowing. I know you are thinking ot yoruself that this is rubbish - but it's true! I have had sales people do this as they drive from client to client and they claim it works! It works for me too. Try it next time you're working on a document - you dribble a little but you feel better!
In your mind, go to your favorite calming hideaway and spend a couple of minutes there absorbing the calm.
Find, or create, a symbol of calmness for you. Something that when you look at it, it immediately reminds you to stop, relax, and breathe. Perhaps it could be a photograph of your children laughing; you laughing; you on your last holiday; a silly moment at dinner; your favorite place - whatever works for you. Or some other symbol like my favorite - a bungy jumping sheep I collected on my last trip to New Zealand! It sticks on a wall and as you throw it out, it makes a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaa noise and everyone laughs! (Even brilliant minds need some relief!)
Do some shoulder rolls - great big circles in both directions. People don't realize how tense their neck and shoulders become after hours of sitting at a desk - or even minutes in a tense situation - whether it's a meeting or a phone call. Consciously stretch your arms out above your head and arch backwards over the chair.
Be aware of your jaw. Is it clenched ; are your teeth grinding slowly away? Make a conscious effort to loosen your jaw. Move your lower teeth from side to side. Press your fingers into your jaw joints and massage them until they loosen up.
Make a list of the best stress busting strategies for you and pin it to yoru office or kitchen wall. Check each day that you have done at least two from the list - and you know that you have just slowed down your aging process! Who knows , if you do this often enough, you might even have a whole holiday without being sick!
