Weekly Tips

Working With Fear

Fear is often a by-product of negative thoughts. Unfortunately, we have an innate capacity for fear.

Well, fear not. My next tip will have you face your fears head-on and beat them once and for all!

In 1919 psychologist John B. Watson conducted a controversial experiment to see whether fear could be learned.

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Overcoming Anxiety

Overcoming Anxiety

You may not know exactly why you feel this emotion, but when you do, you think something bad is about to happen. Not to worry, this tip will put your anxiety at ease! Since anxiety is not a healthy emotion and is difficult to ignore, the trick is to manage it and put it to your use, rather than trying to ignore it.



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Staying Unhappy

Staying unhappy is very easy. It even comes naturally to some people. Learn a tip that is sure to turn your frown upside-down.

If you are in a funk, it is natural to be unhappy. But when you are in this state and do nothing about it, you are taking the easy way out. Is this in your own best interest?

Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, “People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” When unhappy or feeling sad, it is a shame to take the easy way out.

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Listening, Caring, and the Story

Are you sure you know how to listen well?

Listening and caring are prime sources of good relationships. They are so intertwined that if you experience one, you also experience the other.

If you ask yourself how you know someone cares for you, one of your responses is likely to be that you know because the person listens to you.

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Manage the Conversation

Have you ever had a conversation with an emotional person? If you have, you realized the futility. This stress management tip will take the sting out of such future conflicts.

Regardless of age, when an emotionally charged person is seeing red, is angry, or overly obstinate, trying to reason is fruitless.

The smart approach is to take a break.

WATCH NOW

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Autonomy and Motivation

Autonomy is a key driver of human behavior in traditional American culture. The most successful people are autonomous and are able to handle stress successfully.

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs referred to autonomy as the level of “self-actualization.” The  Levels of Development refers to this as Level D, Democracy—taking the initiative to do something that is right regardless of social pressures.

People who only reach Level C, (external motivation) on the Levels of Development will never be autonomous because they rely on external motivational sources such as seeking the approval of others and the desire to fit in and be liked by others.

Autonomous people realize that the inner satisfaction received by Level D (internal motivation) is far more … >>>

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A Dirty Sponge

The brain is like a sponge in that they can both retain a lot of dirt. The brain retains a lot of negative thoughts, ideas, and memories. Every now and then they both need to be wrung out.

The ghosts of what we erase on a computer remain deep within the system, electronically etched into the hard drive. Similarly, what goes into the human mind can remain to contaminate it or to enrich it.

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Counterwill

COUNTERWILL—the natural human resistance to being controlled by someone else—is the topic of this stress management video.

The instinctive effect of “counterwill” can take many forms—including disobedience, defiance, reluctance, resistance, rebellion, procrastination, doing the opposite of what is expected, and lack of motivation.

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Fear of Failure

Does the phrase “Failure is NOT an option” stress you out when you want to give up. Well, fear not; this stress management tip won’t fail you!

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you failed by default.

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Benjamin Franklin’s Stress Management Secret

Benjamin Franklin offered this advice that not only reduces stress from disappointments but increases effectiveness: “Present your thoughts not as ultimatums but as suggestions to be considered.”

He wrote that he made it a rule to forbear all direct contradictions of others and all assertions of his own. He even forbade himself the use of any word or expression that gave an opinion, such as “certainly’’ and “undoubtedly.” Instead he used expressions such as, “I conceive,” and “I imagine” a thing to be so and so.

When someone asserted something that Franklin thought to be in error or wrong, he denied himself the pleasure of contradicting the person even though he knew he was right.

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Reduce Power Struggles

Attempts to control often lead to counterwill—the natural human tendency to resist being controlled. This leads to power struggle, which then lead to more resistance, reluctance, resentment, and even rebellion. Rebellion is NOT inevitability a function of development.

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Enhancing Life

A man was walking down the street when he came upon three workers at a construction site. All of them were doing the same job. He asked the first worker what he was doing. The worker replied, “Breaking up these rocks.” The man then asked the second worker what he was doing. This worker said, “I’m earning a living.” The man then asked the third worker who responded, “I’m building a cathedral.” Clearly the third worker had a vision. He understood the larger significance of his work.


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Collaboration Not Domination

Dominating another person may feel good, but think of the effect it has on the other person—as well as on yourself. Just as no one likes to be told what to do, no one likes to be dominated. In addition, domination is a close cousin of stress because it raises a flood of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. … >>>

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Trump Stress Avoidance Tips

Picture of a sign of the US Presidential Election

Trump stress avoidance tips is about helping those who are having difficulty accepting the 2016 presidential election results. Three people suggested that I should share my thoughts about the subject of stress that so many people are undergoing after the 2016 presidential election results.

This makes sense since I am the author of three books on dealing with stress: Live Without Stress, Parenting Without Stress, and Discipline Without Stress.

More people are having difficulty accepting the results of this presidential election than any in recent memory.

For those experiencing anxiety and alarm since the election, here are three tips to reduce your anxiety and stress and that will improve your disposition.

Before sharing the three tips, keep this … >>>

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