Strategies for Stress-Free Living

So it’s official, the UK economy has shrunk for the first time in 16 years.  And yet we’ve been talking about and acting as if we are in a recession for the last 18 months.  Were we receeding or correcting?

All this talk reminds me of that old story about the Dad who sells lemonade on his lemonade stand.  His business does really well and he decides that he wants to give his son the education he never had.  So he sends his son off to business school. 

One day his son comes home and says, “Dad, haven’t you heard?  A recession is coming.  We need to sell everything and batton down the hatches because nobody will be buying lemonade.”  So Dad takes his son’s advise and cuts back on marketing and selling his lemonade.  Sure enough, sales fall through the floor.  Dad says to his son, “Son, I sure am glad you told me about that recession.  Just think where we might have been if we hadn’t known.”

Maybe, just maybe, if we hadn’t spent so much time talking ourselves into a recession, we would have experienced a correction.  Maybe, just maybe, if we see things as they are, not worse than they are; we can talk ourselves back from a recession.

Tags: Financial Stress, Focus and Meaning, Uncategorized by Tracy
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Your conscious mind and subconscious mind can not tell the difference between what is real and what is make believe.  To your mind, it’s all real.  No matter what you are thinking – prosperity or poverty – your mind reacts on that and galvinises your body into action.  You are responding by stimulating the stress response or you are responding by living life from a point of allostasis.  Allostasis is your ability to move freely around a point and is the basis of good health.

If you believe there is a credit crunch, chances are you are worrying about not having enough (regardless of whether you do have enough) and are in the midst of financial stress.  Banks flounder when lots of people take their savings out, reducing the banks cash on hand and their ability to lend money.  The amount they lend is a strictly governed thing.  If people don’t panic and leave their money where it is, the bank carries on doing business.

I am not suggesting you put your head in the sand and ignore what is going on around you.  However, it is really important that you SEE THINGS AS THEY ARE; NOT WORSE THAN THEY ARE.  Some people are suffering, some people are not.  Economies will always expand and contract, it’s all part of the money game.

Instead of taking in what is reported in the media.  Stop and take stock of where you are. 

1. How are your debt levels?  What can you do, right now, to reduce any debt you may be carrying. 
2. What is your spending plan for the next 6 months?
3. What is your saving plan for the next 6 months? 
4. How can you help the planet.  Do you have an energy efficiency plan in place?
5. Detox.  Rather than taking in all the media reports and reacting to them, notice what is going on in your life.  You don’t need to be that little boat tossed about on the waves of uncertainty.  Remember, you decide whether you are prosperous or in poverty.  It all comes down to the meaning you give to your situation and how you choose to react to that meaning.

I came across a brilliant thought for the day (thank you for letting me share it, Sylvina). 

Your thoughts guide you to your destiny.

If you always think the same you will always get to the same place.

Tags: Emotional Stress, Financial Stress, Focus and Meaning by Tracy
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