Taking care of any kind of pet is a great short and long term stress management technique. You can enjoy excellent friendships with both your own animal companions or pets waiting at an animal shelter to be adopted.

All pets provide feelings of connectedness through the special bonding that occurs in the two way process of caring and being cared for. As you make the time to interact lovingly with your animal companions, practice letting go of your normal cares and concerns. Be fully present in the now moment of sharing and loving your animal friend.

Connecting with pets and other aspects of nature helps to ground your energy if you are mentally, physically and emotionally stressed out. Besides considering sharing your living space with an animal friend, take time out to walk barefooted in grass when possible and breathe deeply while hugging trees around you.

Choosing a suitable pet can be difficult for busy, stressed out individuals who want to both de-stress and contribute to the care of the wonderful animal companions that share our planet. If this sounds like you, one great pet choice is tropical aquarium pet fishes.

Tropical aquarium fishes are easier to take care of than dogs and cats and other large pet choices. Tropical pet fishes take up very little space because they occupy a fish tank that you get to choose based on the space you can free up where you live now. Ensure that you consider the space you have available and only purchase the amount of fish that can comfortably live in an aquarium tank that matches that space.

Also remember to provide adequate lighting for optimal aquarium fish health and to prevent your fish tank from being swamped by aquarium plants like the fast-growing moss varieties. Great lighting will also ensure that you can just sit and relax while you contemplate the slow flowing movements or faster antics of your pet fish.

As you get into the habit of relaxing in front of your tropical aquarium pet fish after feeding them each day, remember to breathe deeply and to immerse yourself into the feeling of their watery, peaceful aquarium world. Imagine your stressful thoughts, feelings and issues flowing down through your feet to be absorbed by the powerfully transforming water and Earth elements of your planetary home.

As you share your life with your chosen animal companion, be that tropical aquarium pet fish or any other pet of your choice, you give back to Earth care, love and attention and this in turn will attract support, abundance and care into your daily life from Life Itself.

Follow the above tips to care for your aquarium pet fish and you will be the happy beneficiary of a simple pet therapy and stress management technique. You can request other simple and instant stress management techniques from the links below and benefit both now and over the long term from learning how to decrease the negative effects of stress in your life.

Angela Chen Shui gives FREE Stress Management Techniques at: http://www.stressmanagementreliefclass.com She blogs about everything under the sun at her Life, Skills, Life Purpose, Spiritual Growth blog, “Angela\’s Voice” where you can request her FREE blog update notification service and stress relief tips.

Copyright 2008 - Angela Chen Shui. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

“Love is the ultimate guru. Where love does not exist, life cannot exist.”

In life, a great spiritual awakening can come from the love a significant other - a partner. Perhaps we should approach our relationships like our yoga practice –growing and evolving. Therefore, Sacred relationships require the same mindfulness that we use to develop our yoga practice. These are presented here, as the Five keys to Sacred Love.

“Like the practice of yoga, sacred relationships require consciousness and wisdom” Chris Walker.

The First Key is Balance

Balance is as paramount in relationships as it is in yoga. True love can only come from a balanced mind. When your mind is balanced, not in excess or deficiency, then the ego cannot act. To see good and bad at one time loosens the grip of egoism and righteousness on the individual and allows their heart to open. Love exists in the stillness of balance. The rest is purely emotional trivia.

The Second Key is Appreciation

In yoga, we must learn to find contentment. Negative consciousness is always pushing us to improve, perfect, aspire and desire more or better. Good yoga practice must overcome this. So too, in a sacred relationship we must learn to function from the higher realms of our mind by learning contentment. Contentment in love comes through appreciation, not wanting to change someone, or ourselves is to become content, and therefore in love. Appreciation grows relationship, wanting to change people defeats it.

The Third Key – learn to grow through challenge

Our real guru is challenge. Our teachers challenge us, and we eventually learn in yoga that this is an act of deep love. We grow in yoga from the challenge of a teacher. In Sacred relationships, our guru must become our beloved. They will challenge us, confront us and therefore, if we can be conscious, grow us. All relationships grow at the border of support and challenge, yet many people run from challenge. As in yoga, we must learn not to blame and accuse in the face of challenges. These are our teachers in yoga and in relationship.

The forth key – The art of Service

WE begin our yoga thinking that our practice of yoga is for self realization, but we discover very quickly, that self realization actually comes from what we give, not what we are. We cannot self realize until we can make others a priority over ourselves. The new student of yoga will be drawn to class because they see some personal gain in it. Eventually, they become devoted to yoga because there is service they can do for others. In Sacred Relationship, we bind with our lover because we serve them. Self serving people, emotionally reactive and pleasure hungry will be unable to sustain relationships, just as they are unable to sustain integrity to their yoga practice.

The fifth step – Love is a lifestyle.

Yoga is more than an asana or a deep backbend. Yoga is more than a meditation done in the morning. Yoga is a lifestyle, a way of life. It includes vegetarian diet, it includes mindfulness of words and deeds. Yoga practitioners are taught non violence and respect – yoga is a way of life. So too is love. One cannot be a vindictive cheat in business and a sacred lover at home. Such duality in personality is the lowest of delusions witnessed in humanity. Therefore, sacred love is a lifestyle, a way of being, a way of treating all people. Even alone, the yogi will be respectful and mindful. So too, the sacred lover who aspires to sacred relationship will act alone as they act in public, with gentleness, compassion, kindness and love.

Sacred Relationship — Ideas to remember

1. Love is cumulative – remember that small acts of forgetfulness add to large disasters.

2. Every day is a sacred day.

3. Emotion is cyclic – with the moon. Love is constant with the sun. Both share influence over the earth, and therefore you. Prioritize one of them.

4. Healing an emotional wound is really the release of ego. Evolution.

5. Nobody does to you more or less than you do to yourself. Don’t play victim.

6. If you are motivated by pleasure – you’ll be de-motivated by pain.

7. Nothing of the senses ever satisfied the soul.

8. People can reject your expectations, they cannot reject your love.

Chris Walker Chris Walker is a world leading change agent, an environmentalist and author of more than 20 books. Born and bred in Australia, he consults to people and organisations throughout the world on improved relationships, health and lifestyle through the application of the Universal laws of Nature. The result he offers is that we stay balanced, share loving relationships, work with passion, enjoy success, and live our personal truth. To learn more about Chris’s work and journeys to Nepal, visit http://www.chriswalker.com.au

Work is piling up. Your boss is on your back. Your co-worker is whistling ‘Dixie,’ and an unhappy client just sent you a nasty e-mail. You’re feeling short tempered, anxious, and tense - and you’re getting caught in a downward spiral of stress. At times, it becomes unbearable and the pressure has you feeling like you’re going to explode!

Is it possible to de-stress in the workplace?

Alleviate tension, calm your mind and make your life easier through meditation. Shirley Cosson, from Seven Minute Meditation, believes, “Meditation will help you relax and rejuvenate, increase your energy, clear your thinking and improve your emotional stability. All you need is a strong desire to improve your life and a willingness to practice simple meditation.”

Here’s how you can take a few moments to meditate while you’re at the office, or anytime you’re feeling stressed:

Find a place to sit comfortably. Let your body relax. Take a deep breath in. As you exhale, say to yourself, “I am calm, serene and relaxed.” Repeat this mantra a few times. Let the chatter in your mind gradually fade away, and feel yourself entering a relaxed state. Let each body part release any tension; relax your toes, ankles, knees, hips, stomach, elbows, shoulders, chest, throat, wrists, finger tips, lips, eyes. Enjoy the feeling for a few minutes.

Thank yourself for taking a break and slowly return to being alert to your environment.

When you meditate, your brain waves move to a calmer, happier place.

The personal advantages of meditation are endless. Inner peace, mental calmness and relaxation all happen through meditation. Difficult situations will become easier to deal with.

You’re “calm, serene and relaxed.”

Inner Peace.

http://selfinthecity.com/sc/home.aspx is an online lifestyle magazine to live a hip, healthy and balanced life. Get all the tips you need to “Live Joyously.” Sign up for your free weekly quick tips e-mail.

We deal with stress everyday. It is an inevitable part of living that we will face situations that cause us to feel worry,concern or fear. The body has a mechanism for dealing with this which has often been termed ‘fight or flight’ in men, and, recent research suggests that it could be better explained in women as ‘tend or befriend’. The terms describe how a person reacts to a stressful situation but does not describe the physiological changes that occur in the body to provoke or prepare for this reaction. The physiological changes are critical to explaining the types of diseases that are caused by stress.

The nervous system reacts to a stressful situation by up-regulating the body. It forces the body to release adrenaline and cortisol into the bloodstream. This has the effect of increasing the heart rate. It also redirects the blood away from the stomach and extremities. It is thought that the blood becomes thicker in preparation for the need to clot if an injury occurs. Pupils in the eyes dilate. All these changes have the effect of giving the body more energy and awareness and preparing it for a potential injury.

If the stressful event recedes or the person develops a way to deal with the situation then the body returns to a normal state. Everything goes back to normal; the blood returns to the stomach and extremities, the chemistry of the blood and the heart rate normalizes. Life goes on until the next stressful episode.

The problem occurs when the stress does not stop or the body does not think it has stopped. In the first case, it might mean that a person works long hours in poor working conditions and never takes a vacation. This goes on for years because the person has to pay the mortgage or feed the family. They put up with it because they see the welfare of their children as more important than their own health. This produces prolonged or chronic stress. The body has a racing heart beat and the biochemistry of the blood is constantly overloaded with cortisol and adrenaline. The stomach has a bad circulation of blood which leads to eating problems.

The body is working harder than it has to and over time it will break down and become diseased. The most common disease of chronic stress is heart disease. The blood is also thicker and can cause blood clots in the bloodstream, this can lead to strokes. The immune system is weakened which can lead to higher susceptibility to common colds and flu and potentially worse diseases. It is thought that because the stomach has a bad circulation of blood that irritable bowel syndrome could be exacerbated by excessive stress.

The key to preventing these diseases is to not let stress rule your life. If something is stressful for a long period of time, it is your responsibility to do something about it. This might mean changing the stressful situation i.e. get a new job or developing a strategy to reduce the stress that is caused. This might mean playing sport or starting a relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or meditation.

Don’t allow stress to rule your life and ultimately affect you health. Visit http://stressmanagementreview.com for stress management techniques and ways to minimise stress. Adrian Whittle writes on many stress related issues including a definition of stress and common symptoms of stress on the body.

Managing stress and fatigue seems to be an elusive dream for many. They know they have unmanaged stress, and they realize it is leading to ongoing fatigue, but they are at a loss as to what to do. They may not want to visit a professional for help, and are instead seeking Internet articles.

Managing stress and fatigue is the focus of articles across the Internet. We review a few of them here for your help.

Managing Stress and Fatigue – Article for Employees

The New Zealand Dept. of Labour has posted a number of good articles on managing stress and fatigue on their OSH government website. These articles are designed for different audiences, so you may find what you need there. One from July 9, 2003, advises both employers and employees on practical ways to handle stress in the workplace. Entitled “Healthy Work - Managing Stress and Fatigue in the Workplace,” this article can be downloaded and printed for discussion and reference. This article points out that not only employers, but employees also have responsibilities for managing stress and fatigue.

Managing Stress and Fatigue – Article for Travelers

Frequent travelers will appreciate an article about managing stress and fatigue while traveling. The Forbes website posted an article on October 18, 2006 that Hannah Clark wrote about managing stress and fatigue. Ms. Clark gives practical tips in her article: how to improve circulation in the legs; how to reduce plane noise; how to decompress when you arrive. If you travel by plane frequently, or travel across time zones by plane, this article will be a big help in managing stress on your next trip.

Managing Stress and Fatigue – Article for Veterinarians

The August 15, 2004 issue of Javma News has a helpful article on managing stress and fatigue, particularly if the fatigue comes in part from being compassionate to others. If, for example, a veterinarian must give bad news to a pet owner, it causes compassion fatigue. The author uses the example of a passenger on an airplane. The emergency instructions given urge that if the oxygen masks drop, you adjust your own first, and then help others. The focus of this article is on making sure you take action to manage your own stress so that you are able to show compassion to others. Very practical tips are given for managing stress. This article can be found at the American Veterinary Medical Association website.

Managing Stress and Fatigue – Article for Everyone

Managing stress and fatigue is often a matter of understanding stress. “Signs and Symptoms, Causes of Stress” is an article by this author that offers simple insights into the true meaning of stress. Whether it is family stress, workplace stress, or stress among children and students, managing stress and fatigue will begin with an understanding that stress is your response to stressors. You may not be able to manage the stressor itself, but you can manage your response. You can respond positively, resulting in beneficial eustress, or negatively, resulting in debilitating distress.

For example, efforts to stop smoking frequently generate a need for managing stress and fatigue. The stress is not the fact that you cannot smoke when you want to smoke. That is the stressor. On the one hand, your response to that stressor can be one of delight that you are finally going to kick the habit. Such a response will be beneficial stress that empowers you to refrain from smoking. On the other hand, your response may be a desire to fight against your determination to quit. You may respond inwardly that it is too difficult and too tiring. You become depressed by the situation. Such debilitating stress, i.e. response to stressors, can cause fatigue.

Managing stress and fatigue is a matter of playing both ends against the middle.

1. Fatigue can often be the cause of stress, since we are less able to respond appropriately when we are tired. Sufficient rest is key in managing stress at any level. Setting regular sleep hours, and adhering to them, can relax the mind, emotions, and physical body, making them ready to deal with stressors.

2. Stress can often be the cause of fatigue. Responding to stressors with debilitating distress drains the body of energy and leaves an individual lethargic. Responding with beneficial eustress fills the body with energy and happiness. Managing stress with eustress will usually result in a reduction of fatigue.

Helpful Tip

Beware of articles on managing stress and fatigue that lead you to believe you can only manage after stress and fatigue have occurred. Many seem to believe that managing stress and fatigue is a matter of locking the barn door after the horse has gotten out and is racing across the fields. Managing stress and fatigue requires a proactive approach. Gain an understanding of stress and fatigue, and build guards into your life so that you can respond with eustress.

©2007, Anna Hart. Anna Hart, a career educator and writer, invites you to read more of her articles about managing stress and fatigue at http://www.stressmanagementblog.com Anna regularly posts articles with information about managing stress in the family, at school, and in the workplace. If you are eager to learn how to begin to manage stress, you won’t want to miss Anna’s insights.

Just imagine going to your job and you do not need to even brush your teeth or comb your hair. Lets take it one step further by saying you can do your work in your pyjamas.These are just a few of the simple secrets I use to ease the anxiety and stress in my life. I have talked to many people and as if by just joking about this concept they actually got to thinking it was a great idea. I actually decided to give up my job at the nursing home and stay at home to work.

I remember the sound of the alarm clock going off every morning when I was snuggled under the nice warm covers and believe me it took everything I had to get up and deal with my at home responsibilities before I could even get to my paying job. I new that when quitting time came at the end of the day that after the short ride home I would be getting stressed out and anxious, bordering on depression just thinking about all that I would be doing at home for the rest of my night. I felt like two people who wore so many hats with all I had to do each and everyday.

There never was enough time to get it all done and I felt overwhelmed at times. This certainly is not a new concept for people who work outside the home and have children, a husband, activities, commitments and perhaps even looking after ageing parents. Just reliving the memories of all of that makes me feel the beginnings of anxiety. Fortunately I can keep the stress from the job and time issues from taking over my life now that I took the suggestion of a trusted family member to stay home to do my work.

I wondered if people who stayed home to work really were having success and could the average, regular high school graduate have similar results. With some research and talking to my friends I discovered that there may be something I could do with my time.

Along with having my outside job, being a wife, mother, cook, nurse, chauffeur, cleaning service and outside activity coordinator I asked myself if I was really happy doing all of this each day.

The stress and anxiety would build into periods of depression and I knew I wanted to eliminate these issues. I had to ask myself what I was passionate about before I could make the transition from the traditional outside job to the new concept of working at home.

Working from home had definite advantages for me especially after I suffered a heart attack. That was certainly a motivating factor in my decision to change my life. I did my personal homework and found my number one passion.

I had the desire to help others recover from anxiety, panic, stress and depression. I felt I could identify with others who were suffering like I had been.

I have learned so many new skills and have found so much to be grateful and thankful for in the last eight months that I no longer think in the terms of a job but this is the calling I have had inside of me for years.

I get a feeling of importance that I am doing something so rewarding and worthwhile. I can reach so many people and bring my own information to them. I get to continue the helpfulness and caring that I used to give to my family when they were all at home. I still am involved in their lives but this is a way to use my abilities to reach out. I know I can make a difference by taking my desires and putting them into action.

I keep motivated because I am continuing to learn everyday and it is exciting and challenging.

“For 40 years, 7 months, 4 days and 3.9 hours I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks - especially after my heart attack on August 12th, 5:00am EST 2006. As a result of my suffering, I decided I would go on a crusade to reveal the most powerful, most effective and most successful system for living an Anxiety and Panic Free Life.” - Lorraine Roach, Founder AnxietyEnded.com Visit: http://www.anxietyended.com to discover what 99.2% of ALL anxiety and panic sufferers do wrong, and how to make sure YOU avoid it.

Are you feeling like you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders? Do you feel like any second you could explode into an emotional heap? Are things getting to you at your work or at home? If so then you really need to start thinking of ways to manage all that stress that life just seems to throw at you all of the time! Stress has major affects on our health and mental wellbeing. Sometimes attributed to heart attacks, strokes and even mental and emotional break downs, stress is no laughing matter. Not for the sufferer or their friends and family.

Stress is one of the main reasons for sickness from work and it has reached epidemic proportions in the last decade or so, causing millions of dollars loss and a reduced productivity across many industries. Governments all over the world today are making it law that employers protect their employees from stress, however what with new working times and Sunday trading laws, more and more employees are being taken away from their families to work in the rat race. When they do spend time with their family they can also get stressed out as there is so much to do around the house with so little time to hand. Surely it just seems like a ever increasing vicious circle, or does it?

As our generation progresses with speed and technology we need to progress to. Some people can handle the stress and pressure of the modern world easily, however those people that can’t, have to evolve into someone that can or be independent enough to put themselves in the lifestyle that would be ideal for them to manage their stress.

When it comes to stress, hypnosis is second to none in helping you to deal with it successfully. Hypnosis helps to relax your mind and give it a well needed rest to rejuvenate and come back fighting and able to handle all that life throws at it.

Hypnosis reprograms the part of your brain that makes you…YOU! It creates more confidence and gives you the resources that you need to get the results that you want and desire.

If you are serious about managing your stress effectively, then I suggest that you start with a hypnosis download or recording or even look up your local hypnotherapist and seek some help from them.

I wish you the best of luck and success in managing your future stress!

Start stress relieving today. For more info on stress management please check out Richard’s site.

“Security is a superstition. It does not exist in Nature. It is no safer in the long-run than outright exposure.” Helen Keller

How much time do you spend worrying about things that you can’t control? Do you believe God when He says He will provide for you? Or have you taken that job on yourself and made a mess of it by gathering a house and attic full of “STUFF” to make you feel more secure, only to find that all it did was to create debt that makes you worry even more about security? Worry causes health problems.

Things or “stuff” will provide no peace or security. What you own, owns you. You are required to store it, keep it organized, clean it and make provision for its possible loss. What owns whom? I have come to the conclusion that stuff owns us! Therefore, I’ve been on a serious downscaling project for years.

I’ve actually reached the stuff that had so many emotions attached because it was my parents who have both passed on. I realized that my memories didn’t have to include the stuff to make them more real to me. The memories actually meant more by not having to spend time on the stuff. I’ve been giving away and selling off everything of mine that is not in regular use in our home. With each “disappearing” item or box, I feel a bit more of the weight of the world fall off.

It’s amazing what a move will do for you. We moved from Alabama to Virginia last year and while packing we took time for serious consideration of whether we wanted to move much of what we owned. We cleared out a truck full of stuff, but would you believe by the time we began unpacking what we moved, we had another car load more?

It’s amazing what we hold onto. Most of these things weren’t purchased in the past ten years, but were gathered from the time each of us began our single life in apartments. We just kept it “just in case.” We gave away hundreds of books. I was a bookworm as a kid and imagined one day to have a room as a library. Now I can’t even imagine why. Once we finished reading the books, other than for a very few, they were placed on the large bookcases we had built in, never to be touched again other than to lend some now and then.

We made the decision that we didn’t want to make space and spend money providing a home for all these books. That’s why they have libraries and inter-library loans. What freedom to discover that we didn’t have to have a library of our own. The more space you need to store your stuff requires more heating/cooling, insurance, time to dust, etc. Eliminating all the stuff that you don’t use in your home, makes the rest much more accessible.

Give it a try! It seems hard to let go at first, but it’s so refreshing. You’ll also find that the empty space you made will bring more peace into your life and home. If you plan to donate the stuff, write down each item and affix a value to it (what you could sell it for), so you can use it for a tax deduction. If you’re going to have a yard/garage sale, keep the money separate to do something special with your family or spouse. Knowing what you’re going to do with the money makes it easier to sell it off. We’re looking for land to build, so we have that dream and focus as we choose whether to keep something or not. We’re also wanting to downsize on our home and what we have to maintain, so the more we get rid of, the less home we will need.

Often people discover that the dreams they feel they can’t afford are well within their reach by trimming a few extras that don’t really add up to their desires in life.

There’s still time for Spring Fever! Clean house! Clear your mind!

Donna L. Watkins lives in Central Virginia with her wonderful husband enjoying birds, wildlife, gardening, forests, nature travel and her cat, Squeek. She has one grown-up son who inspires her life in many ways. Read more of Donna’s articles at TheHerbsPlace.com and subscribe to her free mailing, A Healing Moment. http://www.theherbsplace.com/ahm.html

There are few among us who can admit that the craziness of everyday life has not resulted in feeling stress at some point or another. With juggling family life with ever-increasing work responsibilities the pressure to keep up with demanding schedules are at an all-time high. For many of us, this means battling stress that can sometimes take over our day causing us physical and emotional ramifications that can affect our overall health. In an effort to battle this stress, some turn to mediations to ease their symptoms and keep their thoughts focused. But for others, a commitment to natural stress relief can mean tackling stress without a dependency on pills.

Natural stress relief comes in many forms and what must first be understood is that what works for one person may not necessarily work for another. Just as our stress differs, so does the ways in which we relieve it. But it is rare that one form or another of natural stress relief will not work for someone. The key is to make yourself a priority and take care of yourself – even if it’s just fifteen minutes a day. But for some, keeping that commitment can be a lot more difficult than it sounds.

Most often, a holistic approach is the best form of natural stress relief. This many include a periodic massage. Massage has been shown to reduce stress, lower heart rate, and even lower blood pressure. Make a standing appointment for a massage – whatever variety most appeals to you – at least once a month. This may sound like an extravagant luxury but how much does a massage cost in comparison to the cost of ongoing medication?

Exercise has also been shown to be a significant form of natural stress relief. Sometimes, just simply turning off the day and focusing on yourself for an hour can make all the difference in the world. Not only does exercise benefit you physically but it benefits you emotionally as well; this comes from the release of worries while you also release adrenalin and endorphins – natural hormones that reduce stress and ease the body.

For others, meditation fits the bill when it comes to natural stress relief. Taking a moment – or several minutes – in which you sit quietly with your own thoughts, and nothing else, can be enormously relaxing. Of course, meditation is actually a learned skill so in order to learn how to clear you mind you may need some initial instruction.

Additionally, some people find that acupuncture, therapeutic massage, and chiropractic work all help in alleviating stress. Ultimately it is up to you to find the thing that brings you comfort and joy and provides you with a reprieve from the outside world.

For easy to understand, in depth information about natural stress relief visit our ezGuide 2 Stress Relief.

Have you ever considered the significant role that work plays in relationship to your health? And how health is essential for getting your work done quickly, completely and successfully? More than ever before, practical solutions are needed for promoting a healthy balance both at home and at the workplace. Balance is the key. It is important to remember that balance is a choice. It is possible for your work, as well as your time off, to have a positive impact on your health and happiness.

Here are five solutions for transforming a “rat race” lifestyle into one with a healthy state of balance.

Solution #1: Curb the Trend of Working Longer Hours
The eight-hour workday is sadly a thing of the past for most people whose work does not stop once they leave the office. A study by the Families and Work Institute of New York reports that both spouses of dual–income households with kids put in more than fifteen hours per day on work, commuting, chores and child care. That does not leave much time for exercise, reading, fun or sleep, does it?

In reality, you do have a choice. Setting aside time to plan, set goals and determine priorities each day brings greater efficiency to the hours you spend at work. In many instances you can choose to leave the office at a set time when you plan appropriately. It is always an option to negotiate with your employer to work fewer hours, transition to a part-time schedule or do some of your work from home. By exercising your power to choose and simply asking for what you need, a healthier balance can emerge.

Solution #2: Use Your Vacation Benefits
Vacations are a benefit that must be appreciated for the role in a healthy, balanced life. The Framingham Heart Study followed women ages 45 to 64 and found that frequent vacations cut risk of death among all women by half. In 2000, SUNY-Oswego conducted a similar study of men ages 35 to 57. It found that regular vacations lowered risk of death by almost 20 percent. Unfortunately, Americans are the most vacation-starved nation in the industrialized world. While the average U.S. worker is entitled to an average of only 13 days of paid vacation annually, workers in other developed countries are provided with more than double that amount. Perhaps even more discouraging is the fact that even though 79 percent of all U.S. employees are given paid-vacation benefits, more than one third (36 percent) do not use their available vacation days each year.

With the arrival of the New Year, plan ahead to use your precious vacation days to de-stress and balance your life. Studies show that it really will do you good.

Solution #3: Slow Down, Let Go and Enjoy Your Time Off
Can time off from work be stressful? If your answer is “yes,” you are not alone. One in six U.S. employees is so overworked that he/she is unable to use the vacation or enjoy the free time because of excessive job demands. In a recent survey, 32 percent of respondents said they work and eat lunch at the same time and 17percent admitted that their work causes them to lose sleep. Sadly, nine percent said that workplace pressure makes them feel they can’t miss work even when injured or sick. Developing a healthy attitude toward time off requires awareness and conscious choosing. Appreciate your time away from work and allow yourself some rest if you are really sick. Use your time off wisely to accomplish personal tasks and refresh your body and mind. Your employer benefits from your “real-world experiences” and from the higher productivity that accompanies your being rested, healthy and balanced.

Solution #4: Choose Work You Love
When a job is in sync with your individual talents, values and life mission, working a long day provides a day of fulfillment. People who love their work often report, “It isn’t work!” A side effect is that all other aspects of their life will reflect a positive energy as well. A study by Fortune magazine reported that people who are passionate about their work are 127 percent more productive. With that kind of productivity boost, those lucky people are probably able to fit in more of that healthy time off.

Solution #5: Use Your Time Off to Nurture Your Mind/Body Health
It is up to each of us to personalize the way we nurture ourselves. Here are a few ideas to get you rolling:
- Begin a daily exercise program.
- Be mindful of food choices to give you energy and manage your weight.
- Drink eight to ten glasses of purified water each day.
- Cut down or eliminate sodas and diet drinks.

- Follow a consistent sleep schedule of 7-9 hours per night.
- Start the day with meditation.
- Keep a humor journal of funny jokes, cartoons and silly songs.

- Laugh loud and often. Hang out with people who make you laugh.
- Write, sing, dance, draw or create something beautiful.
- Reach out, pray, love, give thanks and gather with friends.
- Visit people who are sick or infirm.
- Make a list of goals for the year ahead.
- Set an example for others through learning, teaching or positive influence.
- Speak up when something could be better.
- Give lots of encouragement to others who are trying to improve their health and life balance.

You spend many days of your life at work. Only you can make the choice to find the best balance for you. By making these choices, you will live a happier, healthier and quite possibly an even longer life.

Betsy B. Muller, MBA, C.EHP, CEC is Certified as an Energy Health Practitioner by the Association of Comprehensive Energy Psychology. As an accomplished practitioner and teacher of self-coaching techniques, Betsy’s passion is empowering individuals and groups to harness positive energy and spiritual healing into life and business situations for outstanding results. She offers life and business coaching, group programs, teleclasses, women’s networking events, and workplace wellness programs.

440-238-4731 or go to http://www.theIndigoConnection.com