Category Archives: Stress

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Calming Your Thriving Body

Your Thriving Body Series

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Calm your thriving body -- without drugs and without becoming a hermit!“I’m so stressed out,” has become a very common refrain.  But what does that mean?  Have you paused for a moment to wonder, what is behind that idea?

We all have moments of feeling a bit overwhelmed and frazzled.  We all have times when we react to some event.  Our body comes along for the ride.  Adrenaline spikes, headaches strike, stomachs get upset, palms get sweaty. . . our body goes into Fight/Flight mode.  Not a pretty picture, and not very fun.

We all have our coping strategies.  Some are helpful and healthy, others — not so much.  Some people crawl under the covers and hide from those events.  Others rely on a few choice substances to forget those events or at least numb the body.

But some have found other, healthier, ways to face the events, understand their response, and move through the responses.  They experience the same event but learn to move through healthily and helpfully.

Let’s talk about the truth of stress — and how to deal with stress effectively , but healthily.

Your Thriving Body Series:
Introduction
Fueling Your Thriving Body
Fueling You Thriving Body, Pt. 2
Moving Your Thriving Body
Resting Your Thriving Body

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Resting Your Thriving Body

Your Thriving Body Series

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Resting your thriving body. How to get the sleep you need to thrive.Do you get the rest you (and your body) need?  Most people don’t.

Research on sleep reveals that almost 50% of people say they do not get enough sleep.

And your body takes a toll for this.  Slower healing, chronic disease, fuzzy thinking, physical decline, and even weight gain, all have been tied to a lack of adequate sleep.

Here is the painful truth:  if you are skipping on sleep, you are most likely just borrowing that time from the end of your life.  The more chronic your sleeplessness, the higher your chances of suffering from sleep-related health issues.

So, let’s talk about why you need sleep and how to get it.  And how to better quality sleep, the you do sleep.

Listen below to hear about how to rest your thriving body (and you can catch up on the Thriving Body Series in the links below).

Your Thriving Body Series:
Introduction
Fueling Your Thriving Body
Fueling You Thriving Body, Pt. 2
Moving Your Thriving Body

 

 

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Your Thriving Body

Intro To The New Series

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Your Thriving BodySomehow I missed it.  I was cruising through life, doing my thing, working hard, and trying to move forward.

What did I miss?

That my body was what took me through life.

And it was quite a rude awakening.  Like a doctor telling you and your wife that you were headed for total disability — and then death.

That will wake you up! (Well, it woke me up, for sure.)

Here I was, learning about thriving and resilience, and my body was NOT thriving.  I was overweight, out of shape — and almost out of time!

You can hear the whole story in this week’s podcast.  But clearly, I did not die (at least, not yet).  And I began to recover my lost health.  I got serious about this body that had to carry me through life.  And I learned a few lessons along the way.

In this new series, I want to share some of what I learned.

(NOTE:  I am not a trainer, dietician, or physician.  This information comes from my own studies and experience.  I hope it is useful.  But it is not intended to replace the advice of experts.)

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Loops

How Unfinished Business Keeps You Stuck

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Loops got you stuck?It’s just human nature.  We like things

And when they’re not, they can often tug at us, pulling energy and focus away.  When things are left hanging, we feel (oh, by the way, the last word from that first line is “finished”) incomplete, unfinished, unsatisfied.

So, what is a “Loop?”  Great question.  This one concept, if you understand it, will help you get free.  If you feel stuck, this is something you need to understand.  More than that, this is one of the most. . .

Tell you what, I’ll let you listen and hear for yourself.

(And here are links to the earlier segments of this series:)
Intro To Getting Unstuck
How You Get Stuck
You Are Not As Stuck As You Think
Give Up Your Goals & Get Unstuck

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Dealing With Anxiety

How to beat anxiety and conquer those awful attacks

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How to deal with (and beat) anxiety.Anxiety.  It sometimes seems to surround us.  Sometimes, it can even overwhelm.

But anxiety doesn’t have to hold you back.  You can learn to walk through life without allowing anxiety to control you.

Remember that we have “anxiety” wiring in your brain.  But we get to choose how much strength we allow that circuit.

Don’t let anxiety rule your life.  Learn what causes anxiety, how to short it out, and how to move beyond the anxiety.

And yes, panic attacks are all about anxiety.  They are storms of anxiety.  Learn how to keep the attacks from striking, and what to do if they do strike.

Take back your life from anxiety.  Learn how in today’s podcast.

[ALSO:  Let me say a BIG thank you to my newest patrons (through Patreon):  Robert, Tracy, Aarti, Derek, Mimi, Ted, Jeff, and Susanna.  If you find value in Thriveology and would like to help support us, please consider being a Patron.  CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE]

RELATED RESOURCE:
Defeating Depression Series

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Don’t Take The Bait!

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Don't take the bait!My son and I were off the coast, fishing in some pretty chilly water.  We kept pulling up little fish, but nothing that would serve as dinner.  While we were bobbing out there, I was wondering what those fish were thinking.  They were hanging out, trying to stay warm, when suddenly, there appears a tasty morsel, tempting them to grab a quick bite.

Once they bite, they are hooked!  They are now in a fight with that line, and ultimately the person fishing.  They may get away, they may get eaten.  Either way, the day changed drastically for them.

But fish aren’t the only creatures that “take the bait.”  I did it just last night.  There was a Facebook post that tweeked me.  I knew better.  Even while I was commenting.  I knew I should just delete my comment, back out of the post, and keep on swimming.  But I didn’t.  I clicked to post.  And. . . I took the bait.

Would my comment change ANYONE’S mind?  Nope.  Would it help me?  Nope.  It only raised the volume of an argument.

I took the bait.

And I got hooked.

Which led me to spend some time reflecting on how to better NOT get hooked.  Whether it is someone on the internet, a colleague, a friend, a spouse, a parent, or a child, we get bait dangled in front of us every day.

Our choice:  will we bite or keep on swimming?

I offer 4 strategies to keep from biting.

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3 Steps To Break Your Stuck Cycle

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Break your stuck cycle.Ever feel like you are just running around on that hamster wheel, stuck and repeating?

That’s the Stuck Cycle.  It starts with stress and ends with stress.  In between are the behaviors you do to cope (but that only leave you feeling worse).

Here’s a little secret:  most people live in the Stuck Cycle.  That’s the bad news.

The good news is you don’t HAVE to.  Right now, without knowing it, you are choosing it.  And guess what?  I was in my Stuck Cycle earlier.  I just followed a few steps to break it.

In fact, there are 3 steps to breaking your Stuck Cycle.  Ready to break it?  Learn the 3 steps in this week’s podcast.

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Stop Avoiding Discomfort, Struggle, and Stress

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We only learn through the struggle. Avoid struggles, challenges, and stress, find yourself stuck and stagnating.Where did we get the notion that life should be one smooth glide down Easy Street?  Never has been, never will be.  Life is full of struggles, times of discomfort, and challenges.

Thank goodness!

Growth only comes from the struggles and challenges.  What we call “stress” is what gives us strength.  We rise to a challenge, learn new skills, and get ready for the next challenge.

Don’t get me wrong.  I am not encouraging you to chase after struggles and challenges.  You don’t need to, since they will come your way.

The question is what you do when a struggle DOES come your way.  Do you duck-and-hide, proclaim “life is unfair,” or do you take it on as a challenge?  A challenge is something to move through, overcome, learn from, and grow into.

And THAT is the power of a struggle or challenge.

Life is an episode of:  Discomfort ==> Change ==> Comfort ==> Discomfort (and repeat).  We have periods of comfort, AFTER we have moved through the discomfort, the struggle — UNLESS we avoid the discomfort (or try to).  Then, there is no growth, there is no new capacity, and really no comfort.

When the discomfort comes, will you take it on as a sign that it is time to grow?

Learn how in this week’s podcast episode.

(And, hey, if you like it, can you share it below?)

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3 Myths of Fear

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3 myths of fear.Fear.  Does it get in your way?  Do you believe the myths of fear?

Those myths keep you stuck.  Fear becomes the jailor of your life, not the friend it pretends to be.

If you want to get to the other side of fear, you need to know the myths of fear.  Let’s talk about the 3 big ones in this week’s Thriveology Podcast.

Will you get rid of your fears?  No.  But that isn’t the goal, and isn’t even necessary.

It IS necessary to understand the myths, and then move beyond the fears the the life you want and deserve.

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The Change Matrix – Dealing with Change

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Change.  So many times, I hear people say, “I don’t like change.”

But it seems to me that we like change,

  1. when we choose it, and
  2. when we want it.

Over the years, I noticed that change doesn’t always come in the ways we want it, and the time the want it.  Change chooses us, and sometimes challenges us.

That creates the “Change Matrix.”  In my little schema, change falls into four quadrants:

Lee Baucom's Change Matrix

Each quadrant has opportunities and challenges.

Change isn’t optional.  Change comes to us, no matter how much we resist.   Sometimes, we chase it.  Sometimes we avoid it.  But it still comes.  That is the nature of life.

What can YOU do, in the midst of change?

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