Anxiety, Depression, Relaxation, and Meditation

Anxiety, Stress, and Depression

Previous Posts
Your thankful list
Signs of Stress
Daily Stress Reduction Tips
Muscle relaxation
Vitamins and stress
Freedom from Fear
Looking our for number 1
Men who do to much
Balanced life
Public speaking
Sleeping
Happy People
Meditation
Exercise and stress
Lucinda Bassett
Caffeine and stress
Hobbies

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Welcome to Anxiety, Stress, and Depression Blog
Dedicated to helping you find ways to relax, reduce anxiety, and learn methods of meditation. Weather you are suffering from stress, anxiety, or depression this blog is designed to help you find helpful ways to control the anxiety and stress.

Your thankful list: Posted: Sept 27, 2005:
Another useful tip to cope with feelings of sadness and depression is creating a simple thankful list. List everything in life that you are thankful for, your family, your parents, the town you live in etc. Many times we forget all the things that we are thankful for and we only dwell on the things that are messed up in our lives. It is important to remember that what we focus on in life is usually what we get. Therefore, during sad times we need to focus on the things that we are thankful for and ways for us to improve the positive things. Read your thankful list each day and ask yourself questions in regards to how you can improve the areas in your life that you are thankful for.

Are you Stressed Posted: Sept 24, 2005:
Some Common Signs and Symptoms of Excess Stress are: Do you do everything fast, like walking, eating or working in a rushed way. Are you always thinking and worrying about the past or future. Do you have tension in the your body (esp. neck, face, shoulders, back and chest, and stomach) which often goes unnoticed until you slow down, breath deep and carefully survey your body. Does it sometimes feel like you the "weight of the world" on your shoulders. Are you emotionally "on edge." Do you suffer from regular tiredness during the day. Do you need outside stimulation to feel good (coffee, sweeteners, food, sex, TV, alcohol, money, accomplishments, etc.)

Easy Stress Reduction Tips Posted: Sept 21, 2005
Of course a stress out person doesn't have time to do things to help you relax. It is a vicious circle. You don't have time to relax so the stress just gets works. However, there are simple things that you can do everyday to help reduce your stress. Try to incorporate these things into your day whenever possible.

Add something beautiful to your life on a daily basis (e.g., flowers). I like to light a candle in the mornings and at night. Different candles at different times, pine scent in the winter, flowers in the spring.
Music, find a relaxing music station on the way home from work, skip the news, I am hooked on a jazz station.
Buy some relaxation CDs, some have music only, some talk you down.
Use a background CD at night as you go to bed, I have several, one if of the ocean, the other is a rainforest, they are a lot of varieties. Play is once as you go to sleep it makes me feel like I am on vacation.
Do some enjoyable activities whenever possible. Force yourself to do something fun, hang out with your kids, through a ball around, play a game.
Go for a walk with your friends, family or by yourself. If you can walk with someone else it really helps your stress because you also have a lot of time to talk.
Walk, work, and eat at a relaxed pace.
Take a short break after meals to relax.
Enjoy the outdoors, if possible, go outside at least once per day and notice the simple things such as the weather, scenery, etc. I am fortunate I have a lot of nice parks near my office. Some days instead I just drive to the park and find a nice spot to just sit in the car and relax. Lean back open the window and escape for a little while.
During the day, whenever you remember, notice and tension in your body (jaw, neck, diaphragm, shoulders, etc.). Breath deeply and gently stretch and relax any tense areas.
If you notice your mind racing or worrying about the past or future, take a minute to breath deeply and gently focus on something in the moment such as your breath, scenery, birds.
Take breaks during the workday to relax.
Wear comfortable and loose clothing when possible. Take off your shoes when you can.
Avoid holding in feelings day after day, but instead, find a safe place to feel, express and embrace them.

Muscle Relaxation: Posted: September 8, 2005
Another powerful exercise technique to help you relax is using an muscle flexing exercies which will relax all the parts of your body. This exercise helps relieve the tension in your body and can be done lying down, sitting, or even driving a car or flying in an airplane. Simply do the following:

Take a deep cleansing breath. Breath in through your noise, hold it for 5 seconds and then exhale slowly through your mouth.

Make two fists and tighten them up as tight as you can, hold for 10 seconds.

Take another cleansing breath.

Shrug your shoulders up to you neck, squeeze tight and hold for 10 seconds.

Take another cleansing breath.

Tighten up your stomach, crunch it down tightly and hold for 10 seconds.

Take another cleansing breath.

Continue this process through all the parts of your body.

Work you way down from you hands to chest, to stomach, legs and toes. Do as many parts as you can.

If you need to repeat the entire drill.

What you will find is that it is actually quite a workout to flex and hold all the muscle groups of your body. However, it is a great way to pull the stress out of your muscles and loosen up. For another example on this type of exercise goto: http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/relax.htm

Looking for a great book to give you even more ideas on how to relax. Check out Instant Calm, with over 100 ways to relax your mind and body.

Vitamins and stress: Posted: September 9, 2005
Another important area to watch to manage your stress is nutrition. Vitamins are important and can help control and relieve stress. Some of the most useful vitamins to control stress are B complex and vitamin C. I also take a multi-vitamin each day. I notice a major difference in my stress levels when I do not take these vitamins. For more information check out the following links:

http://www.nutritional-supplement-info.com/vitamins-for-stress.html http://health.ivillage.com/eating/evitamins/0,,3p5,00.html

Buy vitamins online now!

Freedom from fear: Posted: August 10, 2005
One of the biggest causes of stress is fear. Either real or imagined fear. Most people suffer from imaginary fear. What if something happens to my kids, what if I loose my job, what if I get sick. Fear can take over your life and result in tremendous anxiety.

A great book on dealing with fear and anxiety. Fantastic easy tips to use. How to turn your fear and indecision into confidence and action. Everyone has fears throughout their lives. But whatever your anxieties, this worldwide bestseller will give you the insight and tools to vastly improve your ability to handle any given situation. Buy feal the Fear and Do It Anyway CD!

Looking out for number one: Posted: August 9, 2005
The book Looking out for Number 1 is a golden oldie, the copyright is 1977. I remember it being around at my house when I was a kid. I found a copy of it at garage sale a few years ago. I read it on a trip and really enjoyed it. It is worth the time, it is actually pretty humorous as well. The bottom line is if you are not doing things that make you happy then who is in charge of changing that?

One of my favorite quotes in the book is: "Most people go through life with too much emotional baggage, and life like the airlines charges extra for too much baggage. Do yourself a favor and do everything you can to lighten the load." Another quote from the author Robert Ringer is "Reality isn't the way you wish things to be, nor the way they appear to be, but the way they actually are." Buy this book now!

Meditations for Men who do to much: Posted: August 1, 2005
My wife bought me "Meditations for men who do to much" book on tape a long time ago. It is really a great book and talks a lot about the typical over achiever male who wants to do to much. I have enjoyed it and continue to use the tape over the years. It really makes to you stop and think about chasing the career too much. Balancing time with the family and friends, taking care of yourself by exercising and slowing down.

A balanced life: Posted: August 1, 2005
Do you ever have one of those days or weeks or months when everything seems to be going wrong? It can tend to get you down when you let one area or more of your life take over and dominate your life and thinking. Sometimes you can think that just because one area is messed up that you are a complete failure which is not true. I learned a technique a long time ago from my dad that I use routinely to put things into perspective. The technique is the the following, list all the parts of your life, family, health, job, school, parents, housing, relationship, friends etc. Then rate which areas are in good shape and which ones needs some help. For example, if you are struggling in your finances and relationship you have to remember that things are still fine at work, you have good friends, and you get along with your family. This technique allows you to put things in perspective and maintain some level of balance. Of course the areas that you are concerned about will need some extra attention. You need to get your finances straight, you need to mend that relationship. Put more positive effort into these areas to fix them. However, don't forget about the other areas and appreciate what you still have. Inc Magazine articles on a balanced life

Another thing to remember is don't sweat the small stuff because its all small stuff.

Meditation techniques: Posted: July 21, 2005
I found a excellent resource for meditation and relaxation. This page a large list of techniques to help you relax and use meditation.

Meditation techniques

Get a good nights sleep: Posted: July 21, 2005
You want to talk about be a wreck. How about being nervous all day and then not being able to sleep at night.

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and your brain is just wide awake or you are worrying about something?
Do you find yourself so sleepy in the evening you fall to sleep early only to wake up at 2 am?

If you have trouble sleeping due to your anxiety here are a few tips that have worked for me.

Establish a regular bedtime. Force yourself to stay awake in the evening. Go for a walk, get busy with something but don't go to bed at 9 pm only to suffer in the middle of the night.
Brain wash yourself: I use the following technique when I am not sleeping through the night and it helps me. I get settled in and I calm down and tell myself 3 to 5 times, "I am going to sleep until 5 am". Repeating this phrase to myself brain washes my mind to know that I am not suppose to get up until 5 am. It really helps me.
Turn the alarm clock around: Another thing that really frustrated me was waking up in the middle of the night and looking at the alarm clock and getting upset that it was 3 am and then waking staring at the clock until 5 am being upset. Finally, after going through this several nights my wife suggested that I turn the clock around so I couldn't see it. It helped a lot. If you wake up in the middle of the night and you look at the clock it just frustrates you.
Eating and drinking: Pay attention to what you are eating and drinking and how late you are eating or drinking. If I have beer to late I have to go to the bathroom too many times in the night and it interrupts my sleep. However, if I have just a small glass of wine, it calms me down and doesn't wake me up with the trips to the bathroom.
Melatonin: During business trips I sometimes have trouble sleeping due to time zone changes and jet lag. I have found 2 melatonin tablets are fantastic for supplementing a good nights sleep. In fact sometimes 2 is too much and I actually have a hard time waking up. For more information on melatonin go to: http://www.melatonin.com/

Public speaking: Posted: May 10, 2005
I have to do a lot of public speaking in my job. Sometimes it is negotiating with a customer or presenting to top management. Depending on the day these situations can make me nervous. I can feel the proverbial choking feeling when I begin to talk. I have found the following method extremely helpful in reducing the anxiety and also eliminating the choking feeling. Breathing technique: Before your speach or meeting or whatever, try the following.

Take 3 deep breaths slowly.
On the 4th deep breath hold it in for 10 seconds if you can.
Start to slow your breathing down. Pay attention to your breathing.
In hale fully through your nose.
Exhale slowly though your mouth.

During the meeting or speach, make sure you take time to pause. Five or 10 seconds without you talking is not awkward. Slowing down really helps.

Click here for breathing techniques
Yoga breathing techniques

What happy people know: Posted: May 18, 2005
Excellent book for dealing with anxiety and unhappiness in your life. I really enjoyed this book. The key for me was that it provides you with a lot of tools that you can immediatelly apply. For example: One of the techniques is call the appreciation audit. The process is as follows:

Your mind cannot be anxious and appreciate something at the same time.
If you are anxious, concentrate deeply on something you really appreciate.
Or concentrate on all the things in you life that you really appreciate.
By doing this you begin to relax and feel better.

It is and excellent tool and just one of the many helpful tools in this book. Buy this book now

Meditation technique: Posted: May 10, 2005
When I am anxious it tends to hit me the most in the morning. One of the best ways for me to reduce this situation is to take 10 minutes to meditate. There are dozens of ways to meditate, I tend to use the following method.

Find a quiet spot.
Sit in a comfortable spot.
Lookup slightly and then close eyes.
Inhale deeply through my nose and exhale very slowly through my mouth.
Say 100
Continue the same process counting backwards.
By the time I reach 60 I am totally relaxed and my mind is clear.

For other tips on meditation techniques check out the Meditation Handbook.

Exercise and Stress: Posted: April 23, 2005
First of all, when you are dealing with anxiety remember the following. You are not alone, there are millions of people around the world with the same problem. However, anxiety really gets in the way of enjoying your life, work and your family.

Exercise: One of the best ways to reduce anxiety is through exercise. I use to love running, however, my lower back doesn't agree with it anymore. So now I walk 30 minutes outside or on a treadmill. If I can get to the gym I do 30 minutes on the eliptical machine. Nothing clears you mind better than a good brisk 30 minutes of exercise.

Deep breathing: While you are exercise make sure you take in deep breaths. If you can take in the deep breath and hold it for a few seconds that also helps. However, you need to breath since you are exercising.

For more facts on anxiety goto: Anxiety at Healingwell.com

Lucinda Bassett: Posted: April 13, 2005
I am a big fan of Lucinda Bassett. She has written a lot of good material. We bought here book on tape and also bought her program that she advertises on radio and TV. It is an excellent program and really helped a lot. I highly recommend here material for stress and anxiety. Buy this book now