Being disorganized and unfocused creates unnecessary stress, creates an in-balance in body/mind and leads to lesser success levels.

In this year of the Ox when we’re all super busy and hard working, I want to share a very practical time management tool to help you work hard on the right things. This time management tool here offers you a technique to maximize the benefits of what you do with your time, and to overall be more focused and organized, and thus to be more successful, while being calm and in balance.

Time management involves a range of skills, tools, and techniques that you can apply to reach your goals and complete your task or projects.

One of the best time management planning tips I can give you is to have a clear mission and matching clear goals of what you want to achieve. Once you have your big picture in place of guiding principles and goals, the following time management tool is very handy.

Time Management Techniques: The Urgency versus Importance Matrix

Time Management Tool

This is how you use this time management tool:

• Step 1. You list all your projects and tasks that are in your mind, on your plate, and that have come into your in-box. If you are a pro, you can use the tasks in your project management software for this. Of course, this embraces all activities that support realizing your explicit mission and goals.
• Step 2. Give each project/task an urgency score, from 1 to 5 with 1 being non-urgent and 5 being most urgent.
• Step 3. Give each task on your list an importance score, from 1 (unimportant) to 5 (most important)
• Step 4. Plot your most important tasks and most urgent tasks on your chart. Now you have a visual overview of what you should focus your attention to. Let importance be more critical than urgency, although you should probably do all these activities.
• Step 5. Place this time/urgency matrix in a highly visible place, so you can keep an eye on where you are going at all times.
• Step 6. Make another chart, now completely mapping all activities on your list. Simply do not do any of the tasks that are unimportant and not urgent. Those tasks are time wasters of no concern.
• Step 7. Tasks that are medium importance but urgent, you may wish to delegate.

For maximum effectiveness of your time, ONLY do what is important.

Time Management Tip 1: Revisit

The way it is written here it sounds like a one-time only exercise. However, it is a bit of a re-iterative process as it may take time to clarify goals, and decide on what is really most important. Secondly, what is most important to you may shift over time. It’s best to do work with this time management tool on a frequent basis, whereby you can adjust it from time to time.

Time Management Tip 2: Quick Wins

When you are focused on important and urgent tasks, I encourage you to look for ‘quick wins’ in that quadrant. Those are not necessarily more important than other tasks, but those are tasks that can be accomplished quickly, so that you can erase them out of your quadrant, and gives you a visual lighter load to carry. This sense of accomplishment is a good boost of energy that you can use to accomplish further tasks.

Feedback

Let us know please how you are using this time management tool, and how it is affecting your productivity, as well as your calm and peace.

© copyright 2009 Astrid Lee http://www.TherapeuticReiki.com

Copyright , We Are One World Healing – All Rights Reserved. Therapeutic Reiki can promote wellness and improve health. Book your distance healing reiki session today.

To kick off the discussion let me start with explaining that Reiki energy healing therapy is an excellent way to realize an instant relaxation response.

In my experience and those of other Reiki Masters and practitioners, Reiki brings on the state of relaxation so quickly and effectively, as we need to be in a state of relaxation in order to heal ourselves using the Universal Life Force healing energy of Reiki. Once the stress falls away, the real healing can take place.

Meditation Buy Poster From Art.com

You will find that several of the relaxation techniques mentioned here below could be used side-by-side with Reiki. Reiki founder Mr. Usui had a strong practice of meditating and was an advanced Kiko (Japanese for Chi kung) practitioner. Reiki practitioners (and their clients) are encouraged to meditate and do yoga, chi kung or other forms of breathing exercise to optimize their overall health.

Overview of Relaxation Techniques

“Stress is the curse of living in modern times. Everyone suffers from stress. And the stress we suffer takes a heavy toll on our bodies, emotions and minds.

Feeling stressed out, worn out by fatigue or just simply having a miserable day, the best thing to do is relax.

Watching television may be a form of relaxation for some, but is not a recommended method by experts. When we watch TV we are bombarded with commercials, ads, sounds and images. So how do we achieve relaxation? If there are thousands of ways we can get stressed, one of them is not meeting deadlines, there are also many ways we can relax.

In recent studies, experts have determined that heart disease is linked to anger and irritability is linked to mental stress. Too much stress brings about ischemia that can lead to or cause a heart attack. Relaxation takes on added importance in light of this matter. Managing your anger and attitude is significant to heart health, and relaxation can help you manage stress.

One way of relaxation is transcendental meditation. Recent studies have also shown that this method might reduce artery blockage, which is a major cause for heart attack and stroke. People practice transcendental meditation by repeating uttering soothing sounds while meditating, this is to achieve total relaxation. The researchers found that practitioners of transcendental meditation significantly reduced the thickness of their arterial wall compared with those who didn’t practice transcendental meditation.

Another study on another method of relaxation, acupuncture, seems to reduce high blood pressure by initiating several body functions for the brain to release chemical compounds known as endorphins. Endorphin helps to relax muscles, ease panic, decrease pain, and reduce anxiety.

Yoga is also another method for relaxation and may also have similar effects like acupuncture. In another study, participants were subjected to several minutes of mental stress. Then they were subjected to various relaxation techniques, such as listening to nature sounds or classical music. Only those who did Yoga significantly reduced the time it took for their blood pressures to go back to normal. Yoga is a form of progressive relaxation.

Breathing is one of the easiest methods to relax. Breathing influences almost all aspects of us, it affects our mind, our moods and our body. Simply focus on your breathing, after some time you can feel its effects right away. There are several breathing techniques that can help you reduce stress.

Another easy way to achieve relaxation is exercise. If you feel irritated a simple half-hour of exercise will often settle things down. Although exercise is a great way to lose weight, it does not show you how to manage stress appropriately. Exercise should be used in conjunction with other relaxation methods.

One great way of relaxation is getting a massage. To gain full relaxation, you need to totally surrender to the handling and touch of a professional therapist. There are several types of massages that also give different levels of relaxation.

Another method of relaxation is biofeedback. The usual biofeedback-training program includes 10-hour sessions that are often spaced one week apart.

Hypnosis is one controversial relaxation technique. It is a good alternative for people who think that they have no idea what it feels like to be relaxed. It is also a good alternative for people with stress related health problems.

Drugs are extreme alternatives to relaxation. They are sometimes not safe and are not effective like the other relaxation methods. This method is only used by trained medical professionals on their patients.

These relaxation techniques are just some of the ways you can achieve relaxation. Another reason why we need to relax, aside from lowering blood pressure in people and decreasing the chances of a stroke or a heart attack, is because stress produces hormones that suppress the immune system, relaxation gives the immune system time to recover and in doing so functions more efficiently.

Relaxation lowers the activities within the brains’ limbic system; this is the emotional center of our brain.

Furthermore, the brain has a periodic need for a more pronounced activity on the right-hemisphere. Relaxation is one way of achieving this.

Relaxation can really be of good use once a relaxation technique is regularly built into your lifestyle. Choose a technique that you believe you can do regularly.” *)

And this last line is the best advice!

*) About the author of this overview of relaxation techniques: Tim Maher is interested in health & fitness in all its facets and has tried to maintain his health by regular exercise and supplementary vitamins. It is an interest that is fed and nurtured by listening to audio books when possible. To assist your own personal fitness regime get your audio resources at http://www.magillaudiobooks.com/list.aspx?catId=154

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Being married to a Master athlete, I can not help but be an informed soul when it comes to Reiki for athletes.

‘It’s all about recovery, baby!’ I have heard it on a daily basis for a decade.

So, within this context have I observed the special needs & pressures that serious college athletes, Masters, professional & Olympic athletes all share.

And, I learned the way Reiki can support them specifically. For those of you who are not familiar with Reiki: it is an ancient alternative healing therapy that brings alignment, balance, health and well-being to the recipient’s body.

How Reiki Works

The way Reiki works is that it brings the athlete’s natural healing ability to fruition. It boosts the overall positive wellness of body & mind restoring and rebalancing the person’s energy.

Rather than tackling symptoms of pain, injury, etc, Reiki addresses their root causes. Once the root cause of the issue is resolved, the body eliminates the effects of the imbalance and thus heals the body and mind naturally. Reiki is completely safe and has no known negative side-effects. Reiki complements medical treatment and medication and may reduce negative side-effects.

Reiki practice releases energetic blockages, tension and toxins from the body, and is deeply restorative. It is a ‘laying on hands’ technique that brings in the universal life force.

Reiki looks like massage but is not. Instead of manipulating the muscles, it encourages the healing of ‘all of the recipient’, not just the muscles.

Some highlights…

Post-Workout Recovery

And ‘all of the recipient’ includes a physical level. Reiki offers a preventative and preparatory therapy in relation to the physical stress of training and building one’s endurance, skill, and strength ~ the obvious core aspects to any athlete’s workout program.

Reiki can help athletes’ bodies heal and recover faster post-performance. Imagine that?! A drugs-free recovery booster! But there is more to superior athletic performance than having a body that heals fast.

Reiki & Recovery from Sports Injury

Besides helping an athlete heal from athletic performance, workouts, old injuries and other unaligned aspects in his/her life, Reiki is also an excellent healing therapy for on-the-spot treatment of new sports injuries. It can be used anywhere, in an instant. Reiki is simple to administer: all a Reiki practitioner needs are his hands and his mind. This practical nature of Reiki makes it versatile indeed.

Being attuned to Reiki is like having a ‘first aid kit’ in one’s hand. It can be applied to help minimize swellings and small bleedings; to relief head-aches & other pain immediately (if useful); to help heal tissues, burns, sprains and wounds. Can also be applied to breaks, after the bones have been set. Reiki can reduce the healing time of injury and makes the healing process more comfortable.

All that means for athletes is being back faster on the track or field. Sports teams and individual athletes are sure to love Reiki once they start using it.

Reiki for a Confident & Focused Mind
in a Calm & Centered Body

Calm and Together
Reiki supports athletes to be calm, secure & focused in the face of their unusually high stress load. At competition times, there is the emotional issue of wanting to set a personal best and winning, plus the fear of losing. Then, there is the staying on target with one’s own season’s training plan. In team sports, another layer of stress results from working with others: the team, multiple coaches and sponsors. At unlucky times, extra stress comes from having to recover from sports injuries while catering to all the above parties and plans.

Tiger Woods

Reiki can help athletes handle all these stresses and realize a sense of physical and mental calm, and inner-harmony.

A Winning Mind

Attitude matters. Sports performance is not only based on right training; it requires right thinking.

Tiger Woods once said: “No matter how good you get, you can always get better, and that’s the exciting part.” Without a winners mentality of excitement to improve and confidence that one can do it, there will be no gold metal. Not even bronze.

Reiki also helps athletes on the emotional level. It usually brings out a stronger and more positive outlook to life. By helping a person to reduce negative emotions like worry, anger and fear, Reiki allows confidence to surface. With Reiki, athletes become better prepared for competition and athletic performance.

Lance Armstrong, 7-Time Tour de France Champion

When to Give Reiki to Athletes

As I noticed that athletes tend to be busy people, who are keen on deep tissue massage, Reiki is best administered in the following ways:
* in a series of treatments when athletes are at rest, either by in-person or distant treatment to boost the overall wellness and ability of the athlete;
* as ‘on the spot’-treatment when needed such as in case of an injury;
* alongside massage treatments they are already getting.

It makes sense for athletes to receive a series of treatments addressing specific health and performance issues and realizing overall wellness from a dedicated Reiki practitioner.

For on the spot, topical and targeted treatment as required pre- & post game, it is useful if either the coach, the assistant coach, the trainer or even the athlete him- or herself is attuned to Reiki. Of course, once a relationship with a dedicated Reiki master has been built, he/she may be available for ad hoc distant healing sessions organized by a simple phone call.

Winners Never Quit – Football

Conclusion

We learned that the alternative therapy of Reiki works on all levels: the mental, emotional and the physical. This allows Reiki to help athletes in many ways.

So, with Reiki, athletes tend to feel better, compete better, and are therefore more likely to improve records and win.

Whether you are an athlete or a coach/trainer: Reiki could give you a competitive edge for sport performance & success.

© Copyright 2008
By Astrid Lee, Reiki Master Teacher

Book your distant healing Reiki session
or learn about Reiki training at TherapeuticReiki.com

Technorati tags: reiki

Copyright , We Are One World Healing – All Rights Reserved. Therapeutic Reiki can promote wellness and improve health. Book your distance healing reiki session today.

Second. repeat.

Third. For those of you who are not that familiar with Reiki healing: it comes with a set of fundamental principles which to live by. One of these Reiki principles is the deceptively simple creed: ‘Just for today, … do not worry’. By taking the stress, worry, and anxiety off our own shoulders for a whole day, we are free to… ENJOY the day!!! At the end of the day, we realize, we didn’t miss anything. Instead, we gained a whole, pleasurable day of your life. At times, part or all of the problem we could have been worried about has resolved all by itself by day’s end.

Fourth. Complementing this Reiki principle, is one of my own personal sayings and belief: ‘The world is a perfect place’. To me, this means that while sometimes things are not exactly to our liking in the short term, in the long run they are for our highest good.

Trusting and affirming that the world is a perfect place helps us to be firmly in this world. Also, when we mediate, go to a place of oneness, and embrace all of life in its totality, we may be able to acknowledge and understand that a re-balancing, a shift, can only bring us closer to enlightenment.

Being in a state of ‘need’ can help us create a stronger sense of community… It takes us out of our comfort zone and can help us to take a step out into the unknown that is a completely new and wonderful world for us. I reminiscent of last year’s long power outage causing entire streets to have outdoor group BBQs in the freezing cold but in warm spirits…. They may have never met their neighbors before.

Fifth. If all this wasn’t enough for you to put your worries to one side for a day or more, economic downturn tends to make us more spiritual. This makes us aware: … We are not alone in this world! There are archangels, angels, and highly evolved spirit guides who are waiting in the sidelines to help us find and further ourselves on our path of most light. All we have to do is ask or pray for their help.

Saintly Help

Here are some specific saints to pray to when you’re stressed & worried:

a. The Asian Goddess of Mercy, Quan Yin
Helps lost travelers, comforts sufferers, listens to prayers of the stressed.

b. Saint Jude
He is the Patron Saint of lost causes & desperate cases.
A specific prayer to him:
“Most holy apostle, St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the name of the traitor who delivered thy beloved Master into the hands of His enemies hath caused thee to be forgotten by many, but the Church honors and invokes thee universally as the patron of hopeless cases, of things despaired of. Pray for me, who am so miserable. Make use, I implore thee, of that particular privilege accorded to thee, to bring visible and speedy help where help is almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need that I may receive the consolation and succor of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly — (Mention your request) and that I may praise God with thee and all the elect throughout eternity. I promise, O blessed Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, and I will never cease to honor thee as my special and powerful patron, and to do all in my power to encourage devotion to thee. Amen.

c. The Italian priest & Saint Padre Pio
His advice was: “Pray, hope and don’t worry. The Spirit of God is a spirit of peace.” He had a sense of humor and was extremely popular as a confessor. When people would leave things out, he’d tell them what they’d left out. As well, he could read their hearts, and was capable of prophecies. In 1947, he heard the confession of Karol Wojtyla who was then a young priest. Padre Pio told him he was going to be pope. And indeed, he became Pope John Paul II.

Padre Pio held masses in which miracles occurred. He had many supernatural gifts (bi-location, mystical conversations with Mother Mary and Jesus and others). He bore the wounds of Christ (stigmata) for fifty years.

d. The Italian Saint Francis of Assisi
Saint of nature/animal-related worries.

Learn More About Saints

To learn more about how to relate to them, see this article on saints.

Saintly References
Quan Yin
St. Jude
Padre Pio
St Francis of Assisi

Last. In my recent Roman travels, I came across the saying ‘action is the antidote to depression’. Don’t get worried. Don’t get depressed. Do something constructive.

When I contact angels, archangels and/or my spirit guide, I receive help often in the form of great ideas. I am convinced that even if you’ve never once prayed before: when you become open to receiving answers to your prayer, you too will receive ‘divine inspirations’ to take certain actions, to make certain calls, to take certain turns.

So, Act with faith and love.

Copyright 2008 Astrid Lee, Reiki Master Teacher.

Learn how Reiki heals & book your own Reiki session at www.TherapeuticReiki.com

Reiki, spiritual healing, alternative therapy, healing energy, distant Reiki

Copyright , We Are One World Healing – All Rights Reserved. Therapeutic Reiki can promote wellness and improve health. Book your distance healing reiki session today.

Then, you find yourself fantasizing about long, uninhabited white sandy beaches with swaying palm trees, turquoise waters and warm balmy breezes. Or, you leave your desk, take a long walk and fantasize about what it would be like to pack up, leave and begin a simpler life.

However, you don’t want to let anyone else know you want to slow down or you might be considered to be a failure, loser, slacker – you get the idea. After all, we all wear our busyness like a badge of honor and he who is the busiest is often thought of as the most successful.

For example, have you ever had this conversation?

“Hi, how are you?”

“Great, but man, I’m busy – there isn’t enough hours in the day!”

“Yah, I know what you mean. I’m so busy that…”

What happens when the conversation takes a different turn? (I had this happen to me when I asked someone about their job)

“Hi, Jim…what are you up to right now? How’s that job?”

“Nothing…just hanging around.”

Suddenly, I found myself back-peddling to come up with witty conversation because I was secretly uneasy that he had nothing substantial and stressful to tell me. What was I thinking? I wrote a book about slowing down – I should’ve patted him on the back. That’s how brainwashed we are.

Here are some time-inspired ideas to help you temporarily slow down, relax and still achieve your goals.

1. Be a Teenager: (escape alone on a regular basis)

Remember when you crossed the threshold from being a little kid to a young teenager? The first thing you did was establish your independence by pulling away from your family and taking time to be by yourself. You spent time with friends, discovered music you liked, hid in your room and attempted to make sense of yourself and the world.

We lose that when we work, have families, run businesses and get involved in a million activities. We spread our resources thin and try to be all things to all people.

New ideas come when you take time away to be by yourself so you can determine your needs, your life direction, business direction, etc. Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, Georgia O’Keefe and other amazing people accomplished much more when they took private time to be alone.

2. Create Time Boundaries (like the Terminator)

Before Arnold Schwarzenneger became the governor of California, he and his wife, Maria Shriver, would create a time boundary so they could have three uninterrupted hours with their children.

The put their answering machine on and no one could reach them from 4pm to 7pm. This was their sacred time. This may have changed now that Arnold is governor, but you get the idea.

Where could you create a time boundary? Start with work. For example, if clients reach you 24/7 then you are not in control of your time or your company; you are letting other people run you. You need to establish clear contact times such as those clients can only reach you from 8am to 6 pm Monday to Friday and Saturday until noon. After that, only other times if there’s an emergency.

This is the most challenging rule to implement for small business owners and entrepreneurs. You’re afraid you’ll lose business or insult someone but true leaders will respect your rules (and already practice these ideas).

3. Take a mini holiday (15 minutes to do something fun)

Every day has hidden pockets of time you can use for something you enjoy.

I’ve spoken with hundreds of people and the most successful people find time to do something that gives them joy. They might have a challenging time doing it every day, but they try.

One business person swims laps before work, another person practices on his guitar. It doesn’t matte what you do as long as it’s something that makes you happy. If you’re happy, you’ll be energized and your home and work like will improve.

4. Have a time free day (no wristwatch for at least a couple of hours)

If you don’t wear a watch, skip past this tip but if you can’t live without a wristband, try this escape.

Choose a time when you’re not working and do this: Remove your wristwatch and get through the day without it. If you’re like me, it’ll bother you for the first hour or two as you’ll want to know what time it is. After a while, the day may seem longer because you won’t have a wristwatch to guide you. And, you may feel less stressed because you’re not racing the clock.

5. Take 10 minutes and do absolutely nothing (but listen to your thoughts)

If you don’t have the patience to sit still (and I admit I find this a challenge) do what I do and grab a pen and paper. Start writing down the first thoughts that come to mind and keep going for 10 minutes if you want. Your ideas will come to you and you may have a revelation; it’s hard to have new ideas when you’re constantly rushing and stressed.

6. Get physical (get your body moving)

I don’t know about you, but I’ve joined gyms, worked out for a few months and then quit out of frustration for not fulfilling my goal of working out three times a week for an hour each time. We’re not stupid, we all know that exercise will help us handle stress, lose weight, feel happier, and so on…but that doesn’t make it easier for us to be active.

The best way to be active is to say, ‘I will do some form of exercise every day or every other day. It might be 10 minutes but at least it will be something.’

People quit exercise programs because they start from being inactive to trying to train for a triathalon (or close to this). Would a baby go from crawling to jogging? No. Why should we start with an intense program?

They key to success is to gradually increase your time for exercise and to make it easy to do so.

Exercise is one of the greatest stress releasers and it makes you look good and helps you live longer. Even if you only have 10 minutes to spare, work it into your schedule.

7. Get out (that is – get outside)

For most of us, we spend our days in air-conditioned offices under artificial lighting and we wonder why we’re irritable. All winter our stress levels climb and they escalate just before spring. We shouldn’t be surprised.

We’re the only creatures on earth that spend so much time indoors and we forget that we’re animals. We call ourselves civilized but I wonder how civilized we are when we’re caged in a cubicle with a computer in front of us for eight hours a day?

There’s nothing better than the sound of waves lapping on the shoreline, a walk through grass with bare feet, a picnic on a bluff, a swim in a river on a stifling hot day…

It’s more of a challenge to enjoy the outdoors when it’s below freezing, but when the temperature rises, you need to find any way you can to ‘escape’ and enjoy the great outdoors.

If you practice all of some of these escapes, your stress will be minimized, you may come up with new and innovative ideas for your life and work and you’ll stop rushing and start a new trend. Imagine that – a slowing trend! You won’t need to stop the world, the world will be inspired by you.

By Lisa Rickwood

Lisa Rickwood, “The Escape Artist,” is an accomplished visual artist, speaker and author of Escape The Pace: 100 Fun And Easy Ways To Slow Down And Enjoy Your Life. She teaches busy small business owners techniques to slow down, relax and increase profits. To learn more about her book and sign up for FREE tips and articles, visit her site at: http://www.escapethepace.com

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This is a genuine food-for-the-soul article. Grow and enjoy!

10 Steps to Gaining Inner Peace

The symptoms go hand in hand with each other. As you’ll grow and learn, you will find that they are one and the same.

1. Tendency to act spontaneously, less planned.

2. Ability to enjoy each moment.

3. A loss of interest in judging other people.

If you address people you don’t know with a title of respect,
you learn to wee the unfolding of the Divine within anyone.
Then judgment becomes impossible.

4. A disinterest in explaining the behavior of others.
Affirm to yourself: ‘I am allowed.’

5. A decision to give conflict a ‘pass’
How: Don’t let the other person know

6. You’ll stop watching the news & stop reading tabloids — sources of negativity & conflict.

7. Loss of the ability to ‘worry’. Don’t ‘worry’ about things you have no control over.
No need to worry about things to worry about things you have control over, because you have control over it.
Voila. Worry problems solved.

8. Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation & contented feelings of connectedness with people & nature. Connectedness means knowing ‘we are all one’.

9. Frequent ‘attacks’ of smiling. Cheerfulness is one of the qualities of spirituality

10. An increased susceptibility to the love provided by others, and an uncontrollable urge to love others.

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Stress affects functions in all parts of the body. In particular, hormones can be vulnerable to the damaging influences of chronic stress. The adrenal glands are the first line of defense against stress (the “fight or flight” response), and can be fatigued with constant demand. You will experience high and then eventually very low levels of cortisol and DHEA. When this occurs, other hormones may also be thrown off balance, creating their own set of symptoms and problems. You have to manage your stress if you want to remain healthy.

Yoga is relaxing and can create energy needed for reducing stress. It involves an awareness of slow, controlled breathing and stretching and posing the muscles of the body.

A study conducted by the Center for Integrative Medicine of Thomas Jefferson University showed that a one hour session of yoga lowered cortisol in participants with no previous yoga experience, and after seven consecutive days, a significant decrease was seen.

A recent report in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine states that practicing yoga may boost a neurotransmitter associated with anxiety and depression. Researchers at Boston University School Of Medicine and McLean Hospital followed eight people who practiced yoga regularly, using MRS (magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging) to measure gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, in their brains. GABA is a chemical messenger (the most prevalent one in the brain) whose function is to reduce the activity of the neurons to which it binds. That is, it inhibits over-excitation. After an hour of yoga, a 27 percent increase in GABA levels was found. Eleven control subjects who had read for an hour showed no increase.

Practicing yoga can be a very important part of your physical stress recovery plan. It is inexpensive, easy to do, and is not “stressful” on your body. It will reduce stress hormones, relax your mind, and de-stress your body. Try yoga for your health.

Dr Peter Lind is a practicing chiropractor utilizing newly developed procedures and protocols to remove the affects of stress on the body. He continues helping hundreds of people on his website http://www.stress-less-living.com

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January is synonymous with resolutions and getting organized is high on many people’s list. Unfortunately, perhaps some of us make a resolution, when what we really want is a revolution.

Twenty years of accumulated excess weight to disappear in twenty weeks or twenty years of accumulated excess possessions, to find a happy home in twenty minutes. Maybe a more realistic approach would be an evolution — “a process of continuous, natural change from a lower or worse, to a higher or better state,” according to Webster.

Human behavior is not like computer software. It cannot be installed. It has to be nurtured. To bring order into our lives, in whatever area we choose, whether it is loosing weight, managing our finances, spending more time with our family, or finding a more fulfilling job, we must nurture our own behavior. One area of my life that is a constant struggle is exercise and healthy eating. As a young child my body caused me lots of problems and I tried hard to ignore it. I subconsciously developed a sense of disdain for my body because it constantly seemed to let me down. I learned to mask some of the pain, at least temporarily, by eating. Several years ago while doing some deep soul searching, I recognized that until I learned to manage my body, I could not find the peace and self-respect I was seeking. So I made a commitment that I would begin to nurture a change in my attitude toward my body by applying organizing skills.

In working with thousands of people over more than 20 years, I’ve discovered there are five components to successfully changing any habit: (1) Vision, (2) Attitude, (3) Time, (4) Tools, and (5) Maintenance. I decide to practice what I preached and apply that knowledge to my own struggle with exercise. Here’s the scenario:

Vision: My vision of a healthy body means wearing a size 12 suit comfortably, not having a backache, exercising regularly without inappropriate discomfort, and eating healthy food most of the time, so I can splurge periodically without feeling guilty.

Attitude: In the past I always focused on my failures, but it isn’t difficult to look around and find people who have much more severe physical problems than I do that have healthy bodies. I knew that if I was going to accomplish my vision of a health body, I would have to eliminate all my excuses about my lack of exercise and poor eating habits — I don’t have time, it’s difficult when I’m traveling, it’s raining outside, it isn’t a safe neighborhood to run, there isn’t anything healthy in an airport, etc. I began to use Noah St. John’s approach of “affirmations.” Instead of “affirmations”– saying, “I have a healthy body.” I began asking the question, “Why is my body so healthy?” Since your brain automatically seeks answers, it was immediately easier to keep looking for ways to be healthy! Don’t ask me to explain how it works – just try it!

Time: One of the interesting things I discovered in helping people to organize their homes and offices is that frequently it takes less time to be successful than people anticipate. Perhaps that’s because we overestimate how long it takes to do the things we don’t like and underestimate how much time we spend on the things we do like? I started out by using a system called Fit 10, an isometric exercise that takes 10 minutes a day. I knew that if I didn’t have that much time, I wasn’t really committed to my vision. A few years later, I decided to work out with a personal trainer. The one I wanted is 30 minutes from my house. I committed to two days a week. At the appointed time, I hopped in the car, popped in a audiotape, and by the end of the first side, I was ready to exercise. On the way home I listened to the end of the second side. Now I could exercise my body and my brain at the same time!

Tools: One of the big advantages of Fit ten is that I can do it in my bedroom before I’m tempted by outside factors to postpone exercise. In addition, it fits in my suitcase, and I can exercise in my hotel room, eliminating the excuses of “I don’t like to exercise in public,” or “I’m not sure this is a safe neighborhood to take a walk”, etc.

Maintenance: Now the hard part –maintaining my resolve. My conclusion is that as long as I keep reviewing the first four factors, my vision now includes participating in a public walking event before I reach 60. I did Fit 10 alone for almost three years, but began to get bored, so adding the encouragement (and new tools!) of a personal trainer, put be back on track!

What evolution are you looking for this year? Whatever it is, be kind to yourself, and make sure that you’ve covered all the five steps. Need some help? Find someone else who has a New Year’s Resolution and do it together!

About the Author

© Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger’s Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Paper Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. We do this by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.com

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Copyright , We Are One World Healing – All Rights Reserved. Therapeutic Reiki can promote wellness and improve health. Book your distance healing reiki session today.

Ahh, the holidays are here…... It seems advisable to bring your own iPod or equivalent along to whereever you go for a while as the tunes you’ll listen to will be dictated by retailers and volunteers: Christmas carols! Is that good or bad?

“Sally Fletcher, a professional harpist and author on the healing power of music, encourages those who begin to feel stressed during the holiday season to listen to soothing music whenever possible.” reported PRWEB recently.

“Extensive research has shown that music affects mood and energy level because a person’s heart beat, blood pressure and brain waves will gradually adjust to the tempo, rhythm and harmony of the music. The effects are very physical.”

A study by Elliott Salamon et al, published in 2003 in the Medical Science Monitor (http://www.MedSciMonit.com/pub/vol_9/no_5/3514.pdf), summarizes how music induces positive emotions and subsequent relaxation. Researchers have found that individuals who listen to music “…experience peripheral vasodilation, warming of the skin, a decrease in heart rate and an overwhelming sense of well-being.”

There is also a natural tendency to have emotional reactions to familiar, nostalgic tunes, often positive and uplifting but sometimes triggering sadness and sense of loss. Traditional holiday music, which is commonly broadcast throughout the season, brings out the excitement and beauty of Christmas, but it can cause negative emotional reactions for some individuals.

If a person is feeling anxious or stressed, listening to slower, peaceful music will have a calming, relaxing effect. When feeling depressed or gloomy, livelier music with a more upbeat tempo can elevate one’s mood. In these cases, it further helps to sing along with the music, elevating the level of mental and physical engagement. Selecting and listening to the right kind of music is one of the easiest ways to counteract the stress that people deal with during the holiday season.

“Seek out and enjoy music, and use it for your benefit,” states Fletcher. “If you are looking for relaxing music to counteract stress, the sounds from the harp are especially popular due to its unique tonal qualities.” She is very active during the holidays with her performances of familiar carols and nostalgic favorites.

About the Author

Sally Fletcher is a professional harpist and author of The Challenge of Epilepsy on her personal experiences with the healing power of music. She knows what it is like to be diagnosed with a supposedly incurable disorder. However, she has been seizure-free with no medication for 18 years, and is an advocate and inspirational speaker on the subject of music therapy to aid healing and promote well-being.

As an experienced, professional musician, she is widely sought after for her performances that can cover a wide variety of music, all played on the harp. Her repertoire includes Classical, Popular, Show Tunes, Folk Music, Celtic, Improvisation, and Religious. A listing of recorded CDs, including her Christmas Favorites is available at www.heavenlyharpist.com.

Copyright , We Are One World Healing – All Rights Reserved. Therapeutic Reiki can promote wellness and improve health. Book your distance healing reiki session today.