How To Stress Less And Smile More
By Lisa Branigan, Thu Dec 8th

Stress has become an epidemic in our modern society with morethan two-thirds of visits to doctors' surgeries being forstress-related illnesses. While a certain amount of stress isneeded to motivate individuals into action, prolonged stress canhave a huge impact on overall health. Stress has been linked toheadaches, backaches, insomnia, anger, cramps, elevated bloodpressure, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and loweredresistance to infection. For women, stress is a key factor inhormonal imbalances resulting in menstrual irregularities, PMS,fibroids, endometriosis and fertility problems. Stress can alsobe a factor in the development of almost all disease statesincluding cancer and heart disease; the leading cause of deathin Australian women.

More often than not stress is a result of letting our life getout of balance. This happens by putting all our energy into onlyone or two areas of our life (usually work) and ignoring therest. We overload our plate of life that high, things begin todrop off and these are usually the things that are important tous like time for our own interests and time we spend with ourfamily. We take on too much, over promise, don't delegate andpush our own wants and needs into the background.

So what can you do? How can you restore your balance so as tostress less and smile more?

Step One: Practice extreme self-care Most people sufferingstress have become quite good at practising extremeself-neglect! They don't eat well, rarely exercise or taketimeout and probably can't remember the last time they had aholiday. The first thing that needs to be done is to become'extreme' about your self-care. I'm not talking about jumping ofcliffs or skydiving (unless this is what you consider timeout)but I am talking about the principle of extreme, that of takingyour self-care to new heights, above and beyond 'your' normallimit. When we truly care for our own needs first, we build areserve of energy and resources that enables us to sustainextreme self-care in our own life with enough left over to carefor others.

A great place to start is by creating ten delightful dailyhabits. These habits include all the things that bring usenjoyment and delight. What are some daily habits that we couldperform? Here are some suggestions.

*Stretch for 2 minutes. *Laugh for 5 minutes *Floss yourteeth *Read to your children *Hug a loved one *Go for a 10minute walk in the park *Listen to your favourite song *Writein a journal *Eat 3 fruit and 5 veg *Read a chapter of yourfavourite book *Drink 2 litres of water *Going to bed early

The key to benefiting from your daily habits and practisingextreme self-care is to do just that, make them "daily" habits.Start with one of your habits and commit to practicing it forseven days then add another habit and practice them both foranother seven days. Continue this way until you are practicingall ten items on your list daily.

Step Two: Eliminate your tolerations. Tolerations are things youare putting up with that drain you physically, mentally,emotionally or spiritually. They include things like crossedboundaries, unfinished business or projects, others badbehaviour, frustrations, unwanted commitments as well as thingslike clutter, mess, broken items, being over weight, weeds inthe garden, debt and so on. Start by making a list of 5 thingsthat are driving you nuts about your job, life, health, home etcand then devise a plan to get rid of the first thing on yourlist this week. Notice how this makes you feel, how it lifts aweight off your shoulders. Now think about how much better youwill feel when you get rid of the other 4 things on your list!!When you've completed your list, start a new one and keepworking until you have zero tolerations in your life.

Step Three: Get your needs met! We all have personal needs thatwhen met make us feel satisfied and complete. Unmet needs causeus to become upset, angry, stressed and depressed. The key tosatisfying our personal needs is to identify them. Identifyneeds that feel true, not ones that look good or

aresuperficial. You need to be careful that what you consider to bea need (e.g. to be loved) is not covering a true need(self-esteem). Ideas of personal needs are:

*Calmness *Freedom *Be listened to *Independence *Feelvalued *Stability *Respect *A life purpose *Satisfying work*Honesty *Loyalty *Be busy *Security *Be loved *Balance *Responsibility *A career *Children

You may need to tell others what your needs are and learn toask for support.

Step Four: Smile often and laugh more! Scientists have foundthat laughter stimulates the release of beneficial brainneurotransmitters and hormones, which can reduce stress, improveour immune system and give us a general sense of wellbeing. Somedoctors are using laughter therapy to replace anti-depressantsand to reduce the use of painkillers. According to researchersfaking laughter will also produce the same health and wellbeingresults as real laughter.

Do you need to improve your ability to laugh more? Well hereare some tips from Family Scientist, Herbert G. Lingren to helpall of you, who are humour impaired, to add laughter and humourto your everyday life. 1. Hang around funny friends, or betteryet, marry a funny partner. 2. Start looking for the absurd,silly, incongruous activities that go on around you each day. 3.Take a 5-10 minute humour break each day. Read jokes, add to ahumour notebook, and listen to a funny tape. 4. Rent a comedyvideo, go to a funny movie, and watch humorous programs ontelevision. 5. If you hear a joke you really like, write itdown, or tell it to someone else to help you remember it.

Step Five: Set Goals Without goals we have no direction inlife. We are lost! When we are lost we get stressed andoverwhelmed. Goals are a tool we can use to have what we wantand need in our personal and professional life.

When you set a goal, it tells your subconscious mind what isimportant to you and to be on the lookout for things, people,opportunities or situations that will enable you to move towardsyour goal. Goals help us navigate our life with greater ease andreaching goals can make our life more fulfilling and happier.One way to find out what your real goals are is to write a listof 100 things you'd like to accomplish before you die and thenstart working on your list today!

Step Six: Create a supportive environment Our surroundings canbe supportive and give us energy or drag us down and leave usstressed and tired. Surrounding ourself with inspiring, fun,positive things and people can energize us and add joy to ourlife. We need good support structures to effortlessly flowthrough life and remain balanced.

We can break our life support structures into five basiccategories:

1.People-family, friends, life coach, accountant, doctor,housekeeper etc. 2.Places-your office, desk, car, home 3.Things-your phone, computer, home decor 4.Processes-filingsystem, record keeping, time management program, 5.InnerEnvironment- your outlook on life, self-esteem level, thoughtprocesses

Examine the above five categories and look at who or what youuse to support you in each area. Are you truly being supported?What do you need to change to feel more supported in all areasof your life? Start making the easiest changes first.

Just as it can take to time end up stressed, overwhelmed andout of balance, it also takes time to make positive changes inyour life. Sometimes trying to implement change (even for thebetter) can itself cause stress and prevent a person remainingmotivated.

Work on one step at a time until you master that step in yourlife and then move on to the next area you need to change. Ifyou can't do it on your own get support from a counsellor,doctor, naturopath, friend, peer or life coach who specializesin stress issues.

Above all remember the benefits you will feel when you'vemastered the steps to stress less and smile more!

About the author:"Lisa Branigan is a certified Life Coach helping successfulwomen create a less pressured, more enjoyable lifestyle" She isa speaker, writer, regular radio guest and contributor tomagazines and newspapers. Email: lisa@quantumcoaching.com.auWebsite: http://www.quantumcoaching.com.au/