5 Simple Strategies for Stress Management

As a hypnotherapist, my goal with clients is to help them discover both internal and external resources for dealing with their lives. In addition to work done in trance I always try to give clients homework– strategies, tools and techniques to use consciously on a day-to-day basis.

Stress is unavoidable in life. Some days even getting out of bed in the morning can be stressful. Managing the stress in your life is one key to staying healthy.

1. MANAGE SELF-TALK
What you say to yourself is important. We each have an ongoing internal dialog of between 150 and 300 words a minute.

This works out to between 45,000 and 51,000 words a day. Most of our self-talk is harmless thoughts that serve our daily activities such as, "I need to stop at the cleaners." The danger is when inner dialogue becomes primarily, "I'll never be as good at this as he is," "This is going to be a lousy day," or "I'll never get this done." What you think about regularly in your life tends to appear in your life.

Pay attention to what you say to yourself. When you notice negative thoughts, put up a mental STOP sign and say to yourself, “I’m better than this, I don’t need to think this way. Is there another way of looking at this?”

2. STEP ASIDE
Imagine yourself walking down a long, straight road. You can see a good distance ahead and you notice a large truck coming straight at you at high speed. What do you do?

Step out of the way! When heading into situations you know might be stressful, take a moment to mentally, or physically, step aside and review your options for dealing with the situation.

3. CHOOSE
There is nothing in your life that can MAKE you angry, glad, sad, fearful, or happy. You choose to react in the manner
that fits your belief system.

Take a moment to ask yourself, before or after, “How could I react (have reacted) differently to this?” and make a conscious choice.

4. PERSONAL TIME
Take breaks. In a busy, sometimes stressful day, schedule time for regular breaks. Take a walk, meditate, or just get up from your desk and go somewhere else for a few minutes.

5. BREATHE
Follow the old advice and “Take a deep breath” before you act. Breathing helps to center and calm the body and mind. We often forget to breath in moments of stress.

Try the following exercise and see how you feel: Breathe in for 4 counts, hold your breath for 4 counts, breathe out for 4 counts, and hold for 4 counts. Do this 3 times.

After the odyssey through the Magic Theatre, the hero in Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf laughs out loud as he realizes that reality is nothing but the free choice of one of the many doors that are open at all times.
-Paul Watzlawick, The Language of Change, 1978.

This article appeared in the Winter 2003 issue of The APHP Journal, a publication of The Association for Professional Hypnosis and Psychotherapy.

As always, I welcome your comments.

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Commitment

If you've seen the quote about "Commitment" attributed to Goethe, you'll probably enjoy the attached article.

(source: http://www.goethesociety.org/pages/quotescom.html)

Of the many inquiries about Goethe and Goethe quotations that come to the Goethe Society of North America through the website, the most oft repeated and vexing one has been a passage about boldness, magic, and providence that certainly sounded like Goethe, but eluded our attempts to track it down. You may recall that in our Fall 1996 Newsletter an editor at Celestial Seasonings Teas even offered some tea in exchange for help in identifying it. Most inquiries focused on the closing lines: "What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it! / Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." But some cited a fuller passage:

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

Well, it's been found and it is partly by Goethe, in a way. We first heard from Ellen Todd Hanks, a senior information service librarian at the Briscoe Library of the University of Texas Health Science Center. She found a variant of the final two sentences in Stevenson's Home Book of Quotations: "Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage, and then the mind grows heated. Begin it, and the work will be completed."

The lines are attributed to John Anster in a "very free translation" of Faust from 1835. They are indeed "very free" writes Katja Moser, who solved a larger piece of the mystery this May, and provided a fuller excerpt from Anster's translation, where the lines in question are spoken by the "Manager" in the "Prelude at the Theatre":

Then indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost lamenting over lost days.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute;
What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it;
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

Moser points to Faust, 214-30, as the passage paraphrased by Anster:

Der Worte sind genug gewechselt,
Laßt mich auch endlich Taten sehn!
Indes ihr Komplimente drechselt,
Kann etwas Nützliches geschehn.
Was hilft es, viel von Stimmung reden?
Dem Zaudernden erscheint sie nie.
Gebt ihr euch einmal für Poeten,
So kommandiert die Poesie.
Euch ist bekannt, was wir bedürfen,
Wir wollen stark Getränke schlürfen;
Nun braut mir unverzüglich dran!
Was heute nicht geschieht, ist morgen nicht getan,
Und keinen Tag soll man verpassen,
Das Mögliche soll der Entschluß
Beherzt sogleich beim Schopfe fassen,
Er will es dann nicht fahren lassen
Und wirket weiter, weil er muß.

Katja Moser also identifies the author of the lengthier passage being attributed to Goethe and, in doing so, reveals its connection with John Anster's inventive paraphrase. She writes:

"The quote as you give it in a larger context seems to be from W. H. Murray in The Scottish Himalaya Expedition, 1951. There the text apparently goes:

'But when I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money--booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!'

So, did Goethe say it? Not really. Thank you, Katja Moser, for the discovery!

Meredith Lee
University of California, Irvine
=================================

Here is the same thought expressed by Patanjali (dating from probably 200 AD):

When you are inspired by some great purpose,
some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds:
your mind transcends limitations,
your consciousness expands in every direction
and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world.
Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive
and you discover yourself to be
a greater person than you ever dreamed yourself to be.