Stress Buster #3

Meditation is a terrific stress buster. I do great at guided meditations. I really get into the zone using guided imagery.  In the past I’ve attended meditation classes in person. The other night I discovered online meditation videos. Google Videos has a variety of meditation videos available for free. Last night I received a guided meditation from Mari Cooper of AHA Moments Inc. It was wonderful. Mari will be speaking at the Bernardsville pod meeting of B.I.G. (Believe, Inspire, Grow) Monday night at Equus Restaurant in Bernardsville. I’m really looking forward to hearing her in person.

Snow Daze

In NJ, we are in day 2 of the snow in. So far there is over a foot of snow outside my home and it’s still coming down. I live in a townhome community with a strange parking lot/garage setup. Plowing our development requires not only the standard plows, but Mr. Dumptruck & Mr. Bulldozer to get our cars out of the development. It’s been several hours since I’ve heard any of the 3 attempting to remove any snow. My dad who lives up the hill a couple miles away in a senior community says he’s plow guys have given up for the duration. So here I am tucked into bed in my jammies watching the Women’s Olympic Curling Bronze Medal game. I am a Winter Olympics junkie and have been totally enjoying the 2010 Vancouver Games. Being snowed in with the Olympics has been wonderful. Even still, I am starting to get a little stir crazy. Luckily I’ve got a couple of magazines piled next to me. Both have articles on de-cluttering, a task I have been putting off for far to long. I see an afternoon of shredding paper & filling garbage bags full of unneeded and unwanted stuff. As a reward, there is that Toll House cookie dough in the fridge…

Stress Buster #2

In my search for stress relief, I recently discovered laughter yoga.  Laugher yoga is a fun exercise involving deep yoga breathing coupled with laughing. It taps into your inner child playing games like jumping rope and my favorite, hopscotch. Laughter yoga is creating buzz, Better Homes & Gardens featured it in their February issue. Locally, www.laughterheart.com is a great source. I’m looking forward to my next laughter yoga session. 

Stress Buster

As mentioned in my last blog, the Stress Number Test tells me that I am suffering from major stress. Now the challenge is what to do about it.  Yes, I will take an aspirin for my tension headache, but I’m not a big fan of drugs to solve long term problems.  I love massages which are great stress reducers.  Actually I REALLY love chair massages. My tension burrows into and under my traps.  Those wonderful ladies in the mall with the massage chairs do wonders for me. One of my favorite stress reducers is the long hot Jacuzzi bath.  A few years back, I did my first home renovation project – a bathroom remodel.  Now I have a wonderful bubbling bath tub for long relaxing soaks.  A recent favorite soak that I make is Epson Salt & Ginger (1 cup Epson & 2 tablespoons Ginger). It eliminates toxins and body aches.  To make my tub experience as relaxing as possible, I am always in search of bath salts, oils and milk baths.  Send me your favorite baths; I’d love to try new recipes. 

What is Your Stress Level Number?

How much stress are we living with? I found this quiz on my computer; I’m not sure when I originally took it, but since I’ve got the start of another tension headache, I thought I’d see where I stood now. Drs Holmes and Rahe developed a list of events and the corresponding amount of stress they cause.  The combined total of both positive and negative stresses in the past year gives you an idea of your current stress level. How many events on this list apply to you?

                        EVENT

- Death of spouse                                                        100

- Divorce                                                                         73

- Marital separation                                                      65

- Jail term                                                                       63

- Death of a close family member                               63

- Personal Injury or illness                                          53

- Marriage                                                                     50

- Fired at work                                                              47

- Marital reconciliation                                                45

- Retirement                                                                 45

- Change In health of family member                       44

- Pregnancy                                                                   40

- Sexual difficulties                                                       39

- Addition of new family member                              39

- Business of adjustment                                             39

- Change in financial status                                         38

- Death of a close friend                                               37

- Change to different line of work                              36

- Change in number of arguments with spouse        35

- Mortgage over $100,000                                          31

- Foreclosure of mortgage or loan                               30

- Change in job responsibilities                                    29

- Child leaving home                                                     29

- Trouble with in-laws                                                  29

- Outstanding personal achievement                          28

- Wife or husband begins or stops work                     26

- Change in living conditions                                         25

- Revision of personal habits                                        24

- Trouble with boss                                                       23

- Change in work hours or conditions                         20

- Change in residence                                                    20

- Change in recreational activities                               19

- Change in church activities                                        19

- Mortgage or loan under $100,000                           17

- Change in sleeping habits                                           16

- Change in number of family get-togethers              15

- Change in eating habits                                               15

- Vacation                                                                        13

- Christmas/Holiday                                                     12

- Minor violations of the law                                        11

Less than 150 = minor stress.

150-199 = mild stress

200-299 = moderate stress

Over 300 = major stress.

Yikes, I scored 15 stressors for over 400 points!  Obviously I have some major stress reducing to do. I’m off to take an Excedrin and a warm bath.

MIA E-Z Pass?

I recently broke down and got an E-Z pass, although, I haven’t gotten around to installing it in my car. When I got it I threw it in my purse and forgot about it. The other day I had to go to Pennsylvania. Before I left, I rooted around my purse looking for the pass – of course I couldn’t find it.  As I approached the toll booth, I rolled the window down to hand the toll to the operator. With a smile on her face, she very politely asked me if I knew I had an E-Z Pass. I thought wow, an efficient government agency; they read my license plate and knew it was E-Z Pass registered. Not so fast.  In reality, I told her I couldn’t find it in my purse & must have left it at home. She said, no it’s in the car & the reader had deducted the toll. Who knew! Now my E-Z Pass is sitting on the console shelf. One day I’ll stick it to the window. In the meantime, I wonder if the E-Z Pass toll reader can find my missing glasses.

National Laughter and Get Rich Day

Today is National Laugh and Get Rich Day. Laughter is good for you. It is a great stress reducer. Laughter strengthens your immune system and reduces food cravings. My friend Diana has developed a wonderful Laughter Yoga Program. Visit her website www.laughterheart.com and enjoy a laugh today. I’ve gone to a few of her classes and they are terrific. We played like children. Laughed like Santa. In general we had a wonderful refreshing time.

Get Rich Day – what to do… I’d love to have a fabulously successful business bringing in bucket loads of money – working on a plan for that. Last week NJ began participating in the Powerball lottery – maybe this will work in the short term.

Got a plan – to celebrate today, I’m watching one of my favorite comedies Operation Petticoat and buying a Powerball ticket.

Don’t forget to laugh today

National Man Day

February 7^th is National Man day, how appropriate that today is also the Superbowl .  Superbowl Sunday, a day to scream at a big screen TV with your buds while drinking Bud and chowing down on chips, dip and wings. I’ll be spending National Man day at Bud’s (and Joanne’s) splitting my time between catching up with the “girls” in the kitchen and the man cave for the big game.  Happy Man day guys may your favorite team win.

Memo from God

I received this the other day from a friend. It lifted me up, so I thought I’d share it with everyone.

To:              YOU

Date:           TODAY

From:          GOD

Subject:       YOURSELF

Reference:    LIFE

This is God.  Today I will be handling ALL of your problems for you.  I do NOT need your help.  So, have a nice day.

I love you.

P.S.  And, remember...

If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do NOT attempt to resolve it yourself!  Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME.  All situations will be resolved, but in MY time, not yours.

Thank God, I can just sit back and enjoy the day.

Love yourself, for if you don't, how can you expect anybody else to love you?

February is National Boost-Your-Self-Esteem Month. Self esteem by definition is your opinion of yourself.  So do you have positive or negative self-esteem? My esteem has taken a beating in recent months, so this February I am recommitting to liking myself. Today I cut & colored my hair. Tomorrow I’m attending a Ladies Lunch Networking event. I intend to finally set a workout schedule (and actually show up at the gym). And that is just the start. What are you doing to boost-your-self-esteem?

Civic Lessons

I hear this was something that was once taught in schools, but I don’t remember it.  In 5^th grade we learned about the states. In 8^th grade we learned about the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  I don’t ever remember being taught how local, county or state government worked. Luckily last week, I heard a speaker, Harry Pozycki, that taught me the basics of New Jersey government. No, not the rampant corruption in the state – that, I did know about. Instead, he spoke about the importance of local government, how easy it is for an ordinary citizen to voice their opinion and influence the direction of their town.

Harry Pozycki founded the Citizen’s Campaign – A Call to Service a group that is striving to “cultivate a culture of service” and develop future leaders. Their website is Justthecampaign.com. The Citizen’s Campaign has been behind legislation and executive orders that have created State level Play-for-Pay reforms and opened local and county board/commission appointments to the general public. This weekend, I took their online course on Appointed Offices. It is a 30 minute emersion into local government. I found it very informative and well worth the time.

Over the weekend, my Councilman Tim Smith updated his Facebook page with information about a grass roots initiative he spearheaded on Government Efficiencies in Morris County. In late January, the 1st report from GEM was released. governmentefficiencymovement.org will provide a copy of the 111 page report. I’m looking forward to the next phase of the movement, particularly on the possible consolidation of the tax assessing and collection process.  

Both of these men, Tim and Harry have shown me that we don’t have to sit back and let government run amuck, that common sense can prevail with governmental entities working together, transparency in government and citizen involvement. They’ve done their part on the first two, now it’s up to me to do my part on the 3^rd.