The Stress Cure - Is Stress Zapping Your Memory? By Linda Hampton

What is it about stress that causes us to dwell at length on negative thoughts? The answer has a lot to do with our memory. Although it's miraculous the brain - a three pound lump of neural tissue can store any memories at all. But the human memory system has some surprising quirks. Most notable, we forget things. The forgotten information is still in our brains somewhere; it's just that it's difficult for the brain to put its (metaphorical) hands on any one specific memory when it's needed. There is so much other competing information there.

To solve this problem the brain often has to rely on memory cues or bits of information related to the thing we're trying to recall "to jog" our memory. Pretty much anything can serve as a cue, as long as it's associated somehow with the information we're looking for.

As it turns out, the brain uses our mood state as it's single most important memory cue. Believe it or not the brain tags every one of our memories according to the emotional state we're in when the event occurs. And whenever we're in the same mood this serves as a powerful retrieval cue.

When you're sad, for example that despondent mood triggers all sorts of memories from other moments when you were sad or in low spirits. When you experienced a sense of failure, during times of loneliness and rejection all show up and it becomes difficult to remember any specific times in the past when things were going well. If you are in a relationship that break up all you can think about are all the other break-ups in the past you can't remember the good times that you had with anyone. It becomes a downward spiral of reminiscing.

When you are overwhelmed with stress, you might identify with a decline in your emotional health. Besides being quick tempered and easily agitated your memory may also be affected. Stress is frequently the result of a chaotic schedule, and with too much to do, when stressed it's not unusual to forget things.

If you are feeling stressed out and "scatterbrained" you need to spend time improving your concentration to relieve overload and overwhelm during times of extreme chaos and tension. When your attentiveness decreases, it's up to you to regain control.

There are a few ways to increase your mind's ability to perform during duress. My first choice is to exercise. Exercise helps your brain generate new cells that are linked with the enhancement of memory. Physical exercise increases oxygen to the brain and increases neural firing.

If you feel isolated because you work long hours, or home taking care of your family or you don't drive or for whatever reason - find new friendships. Make sure you socialize with the friends and family you have. Invite a friend to dinner or out to lunch. If it's someone you work with don't talk about work. And if you can't get out to meet your friends or meet new people develop new friendship with people you meet on-line. There is a whole world out there and a lot of people are lonely and would love to find a new friend. This give the brain a new workout as you adjust to a different conversations in a new environment all while activating or re-activating different senses.

If you have a long drive, consider listening to an audio book. You'll be surprise how delightful you drive becomes and the traffic becomes much less stressful allowing you to arrive at your destination in a much more relaxed state. You can also break-up the routine of the drive by trying a new route once in a while. If you normally drive on the highway find a route that allows you to drive on a country road.

Stress doesn't have to cause your memory to decline that is if you don't allow it to. As long as you give your mind a workout by creating new neural pathway the same way you would build new muscles when you work out your body, you'll have a healthy memory that allows you to remember the important things during times of stress and anxiety.

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How Stressful Thinking Impacts You By Linda Hampton

Most of us experience tension daily, often it's hour by hour or worse minute to minute. How we cope with stress and worry determines whether we move forward or allow it to hold us back. Habitual negative thinking is often frenzied, inaccurate, and undependable, yet you can go through your entire life with negative thoughts that cause unproductive behavior and a more difficult life. Most people dealing with stress especially chronic stress assume that there's no getting around it, and its just the way life has to be. But this is certainly not the case!

Silencing the habitually negative mind is easier than you imagine and it all starts with a single positive thought.

How Your Negative Mind Effects Your Positive Aspirations

A negative mind not only regulates the way you approach life, it also has a tremendous impact on your physical body, and with your mind body connection working against homeostasis rather then in flow having a negative impact on your health. When you switch off negative thoughts and turn on positive thinking, you have the power to move toward a healthier more productive and creative you. With time and effort, you can transform your thought process, and it's quite simple actually, because it all begins with just a few simple words.

The Power of A Few Words...

When you see a list of affirmations, you see absolutely nothing more than a list of words with optimistic expressions that do not appear to apply to you or embody your current way of thinking. If you take a closer look at each affirmation, you may find that many embrace the way you wished you could feel and think.

When you see words that speak to you and how you'd like to feel, hold onto them. You can use them to get rid of a unwelcome idea you wish to eliminate. Fundamentally, with practice, you will be replacing your negative thinking pattern with a positive thinking. This is exactly what positive affirmations are all about!

But let me caution you here. In order for your affirmations to be effective they have to meet the following criteria:

Affirmations have to be in your own voice. They need to be phrased and spoken the way you speak.

Your affirmations should be phrased and said in the same way that you would say them to a friend. After all, your mind is your friend. In fact, it's one of your best friends.

Words are a powerful way to evoke emotions both positive and negative. Use affirmation that speaks to you on a deep level and keep them in the forefront of your mind by repeating these words often. By doing this you create room for your new thoughts to germinate and grow until these thoughts become a reality. Again the trick is to use words that are meaningful to you and say them in the same way you normally speak.

If at some point, as we all do, you may become overwhelmed with negative thinking, if that happens simply close your eyes and take a few deep breaths until your emotions become a little bit more under control. Then use your affirmations to interrupt your thinking pattern.

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Eliminate Time Clutter - Create A Not To Do List By Linda Hampton

If you're busy and overwhelmed like most people you'll likely have some sort of to-do list going. It could be in the form of a notebook, a computer, mobile device or even heaven forbid a piece of paper. But some days looking at the list just makes me feel crazy. There is so many things to do that sometimes I get the feeling the list has "legs" of its own like a centipede.

In others words the list seems to keep growing and growing without my help. In my experience at some point the list becomes an alligator... one that bites.

So how do you get control of your to-do list?

How about creating a not to do list instead?

Because we've either heard and use these terms so often a great deal of our thinking comes from, No I won't, don't know how, can't get it done, part of our brain. I sometimes use this same concept with my list. Here's how it goes.

Take this article for instance. Most people would write on their to-do list get an article written by a specific date. Instead I might put on my not to-do list something like:

Not to waste time doing things that is not going to be of value to my clients. That forces me to focus on what I need to do first which is to add value. Because quite frankly, saying to myself write an article is not always an effective motivating factor for me. But when I think about giving value that can have an effect that motivates me to take appropriate action. In this case the action I take will provide the most value for my clients.

Let me give you another example. Maybe I need to clean the bathroom and let's face, it that's one of my least favorite jobs (maybe it's your least favorite too). I change that thought to "not to have my bathroom unprepared for company."

Here's the deal. Our mind is a funny thing. It's so use to the negative, it can be difficult to continuously focus on something positive. In fact, it would take an extraordinary the effort to focus on something positive all the time. And this of course causes stress

So here are some ideas of what to put on your not-to-do list:

? I am not going to get distracted from the most important thing I can do today (whatever that thing is). If I think about not getting distracted that automatically makes me think about the things I need to focus on.

? I am Not going to get confuse and buy into the idea that activity equals productivity. Instead do something that you know will move you closer toward your goals

? I won't going to attend events including teleseminars or teleclasses that I not willing to take the actions directed by the trainer. Instead carefully select the events you plan to attend.

? I won't confuse eating fewer meals with losing weight. Instead accept it's all about the actual food choices you make when you eat.

? I won't look at and respond to each email when it arrives. Instead select a time of day such at 9 am 12 noon and 4:30 pm and spend only 15 - 30 minutes reviewing and responding to email.

Page 1 of 2 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 | Next

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Who's the Boss? 7 Ways to Take Control of Your Mind By Linda Hampton

At first glance, it would seem that positive thinking and time management have nothing to do with one another. But many of us who are natural born clutters develop negative thinking patterns because we become exasperated by our challenges and frequent feelings of being overwhelmed. This negative attitude then makes it more difficult to control our feelings and move forward.

Practicing positive thinking allows you to focus on your accomplishments, which increases happiness and improves motivation. This, allows you to spend more time getting things done, and less time feeling stuck. The following tips provide practical suggestions that you can use to help you shift into more positive thinking patterns:

1. Take Good Care of Yourself

It's much easier to be positive when you are eating well, exercising, and getting enough rest. Commit to doing something good every day. Start with a single effort, maybe it's eating just one healthy meal if you keep that up then it will be 2 healthy meals until you choose to eat healthy all the time. Sometime failure comes from trying to make a 360 degree change in one day.

2. Be Unceasingly Grateful

Daily Stressors won't seem quite as bad when you are constantly reminding yourself about the things that are right in life. Take just one minutes every day to stop and appreciate the good things will makes an enormous difference.

3. Avoid Absolutes

Have you ever caught yourself saying (or thinking) to family or friends "You're ALWAYS late!" or criticized a good friend by saying "You NEVER call me?" Thinking and speaking in absolutes like 'always' and 'never' makes the situation seem worse than it is, and programs your brain into believing that certain people are incapable of delivering.

4. Disconnect From Negative Thoughts

Unfortunately, most of us have had the wrong kind of programing most of our life. Year after year, word by word, our life scripts were etched. We begin to believe what we've been told by others and most of it negative. Now here's the good news your thoughts can't hold any influence over you if you don't judge them as true. If you notice yourself having a negative thought, disconnect from it. Don't argue with it don't judge it as bad just notice and let it go.

5. Practice You've Got That Lovin feeling - Give a Hug

You don't have to be a genius to know the value of a good hug. Positive physical contact with friends, loved ones, and even pets, is an instant stress buster. Giving a hug serves to benefits, first you get instant stress relief, second you make somebody else feel mighty good.!

6. Get Out and Get social

By increasing social activity, you reduce loneliness, and keep your mind on things other than yourself and your challenges. Surround yourself with healthy, happy people, and their positive energy will affect you in a positive way!

7. Volunteer Give a Hand To Get a Hand

Everyone feels good after helping somebody else. You can volunteer your time, your money, or your resources. The more positive energy you put out into the world, the more you will receive in return.

We all want to be more productive. But that can be pretty tuff when you don't control how you spend your time. One of the biggest time wasters is the inactivity that occurs when you feel stressed and ruminate on all the negative things that may come into your day. Positive thinking is more than just a good thing to do, it's emotionally healthy and can make you financially wealthy.

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The Stress Cure - Is Stress Zapping Your Memory? By Linda Hampton

What is it about stress that causes us to dwell at length on negative thoughts? The answer has a lot to do with our memory. Although it's miraculous the brain - a three pound lump of neural tissue can store any memories at all. But the human memory system has some surprising quirks. Most notable, we forget things. The forgotten information is still in our brains somewhere; it's just that it's difficult for the brain to put its (metaphorical) hands on any one specific memory when it's needed. There is so much other competing information there.

To solve this problem the brain often has to rely on memory cues or bits of information related to the thing we're trying to recall "to jog" our memory. Pretty much anything can serve as a cue, as long as it's associated somehow with the information we're looking for.

As it turns out, the brain uses our mood state as it's single most important memory cue. Believe it or not the brain tags every one of our memories according to the emotional state we're in when the event occurs. And whenever we're in the same mood this serves as a powerful retrieval cue.

When you're sad, for example that despondent mood triggers all sorts of memories from other moments when you were sad or in low spirits. When you experienced a sense of failure, during times of loneliness and rejection all show up and it becomes difficult to remember any specific times in the past when things were going well. If you are in a relationship that break up all you can think about are all the other break-ups in the past you can't remember the good times that you had with anyone. It becomes a downward spiral of reminiscing.

When you are overwhelmed with stress, you might identify with a decline in your emotional health. Besides being quick tempered and easily agitated your memory may also be affected. Stress is frequently the result of a chaotic schedule, and with too much to do, when stressed it's not unusual to forget things.

If you are feeling stressed out and "scatterbrained" you need to spend time improving your concentration to relieve overload and overwhelm during times of extreme chaos and tension. When your attentiveness decreases, it's up to you to regain control.

There are a few ways to increase your mind's ability to perform during duress. My first choice is to exercise. Exercise helps your brain generate new cells that are linked with the enhancement of memory. Physical exercise increases oxygen to the brain and increases neural firing.

If you feel isolated because you work long hours, or home taking care of your family or you don't drive or for whatever reason - find new friendships. Make sure you socialize with the friends and family you have. Invite a friend to dinner or out to lunch. If it's someone you work with don't talk about work. And if you can't get out to meet your friends or meet new people develop new friendship with people you meet on-line. There is a whole world out there and a lot of people are lonely and would love to find a new friend. This give the brain a new workout as you adjust to a different conversations in a new environment all while activating or re-activating different senses.

If you have a long drive, consider listening to an audio book. You'll be surprise how delightful you drive becomes and the traffic becomes much less stressful allowing you to arrive at your destination in a much more relaxed state. You can also break-up the routine of the drive by trying a new route once in a while. If you normally drive on the highway find a route that allows you to drive on a country road.

Stress doesn't have to cause your memory to decline that is if you don't allow it to. As long as you give your mind a workout by creating new neural pathway the same way you would build new muscles when you work out your body, you'll have a healthy memory that allows you to remember the important things during times of stress and anxiety.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Boomer Success Strategy - Positive Mental Attitude By Linda Hampton

What do you spend most of your time thinking about? I bet you don't even know, or maybe you've never given it much thought. Big Mistake. You have about 60,000 thought per day and 95% of your thoughts are repeated, and what's worse is 4 out of 5 of those thoughts are negative.

Your thoughts are influenced by peers, world views, culture, the media religion and social expectation. They determine 95% of the emotions you experience every day. Most of our thoughts are automatic and habitual and control your pain, pleasure belief and values.

Just as gravity makes no distinction or judgments as to WHO it works for, Universal Laws operate with the same precise and absolute fashion. What you think about influences the actions you do and what you become. Your thinking creates a dominate thought and pattern. What you think about, emotionalize and visualize continuously grows in your reality.

So now that you know how your thoughts create your reality lets take a look at how you can transform your negative thoughts and attitude. So the good news is most of your negative attitude stems from the 95% of repeated negative thoughts. The bad news is that you've had these thoughts so often and for so long you actually believe they're real, not just on the mindset level but on a cellular level.

1. Associate with inspiring people. We all have friends and family we love and care about that after a couple of hours in their company you feel upset and unhappy. Although I would be the last person to say stay away from them you can hang out with them in smaller doses. Instead of spend a day or in some cases a few hours with them make it a quick lunch instead. If you don't know or can't hang out with inspiring people then read inspiring stories and biographies.

2. Focus on what you have and not on what you don't have. Spend more time thinking about what's working in your life and not what's not working and what you have control of and what you can't control.

3. Ask yourself empowering questions. Even in the face of things you may not have chosen you can choose how your react by asking yourself questions that put you in control.

a. What's good about this situation?

b. What can I learn from this and what opportunities are within my grasp because of this?

c. How can I make myself feel great about this? What story can I tell that would put this situation in a positive light.

d. How can I personally grow from this experience? Better yet how can I choose to grow from this experience?

We all have to learn to accept the things we cannot change but we can choose to think differently about a situation. Make the decision to change and affirm it every day by choosing positive thoughts. The process itself is pretty simple but having the constant preserverence to first recognize one of the 4 out of 5 negative thoughts and allowing that thought or the fact that it came into your mind to take control but to place that negative thought into a bubble and allow it to float away is an important part of this process.

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How Stressful Thinking Impacts You By Linda Hampton

Most of us experience tension daily, often it's hour by hour or worse minute to minute. How we cope with stress and worry determines whether we move forward or allow it to hold us back. Habitual negative thinking is often frenzied, inaccurate, and undependable, yet you can go through your entire life with negative thoughts that cause unproductive behavior and a more difficult life. Most people dealing with stress especially chronic stress assume that there's no getting around it, and its just the way life has to be. But this is certainly not the case!

Silencing the habitually negative mind is easier than you imagine and it all starts with a single positive thought.

How Your Negative Mind Effects Your Positive Aspirations

A negative mind not only regulates the way you approach life, it also has a tremendous impact on your physical body, and with your mind body connection working against homeostasis rather then in flow having a negative impact on your health. When you switch off negative thoughts and turn on positive thinking, you have the power to move toward a healthier more productive and creative you. With time and effort, you can transform your thought process, and it's quite simple actually, because it all begins with just a few simple words.

The Power of A Few Words...

When you see a list of affirmations, you see absolutely nothing more than a list of words with optimistic expressions that do not appear to apply to you or embody your current way of thinking. If you take a closer look at each affirmation, you may find that many embrace the way you wished you could feel and think.

When you see words that speak to you and how you'd like to feel, hold onto them. You can use them to get rid of a unwelcome idea you wish to eliminate. Fundamentally, with practice, you will be replacing your negative thinking pattern with a positive thinking. This is exactly what positive affirmations are all about!

But let me caution you here. In order for your affirmations to be effective they have to meet the following criteria:

Affirmations have to be in your own voice. They need to be phrased and spoken the way you speak.

Your affirmations should be phrased and said in the same way that you would say them to a friend. After all, your mind is your friend. In fact, it's one of your best friends.

Words are a powerful way to evoke emotions both positive and negative. Use affirmation that speaks to you on a deep level and keep them in the forefront of your mind by repeating these words often. By doing this you create room for your new thoughts to germinate and grow until these thoughts become a reality. Again the trick is to use words that are meaningful to you and say them in the same way you normally speak.

If at some point, as we all do, you may become overwhelmed with negative thinking, if that happens simply close your eyes and take a few deep breaths until your emotions become a little bit more under control. Then use your affirmations to interrupt your thinking pattern.

Page 1 of 2 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 | Next

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Eliminate Time Clutter - Create A Not To Do List By Linda Hampton

If you're busy and overwhelmed like most people you'll likely have some sort of to-do list going. It could be in the form of a notebook, a computer, mobile device or even heaven forbid a piece of paper. But some days looking at the list just makes me feel crazy. There is so many things to do that sometimes I get the feeling the list has "legs" of its own like a centipede.

In others words the list seems to keep growing and growing without my help. In my experience at some point the list becomes an alligator... one that bites.

So how do you get control of your to-do list?

How about creating a not to do list instead?

Because we've either heard and use these terms so often a great deal of our thinking comes from, No I won't, don't know how, can't get it done, part of our brain. I sometimes use this same concept with my list. Here's how it goes.

Take this article for instance. Most people would write on their to-do list get an article written by a specific date. Instead I might put on my not to-do list something like:

Not to waste time doing things that is not going to be of value to my clients. That forces me to focus on what I need to do first which is to add value. Because quite frankly, saying to myself write an article is not always an effective motivating factor for me. But when I think about giving value that can have an effect that motivates me to take appropriate action. In this case the action I take will provide the most value for my clients.

Let me give you another example. Maybe I need to clean the bathroom and let's face, it that's one of my least favorite jobs (maybe it's your least favorite too). I change that thought to "not to have my bathroom unprepared for company."

Here's the deal. Our mind is a funny thing. It's so use to the negative, it can be difficult to continuously focus on something positive. In fact, it would take an extraordinary the effort to focus on something positive all the time. And this of course causes stress

So here are some ideas of what to put on your not-to-do list:

? I am not going to get distracted from the most important thing I can do today (whatever that thing is). If I think about not getting distracted that automatically makes me think about the things I need to focus on.

? I am Not going to get confuse and buy into the idea that activity equals productivity. Instead do something that you know will move you closer toward your goals

? I won't going to attend events including teleseminars or teleclasses that I not willing to take the actions directed by the trainer. Instead carefully select the events you plan to attend.

? I won't confuse eating fewer meals with losing weight. Instead accept it's all about the actual food choices you make when you eat.

? I won't look at and respond to each email when it arrives. Instead select a time of day such at 9 am 12 noon and 4:30 pm and spend only 15 - 30 minutes reviewing and responding to email.

Page 1 of 2 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 | Next

reade more... Résuméabuiyad