THE POWER OF NOW!

Hey everybody!!!  How's life?  Life is very very SCHWEET!!!

I really meant to write another post before I put another book up for the Bibliotherapy Series but I found a book I absolutely love, love, love. 

Keep up with me now!  I can't help it!  I wish there was a job that I could get paid for reading.  I love to read.

Anywho...

My latest and greatest pick is 'THE POWER OF NOW' by Eckhart Tolle. 

I have only read two chapters but this book has me hooked.  I can't put it down, but I gotta, because I have other things I gotta do, you know what I mean?

So far, this book is talking about the power of being in the space of non thinking.  If you meditate, you know what I mean.  Mr. Tolle has explained where he has been, deep in depression and anxiety, and where he is now, in the Now.

He has explained how the NOW gives you joy and peace.  This is what Destressing Yourself is all about.  I believe this with all my heart. 

In chapter two, he is talking about fear and anger.  Ewww, ewww, ewww, this is good.

You gotta read this one with me.  Click on the image to get the book or go to your local book store.

If you have read it, comment below, and share your feelings.

Have a great day, and don't forget to have fun and be playful.

Speak soon...

Elizabeth

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS STRESS???

Hello there my friend.  How are you this wonderful winter day?  I must say, I am very happy and grateful!!!

Last night, I attended a Christmas Program, which was MAGNIFIQUE!!!  Any who, I was talking to a lady who, you guessed it, is really stressed out.  She is currently going through her second wedding (for her second daughter) this year. 

Sooo, I told her that there was no such thing as stress, only stressful thoughts.  She didn't get it.  Do you get it?  Do you get that there is no such thing as stress, only stressful thoughts? 

When we feel stressed it is from our thoughts of thinking that we can't handle it.  Stress is from our thohttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6613359141845270284ughts of worry.  What is this woman's stress?  She is overwhelmed by a busy schedule, as well as work, and her other children.  So, she is worried.  She is worried that she can't handle it, and that everything won't be perfect unless she get's everything done that she needs to get done.  Hence, her stressful thoughts.

Whenever I talk to someone who is stressed, I know that they are worried about something.  There is no reason to worry.  Worry is just a habit, a habitual way of thinking.  People worry about what they don't have, they worry about how to get what they want or don't have, they worry about what others' think, and/or they worry about if they can handle IT, whatever IT is.  IT can be finances, relationships, health, weight, an overwhelming schedule, a child that is not good enough, and/or work.

What are you worried about?  "Oh Elizabeth, I'm not worried about anything."  Oh reeeeeeally???  I know that I can have a conversation with you and within 5 minutes or so, you will say what you are worried about.  Are you worried about the future?  Are you worried about the past, or yesterday?  Are you worried about money?  Are you worried that you will never find Mr/Mrs Right?  Are you worried that your boss doesn't treat you well?  Are you worried about Christmas? 

Well, whatever it is you are worried about, this is what I want you to know. 

NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, YOU CAN HANDLE IT!
Everyone, including me, has had some serious shizzz happen and we made it through whatever rough time there was and you will make it through this. 

RELEASE YOUR WORRY!
This is a lot easier said than done but, stay in this moment, stay right here, right now, with whoever you are with, or where ever you are at, and enjoy yourself.  If you are unable to enjoy yourself, then you have a habit to learn.  Enjoying yourself is just a habit, a habitual way of thinking, just like worrying.  One of the best things anyone can do is replace the habit of worry with the habit of enjoying yourself. 

If you know me, you know it is possible!!!

Destress Yourself with an affirmation.  Whenever you feel overwhelmed, or stressed, say to yourself, "I can handle this, I can handle anything, and I can be, do, have anything I set my heart and mind to."

YOU GOT THE POWER!!!

Have a great day and don't forget to have fun and be playful.

I LOVE YOU!!!  I REALLY DO!!!

Elizabeth

DESTRESSING YOUR ANXIETY!!!

Hello my friend!  How are you?  I hope you are very happy!

Yesterday, I shopped all day during Black Friday.  Boy did I have fun.  The first line I stood in, in front of a store at 6 a.m., I chatted with a handsome young man.  Another line I stood in, inside a store at around 2 p.m., I chatted with a young girl, who happened to be standing in line for her Mother.  I told her that she should charge her Mother a fee, he he he.  It turned out to be a really great day, I got a lot of deals, and a lot of Christmas shopping done. 

Although yesterday was great fun for me, there seemed to be a lot of angry and anxious people.  In my younger years, I gotta admit, there were times that I was really angry, and really anxious but somewhere along my life, I decided to not be either anymore.  Oh sure, I have my moments, briefly every once in a while.  ;-)

What I was noticing yesterday, was people were radiating anxiety.  Some people just live there life with anxiety and do not even know it.  Some people live there life with anxiety and don't even know that they don't have to.  We really do have a choice whether we are happy or sad, calm or anxious, easy-going or angry.

No one ever told me that I had a choice, I just figured it out one day.  I don't remember the exact day but I do know that I have always had the attitude that if I wanted to be happy it was no one's responsibility but mine.  Maybe that is why I am not married.  Oh well, he he he.

Sometimes when I see an anxious person, I want to just go up and hug them and tell them everything will be okay, don't worry, and be happy.

If you have anxiety, or are always anxious, you are living with a very stressful habit.  Stress is the number one cause of ALL illnesses. 

Emotional signs and symptoms of anxiety may include anger, anxiousness, fear, frustration, the inability to feel calm, irritability, feeling overwhelmed, the inability to relax, restlessness, and unhappiness.

Mental signs and symptoms of anxiety may include the inability to concentrate, the inability to focus, indecisiveness, a racing mind, and thinking the worst is going to happen.

Physical signs and symptoms of anxiety include abdominal problems, backaches, chest pain, diarrhea, dizziness, fatigue, headaches, insomnia, nausea, neck aches, racing heart, shortness of breath, sweating, and twitches.

The list of signs and symptoms of anxiety goes on and on and as you can see, it is very unhealthy. 

Anxiety manifests it's ugly little self through signs and symptoms, especially illnesses. 

So what do you do if you are anxious?  First, you must educate yourself.  When you learn your signs and symptoms of anxiety then you can overcome them.  Then you can learn to relax when you notice these signs and symptoms of yours, and get so good at relaxing that you can do it anytime and anywhere. 

I truly believe that if you are an anxious person it is part of your personality therefore, probably a habit.  When you Destress Yourself, you discover your stressful habits and replace them with successful ones.  With the stressful habit of anxiety, it can be replaced with the successful habit of being calm and relaxing. 

It is not necessary to live life without happiness, energy, and vitality, I believe that with all my heart and soul, and if you have anxiety, chances are you are not happy, you don't have energy, or vitality for life.

You can change your life!  You got the power!  I believe in you!  And if you need help, email me, I would love to hear from you and help you.

Have a great day, and don't forget to have fun and be playful.

Elizabeth

EMT STRESS

Hey there!  How are you this BeaUtiFul Friday?  I hope you are enjoying your day!

I got a couple questions for you.  What is stress?  What does the word 'stress' mean to you?  Does it mean that you are going through something difficult?  Does it mean you are going through something you are unable to handle?  Is stress your situation?  Is it your job?  Your boss?  Your spouse?  Your kids?

What does stress mean to you? 

The reason I ask these questions is because many people have the illusion that stress is a person or a situation and if they aren't experiencing something they believe they are not stressed. 

Often times when I ask a person if they are stressed out, they say yes, and blame it on a person or a situation, or they tell me they have no stress at all.

Recently, I was working with this medic who was having anxiety attacks.  I asked her what she was stressing over and she said she has no stress. 

YOO HOO!  HAVING ANXEITY ATTACKS IS STRESS!!!

After exploring a little more, we discovered she had tons of stress.

She was sleeping very little, she was eating unhealthy, processed, fast foods on a regular basis and she was suffering from very low self esteem. 

These are all very stressful habits because stress is strain.  Stress is not a person or circumstances we are going through, it is caused by the strain we put on ourselves emotionally, mentally, and physically.

This medic had stress because she was putting strain on herself physically through lack of sleep and unhealthy eating habits and she was putting emotional and mental strain on herself through all of the unhealthy thoughts she was creating through her low self-esteem.

Lack of sleep and unhealthy eating habits weigh on you because it takes energy to sustain yourself through out your day.  Your body needs rest and nourishment to maintain it's healthy immune system.  When we do not take care of our bodies we cause physical stress.

Emotional strain comes from our mental process.  If we think that we aren't good enough we start to worry about that and we begin to feel anxiety or depression.  Worry is mental strain (or stress), and anxiety and depression are emotional strain (or stress). 

When we have emotional, mental, or physical stress we are unhappy.  Learn to destress yourself by eliminating your strain so that you may experience happiness, energy, and vitality which truly is HAPPINESS!!!

One of the best ways to discover your stress is to look at how well you are taking care of yourself emotionally, mentally, or physically.  Discover one thing that you can change in any of these areas, make it a goal to change it, and watch yourself make a shift in destressing yourself.

That's all I got.

Have a great weekend!

Until next post, don't forget to have fun and be playful.

Elizabeth

THE BEST CE FOR EMT'S ONLINE

Recently, I have done some research for the best CE's for EMT's online.  Because I live in the boonies, I don't really have time to travel to get my CEU's anymore and so, I had to search for a place online.

The best CE for EMT's is EmCert.com. 

What makes them the best? 

First, they offer packages, including an one year unlimited CE program for only $65, which is SWEET!  In California, we only need 24 EMT CEU's every two years and this program makes it less than $3 per Continuing Education Unit.

Second, you get to view all the courses and decide which one you want, and then, when you are ready, you take the test. 

Third, there customer service is SUPERIOR to most places I have experienced.  I had a question, and they got back to me the very same day.  PROPS!!!  The people there are really nice, and I love the Texas accent.  My son is a Texan, he he he. 

Fourth, you can print your CEU's out as soon as you want or up to one year, unless you pay for the two year unlimited. 

Fifth, your EMT CEU certificates are available, online, for you whenever you need them. 

Finally, the EMT CEU's are California approved, which is very important to me, lol!

Check out EmCert.com and try their free CE online, now!!!

This is not a commercial, and they are not paying me.  I just wanted to share with you this service and save you some stress, LOL, and the time to research.

I hope this is helpful.

Until next post...

Have a great day, week, year, life!!!

Elizabeth

ANGER AND IRRITABILITY IN THE EMERGENCY FIELD

Anger and Irritability in the Emergency Field


When I was in my twenties, I worked as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) for a very prestigious private ambulance company. This company was very hard to get into, compared to the other companies. It was so hard to get into that no one else in my graduating class of EMT's made it in, I was the only one, and I was very lucky.

The only unfortunate thing about this company was that I was the only female. Back in those days, many men did not like females in the Emergency Field. Needless to say, there were many very cranky individuals. Looking back, and knowing what I know about stress now, I realize that many of those cranky individuals were not cranky because of me. Those individuals were cranky because they were miserable people.

Now that I am in my forties, as I look back through my years in the Emergency Field, as an EMT and as a Counselor, I realize that misery is a habit, a very stressful habit.

As I look back there were EMT's, Paramedics, Emergency Room Nurses, Emergency Room Doctors, Police Officers, and Fire fighters that were very angry and irritable. Matter of fact, I remember thinking to myself, when I first started in the field, that there were more angry and irritable people in the Emergency Field than in the general population.

I use to ask myself, "why are there so many angry emergency personnel?"

That is an excellent question, don't you think? This is not to demean or criticize Emergency Personnel, it is to discuss possibilities so that we can create solutions for those who are having a hard time with anger and irritability.

There are one of two reasons why people in the Emergency Field are angry or irritable. The first reason is that they were that way before they became a first responder. The second reason is, something happened to cause them to change who they were. What I mean by that is, something happened, whether it was a traumatic call, a critical incident, or a habit they picked up from another worker or partner, that made them angry and irritable when they were a happier person previously.

If you are in the Emergency Field and you are angry, moody, or irritable, I know from personal experience that it can be fixed. If it really matters to you why you are angry or irritable then you should definately find out. It is not necessary to know the cause to overcome it.

Although, if you have Acute Stress Disorder or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, it may help to know the source of your emotional state so that the process of healing may move forward.

Never the less, if you want to overcome your negative emotional state, it is totally possible. The way we react emotionally is a habit and much like an addiction. A habit is something that we do, that is hard to stop, or we don't want to stop. An addiction, in my mind, is something that we do, that we do not believe we need to quit, or we do not believe we can quit.

The best way to change a habit or overcome an addiction is through information and education. In my store, on my website, there are many different audios that you can download that will help you learn to overcome anger or irritability.

We have free podcasts about Basic Stress Management, Critical Incident Stress Management, and Stress Relief for the Emergency Personnel.

Learning Deep Relaxation is very helpful because with practice you can learn to relax anywhere at anytime. Deep Relaxation is a very successful practice.

We have audios that help with creating positive emotions like feeling gratitude and feeling love, that will assist in overcoming the negative emotions of anger.

We also have an audio on learning to destress yourself in a minute, another exercise, when pracitced often, that will create a successful practice in order to overcome stressful habits.

And finally, our most popular audio, How to Destress Yourself. This audio is a four part class. It is designed for economic, as well as time convenience. This audio will help with basic and advanced stress management so that happiness, energy, and vitality may be created. This class helps individuals understand and overcome many negative emotions.

Well, I hope that is helpful...

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please email me elizabeth@destressyourself.com

or

comment below...

Have a great day! Have a great week! Have a great month! Have a great year! And most of all, have a great life. You got the power.

Don't forget to have fun and be playful, it's in your nature.

Elizabeth