Being a mother can cause times of stress….juggling doctors appointments, school events, extracurriculars.  It’s a wonder us moms have any time left for ourselves.

I stumbled upon a useful and realstic resource that gives us mom something to do to have us take care of ourselves when we are stumped with how to do that.

It’s basically a Self Care Card where you choose one card each day and then do whatever it is that the card tells you to.  Of course you’ll need to take time out to do it.  How else can one expect to combat or prevent stress without  taking out the time to do some practical things?

Simply cut out the squares, place them in a jar, box or whatever, and when you feel overwhelmed or just want to practice some self care, just pick a card and DO IT!

You Can Download It Here: http://homepage.mac.com/sarahzeldman/FileSharing11.html

These self care cards are part of a FREE Busy Moms Stress Relief Kit offered by Sarah Zeldman. You can get the cards and other stress help tools here: http://www.solutionsforbusymoms.com/free-stress-relief-kit/

This is a very powerful and profound statement because a lot of the challenges that lead to stress experienced by people is a result of their stinkin’ thinkin’. Worriers particularly have this problem. The way you think will eventually determine the way you speak and the way you speak will determine your behavior and the way you act will eventually lead you into the habits you now find yourself doing.

Let’s say for example, you worry all the time about getting fired from your job. This constant negative thinking will lead you to talk about it all the time, thereby creating a stronghold of that fear that gives birth to the reality of your being fired. You will be so consumed with worry that you will eventually start talking so negatively that it’s no wonder the company will not want you around. All that negativity is affecting everyone on the job!

So if you don’t like what’s going on in your world today, step back and evaluate what you have been feeding your mind and the words you have been speaking. Do you meditate on negative things ? Do you watch tv shows, movies, or the news that fills your mind with all sorts of negativity? Then stop it. Stop feeding trash to your mind and fill it with positive things such as God’s Word. You will one day recognize that life aint’ so bad after all.

Crisis Preparedness

Since 9/11 ,we’ve all heard of crisis preparedness and emergency preparedness plans. But how about when it comes to taking care of one’s self. What type of preparedness should there be?

I submit to you that you can be prepared to meet stress head on if you prepare yourself mentally.  As a Christian, my belief and focus is that there is only one way to adequately prepare your mind and that is with God’s Word, the Bible.  Should there be sickness, financial issues or any other stressful situation in life, it’s best to prepare your mind by meditating and consuming the Word of God BEFORE stressful and challenging events happen.  It’s a lot more difficult to believe God to heal you if you are just reading His Word about healing when you get sick.  It’s a lot more difficult to believe that God will provide for your needs if you haven’t been focusing on that fact over time.  BUT if you have been reading and meditating on the promises of God before the challenge comes, you will have that Word stored up in your heart to help you in your time of need.

God's Word

The reason it’s so important to meditate on God’s promises in advance is because as human beings, our  minds are finite.  We may know that God is a healer or a provider but it’s difficult for us to believe that “He will actually do it for me.”  We have been conditioned for so long by the environment surrounding us that it’s hard for us to have natural faith in the supernatural.  Oh but if you take the supernatural Word of God, you will develop supernatural faith and you will be mentally prepared in a time of crisis.

Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils vary from commercial essential oils that just smell nice.  When looking to aromatherapy as a means to help alter your stress levels and affect your mood, you  must use therapeutic grade essential oils.  In order to achieve this classification, the essential oil must not be manipulated and refined.  The plants that the essential oil are derived from must be grown and harvested in exceptional soil at the precise time.  In addition to this, the plants must be of the highest quality to preserve the oils purity and potency.

Young Living Essential Oils

Essential Oils are a special gift from nature, providing us with medicinal uses and calming effects.  In today’s society, in order to effectively combat stress, it’s wise not to counteract it with products that are heavy laden with chemicals and over processing.

I have had personal experience with some of the therapeutic grade essential oils available to reduce inflammation and bring about a renewed energy in my body.

To promote a relaxing and uplifting mood with essential oils of a therapeutic grade, it’s important to know exactly which essential oils have the properties to accomplish this.  Not all essential oils are specified for relaxation. Some are designated for other means such as cleansing and sanitizing.

The following essential oils, when are of a therapeutic grade can promote a relaxing and uplifting mood:

Bergamot- Familiar to the flavoring in Earl Grey Tea; Good for building confidence & enhancing your mood

Cedar Wood - Soothing when used for massage

Cistus – Calming & uplifting; helpful for meditating

Clary Sage - Supports a normal, healthy attitude; has a mellow scent that’s uplifting and relaxing

Clove - Has a sweet spicy fragrance that’s revitalizing and stimulating

Cypress - Has a slight evergreen aroma that restores feelings of security & stability; refreshing

Dill - Spicy fresh scent with balancing and stimulating properties

Fennel - Sweet, anise-like scent that’s energizing and may support feelings of well beind during the menstrual cycle

Goldenrod - Has relaxing and calming effects

Idaho Tansy - Pungent aroma that stimulates a positive attitude and overal feelings of well being

Jasmine - Uplifts & enhances self-confidence with an exotic, floral scent that’s very relaxing

Lavender - One of the most relaxing of them all; soothing & helps the body to deal with stress and imbalances; great for relaxing at bed time

Lemon – Has a citrusy scent that’s uplifting and relaxing

Myrrh - With its rich, smoky balsamic aroma, this oil is revitalizing and uplifting with the highest levels of sesquiterpenes that have a direct effect on our emotions

Myrtle - Has soothing effects when inhaled; uplifting to the emotions

Orange - Provides a calming influence on the body, bringing about feelings of peace and happiness

Rose – Contains stimulating and uplifting properties; creates a sense of well-being and self confidence

Rosewood - Comforting and soothing; has a balancing effect on the emotions and may help lift feelings of despair

Spearmint - May help release emotional blocks leading to a sense of balance and well being

Spruce - Brings about a feeling of balance and peaceful security; opens and releases emotional blocks

Valerian - Has a calming and restorative effect on the central nervous system; grounds and balances the emotions

Vetiver - May help to cope with stress and recover from emotional trauma and shock

Ylang Ylang - Has a sweet floral scent; brings about feelings of calm and a sense of relaxation

As you can see from this list, that you have quite a few options for coping with stress when it comes to the use of Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils.  To find out more and to purchase Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils, I recommend Young Living.  Young Living Essential Oils meet and often exceed industry requirements.  Young Living has a proprietary distillation process that best preserves the properties of the plants from which the essential oils are derived.

To find out more or to become a wholesale or retail customer of these awesome oils, please visit Young Living.  You will need a distributor # to make a purchase. You may use distributor # 1066504

I won’t go into detail about my title, “Beginning with the End in Mind” because I have written in more detail about it on my other blog, “To Stress or Not to Stress” www.stressreliefbyrv.blogspot.com

Check out the posting there. I’ll be back over here in a few days to talk about more stress relief tips. I’m going to use my other blog to talk more about stress relief and alternative pain relief products. If you are interested in that, please subscribe to the feed on that blog.

Blessings
Your Stress Helper, Michelle

Your mind effects your stress levels. To eliminate stress, control what you allow your mind access to… the tv shows you watch, the movies you go see, the news you sit down and watch.  If you find yourself with mental stress when you watch the news, stop watching it! Most of the time the news reporters exaggerate and making things sound worst then they actually are.  If you can’t find anything positive to fill your mind with, consider reading the Holy Bible.  It’s filled with good news and God’s love for humanity.  It will transform your mind.  Romans 12:2 says “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  That basically means that God has a good plan for your life but you have to get your mind right so you can experience that good plan.

Eliminate mental stress by controlling your thoughts and not allowing your thoughts  to control you.  If you find yourself facing challenges, CHOOSE to think positively about the situation.  Start thinking of the positive outcome of the situation or challenge vs. the negative.

75-90% of sickness, disease and ailments in the body are the result of mental stress.  This has been discovered by many doctors.  What’s in you eventually comes out of you.  If your emotions are so consumed with stress or your mind is so saturated with negative thoughts, change your thinking or you may eventually find yourself experiencing symptoms in your body.  Then you can choose to either spend your life medicating those symptoms or you can choose to do what’s necessary to elminate the source of the stress, cope with the stress or respond to the situation differently.  The choice is yours.

If you are like me, you may feel there are not enough hours in the day to get things done.  This is a work in progress for many including myself.  As I sit here at the end of day trying to figure out where time has gone and all of the things I need to do for my children, for my home and for my business I realize I am a bit scattered because I didn’t plan my week out this week.  This was a week of poor time management for me.

Helpful tip:  To improve your time management, write up a weekly To Do list. You may not accomplish everything so try to be realistic with what you put on that list.  Prioritize your list with the most important items listed first.  If you use your To Do list as a guide, you’ll find that you get more accomplished in the time you have available to you, thereby improving your time management skills.

Rushing from appointment to appointment, place to place and task to task can cause much stress.

Re-evaluate what you are doing and ask yourself these two questions:

1- Is what I’m doing benefiting me or someone else?

2- Is what I’m doing productive?

If you answer no to either of these questions, you may want to consider eliminating whatever you are doing from your schedule.

Making simple changes to your schedule by eliminating non-productive tasks & actions, can help you to lead a simple life with less stress. The sooner you re-evaluate your “to dos”, the sooner you’ll be able to re-prioritize your life, slow down and lessen your stress.

Release the Past

Past, Present and Future…time is composed of these three intervals. The future is promised to no man or woman. The best one could ever do is to be mindful of a potential future and plan for it accordingly.

Your past may be scarred with bad decisions or experiences that are difficult to forget. However, in order to lead a simple life with control over your stress levels, you must be willing to release your past.

Every human being has been given the gift of the “present.” The words gift and present are used interchangeably when giving something to another in celebration of an event or as a thank you. I believe that this is no coincidence and that it is God’s will for us to view our present time as a gift. The present is the only element of time you have control of. You decide what you are going to do at the very moment you are existing.

Instead of wasting time reliving your past and grieving our past regrets, why not ask God for forgiveness? Why not make things right with someone you have strife with (if you can)? Why not release painful memories to the Lord Jesus?

Whatever it is that causing you to live in the past, if you release your past and give it to God, you will find that is easier to focus on the “present” which will help you birth a brighter future.

Make a quality decision to say no to stress and all the baggage that comes along with it (frustration, lack of productivity etc.). Release the Past…for your sake.

To procrastinate is to defer or delay action leading to a lost opportunity.

One leads to a life of fulfillment and accomplishing work in a sufficient time frame. The other, procrastination leads to stress and being overwhelmed.

When you procrastinate, you put off doing the things that you know need to be done. Then come along new priorities and you are now stressed because you procrastinated and put off the things that needed to be done yesterday until today. The only problem is today never came for yesterday’s task and yesterday’s task is now pushed back a few more days. This kind of life of procrastination can only leave one feeling stressed out, burned out, discouraged and overwhelmed.

I used to procrastinate quite regularly until I got tired of being tired, full of stress and overwhelmed. I now plan out my day’s activities and leave the day in the hands of God. I do what I commit to and when I recognize I can’t, I do my best not to commit at all. I have not arrived but I’m constantly working towards that life of disciplined and consistent proactivity where I no longer put off the things I know to do.

Even a 20% swing towards being proactive will make a significant change in your life and you’ll be well on your way to avoiding unnecessary stress….proactively.