7 Strategies To De-stress - NOW (Part 5 -END)

To wrap up this months topic about how you as a busy business owner can reduce stress quickly, without adding more to your to do list, I want to bring you back to the most basic stress reliever there is: reconnect with your vision and passion.

It’s so easy to let the bigger picture slip from your awareness and get lost in the immediacy of what has the loudest voice. There are so many daily demands coming from all ends of life. Since 7 years, I am running a Non-Profit Organization for Seniors in need in addition to running my successful coaching practice. It was very stressful as you can imagine. I was myopically focused on all the urgent details and relating to the project from the perspective of how little was getting done and how much still needs to be done.

Finally, I began to take five minute walks in the woods around the property adjacent to the house. I would sit in the sunshine for a few minutes and slow down. Instantly I would be reminded of why we started this project, and how rewarding it was to help our Seniors. I was filled again and again with my vision and the original excitement I had when I started the journey. It turned my stress around in an instant.

Slowly this new habit helped me manage my stress and saw me through to a successful completion. Vision is a powerful antidote to stress. Take some time now to remember your vision, your passion about your business and breathe it in to every fiber of you being. Ahhhh, isn’t that better?

It’s YOUR life - imagine the possibilities!

~Helaine~

7 Strategies To De-stress - NOW - (Part 4)

While business ownership can be an amazing, rewarding experience, it can be one of the most stress producing life styles out there. While it’s critically important for every woman who owns a business to engage in self care strategies to reduce stress, adding stress relief to your already full life often adds more stress to the situation.

This month I’ve been inviting you to experiment with simple, fine minute strategies that can instantly lower your stress level. This week I want to focus on paying specific attention to your physical body.

As soon as you become aware of your high stress level, check in with your body.

Note to yourself what you are feeling physically. Is it a knot in your shoulders, stomach distress, tension or anxiety? Stop what you are doing and take 10 deep breaths. Changing your breathing will help ease your physical symptoms. This is something you can do for yourself all the time. No, 10 breaths won’t take your stress away, but it will increase vital blood flow to your system and help you handle the stress better. And, as you make this a habit; you will begin to notice a deeper change.

Other simple physical strategies that help reduce stress levels quickly are spending a few minutes of stretching, take time for a healthy meal, taking a bath rather than a shower. When you feel stressed, ask yourself what would feel good right now and give it to yourself.

~Helaine~

7 Strategies to de-stress - NOW! (Part 3)

We’ve been focusing this month on simple de-stressing strategies without adding more complication to your life. While there are many techniques and opportunities to manage stress, sometimes adding them in can feel like one more thing to your already overflowing plate.

While it’s important to address stress reduction as an overarching adjustment to your lifestyle - that would be one more thing on your plate, and the point of this article is to make more room in your life for you now, not less.

Here’s another on-the-fly strategies for grabbing self care moments.

Take yourself on a date.

Coffee, dinner, a weekend away. You decide. A change of environment can clear away stress and freshen your spirit. Find and explore something new in your familiar surroundings. I guarantee your perspective will shift.

7 Strategies To De-stress - NOW (Part 2)

The other need is you, your health and your sanity. You know you need to carve out time for self care but because the long term, negative results of not taking time for yourself is not immediately evident, you put yourself last. You've adapted to a baseline level of stress and have somehow made it acceptable. Don't beat yourself up over it, it's not all your fault, our entire culture perpetuates this preposterous habit and it's very, very hard to break.

Hopefully, by finding a balance between your need to take care of yourselves AND your business, it will leave you time and energy to go out and change the world - if you want to.

Here are two more quick tips that you can try today.

Return to the source of what's meaningful to you. Walk in nature, meditate, or listen to your favorite song. What gives you personal strength? Whatever your spiritual orientation, reconnect with it. Remember - there's something larger than you - if you can become aware of it that will help you find perspective when you're focused on your own navel.

Do nothing. Don't panic even if you feel the world getting tighter around you. Take five minutes to stop. Remember that when you're highly stressed your decisions are likely compromised. Take the phone off the hook. Turn off the radio or TV, Close the door. Sit and breathe. This will help you recharge your battery.

~Helaine~

7 Strategies To De-stress - NOW - Part 1

Self Care on the Fly:

Your stress is high, your energy is low. Sound familiar? This is the common experience of most small business owners I know. Owning a business can be like running a marathon. You know you’re in it for the long haul, there’s not much time to catch your breath, yet you push on, and on, and on.

You can easily see how this scenario can lead quickly to an out of balance life and stress your business as well. This month I’m going to offer you 7 simple – on the fly remedies for creating breathing room in any stressful life. Even the busiest business owner can find five minutes in her day for a little self nurturing. I challenge you to try.

Here are 2 ideas to get you started:

Dust off your journal and write. One of the best ways I know to quiet the mind and access your deeper thoughts is to write. Even for only five minutes. Let yourself write in an uncensored way. Let your thoughts flow without concern for grammar or impressing a reader. Be curious about what your inner self wants to tell you.

Call someone. A five minute conversation with a friend or trusted advisor can inject you with some well needed perspective. It’s harder when you feel stressed AND alone. Ask for some venting time if that’s what you need. Or, talk about something completely off topic from what’s on your mind. Laugh together. Make sure you seek out someone you feel safe sharing with.

~Helaine~

Living to Please

Is your life one of your choosing? Do you make decisions based on what feels right to you, or do you make decisions based on what others might think? It’s time to stop “shoulding” on yourself.

Living life according to the wants, demands, and expectations of others puts you in a powerless position. You will never have the opportunity to bring your Authentic Self out into the world if your energy is dedicated to making everyone around you happy.

Please understand, I’m not suggesting that you disregard the priorities and desires of those close to you. I am encouraging you to give at least equal weighting to the priorities and desires of your heart. It is through this channel that your Authentic Self, and thus your power, have the chance to come into the world.

Instead of Living to Please – Live to Contribute

The essence of making decisions based on other people’s demands revolves around your desire to please others. This is similarly related to our first weapon; perfection. When you live to please you are essentially telling your Authentic Self that you don’t believe in your own worth. As a result, you work to earn approval and love – by being a good person vs. a real person.

Put the good person to bed! You’re grown up now; with intrinsic value, wisdom, and insight. Step into the beautiful creature you are, and harness the power of the gifts you’ve been given to contribute to the lives of the people you care for.

I promise you that the love you receive as a result of making a difference in another person’s life will be far more genuine than the hollow approval you receive as a result of living according to someone else’s rules and wishes.

This week, answer this question: Where in your life are you living to please?

Then – decide to stop that!

~Kim~

Believe In Yourself: You Deserve The Best

After you have decided what you want, visualized it, and believed it can happen, the next step is receiving it – fully and wholeheartedly.

This step may sound simple at first (and to some, it may be really simple), but in reality, people sometimes have a hard time receiving what they want. Why? Because they feel they don’t deserve it.

Feeling undeserving of good things usually stems from a lack of self-esteem which may be traced back to childhood. Dysfunctional families, lack of support from teachers or guardians and lack of acceptance from peers are common culprits of poor self-esteem.

The danger of such negative childhood experiences is that children may carry their trauma up to their adult life. The trauma may have a destructive impact on their thought patterns and relationships, among others. Because of feelings of low self-worth brought about by the trauma, they may consciously or unconsciously believe that they do not deserve the good things that can come to them.

So if you honestly cannot see yourself living with the best in life, you need to really ask yourself – why do I feel I do not deserve this thing I want? If your answer is along the lines of “I’m not worthy enough” or “These things simply cannot happen to people like me,” then you may have to review your self-image.

The good news is, even years of destructive thought patterns can be reversed through positive thinking and daily affirmations. After you identify your habitual negative thoughts about yourself, you can replace them with positive ones. And while negative thoughts may still enter your mind from time to time, it may encourage you to know that a positive thought is far more powerful than a negative one.

You can begin by daily affirmations like “I am a unique, wonderful human being,” “I deserve the best in life,” or whatever you feel will make you appreciate yourself more.

It may also be helpful to do these affirmations in the second person. Since we hear the hurtful, destructive words from other people, affirming from a second-person point of view can be empowering. For example, you can say “I love you for who you are. You do not need to prove yourself to anyone. You are already special as you are right now.”

An exercise which may also help is imagining a person close to you talking to you and telling you about what he/she likes about you. You can also assume the point of view of this other person, and look at yourself through his/her eyes.

Do your affirmations and meditations daily and watch your life change. By loving and appreciating yourself for who you are, you will open yourself to all the best life has to offer.

~ Jeff Cohen ~