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Maybe it’s the challenging economy. Maybe it’s anticipation for the holiday season. Or maybe it’s just your natural state of being. Whatever the cause, stress can feel overwhelming. And it may seem like you have no power over it.

You’ll always have bills, obligations, and people to please. You can’t change those things. But you can change the way you think and act to create a more balanced, peaceful life and environment. These tips are a good start:  

1. Put it in writing

Write in a journal, or pen a letter to someone explaining your feelings–even if you burn it instead of sending it. Research shows expressive writing is an effective method for reducing depression in people who tend to brood.

2. Change your thinking

The way you think about an event dictates how you feel about it. If you see your meeting as an opportunity to screw something up, you’ll naturally feel overwhelmed. If you see it as a challenge you can meet, you’ll feel more at ease with the experience.

3. Practice deep breathing

People often hold their breath when they’re anxious. This limits your oxygen intake, stressing your body further.

4. Meditate

Pull your body completely into the present moment, and perceive everything around you with all your senses. Meditation increases serotonin production, which influences mood and behavior.

5. Sweat it out

Studies show that people who go to a sauna at least twice a week for 10-30 minutes are less stressed after work than others with similar jobs who don’t.

6. Laugh it out

Research shows that laughter soothes tension, improves your immune system, and even eases pain. Give yourself a break to reminisce with a friend about a memory that made you smile. Don’t worry–you’ll have plenty of time to think about everything else when you’re done.

7. Complete a small task

According to Georgia Witkin, assistant director of psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, completing a small task increases your sense of control and decreases your stress level.

8. Get mindful

Mindfulness means focusing your full attention on the present moment, instead of thinking about past or future events. When practiced regularly, mindfulness actually strengthens the areas of the brain associated with joy and relaxation.

9. Minimize stress triggers

Avoid conversations about topics that stress you out. Limit your time with people who continually get you going.

10. Reassess how you manage your time

Your jam-packed to-do list may contain unnecessary items. Your morning routine may be too full to allow prompt arrival at work. If you don’t overextend yourself, you will likely feel less stressed.

Article Source – Tinybuddha.com

Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. -Mark Twain. With all due respect to Mark Twain, I think there is a better way. Work can be fun. Any work can be turned into a game.

Here are a few ideas to help you find the fun in any job:

1. Play music

Turn on your CD player, MP3 player or even the radio. Music has the ability to draw our minds away from the more disheartening aspects of any job.

2. Make your work a competition

If you are working with someone else, make it a race to see who can get it done soonest. Or who can complete the most of each task.

3. Just dive in

Most of our feelings of dread disappear once we become immersed in a project. Whatever it was that made us put it off or want to avoid it, just goes away once we get started.

4. Ask yourself, "What can I find to enjoy about this?"

Few jobs are totally devoid of any feelings of satisfaction that comes from just doing it. Psychologically, we need work in order to be happy. Work itself is often its own reward. Make an effort to find what gives you satisfaction in the job at hand.

5. Keep score

If your job is to make cold calls all day, keep records of how many calls you make. Break down how many you make before noon, how many you make each hour and how many you make for the entire day. Then on subsequent days, see if you can beat your previous day’s numbers. This builds a challenge into the job instead of it being one huge objective.

6. Can you make your job a team effort?

Involve a friend or work side by side with someone whose company you enjoy. Companionship can make most experiences more enjoyable.

7. Take breaks

Don’t let fatigue rob you of any joy that comes from doing good, honest work. Stop occasionally and stretch or walk around. Come back to the job when you feel refreshed.

8. Break the job down into more manageable tasks

Big jobs tend to overwhelm us and demoralize our will. By making a big job several smaller jobs, you can enjoy that feeling of satisfaction sooner and more often as you cross each small job off your list.

9. Do quality work

Sloppy, get it done work feeds no one’s ego. There are tremendous psychological rewards that come when we know we just produced good work. This sounds silly, but I have gone back into a clean garage, after spending my entire Saturday morning straightening it out, just to look at and appreciate my own workmanship.

10. Change the setting

Can you take the job outside? If you have a back deck on your house, take some jobs outside and enjoy a beautiful day while you work. Do you remember those beautiful Spring days when a teacher might have occasionally taken the entire class outside to teach outdoors? Try to do that with your own work.

Work is what you make it. Few jobs are as boring or agonizing as we sometimes make them. If you can turn work into fun, how much more enjoyable would your entire life be?

COPYRIGHT 2006, Charles Brown. All rights reserved.

About the Author - Just a few years after attempting suicide because every area of his life was in crumbling apart, Charles Brown has learned to literally "re-wire" and "re-program" his brain to achieve success in everything he attempts. He now teaches others how to use neuro-linquistic programming (NLP), subliminal technology, self hypnosis, and other methods to make major changes in their lives. He is the author of the free downloadable ebook, The Science of Change: How To Re-Program Your Mind and Transform Your Life. This ebook has 49 pages of transformational information and can be downloaded at http://www.geocities.com/chbrown56

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Charles_Brown

Sitting all day in the office? no time to workout? the  only thing growing apart from your pocket is your paunch? Read these tips and workout even in your desk!     

1. Eye exercise

To exercise the muscles that move your eyes, roll your eyeballs in wide circles-first in a clockwise direction three times and then counterclockwise three times. Repeat this sequence as desired. Similar to all desk exercises, perform this exercise periodically throughout your work day (i.e., once every 30-60 minutes).

2. Wrist exercise

To exercise your wrist, extend your arms in front of you and raise and lower your hands several times (i.e., flap your hands and wrists up and down). Then rotate your hands 10 times-alternating palms up and palms down. Repeat this sequence five times.

3. Hand and finger exercise

To exercise your hands and fingers, make a fist and hold it tight for approximately two seconds. Then, place your palms down and spread and hold your fingers wide apart for five seconds. Repeat the sequence five times.

4. Shoulder exercise #1

To exercise your shoulders, lift and roll your shoulders forward five times and then backward five times. Use a wide circular motion and try to keep your head straight and motionless while moving your shoulders. Repeat this sequence as desired.

5. Shoulder exercise #2

Another way to exercise your shoulders is to shrug your shoulders up toward your ears. Hold the position for approximately two seconds and then recover to the starting position. Repeat the sequence five times.

6. Upper back and shoulder exercise

To exercise your upper back as well as your shoulders, reach your arms up overhead, alternating right and left arm in a climbing motion. Repeat the sequence 10 times on each side.

7. Lower-back exercise

To exercise the muscles in your lower back while in a seated position, bend down between your knees toward the floor, reaching as far as you can ( palms flat). Hold briefly, then return to the upright position. Make sure your chair is steady first before doing this exercise. Repeat the sequence five times.

8. Hamstring exercise

To stretch your hamstrings while in a seated position, lock your hands together around your knees and pull your knees to your chest and hold for approximately five seconds. then release your hands and return to the starting position. Repeat the sequence five times.

9. Neck exercise #1

To exercise the muscles that rotate, flex and extend your neck, slowly turn your head far to the left and hold for three seconds. Then, turn far to the right and hold for three seconds. Next, drop your chin gently to your chest before returning your head slowly to the upright (starting) position. Repeat the sequence five times.

10. Neck exercise #2

To exercise the muscles that act laterally, slowly lower your left ear to your left shoulder; then return slowly to the upright position. Continue the exercise by touching your right ear to your right shoulder and then returning to the starting (upright) position. Repeat the sequence five times.

It will take just 37 seconds to read this and change your thinking.

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.Every afternoon,  when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene. One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man could not hear the band – he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days, weeks and months passed.  One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window besides the bed. It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, ‘Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.’ 

Epilogue:

• There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.
• Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. 
• If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can’t  buy.
• Today is a gift, that is why it is called   "The Present".