Most of the families suffer from morning madness, which involves a mad rush to keep up with the watch that ticks away. It’s a stressful time. If you follow some steps routinely you can avoid getting worked up.
Decide on the clothes that you are going to wear to office the next day.
Keep them ironed.
Keep the slippers next to the front door.
Keep the necessary things such as wallet, its contents, mobile phones, lap top etc packed and next to the front door.
Keep keys of automobile and the keys of the front door near your wallet.
Keep the ingredients needed for next days break fast on the kitchen table.
Stick to simple break fasts like oats, bread and omelette, corn flakes, fruits etc for week days. Never feel guilty about the light break fast, all the above mentioned things are equally nutritious and you are not a superman.
If you need to carry lunch, try to prepare it the day before. If you have a microwave safe lunch box, pack the lunch the previous night itself.
Keep a time fixed at night to start preparing for the next day.
Alarm clocks have options for the alarm to ring at a particular time for the entire week. Use this feature to save time on fixing alarm clock.
Wish you all a less stressful morning schedule
Showing posts with label Coping With Stress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coping With Stress. Show all posts
Monday, May 19, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Hobbies For Stress Relief: Aquarium
For those who love fish
Research shows that having a pet at home reduces stress,increases life expectancy of patients having heart disease,cancer etc. Introducing pets for treatment is known as pet therapy.You can have any kind of pet a dog,cat,fish anything.I would like to discuss about maintaining an aquarium.
Research shows that watching fish swim in an aquarium reduce stress. Well, if you like fish don't waste time to own one. I advocate this hobby to reduce stress because fish is a pet which demands very less time for maintenance adds beauty to our interior coupled with stress relief .You can leave the fish at home when you are on a holiday, with less pain than that of leaving any other pet.
How to go about it?
Locate a place in your house which has got less traffic at any given point of time. should be a place which is free of direct sunlight. I said direct sunlight. Light is needed so you should not keep it in a dark corner as well. Fix a fluorescent bulb for extra light,switch the light of at night.
Go to any pet shop in your area and get a glass tank.
Place the tank on a stand meant for supporting it.
Place filter pads. Wash sand and put it in the bottom of the tank.
Plant some aquatic plants in the sand. Some aquatic plants of Indian origin are ambulia,rottala indica,wisteria etc.
Put some gravel in the bottom of the tank.
Fill it with fresh water,slowly.
Now time to buy some good ornamental fish. Gold fish,Gaurami,Angel fish etc are common ones.
Cleaning your aquarium
Clean it once in two weeks.
First you will want to pour most of your water into your holding fish tank or container.
Now net your fish buddies out of the remaining water and move them over to the other fish tank.
You can pour the remaining water out, and you are free to clean the inside of the tank, but do not use anything with harsh chemicals, a simple wipe down with a clean towel is good enough.
Once your tank is clean, you can fill it back up with water about 2/3 the way
Take a plastic bag,fill it up with your old water and put the fish in it. Leave this bag in the fish tank for some time. It will help the fish to get used to the water temperature.
Once the water temperatures have had time to even out, you can free your fish from his bag prison, into his freshly cleaned home!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Hobbies For Stress Relief -Gardening
Gardening to relieve stress:
Getting in touch with the nature is one of the best ways of reducing stress level. Green plants,beautiful flowers ,cool breeze can take your breath away. You should also have an interest in maintaining a garden,or maintaining it can become another stressor.
Every one feels nice to walk in the greenery, the thought itself is very relaxing. Plants give out fresh oxygen which is beneficial to health. If you are interested in planting vegetable and fruit bearing plants in your garden you can eat some healthy food. No need to rush to the market and get the stale stuff,instead you can go straight to your garden and decide your menu.
Who knows your garden could also invite guests like birds and squirrels. Waking up hearing the sounds of birds is a bliss in itself. A garden pond will be ideal for bringing in these little guests. You can also plant water lilies,lotus and other aquatic plants in the pond.
Water plants are my favorite because of some reasons.Firstly,they need very less maintenance.Secondly,they will bloom through out the year.Thirdly, there are water plants which blooms at night and day.So you will have one set of flowers in your pond in the morning and another set decorating your pond at night.The last reason is the fragrance it is awesome.
Another low maintenance category is cactus.Did you know that there are a variety of flowering cactus?Well, there is. All that a cactus require is plenty of sunlight.Watering is not needed, rainfall is more than enough.Fertilizers can be used once in a year.
In cities where do I find place to do gardening?
I know of a family who had kept a beautiful garden in their balcony.Lots of birds had made that their home as well.That little piece of greenery was so good to watch.Do you have a balcony?Do you have a terrace ?If your answer is no to both the questions dont get disheartened .Go for indoor plants.They will also supply fresh oxygen inside your house.Amaryllis is one of my favourite since it is a flowering plant.
How much time will it take?
Preparing the soil,deciding the plants to your taste etc will consume two weekends. Rest all you need is half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening. It will also couple in as your physical exercise and stress buster.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Coping with Stress
Stress is a word which is most commonly used word in todays world. Stress at work,stress in relationships,stress in studies and so on....We also come across a wide variety of solutions for it.One does not even know which technique to choose to cure one's problem.I’ve imparted training in various corporates and have seen people coming up with variety of significant issues on stress. I've learned from my limited interaction is that stress management techniques are specific to problems and worse, it is specific to individuals.So there is no antibiotic for stress.Then how do we go about it?I would like to discuss some steps which would enable you to cope up with stress.But as I told earlier you should use it according to your problem and your situation.
Step 1
Recognize the enemy
Though people complain that they have stress one hundred times a day they might still be not aware of stress in their life. So, before recognizing the cause of the stress recognize whether you are suffering from stress.I will elicit some symptoms of the stress. Symptoms include persistent back ache,head ache,irritability,memory impairment,confusion,bouts of anger,feeling pushed to the limits etc.These symptoms could be a pointer to the fact that you might have stress.
Step 2
Identify the source
Is it generated at work and carried over to family or vice versa,did any significant life event happen in your life?Significant life events are:Marriage,Death of a spouse,Divorce,New Job e.t.c...Some times it can be generated from multiple sources.Identify the source.
How do you identify the source?The best strategy is to write down the possible sources.Write down problems in each area. The areas could be as varied as work,family,relationships...etc.Then prioritise.Think which problem of yours need most of your attention.Mind is like computer at times when we turn off the program which takes maximum memory space the rest of the issues will fall in place.
Step 3
Can the problem be resolved?
Ideally you should work towards resolving the problem.You can start working towards this by adding solutions to the biggest problem in your problem list.You can list various strategies to solve one issue and choose the best.
But some times you are so stressed that you cannot even think about the source, forget about thinking about the steps on resolving it.In such a condition you should skip step 3 and go straight down to see stress relief techniques.There are some other areas where the source of stress cannot be changed. Example is a dream job and a boss with personality disorder.Well, in conditions like this again you can minimise the damage caused by stress by following some of these techniques.
Step 4
Stress relief techniques
Eat balanced diet
A sound mind in a sound body.So keep your body healthy.Eat a balanced meal.Minimise junk food consumption to least possible amount.
Importance of exercise
Exercise regulary.So tomorrow onwards are you planning to go to the gym? I didn't tell you to go to gym,though going to gym is one of the possible alternatives.By exercise I meant any rigourous physical activity for fifteen minutes to half an hour per day.It could be anything ranging from salsa,basket ball,cycling,jogging,playing in the rain,playing hide and seek with your kid and yes, going to gym. It is found that play can reduce stress.
Practice Relaxation
Practice Medtiation or relaxation technique.If you go and type stress relief or coping with stress you will see practice meditation,relaxation etc..I know it is an over discusse topic.But I cannot avoid it from my article because of its significance in stress relief.What does it do?The relaxation or meditation will activate a response pattern in the body which is diagonally opposite to the response pattern of the body in stress.This soothes down the stress response and will provide relief.
There are many relaxation techniques like progressive muscle relaxation technique, visualisation, deep breathing exercise etc.. Choose a specific relaxation program which suits you. In my next article I would be covering these techniques in detail.
Spiritual belief is a big stress buster.You should have spiritual belief.
Importance of positive attitude
I would like to mention here one strategy which plays a big role in keeping you resolve stress , it is your attitude. Attitude is like your window to the world. You see everything and every body through this window. Check your attitude. Are you a person who always sees problems in everything, your spouse, children, parents, boss, colleagues, weather and everything under the sun? Just prepare a daily checklist and see how many times you complain in a day.
Try to minimise that.See solutions instead of problems. When faced with a difficult situation you will see possibilities instead of problems if you have a positive attitude.If your colleague is a big problem instead of suffering and complaining try to find solutions which can improve your mental peace in that situation.
Aim in your life
When you see people who are successful in life in spite of big problems in their life we can find one common thing.The have an aim in their life.You can go into the biographies of any prominent world figure and will find the same.For success aim is a necessary ingredient.In the context of stress it is necessary to have an aim because we know where we are going and you can solve and overcome many issues thinking about your aim.You are working harder and longer so that you can go for a cruise trip with your family,or you want a happy retired life,or you want to start a company of your own.This will give some meaning to the problems that you face everyday.
Manage time
If you are the one who always feel pushed for the time this one is for you.Well just ask four questions to yourself.What are you doing?Why are you doing it?Where did the demand come from?.
What are you doing?
Time like money has to be recorded to see the point of maximum usage.If you are the one who has problem in managing time just record your daily activities and the time you allotted for it.Do this activity for two weeks.You will see what are you doing every day and where are you wasting time.
Why are you doing it?
Is it because it is part of your larger goal?Is it some activity to keep you happy?Cut down those activities which does not bring much advantage to you.If you can do all the activities without feeling pressed for time nothing like it,but if you have a problem with time then prioritize.
Where did the demand come from?
Is it from office?Is it from family?Can you delegate some of your work.If you are spending more time doing dishes why dont you ask your childrenor spouse to give a helping hand.Delegation is a tool which can spare you from lots of time related stress.
These are some coping technique to reduce the level of stress that you face in your every day life.Well, though I've discussed many topics here there are more details to each which I will add as specific articles.Again some solutions might not be suitable to your context.Choose the solutions which will help you to cope with stress most efficiently.
Step 1
Recognize the enemy
Though people complain that they have stress one hundred times a day they might still be not aware of stress in their life. So, before recognizing the cause of the stress recognize whether you are suffering from stress.I will elicit some symptoms of the stress. Symptoms include persistent back ache,head ache,irritability,memory impairment,confusion,bouts of anger,feeling pushed to the limits etc.These symptoms could be a pointer to the fact that you might have stress.
Step 2
Identify the source
Is it generated at work and carried over to family or vice versa,did any significant life event happen in your life?Significant life events are:Marriage,Death of a spouse,Divorce,New Job e.t.c...Some times it can be generated from multiple sources.Identify the source.
How do you identify the source?The best strategy is to write down the possible sources.Write down problems in each area. The areas could be as varied as work,family,relationships...etc.Then prioritise.Think which problem of yours need most of your attention.Mind is like computer at times when we turn off the program which takes maximum memory space the rest of the issues will fall in place.
Step 3
Can the problem be resolved?
Ideally you should work towards resolving the problem.You can start working towards this by adding solutions to the biggest problem in your problem list.You can list various strategies to solve one issue and choose the best.
But some times you are so stressed that you cannot even think about the source, forget about thinking about the steps on resolving it.In such a condition you should skip step 3 and go straight down to see stress relief techniques.There are some other areas where the source of stress cannot be changed. Example is a dream job and a boss with personality disorder.Well, in conditions like this again you can minimise the damage caused by stress by following some of these techniques.
Step 4
Stress relief techniques
Eat balanced diet
A sound mind in a sound body.So keep your body healthy.Eat a balanced meal.Minimise junk food consumption to least possible amount.
Importance of exercise
Exercise regulary.So tomorrow onwards are you planning to go to the gym? I didn't tell you to go to gym,though going to gym is one of the possible alternatives.By exercise I meant any rigourous physical activity for fifteen minutes to half an hour per day.It could be anything ranging from salsa,basket ball,cycling,jogging,playing in the rain,playing hide and seek with your kid and yes, going to gym. It is found that play can reduce stress.
Practice Relaxation
Practice Medtiation or relaxation technique.If you go and type stress relief or coping with stress you will see practice meditation,relaxation etc..I know it is an over discusse topic.But I cannot avoid it from my article because of its significance in stress relief.What does it do?The relaxation or meditation will activate a response pattern in the body which is diagonally opposite to the response pattern of the body in stress.This soothes down the stress response and will provide relief.
There are many relaxation techniques like progressive muscle relaxation technique, visualisation, deep breathing exercise etc.. Choose a specific relaxation program which suits you. In my next article I would be covering these techniques in detail.
Spiritual belief is a big stress buster.You should have spiritual belief.
Importance of positive attitude
I would like to mention here one strategy which plays a big role in keeping you resolve stress , it is your attitude. Attitude is like your window to the world. You see everything and every body through this window. Check your attitude. Are you a person who always sees problems in everything, your spouse, children, parents, boss, colleagues, weather and everything under the sun? Just prepare a daily checklist and see how many times you complain in a day.
Try to minimise that.See solutions instead of problems. When faced with a difficult situation you will see possibilities instead of problems if you have a positive attitude.If your colleague is a big problem instead of suffering and complaining try to find solutions which can improve your mental peace in that situation.
Aim in your life
When you see people who are successful in life in spite of big problems in their life we can find one common thing.The have an aim in their life.You can go into the biographies of any prominent world figure and will find the same.For success aim is a necessary ingredient.In the context of stress it is necessary to have an aim because we know where we are going and you can solve and overcome many issues thinking about your aim.You are working harder and longer so that you can go for a cruise trip with your family,or you want a happy retired life,or you want to start a company of your own.This will give some meaning to the problems that you face everyday.
Manage time
If you are the one who always feel pushed for the time this one is for you.Well just ask four questions to yourself.What are you doing?Why are you doing it?Where did the demand come from?.
What are you doing?
Time like money has to be recorded to see the point of maximum usage.If you are the one who has problem in managing time just record your daily activities and the time you allotted for it.Do this activity for two weeks.You will see what are you doing every day and where are you wasting time.
Why are you doing it?
Is it because it is part of your larger goal?Is it some activity to keep you happy?Cut down those activities which does not bring much advantage to you.If you can do all the activities without feeling pressed for time nothing like it,but if you have a problem with time then prioritize.
Where did the demand come from?
Is it from office?Is it from family?Can you delegate some of your work.If you are spending more time doing dishes why dont you ask your childrenor spouse to give a helping hand.Delegation is a tool which can spare you from lots of time related stress.
These are some coping technique to reduce the level of stress that you face in your every day life.Well, though I've discussed many topics here there are more details to each which I will add as specific articles.Again some solutions might not be suitable to your context.Choose the solutions which will help you to cope with stress most efficiently.
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