Archive for the Stress Relief Category
Enjoy Every Step of the Uphill Climb
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Nicole Joy Leibman of Little Purple Cow
“There’s only going to be one first, one opening” I hear my mother say as she finishes preparing dinner. It had been about a year since I was let go from my job as an attorney, and decided to pursue my dream of starting my own business. I was at my parent’s house having my weekly existential crises – It’s so hard and lonely working for myself. Why isn’t anything happening yet? How long is it going to take to get this off the ground? Will my business even succeed? Will I be able to fund my business and my personal life?
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Work Happiness Has Four Legs
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Chrissy Scivicque of Eat Your Career.
About a month ago, I was out walking my dog (a 15-pound golden yorkie-poodle mix named Mollie) and, from a neighbor’s house a large, black pit bull came bounding out at us. Without any hesitation, the dog attacked. All I could hear were the cries coming from Mollie as she tried frantically to get away. Thankfully, her collar was just loose enough that, in that moment of pure terror, she was able to squeeze her head out and run. That beast of a dog chased her a few streets and then gave up. After running back home, I found Mollie, God love her, waiting for me on our front porch—a little torn up, a lot scared, but 100% alive.
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I Miss Your Bad Jokes When…
When you work with someone who annoys you, they can seem devastatingly awful. So awful that it can send you into a depression. Trust me – - it has happened to me.
Maybe it’s an annoying client who won’t stop emailing you, a co-worker who loves to click his pen all day long, or a boss who puts way too much work on your desk.
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9 Ways to Overcome Work Annoyances
* I was afraid to publish this post because it may seem too simple for some of my advanced readers, but even my advanced work happiness people had to start somewhere. And yes, even advanced people need refreshers. So here it is.
Work has hundreds of little annoyances that can kill your happiness if you don’t create a system to deal with your problems.
Co-workers, bosses, and tedious tasks can throw us off our emotional center. We must find creative ways to deal with these issues.
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How do You Know if You’ve Contacted Adultitis?
Every now and again, I like to bring you short interviews to give you a new perspective on work happiness. During my study of work happiness I have found that there are many paths to the same goal. Some people believe that loving what you do is a must, while other people believe that relationships are vital to enjoying the work that we do. Interviews are a great way to get out of your own perspective and see what other people are doing to be happy at work.
There are so many amazing people in the blogging world, but one of my more recent finds is Jason of Escape Adulthood. He and Kim (his wife) have created a business out of bringing the fun back into life.
The first impression of Jason was a video that I watched of a water balloon fight between Jason and Kim. They were sitting in chairs and throwing water balloons over their garage to see who had the better aim. It was right then that I was hooked. Having fun in life is a big part of being happy, so I’m glad to bring you an interview with Jason.
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Energize Your Workday with a Spiritual Meditation
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Susan C.
I’m a big believer in relaxing with our work. I’m not talking about laziness. I’m talking about finding your rhythm that allows for optimum levels of performance. Knowing when you need a break and knowing when to keep working because you are in the zone. Today we talk about: Using meditation to expand mindfulness.
This mindfulness meditation has its roots in an earth-based (pagan) spiritual path and was inspired by a short morning ritual in Yasmine Galenorn’s book Embracing the Moon. Ideally, it’s great to be able to do this outside, but it works just as well indoors, in which case, looking out a window can help to initially bring our focus to the natural world. One could do this mindfulness meditation at any point in the day, but it’s a nice way to start the day.
Let’s get started
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What I Learned from Working on My Habits
As I’m looking over January’s theme “Relaxing with my work”, I’m beginning to really see how hard I am on myself. I expect myself to master concepts that only great writers, CEO’s, and Zen masters fully understand.
Just because I tell myself to breathe all nice and deep and relaxed over the next week when I’m feeling stressed out doesn’t mean it will happen right away.
Maybe that should be a theme of the month. Stop being a big bully to myself.
I wanted to publish this review of my theme two weeks ago, but I felt like I was still processing my information. Now that I’m ready, let’s begin the review…
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10 Ways to Unclutter Your Mind
The clutter in our minds can prevent us from feeling good. We can’t focus. We feel like we are just spinning our wheels.
I know that when the clutter covers my brain like a fog, I feel like just giving in and surfing YouTube. After countless times of just giving in, I decided to create a plan.
So how does a person unclutter their mind?
I have some tools you can use on a daily basis that will help you obtain clearer thinking. The more you use these tools, the easier it will be to maintain a clear mind.
1. Eliminate noise
I know I have a hard time focusing when there is a lot of noise around me. You probably are easily distracted by noise too. So, try using noise canceling headphones or ear plugs to eliminate the noises that can pull you away from your work.
2. Find a way to laugh
A laugh releases endorphins. These endorphins are like dead cell sweepers. They increase the blood flow and push away the clutter. Try going to a secluded spot, thinking about a recently funny moment and chuckling to yourself. Once you get that laughter going, you’ll notice the lighter feeling. This may feel strange at first, but I promise it helps.
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Walk to the Bathroom Very Very Mindfully – Work Happy Tip
Every week I like to bring you a work happiness tip that can help improve your mood, relationships, productivity, or reduce your stress. The idea is to put you back in the driver’s seat. This week’s tip: Walk to the bathroom very very mindfully.
Our minds love to follow distractions. It makes sense.
We like to be distracted. So even when we are walking to use the bathroom, we notice a co-worker’s cough, which makes us think about our own throat, and this leads to a reminder to go to the doctor for a check-up, then we are done.
We finished in the bathroom and we are back at our desk. 99% of our focus is not about enjoying where we are, but rather random thoughts.
I advocate developing your mind at work because it will help you to become happier and more productive. The reason this works is because you are focusing your energy on the part of you that matters the most. Without developing your emotional intelligence, you are flatlining your ability to feel good.
It works like this…
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Hard, Fun and Beautiful – Calming Tea Edition
Where we are free to talk about the hard, the fun, and the beautiful of our work week. The best way to learn from our experiences is to step back, be honest, and reflect on pain and joy of our work week.
Using my blog to meet amazing people has been a huge perk. I’ve interviewed Steve Pavlina (Personal Development Master), Jonathan Field (Career Renegade), Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos) and many others.
I’m saying this because I’m interviewing someone else that I’ve admired for a long time. She is an amazing writer and business woman. You’ll find out very soon. I can’t give it away yet. A little suspense is good for the soul.
Without all my hard work this never would have happened. None of these interactions would have happened.
We create our own luck. The harder we work, the more opportunities arise.
Let’s begin…
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