I hope that you are enjoying this series on stress and that you’ve been finding our tips and techniques for reducing that cortisol both useful and enjoyable. In this month’s Quick-Seat Chair blog, there is a little questionnaire that you can answer as a self-check. Remember that stress can be very subtle especially if you are one of those people who has a high tolerance for it. You can use the questionnaire once a week, or anytime that you know you’re going to go into a stress-trigger situation such as extra work-loads, a family crisis, personal emotional drains and so on. That way, although you may not be able to alleviate the events in your life, you can cauterize the stress.
You Know You Are Stressed
If You Can Answer Yes To More Than 2 Of These Questions
1. Do you wake up feeling exhausted?
2. Do you find yourself angry behind the wheel, using the horn, reacting angrily?
3. Do you react angrily to store managers, secretaries,
other people who are serving you when things aren’t as you want them?
4. Are you avoiding those activities that normally are enjoyable?
5. Are you forgetting things? Losing where you put things more than usual?
6. Do you no longer have time to do the things that are important to you such as keeping your home clean and neat, auto maintenance, keeping up with family and friends?
7. Do you find yourself crying at the drop of a hat or reacting angrily for almost no reason?
8. Are you having sleep problems?
9. Are your allergies worse?
10. Are you too tired for anything?
11. Headaches?
12. Aches and pains?
If you have two or more of these stress signs, we’re here to help with all of the tried and true methods that we know will bring relief. This is an all time favorite here at Quick-Seat Chair.
The Calm Scene
(Developed by Dr. Francis Cheek, PhD.)
Let’s create your own Personal Calm Scene. Wherever you are, in bed, sitting in a comfortable chair, or on the battlefield of stress at the office, close your eyes and think of the happiest thought you can. There are a couple of rules about creating the Calm Scene. You must be alone. Make sure that your Calm Scene is not connected to a sad or lonely time in your life. Your Calm Scene can be a place you have been as a child, or a place where you would like to go. Just remember that you must be alone. This is your journey, a journey to your inner landscape, which must only conjure up serenity and happy thoughts. It can be a walk on the boardwalk near the ocean where people are, as long as they are not connected to you in anyway. Once you have decided on what scenario best serves as your Calm Scene, you just close your eyes and let yourself go there. Visualize everything connected to it. Are there flowers, the ocean, a serene path on a wooded trail? Do you find a treasure? Remember, this is your personal, secret journey and you can create this oasis of calm anyway that works best for you. The next time you feel stress rising up, switch mentally to your Calm Scene to help you immediately enter the next task from a place of calm and not from the jagged edge of stress.
Stay tuned next time for Part 6 in this series.
Quick-Seat Chair. Temporary Seating That Closes Itself