Dealing With Stress: The 24 Hour way! Brought to you by John Elliott aka Oaky Wood How do you stay levelheaded and calm when stress (both positive and negative) seems to be a constant in your life? To answer this question, I would first point out that a certain level of stress is actually good for you; it is when it gets out of hand that it starts interfering with the way you function and how you react to this world. When your energies are channeled on mulling over what happened in the past or stressing out about the future, you can't produce the kind of results you are capable of producing when you can't focus clearly on what you are doing at the moment. What is the solution? Don Shula, who is described as the winningest coach in NFL history, had a 24-hour rule to deal with the stresses of winning or losing a game. He allowed himself and his players a maximum of 24 hours after a football game to celebrate a victory or bemoan a defeat. During that time, everyone was encouraged to experience the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat as deeply as possible, while learning as much as they could from that same experience. Once the 24-hour deadline had passed, they put it behind them and focused their energies on preparing for the next opponent. As Don Shula points out, "Don't get a big head when you win or get too down in the dumps when you lose. Keep things in perspective. Success is not forever, and failure isn't fatal, or final." Give yourself a 10-day challenge to apply Shula's 24-hours rule. For the next 10 days, whether you are filled with despair of loss or failure or celebrating a great achievement, give yourself a 24 hours deadline to deal with it and then get on with your life. By the way, Hall of Fame Coach, Shula is the only coach to guide a team (the Miami Dolphins) through an undefeated NFL season (17-0 in 1972)! Who knows, may be by applying his rule will help YOU have an undefeated life! And if it doesn't? Well, you have 24 hours to get over it! =================== Quote of the day =================== "It takes only one person to change your life....YOU! ~ by Walt Disney ~ Brought to you by John Elliott aka Oaky Wood John Elliott Aka Oaky Wood is currently the Co-Founder of "The Corner 4 Women©2006" http://thecorner4women.com is a Poet, writer, artist, webmaster and designer. He is also the owner of the Oakwood Grafix©2005 Group of websites http://www.oakwoodgrafix.co.uk/ This article may be reproduced provided it is unedited in any way with all links remain intact.

Hi, Good advice from Don Shula, and loved Walt Disney's quote. Thank you. Your Good Friend Deborah

This is such good advice. Stress is good for you in moderation like anything but too much can kill! I have a very stressful job in the ambulance service and for 27 years now I have experienced various forms of stress. Post traunatic, exhaustion, depression, the list goes on. I have ways of controlling stress and amazingly so does our body. I have suffered from Shingles this week which has been both painful and kept me off work. My body has shown me signs of fatigue and in return I have chilled out and rested. Amazing really because that's just what I needed. Anyhow, thank you for doing a great job and for this information. Have a fun packed week.

HI all I call Don's 24 rule, my 24 hour cool down period. Within that time it is time to focus on what is happening in my life, make corrections and try to better it. I agree with this: Stress is good for you in moderation > BUT Don't let it get out of control or you could wipe youself out. YOU just need to get over it and start over a new path. ====================================== Place a FREE AD on me: http://FreeAdTraffic.com 10,500 Free HITS from this link: Massive Traffic for FREE http://freetrafficbar.com/virtual.php?p=22&ref=58734 FREE: Multiply Your Advertising Results By Thousands With Your Ad Listed On 5635+ Sites! Tons OF Traffic! http://www.programhoppers.com?5638

Hello John, Luella and Friends This is an excellent topic due mostly to the fact that it affects everyone's life. Something that I learned years back about stress is that while I may not be able to controll the amount of stress in my life, I can controll the effect of that stress on my mind and my body. One of the most important lessons that I learned about my stress and dealing with it is this. For every stressful situation in your life, weather it be good or bad, ask yourself this question. " Can I actually do anything to change this". I was very surprised to find out that much of the stress in my life was caused by things that I had no controll over. I spent a lot of time and energy worrying about things that I couldn't do anything about anyhow. I used to spend a lot of time in what I called my whirlwind. Some of you will know this as racing thoughts. This is where your mind seems to be going a thousand miles per hour and you have an over whelming feeling that you must get something done but you can't. There are too many things to do and by the end of the day you realize that you haven't accomplished anything. A good practice for this problem is to actually make a list. On a sheet of paper, write down all of your life stressors weather good or bad. Now go down through your list and scratch off all of the things that you really can't do anything about. You may be surprised to find how little you have left. Now, what you do have left are things that you can actually have some controll over. Now, go through your revised list and prioritize. Pick one thing and only one thing to work on for the time being. Concentrate on only this one thing and follow it through to completion. Once this is accomplished, move on to something else and do the same thing again. Once you get into the habit of doing this, you will find yourself going to bed at night feeling much more relaxed and with a sense of accomplishment. You will rest better and you will awaken ready to take on the next challenge rather than facing another day of frustration and fatigue. No more whirl wind and you will actually be making some progress. This is a stress reduction technique taught to me several years ago by Dr. Allan Summers, a clinical psychiatrist/ psycologist. It has helped me tremendously throughout my life since then and I truly hope that it will make some of your days a little easier as well. May a smile follow you to sleep each night,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and be there waiting,,,,,,,,,,when you awaken. Sincerly, Bill Vanderbilt Mental Health And Political Forums Respectively http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/8212/ShowForum.aspx http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/9637/ShowForum.aspx