Stress follows us around each and every day. There is really nothing that we can do about it either, or is there? Stress is caused from bad things and from good things, basically common stressors are caused from finances, friends, spouses, family, work, the neighbors, the mail, and even driving home from work or waiting in line at the gas station. People always want to be stress free but that day will never come where you will be completely free of stress. Stress causes anxiety, depression, and many other disorders and medications dispersed from doctors for these conditions are raging out of control. It seems that no matter who you talk to they are Prozac. Zoloft, Celexa, Paxil, Xanex, and the list just continues to grow. Even while these medications are zapping through our brains and regulating neurons and neurotransmitters, we still have to deal with the stress as the medicine certainly will not make it disappear.

There are however, two types of stress. One is positive stress which is the one that makes sure that life does not get boring and then there is the negative stress which is the one that makes you wish that your life was boring. Unfortunately, stress just loves to follow change and thanks to technology, the environment, and society, we have certainly dealt with our share of change. Hence, manifested stress. Now, the questions is, exactly how much stress are we under and what can we do to cope with it?

Are your muscle tightened, is your blood pressure high, do you feel your heart pumping, is your digestion system out of whack, do you feel anxious, frustrated, angry, and are you physically rundown? If so, these are definite signs that stress is getting the best of you and you need to make some changes. Maybe you will be fortunate enough to find out exactly what it is that is causing your stress and if you do, sometimes that source can be eliminated and sometimes not. Others, you may be able to at least keep under control or maybe avoid.

The first thing that you should do is try to always remain optimistic rather than pessimistic. Thinking good things rather than always expecting the worse, relinquish some control and just hand it over to someone else and let them deal with it. Keeping the most positive attitude that you can keep will really benefit you in your war against stress. One thing that people who are under a lot of stress find almost impossible to do is to relax, and this is simply something that you are going to have to do. Read a book, buy a relaxation tape, get hypnotized, but do something as soon as possible. You have to completely retrain your thoughts and hypnosis can really make a difference.

A combination of hypnosis and relaxation audio tapes can make a world of difference. Your subconscious will allow you to relax through hypnosis and then when you follow up with the tapes, you will learn how to completely relax every part of your body. The tapes will encourage you to one by one, tense up each muscle in your body, hold it and then release it. This is called your relaxation response and will make your body so calm. It alone is almost hypnotic.

” They canceled ‘Wedding Belles.’ Boy, am I depressed.”

“The price of gas is really depressing me.”

“I’m turning 40 next month. What a depressing thought.”

Go ahead and add your own cry of pain to the list, and then stop and ask why, if you are truly clinically depressed, you were watching a TV series as light an frothy as “Wedding Belles”, or driving around trying to save $.02 per gallon, or were even able to think as far ahead as next month.

The words “depressed” and “depression” are undoubtedly two of the most carelessly used in the English language. They are tossed about like bowling pins at a juggling competition, by those who understand very little about depression. Perhaps one reason that the facts about depression are so poorly misunderstood is that those who think they might be suffering from it are afraid of being stigmatized as whiners and complainers. So they neither talk to anyone about depression nor seek treatment for it.

Depression Vs. The Blues

True depression can surface in many ways, and have many underlying factors, but all diagnosed cases of clinical depression have one thing in common–their duration. Depression is not the same as having the blues for a few weeks when a friend moves away or beating up on yourself because someone else got the promotion you were after. It’s perfectly natural, and even healthy, to have negative reactions to those kinds of experiences, but if you can continue on with your daily life and feel good about other things, you are not depressed.

The most significant things about depression is that it lasts for at least three
months, and even if the sufferer is able to overcome one bout, others a certain to occur. Those who are able to talk about depression with a medical professional will find that their emotional paralysis and inability to take any interest in their lives, or even-self loathing, are all classic symptoms and sure indications that they are clinically depressed.

Another thing about depression is that, if left untreated, it can cause the victim’s emotional and even physical health to deteriorate dangerously. Depression normally begins as the”blahs”, when someone may just feel mentally fuzzy and not have much physical energy. At this stage a person who does not know much about depression may thing he or she is coming down with a cold or the flu, or just needs a break for the normal routine. For more info see http://www.treatdepressionhelp.com/Symptoms_Of_Depression on Symptoms Of Depression.

Depression May Be Hard To Recognize

If that person’s family or friends also lack information about depression, and especially if the person is normally laid-back, they may not notice much difference until the person has become so withdrawn that it is obvious something is wrong.

If you think you might be becoming clinically depressed, you owe it to yourself to get information about depression as soon as your can.

“No one ever gets far unless he accomplishes the impossible at least once a day.”
Elbert Hubbard

At all times we are making a conscious effort to make and create. It never stops. We can’t help it!

Sometimes we don’t know what we want to make and create so we just do things to mark time. At other times what we want might seem beyond our capabilities and way out of reach.

My question today is: is what you want really ‘Mission Impossible?’

I like to play with words. Fiddling with impossible I discovered, with a little thought and creativity, that I could take impossible and create something much more satisfying.

Through thought and a little punctuation tinkering I came up with – I’M POSSIBLE.

The difference between ‘impossible’ and ‘I’m possible’ then is a tweak in my thoughts – in this case an inverted comma and space.

Funnily enough what often lies between the ‘impossible’ and ‘I’m possible’ is the same sort of tweak in thought – shifting the reality from what you see to what you don’t see.

When I’m being ‘impossible’ I see things working out wrong, me as a failure, things being hard and frustrating. Loneliness.

When I’m being ‘I’m possible’ I see rich sea of resources, people lending me help, easiness, a fun experience with eventual success.

I’ve learned that I prefer the ‘I’m possible’ option, so I tend to start with this in mind, but sometimes the ‘impossible’ does creep back in.

What make the ‘impossible’ thoughts evaporate more than anything is having a true sense of purpose.

With a true sense of purpose it is easier to access resources, find people who want to help and enjoy the ride of life more because an ever increasing conviction of who you are and what you want comes into focus.

Once we know purpose we can expand into it.

Expansion is constant. It’s all very well if you know you’re purpose, but expanding into it and filling it is another matter entirely.

A therapist might say, ‘I have a full practice, I don’t want any more clients.’ In this sense purpose stops expanding. But if the healer thinks less about time and money and more about the people being denied their healing treatments, expansion might continue.

They might learn to empower clients through talks and books, rather than through one-to-ones.

In parenting it is no different. We want happy children. When we’re being ‘impossible’ we see fights between siblings, and conflict between parents and children. When being ‘I’m possible’ we seek ways to bring unity and harmony into the home and discover coaches, friends or books that can help.

Money is the same. When we’re being impossible we might say ‘I can’t afford this.’ Often we’ll use money as an excuse for not doing something. We’ll procrastinate, run away or even destroy good opportunities. When we’re being ‘I’m possible’ we’ll explore money, understand it and learn to work with it rather than treat it like a bad dog.

Other aspect of life – growing a business, deepening your relationships, saving the planet are no different. All it takes is a shift in thought.

Today’s question:

Is what you want really ‘Mission Impossible?’

Change what you see. tweak your thoughts, find the resources. The opportunities, the changes POSSIBLE are exciting.

Love and good wishes

Neil