We all face stress in our lives, and have had situations where we didn’t handle it very well. Some of us find ourselves in a constant state of anxiety, or we know people who seem to be on edge all the time. In this month’s teleseminar, we heard from Paula Marolewski, founder of Thrive Now!, a new venture offering video tutorials on understanding stress, tools for dealing with stress and techniques for not just living but thriving.

When you feel stressed, it is more difficult to handle little incidents; you tend to feel trapped, and have less hope. But you can change. With just 5 to 15 minutes per day, you can regain control and hope in your life, through the videos at Thrive Now!, in the comfort and privacy of your own home.

Paula used the analogy of a pitcher of water to explain what happens when we are stressed. Imagine that all the stressors in our lives (physical problems, family/relationship issues, financial, work related, mental/emotional issues, etc.) are like water in a pitcher. When the pitcher is full, a little more water causes the pitcher to overflow. When that happens with stress, we explode or otherwise behave inappropriately; and yet the last stress that caused the pitcher to overflow may have been minor compared to the larger stressors in the pitcher. We need to find a way to decrease the water level safely.

Paula shared one easy tool for handling stress, which she refers to as the “ABCs of stress management”. When you feel yourself ready to explode, think about these 5 issues:

1. Stop and think about the Activating event that pushed you into the stressed state. Don’t respond or react to the situation.
2. What is your Belief about that activating event?
3. What are the Consequences? What do you fear?
4. Dispute those beliefs and consequences – distinguish between what is true and what is unrealistic.
5. Exchange the unrealistic information with the facts.

These help you calm down, gain perspective and view the situation more realistically.

While this tool can help in the short term, there may be a lot more going on that needs a longer term fix. For instance, there may be a limiting belief that one’s work needs to be perfect, or that you need to make everyone happy; or there may be a physical or chemical imbalance that needs to be addressed. Thrive Now! has videos on helping people recognize the signs or symptoms of chronic stress, and how to uncover and manage the blind spots that underlie the stress. If someone is considering counseling, Thrive Now! has videos on how to find a counselor and what questions to ask to make sure the counselor is right for you.

For more information about Thrive Now!, go to www.ThriveNowSeminars.com. If you know someone who could benefit from this information, please pass it on to them.