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Anxiety Warning Signs
By: Jim Sullivan
How do you know when you are suffering from background anxiety? It’s important to be aware of the warning signs, because excessive levels of anxiety can disrupt your performance, stifle joy and lead to depression and illness. A good test of a person’s physical fitness lies in their ability to do the things our ancestors did, routinely. So you’re physically fit if you can run slowly for several miles without getting out of breath, climb, hunt wild animals . . . you get the picture. Perhaps you’ve stopped reading already, daunted by this test of physical fitness, but we know, deep down, that we’re built for that kind of activity. It’s what your human frame was designed for. So what about anxiety? What is the equivalent test of ‘normality’ which we should apply when deciding whether we are over-stressed? I would propose the following list. I don’t claim that it’s scientific, but I would defend it as a pragmatic and practical list of qualities. These are the conditions which each one of us can aspire to. A reasonably relaxed person : · Doesn’t procrastinate · Is open to spontaneous suggestions · Looks forward to the weekend . . . and looks forward to the working week · Feels that they have plenty of time · Moves gracefully · Enjoys their food · Sleeps well · Good balance of time between family, personal and working lives · Fit · Efficient · Looks forward to challenges · Not readily affected by criticism · Not particularly susceptible to vices such as overeating, smoking, heavy drinking · Open and courteous How did you do? Don’t worry too much if you struggled. It isn’t unusual for people to struggle with half of the items on this list. Turn this around for a moment and think about the gains to be achieved when you do learn to relax. Think how pleasant it would be to feel more optimism. To take greater pleasure in your animal nature (eg exercise, sex, food, sleep). To enjoy greater control over your own destiny. And, of course, the career benefits to be enjoyed from greater efficiency and effectiveness. We can all benefit from increased relaxation. Perhaps surprisingly, this isn’t hard to come by. As a hypnotherapist I treat people for a range of conditions, and the consistent response from my clients is “yes, you helped me with my condition, and I’ve also discovered again how much fun life can be”. Stress reduction is a side effect, a by-product, for many hypnotherapy clients. If you wish, it could also be the main event. Look after yourself. It’s a short life and it’s here to be enjoyed. Consider hypnotherapy. Consider meditation. Above all, look honestly within yourself to identify sources of anxiety. Don’t be embarrassed, or feel guilty, simply because you feel anxious. It’s normal. Doing something positive about our background anxiety is possibly the most positive step any of us can make towards enjoying life more. Jim Sullivan is a hypnotherapist specialising in confidence, self esteem and stress management. He may be contacted via Confidence Club http://www.confidenceclub.net Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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How to Benefit from the Mind-Body Connection
(excerpt)
You are about to gain insight into the
mind-body connection. The number of
people who truly understand these principles on our
planet are relatively few.
There is an undeniable connection between our minds and
bodies, you can learn
to use this fact to your benefit.
Dr. Bernie Siegel, author of "Love, Medicine and
Miracles" was once a
distraught cancer surgeon until he
began to understand the greater principles
of the mind-
body connection. He felt dragged down by the artificial
barriers
that existed between patient and doctor, and the
helplessness he often felt as
a result of his inability
to effectively serve those patients. Eventually, those
barriers
were disintegrated by Dr. Siegel's recognition
and growing understanding of the
mind-body connection and
how it could serve his patients and himself.
Dr. Siegel, or Bernie as he began to have his patients
refer to him, had some
startling realizations as a cancer surgeon. He found that
there were actually
quite a few people in the world that successfully beat
the statistics on cancer
survival. He began to recognize that a patient's ability
to defeat something as
serious as cancer had to do with the patient's mind and
attitude about their
disease.
If you would like to see the rest of
this article, please go here:
http://www.tobeinformed.com/repository/mind-body.html
copyright 2004 - David Snape
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