It`s not surprising that for each of us, our individual self is struggling to find calm, peace, and balance!

In my country Australia we see and feel the effects of all of these world tremors and quakes!  No matter where you live these ongoing chaotic world disturbances add to our existing fears.

We continue to have community problems that rumble and destroy our individual fabric of wellbeing! Pressures of racial inequities, power inequities – abuse of women, girls, and minority groups -race, gender, sex, and more.

Why are those who have the power not fighting the good fight for Safety, Respect and Equity for ALL! … and in turn creating a democracy of enduring calmness and peace!

It`s no wonder fear, anxiety, depression, and panic are in such epidemic proportions!

How might I offer some support to those who are in need? I searched carefully online for options that may offer solutions for people.

…..   Eliminate Anxiety and Panic Attacks For Good!

The following article is the first in a series I`ll offer you over the next period of time. Here you can have a comfortable read about how you might recover greater emotional, mental, and whole of being good health!  I wish you a good read.

‘Eliminate Anxiety and Panic Attacks For Good’

If you suffer from…

• Palpitations
• a pounding heart, or an accelerated heart rate
• Sweating
• Trembling or shaking
• Shortness of breath
• A choking sensation
• Chest pain or discomfort
• Nausea or stomach cramps
• Derealization (a feeling of unreality)
• Fear of losing control or going crazy
• Fear of dying Numbness or a tingling sensation
• Chills or hot flashes

(Source: American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) 2000 Washington, DC.)

…then you’ve experienced firsthand some of the possible symptoms of a panic or anxiety attack. If you are reading this page because a loved one suffers from these symptoms and you are trying to understand or help, it’s hard to appreciate what they go through.

Just try to imagine what it feels like to experience one if you can?

…. regain health …

Here is a typical example:

Standing in a supermarket queue, it’s been a long wait but only one customer to go before you make it to the cashier. Wait, what was that sensation? An unpleasant feeling forms in your throat, your chest feels tighter, now a sudden shortness of breath, and what do you know—your heart skips a beat. “Please, God, not here.”

A quick scan of the territory—is it threatening?  Four unfriendly faces queue behind, one person in front.

Pins and needles seem to prick you through your left arm, you feel slightly dizzy, and then the explosion of fear as you dread the worst.     You are about to have a panic attack.

There is no doubt in your mind now that this is going to be a big one.

Eliminate Anxiety and Panic Attacks!

Okay, focus 1:  Remember what you have been taught, and it is time now to apply the coping techniques. Begin the deep breathing exercise your doctor recommended. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Think relaxing thoughts, and again, while breathing in, think “Relax,” and then breathe out. But it doesn’t seem to be having any positive effect; in fact, just concentrating on breathing is making you feel self-conscious and more uptight.

–>>> apply the coping techniques!

Okay, coping technique 2:

• Gradual muscle relaxation. Tense both shoulders, hold for 10 seconds, then release.
• Try it again. No; still no difference.
• The anxiety is getting worse and the very fact that you are out of coping techniques worsens your panic.
• If only you were surrounded by your family, or a close friend were beside you so you could feel more confident in dealing with this situation.

Now, the adrenaline is really pumping through your system, your body is tingling with uncomfortable sensations, and now the dreaded feeling of losing complete control engulfs your emotions.

No one around you has any idea of the sheer terror you are experiencing.

For them, it’s just a regular day and another frustratingly slow queue in the supermarket.

Eliminate Anxiety and Panic Attacks and find relief!

You are out of options … -> Time for Plan C.

The most basic coping skill of all is “fleeing.” Excuse yourself from the queue; you are slightly embarrassed as it is now that it is your turn to pay.

The cashier is looking bewildered as you leave your shopping behind and stroll towards the door. There is no time for excuses—you need to be alone.

You leave the supermarket and get into your car to ride it out alone. Could this be the big one? The one you fear will push you over the edge mentally and physically.

Ten minutes later the panic subsides.

It’s 10:30 a.m. How are you going to make it through the rest of the day?

.. take comfort in the fact that you are by no means alone.

If you suffer from panic or anxiety attacks, the above scenario probably sounds very familiar.

It may have even induced feelings of anxiety and panic just reading it.

The particular situations that trigger your panic and anxiety may differ; maybe the bodily sensations are a little different. Or maybe it happened to you for the first time on a plane, in the dentist’s chair, or even at home, while doing nothing in particular.

If you have ever had what has become known as a “panic attack,” take comfort in the fact that you are by no means alone.

Eliminate Anxiety and Panic Attacks!

A panic attack always comes with an acute sense of impending doom.

You feel you are either about to lose your mind or … one of your vital bodily functions is about to cease functioning and you will end your days right there among the canned goods and frozen food.

You are by no means alone; you’re not even one in a million.

In America, it is estimated that almost 5% of the population suffers from some form of anxiety disorder.

For some, it may be the infrequent panic attacks that only crop up in particular situations-like when having to speak in front of others, while, for other people, it can be so frequent and recurring that it inhibits them from leaving their home.

Frequent panic attacks often develop into what medical physicians refer to as an “anxiety disorder.”

… your recovery starts here …

One of the first steps to regaining control of your life …

…  is getting helpful information.

This site will give you that, and more.

–>>   The beginning of your recovery starts here …

1. What you will learn is that there is a very good chance you are about to end the cycle of panic attacks in your life.
2. You will learn not only to regain the carefree life you remember once having but will also gain new confidence in living.
3. Your answer to living free from “panic” or “anxiety attacks” is at hand.

–>> This site demonstrates that the panic and anxiety that you have experienced will be the very key to your courage and success.

Begin the road to recovery by browsing through the site, see the link below

While many of you may have read almost everything you can possibly read relating to panic and anxiety I assure you this site offers something very effective.

Did you know…?

• The key difference between someone who is cured of panic attacks and those who are not is really very simple.
• The people who are cured no longer fear panic attacks.
• I’ll try to show you how to be one of these people as well.
• What if I told you the trick to ending panic and anxiety attacks is to want to have one. That sounds strange, even contradictory, but let me explain.
• The trick to panic attacks is wanting to have one-the wanting pushes it away. Can you have a panic attack in this very second? No!

 

… your breakthrough to success starts here…

Click here for more information ->

Eliminate Anxiety & Panic Attacks for Good …

and Find Relief!

You know the saying that “what you resist, persists.”

Well, that saying applies perfectly to fear. If you resist a situation out of fear, the fear around that issue will persist.

How do you stop resisting–you move directly into it, into the path of the anxiety, and by doing so it cannot persist.

• In essence what this means is that if you daily voluntarily seek to have a panic attack, you cannot have one.
• Try in this very moment to have a panic attack and I will guarantee you cannot.
• You may not realize it but you have always decided to panic. You make the choice by saying this is beyond my control.

Another way to appreciate this is to imagine having a panic attack as like standing on a cliff’s edge. The anxiety seemingly pushes you closer to falling over the edge.

• To be rid of the fear you must metaphorically jump.
• You must jump off the cliff edge and into the anxiety and fear and all the things that you fear most.
• How do you jump?
• You jump by wanting to have a panic attack.
• You go about your day asking for anxiety and panic attacks to appear.
• Your real safety is the fact that a panic attack will never harm you.
• That is a medical fact.

You are safe, the sensations are wild but no harm will come to you. Your heart is racing but no harm will come to you. The jump becomes nothing more than a two-foot drop! Perfectly safe.

Start by clicking the Word “Success”!

PS: Content and direction are from ‘Barry McDonagh’ is an international panic disorder coach. His informative site on all issues related to panic and anxiety attacks can be found here: Panic Portal   http://www.panicportal.com

NB: This article is copywritten material  

In the second part of our series, I’m going to teach you a time-tested method of creating beautiful order in an otherwise chaotic world.

This method is so simple, absolutely anyone can start using it today.

What is this excellent time management tool?

The technique I’m talking about is list-making and its simplicity is actually the basis of its power as a time management tool. People who are already strapped for time need techniques that are easy to implement. Nothing is simpler and easier than building to-do lists!

Simple Guidelines for Maximum Results

 Below are some pro tips for building accomplishable and realistic to-do lists:

1. Create the Right To-Do Lists – There are three kinds of to-do lists that you can create depending on what you have to accomplish. Your main to-do list is contains all of the things that you have to accomplish in the short-term and long-term.

You can list as many things as you want in your main to-do list as this will be used as a resource for the two other lists I’m going to mention in a moment. The second to-do list is your day list.

The day list contains all the items that need to be given attention today.

All of the most urgent items in your main to-do list should be put in your day list, especially deadlines and stuff that you weren’t able to accomplish in the past.

The third and final list is the future list. The future list should contain the things you have to accomplish in the following weeks or months. If something needs to be accomplished 2 weeks from now, write it down in your future list so you won’t clutter your day list.

2. Prioritize Tasks with a Main To-Do List – Priority-setting is your primary goal in creating different lists.

Your main to-do list was designed to be a general list so you can assign items to their proper sub-lists. You will also be able to write down the time and date for each of the items before transferring them to your day list and future list.

It would also help if you marked certain tasks with E1 or E2. E1 means “super easy! – will not take more than 10 minutes” while E2 stands for “enjoyable task!”. You can create more notations if you want, if they will help you stay motivated in accomplishing your tasks.

3. Use the Future List Wisely – Writing a future list is a way to accommodate less urgent tasks so you won’t forget to do them. There are also some tasks that don’t have to be accomplished today. If you’re already budgeting your time, there’s no need to add more tasks in your day list.

However, I would warn against using this list for procrastination. Having a long future list doesn’t mean you’re getting organized or you’re managing your time well. It just means you have a list of tasks. It’s what you do after making your to-do lists that truly matter.

Where can you create your lists?

If you’re a little old-fashioned like me, you may prefer to physically write down your to-do items on a journal.

If you’re planning to write things down on paper, I suggest that you use a monthly planner as an extension of your future list to stay organized. It can be difficult to keep track of items on your future list if you can’t see the days or weeks that lead up to each deadline.

Now, I also know that not everyone likes keeping journals and notebooks around.

If you have a smart phone or tablet, you can download organization apps like Any.Do, Clear and other to-do list programs on iTunes or Google Play. There are also other app centers available on the Internet such as the Opera Mobile Market which you can explore.

A good to-do app should allow you to make an unlimited number of to-do items complete with sub-lists. You should also be able to add a time and date for each item that you need to complete.

Some apps allow task sharing through email and through an in-app messaging system, but these aren’t as essential as the first set of features I mentioned.

If you don’t want to download another app, check out your current calendar app to see if it has a list feature… and continue to pursue to be an expert in ‘Expert Time Management Simplified’.

Among the top reasons why people are chronically stressed is having too little time for everything that needs to be done in a day. In a previous blog post, we touched upon the reality of the overworked adult in America.

Overwork is often the result of poor time management because let’s face it: things can get out of hand very quickly if you don’t know how you’re actually spending your time.

Our newest blog series will cover the best practices in time management so you can start maximizing all available hours in your working day. What are the best ways to manage your time?

1. Discover Where Your Time Goes – The first step in effective time management is knowing how you are actually spending your time every single day.

In order to accomplish this, you have to start recording your activities from the moment you wake up until bedtime. Do this for at least 2 weeks so you can see the average trend for different activities.

Sometimes, people become more efficient with how they use their time when they are logging their activities. You must not be too self-conscious during the observation period so you can get a realistic tally of how you are spending your time on a regular day.

In addition to recording your activities and the average amount of time spent for each activity, I want you to rate each activity from 1-4, with 1 being “waste of my time” and 5 being “excellent use of my time”. 2’s and 3’s are “a little time consuming” and “good use of my time”, respectively.

You will soon see a detailed picture of your actual use of time as you continue journaling and recording your daily activities. The information that you will get from this exercise will help guide future time management efforts.

2. Start Transforming Your Activities – Poor time management is often the result of having too many unnecessary activities throughout the day. Some of these activities, such as watching TV, may not exactly be completely harmful if you can learn how to control how much time you devote to them.

However, if you are constantly missing deadlines and you’re extremely stressed about not having sufficient time for all the things that you want to do, then there’s definitely something wrong with your selection of activities.

Transforming your daily activities is actually quite simple. First, you need to write down all the things that you need additional time for.

Don’t hold back when making this list – write down anything that comes to mind.

>>> My first list actually looked something like this:

– Rediscover spirituality

– Learn how to meditate

– Read more

– Spend more time getting out into nature

My list may look silly to some of you… 

but it is a genuine list that I made a few years ago when I was becoming severely burned out by my work. I was successful in turning things around by identifying the activities that consumed too much time in my day.

Eventually, I was able to make time for all of the things in my initial list – and even more!

I can confidently say that you can replicate my results by simply being mindful of all your activities and by asking yourself if you really need to spend time on the activity at all.

Common distractions can easily be removed from your list of routines if you choose to be more mindful of where your time is actually going.

Sure, you may be spending 8 to 10 hours per day in the office. However, if you’re barely coping with the workload, it’s possible that you’re not making wise use of your available time.

3. Change How You Do Things –

If your days are filled with activities that are essential to your work or family life but you’re still falling behind, you need to change how you do things.

Changing your approach to accomplishing your obligations and responsibilities can help you reduce the time needed to accomplish each task, which will effectively give you more time for additional activities or even leisure.

Here’s a good example – how many times do you check your email every day? I’ve met someone who admitted that he checks his email every hour.

Now assuming that it takes about 10 minutes to open your email and scroll through messages, that’s already 60 minutes gone in a day after the sixth visit to the inbox.

This trend can be remedied by limiting the checking of emails to once or twice a day. Urgent emails may be answered but on an average day, a person shouldn’t be preoccupied with checking his email.  (See the next part soon)

The first part of our current series on acing the art of stress management, we talked about three important guidelines:

First, you have to become familiar with the actual stressors that are causing you feel chronically stressed on a daily basis. This can be accomplished through regular journaling.

Second, you have to identify the negative beliefs and values that you may have. These beliefs and values may be stopping you from successfully managing your stress. This can be done through consistent self-analysis.

Third, you also have to accept the fact that not everything can be done in one day or one week. Stress management is actually a lifelong endeavor which will help create better beliefs, behaviors and thought patterns.

Today’s discussion will center on some additional guidelines which you can also use to improve your handling of stress management. You can find a few more essential guidelines below:

1.Try One or Try Them All – The fact of the matter is that there is no “perfect formula” for fight stress. I personally believe that stress dissipates more quickly through deep tissue massage because I really feel relaxed and happy after a good massage. But that’s just me; deep tissue massage may not be as effective for you.

This is why it’s so important for people to seek out different methods of stress management.

• Do not limit yourself to only 1 or 2 techniques.
• If something doesn’t work for you, it doesn’t mean that you do not have the capacity to manage your stress.
• It just means that you haven’t found the right combination of techniques to bring you to your desired level of relaxation and happiness.

2. Assemble Your Army, One by One – Managing stress is literally a battle against bad habits and a myriad of stressors. What do you need to succeed in any battle?

Your personal anti-stress army, of course!

• This personal army of yours will be composed of different relaxation techniques and behavioral modifications which you will learn as you progress with your stress management efforts.
• The techniques which you will be using must fit the genetics of your lifestyle and way of life. If a technique just doesn’t fit your lifestyle, it won’t work. Learn to adjust and discard techniques that do not conform to what you feel is the right way to remedy stress in your life.

3. Keep Practicing! – Like I’ve said before, stress management is essentially a collection of different skills that will enable you to effectively combat stress before it makes you permanently sick.

If you want full mastery of a specific skill, you must be willing to practice it until it becomes second nature.

This guideline may seem easy in comparison to my other reminders but in reality, it’s one of the most challenging to carry out.

Why? Because old habits die hard. For example, it can be very difficult for a person to listen more during an argument because the old habit was to outdo the other person in a screaming match.

Apart from learning new skills, effective stress management will also require you to change your attitudes and behaviors toward your stressors. In the previous blog post, I recommended that you start writing on a stress management journal.

Your stress management journal is more than just a laundry list of things to do.

• It’s actually a special picture of how you think and behave in response to different situations.
• You need a source of special insight if you want to discover your true self and reinvent it so you won’t be so stressed anymore.

4. Don’t Forget “Me” Time – In order to carry out your plans to conquer stress, you have to create space in your daily schedule for stress management. Now, I know that many stressed individuals feel that there isn’t enough time in a whole day for everything that needs to be done.

• However, I would like to point out that the statement “I wish there were 2 more hours in my day” is more of a state of mind than reality.
• The reality is that 12-18 hours of waking time is sufficient for most groups of tasks. There’s also enough time for relaxation within this time-frame.

If you cannot fit everything that you need to do within this amount of time that simply means that you have poor time management skills.

Evaluate how much time you spend on your different activities and try to create more balance within your day.

Stress management is an active and continuous process of controlling the way you react to common stressors present in everyday life.  

The main objective of stress management is to progressively revamp your thought patterns and lifestyle so you will no longer suffer from chronic, toxic stress on a daily basis.

Like other major endeavors, stress management is not without its own set of challenges. That’s why it’s important that you adequately prepare yourself for this important commitment because if you don’t, you’re going to end up being disappointed with the results.

How can you consistently succeed in stress management?

Here are some expert tips that will help demolish the obstacles to successful stress management:

1. Record Your Stressors – Each person has his own unique set of stressors. Stressors can be any of the following: situations, actions, events, general circumstances, objects, people, tasks, chores and work-related obligations.

To make things more organized, I would advise you to create a stress management journal.

What does a stress management journal look like?

One part of your journal should be separated and devoted specifically for recording stressors. Each page should have three columns with the following headings: time/date, stressor, stress level (1-10).

Evaluating your stress level is of paramount importance. When a stressor is rated a “1”, it means that you are only mildly annoyed for a brief period of time.

When you rate an item as a “10” that means that you experience not only mental signs of stress but also physical signs of stress such as a racing heart rate, cold hands and feet, etc.

Is it challenging to maintain a stress management journal?

Bear in mind that a stress management journal should not be difficult to maintain. If recording and journaling stresses you out, it’s possible that you are simply overdoing it.

You do not have to record every little stressor that comes your way – you only have to record the ones that you remember at the end of the day.

Some people can write on their journals every few hours; the majority of people cannot. Write only when it’s convenient for you but you have to write on your stress management journal every day.

2. Acknowledge Your Personal Beliefs & Values –

The battle against stress would be much easier if you came to terms with your personal beliefs and value system.

If you want to overcome negative beliefs and old values that don’t support your current goals, you have to identify them first. Below are some common beliefs and values that can directly impair your ability to manage stress:

1. “I have more important things to do than manage stress”
2. “Stress management won’t bring food to the table, my work does”

iii. “I have no time left for this sort of thing”

1. “I’d rather sleep than try to manage stress”
2. “I’m a hopeless case!”
3. “I’m not very good at learning new things”

vii. “How will I know if this will work?”

viii. “Stress management is just not ‘my thing’”

1. “I think it’s tedious and boring”
2. “I don’t have the energy to think about it”

3. Take the First Baby Steps –

Stress management isn’t just a vague concept – it’s a whole set of special skills that will allow you to evade or moderate the stress response so you will be healthier, happier and more productive.

How long will it take before you master stress management?

Stress management has spawned a whole industry of mentors and coaches because it’s not something that can be learned overnight.

With these facts in mind, it logically follows that if you want to learn how to manage stress, you have to muster the courage to take the first few baby steps to achieve your goals.

Managing chronic stress doesn’t require a lot of time.

• You can accomplish a lot of things within a 20-30 minute time-frame. If 20 minutes sounds overwhelming, try limiting your stress management sessions to 10-15 minutes.
• 10-15 minutes should give you enough time to think about the stressors you encountered for that day and how you reacted to the stressors. Self-analysis is your most important tool in managing stress.
• You have to be honest with yourself though. You must avoid justifying habitual, negative responses to stressors as this will impede personal breakthroughs.
• You must make it a point to identify harmful thoughts and behaviors so you can modify them. Behavioral modification, in order to be successful, must be gradual and you must be consistent in enforcing new behavior and rewarding yourself when you succeed in doing so.

How does stress harm both the body and the mind?

For many years now, medical doctors have been warning people of the dangers of poor stress management.

Many people still believe that stress doesn’t affect the body and it’s “just a state of mind”. What the majority of stress individuals do not know is that the body’s natural stress response is mainly a physiological event.

This means that the effects of stress have never been limited to our minds. When a person is stressed, his whole body experiences it, too. So the idea that stress is essentially harmless because it’s somehow limited to our imagination is actually a dangerous belief.

Why? Because a person who experiences chronic stress for many, many years has a much higher risk of making health conditions such as high blood pressure worse. So if you want to be physically healthier, you have to understand how stress actually affects the body.

How does stress come about?

The modern stress model gives us a simple and clear explanation of how physiological stress is roused:

1^st Phase: Mental and Emotional Triggers are Engaged. A person perceives an event, situation, action or idea as negative and stressful.

2^nd Phase: Psychological Stress Engaged. If a person does not arrest his emotions and negative thinking, the present situation causes psychological stress.

3^rd Phase: Physiological Stress or “Fight or Flight” Response: Unmitigated psychological stress often leads to actual, physiological stress.

When the instinctual “fight or flight” response comes into play, a person feels an immediate surge of adrenaline, which temporarily increases a person’s speed, strength and stamina.

A person’s breathing rate and pulse rate also increase in preparation for sudden, intense physical activity (e.g. running away from a real, physical danger).

***

Stress normally abates when the perceived threat or danger finally passes. Thousands of years ago, the instinctual “fight or flight” response was extremely useful for our hunter-gatherer ancestors as they had to battle wild animals and each other in pre-modern society.

Scientists believe that the stress adaptation came about because our ancestors were almost always exposed to threatening or dangerous situations.

 What are the signs that a person is experiencing stress?

Below are some common physical symptoms that a person is experiencing stress:

1. Inexplicable exhaustion or fatigue
2. Acute headaches that have a tendency to disrupt work or chores at home
3. Shallow chest breathing
4. Increased heart rate even when the person is not performing strenuous or challenging physical activities
5. Minor muscular pain
6. Twitches
7. Facial tics
8. Hand and arm tremors
9. A general feeling of nervousness and anxiety
10. Insomnia
11. Oversleeping
12. Inexplicable perspiring of the hands and feet
13. Turning to different substances such as caffeine, alcohol, nicotine and even recreational drugs

The list of symptoms doesn’t stop there. Here is a breakdown of the mental symptoms associated with moderate to extreme stress:

1. Short temper
2. Feeling angry all the time
3. Inexplicable mood swings
4. Feeling of isolation and helplessness
5. Short term memory problems
6. General decrease in work productivity
7. Lowered sexual desire
8. Distracted thinking

Why do people experience psychological stress?

The psychological signs of stress often manifest when a person has been under stress for a long period of time. These signs come about because the mind is trying to escape the stressful situation however it can.

This is one of the main reasons why stressed individuals are often less productive in the office.

Their minds are so sick of the prolonged stress response that their own thought patterns are preventing them from focusing on the things they have to do.

The same thing happens to university students who are overwhelmed with the nature and volume of work they have to complete to pass different course subjects.

How severe are stress-related symptoms in the general population?

In the United States alone, it is estimated that 90% of all physician visits are associated with symptoms related to chronic stress. It has also been estimated that on a monthly basis, 400 million people take medication to ease these symptoms.

Of course, we know now that medicating a stress-related symptom is a futile effort because you’re not addressing the main cause of the symptom – you’re just padding the symptom itself.

Now, it should be noted that the symptoms we discussed earlier may also be genuine signs of other health conditions (and not just stress). Consulting with your physician is still your best option if you experience symptoms such as racing heart rate or persistent headaches.