The Road to Stress-Free Parenting

When Hilary Clinton was the First Lady she publicly stated
that to raise children properly “It takes a village.” The
reaction of millions of parents was to breathe a huge sigh
of relief, as if to say “Yes, I need help and thank goodness
someone understands that!”

There is no doubt people are thrilled to become parents and
that they absolutely love their children. However, society
has conditioned parents to couple that happiness with fear
and anxiety, stress and worry.

Parents have been misled since the beginning of time into
thinking parenting is the most difficult job in the world.
Parents fall victim to a mindset that says they are solely
responsible for this new life in every sense of the word.
And if that were true, raising a child most definitely would
be a daunting undertaking.

But thank goodness we have progressed enough to know that is
not the truth. Many have come to realize that we are not 100%
responsible for our children.

Now, I am sure that may seem ridiculous to some. The thought
of a parent having an attitude that they are not responsible
for their children probably sounds like the most
irresponsible thing a person can believe.

The truth is that we have come full circle in our culture in
large part due to the recent awareness that has been brought
to the forefront concerning the universal law of attraction.
Based on the principles of the law of attraction, parents not
only have a village to look to for support and guidance, they
have the whole darn Universe! And here’s the best part, all
you have to do to receive the help of the Universe is to ask
for it and allow it.

Unfortunately, this is where many parents are missing out.
While millions of people are thrilled beyond measure to
study the law of attraction, put the principles into action
in their lives to attract and manifest things and
situations, they are hesitant in accepting the fact that
those same principles when applied to relationships
(including those with your children) will have just as much
of an impact as when you focus on achieving a better job or
receiving more money.

I hear everyday from parents of children of all ages and the
majority shares the same mindset about parenting. In fact,
usually one of the first comments they make is, “Parenting
is the hardest job in the world!” And so what do you think
their experience as a parent is like? For them, it IS the
hardest job in the world!

They have no problem accepting and practicing the principle
that states what you think and focus on will expand and
become your reality when they desire a new car or a nicer
home but when it comes to raising their children they
believe it is all up to them. The truth is that the law of
attraction is in effect all the time in all areas of our
life.

Changing your mindset to one that sees parenting as a
blessing to be honored and shared and full of joy will bring
a joyful, blessed experience. The hesitancy of many parents
to let go of over-parenting their children is what gets in
the way of having a positive experience.

It all starts with you, the parent. And it begins in your
mind with your thoughts. The Universe is working for you and
with you. All you need to do is allow and trust.

About the Author:

About the Author:
Denny Hagel was raised with an understanding of the
principles of the law of attraction long before it became a
household word. She has purposefully studied and practiced
these principles for over 20 years and is dedicated to
helping parents empower their children with an understanding
of these principles, thus providing them with the skills to
create the life they were born to live.
=>http://www.missingsecrettoparenting.com

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Stress Management Program and Brain Fitness?

Your stress management program is an inside job. In other
words, stress is a physiology that exists inside my body.
Most of us have learned to link the external world to our
physiology, by blaming the outside for the inside.

(For example, I will not have stress when I earn more money.
That is not necessarily true).

In order to manage that physiology I am going to have to
manage my inside chemistry, which is linked to my
perceptions, what I think, how I breathe, my heart rate
variability coherence, how I eat…any number of variables.

When I am advocating a stress management plan to my clients,
I like to use the brain fitness model, which is based on
enhancing the recently discovered capacity of the human
brain to grow more neurons.

That capacity is called neurogenesis, and neurogenesis is
hampered if not stopped by an exposure to stress hormones,
according to Simon Evans,Ph.D. and Paul Burghardt,Ph.D.,
authors of the excellent book Brainfit for Life. Evans and
Burghardt talk in clear language about the necessary steps
to enhancing neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, which is the
brain’s ability to form new connections subsequent to
learning new information, sometimes within minutes.

And Evans and Burghardt emphasize the need to review that
new information so your brain solidifies the new circuits
and keeps them.

The brain is a big user of energy, and the brain is very
efficient at eliminating unnecessary circuits in order to
conserve energy.

But back to the plan to enhance neurogenesis by following a
brain fitness program.

The Pillars of Brain Fitness and Your Stress Management
Program

We know by now that the reward for following a lifestyle
based on attending to the four pillars of brain fitness is a
bigger brain through neurogenesis, and I lean to the side of
the discussion that says a bigger brain is a good thing.

So what are the pillars of brain fitness?

They are physical exercise, nutrition including lots of
omega 3 fatty acid and antioxidants, good sleep, stress
management (!), and novel learning experiences.

Physical Exercise and Your Stress Management Plan

Evans and Burghardt go into great detail about how physical
exercise is the most important brain fitness pillar.

And there is good news for you if you think that you will be
required to throw around heavy barbells and buy expensive gym
memberships just to have new neurons. After all, how
important can new brain growth be?

Well, actually the physical activity required for your
stress management program and your brain fitness is exercise
of the deep breathing kind, and if you are walking around the
block, walk a little faster for a little longer to signal
your brain that your are serious about the growth of new
neurons.

Nutritional Pillar of Your Stress Management As you might
expect, nutrition is very important to both your stress
management program and your brain fitness. It is imperative
that you quit eating processed food. No way around it, you
need the phytochemicals, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals,
fiber, ect. from real food, not food that is designed to
outlast the effects of a nuclear war.

Your brain uses about 20% of the fuel you burn daily, so
there are a lot of chemical reactions in your head, all of
which can release free radicals, which cause the aging
process.

Antioxidants sop up those free radicals for you, so eat a
lot of fruit and vegetables to keep antioxidants available.

Omega 3 fatty acid is important to your stress management
and brain fitness because your neurons are about 70% omega 3
fatty acid and if that supply of fatty acid is not
replenished, those neurons get brittle and do not
effectively communicate.

Garbled chat between neurons is not good. The best source of
omega 3 fatty acid is fish, or you can supplement.

Stress Reduction By Heart Rate Variability?

I have been a user and teacher of heart rate variability
biofeedback, now called emWave, for about ten years. I love
it. Regular practice has given me the ability to manage the
inside of my body heart beat by heart beat when I choose to
pay attention to the brain in my heart.

What I mean by that is there are still times when I choose
to stress myself unnecessarily, and even to keep that
distress when I could have the heart rate variability
biofeedback eustress. Progress not perfection.

But I was really amazed to see the endorsement of this
biofeedback tool by Alvaro Fernandez, who is the author of
the SharpBrains blog which tracks all things brain fitness.

So if you want to explore a heart beat by heart beat stress
management plan, then then by all means try out heart rate
variability biofeedback.

What Can Possibly Be Stress Reducing About Novel Learning
Experiences?

Novel learning experience is important for bringing those
new neurons into existing circuits, where they can begin to
help out building cognitive reserve, which is very important
if your brain happens to be one of the Baby Boomer brains, or
really important if your brain is a Senior brain.

Novel learning experience is usually catagorized for our
brain fitness purposes as the kind of learning that happens
when you learn a new language or a new instrument.

If you are like me, you do not have time to put into a
language or instrument, so using one of the newly minted
computerized brain fitness programs could be beneficial.

Can you imagine yourself following a stress management
program based on the four pillars of brain fitness?

I can. I will take relaxation and a bigger brain as an
worthy endgame.

About the Author:

Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, counselor, a
student of Chi Gong, and a licensed one on one HeartMath
provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and
psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and
Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing.
http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

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Male Depression – 7 Steps to Immunity From Male Depression!

Male depression is often denied, not discussed and can go
unrecognised by men themselves and their doctors. It is hard
to accept that you are experiencing this issue if you have
always thought of yourself as a strong and indomitable
person,only to now discover that you are feeling completely
the opposite!

No matter what label we use, the fact is, as Benjamin
Franklin once said”an ounce of prevention is worth a pound
of cure” and the best prevention is to build resilience.
Whether you are going through depression at this moment or
feeling chronically stressed or anxious, here are some ways
to help build physical as well as mental strength and to put
you in good stead for the future.

1.Get married (to the right person, of course!). Research
has discovered that being married reduces the risk of
developing anxiety and depression. If you experience
conflict or problems, as we all do, deal with them
immediately rather than avoid them which will create chronic
stress.

2. Exercise. Apparently doing aerobic exercise such as
walking, cycling or using a cross-trainer for 30 minutes
just 3 times a week can be just as effective in treating
depression as taking antidepressants.

3. Watch Your Diet. Research has found that deficiency in
omega 3 fatty acids can cause depression. Cooked salmon
provides omega 3 which the body can absorb well. If cooked
salmon is not an option try taking omega 3 oil capsules.

4. Change Your Mind Set. It has been found that when
optimistic people face a problem, they believe it is
temporary and can be solved. They also tend to place the
blame outside of themselves whereas depressed people tend to
blame others or themselves and view the problem as permanent.

So, change the way you look at things by realising there is
nobody to blame but just a problem to be solved and there
are always solutions available.

5. Strengthen Your Character. A good skill to develop is to
learn how to perceive crises as opportunities to grow from
and to focus on the positive meaning of situations to create
positive results in life.

6. Foster Calm In Your Life. Learn some relaxation
techniques and practice them daily even if just for 10
minutes. They will help give you energy to cope with
anything.

7. Accept Change. Though it may be hard to let go of pride
and of the role you are used to playing, learning to accept
that all things change and that change is can be a good
thing will go a long way to helping you flow with life
rather than resist it and stress yourself out.

Male depression can be prevented and cured if you invest in
your mental and physical health now.

About the Author:

Male Depression – If negative memories are keeping you stuck
in anxiety and depression and you would like to change your
life, can learn more here here:
http://www.erasebadmemoriesnow.com

Sign up now for our regular Newsletter at
http://WWW.CureAnxietyAndDepression.Com – full of
motivational tips and suggestions, helping you take your
next step towards a calmer life!

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Personal Development Training – A Publishing Phenomenon

Here’s a rather nice article by Martin Avis who writes the Kickstart Newsletter

I can personally recommend Martin, his newsletter and his ‘world view’.

Check it out using the link above.

Personal development training is a huge industry that has its
roots in thousands of years old religious writing. Ever since
humans came together in societies, there has been a yearning
among many to improve our lot in life, to achieve bigger success
and to live as better, more organized, more efficient people.

It was only really at the end of the 19th and the beginning of
the 20th centuries that the whole self-improvement movement
really started to take off.

Early pioneers of what we have now come to know as bestselling
life coach courses, such as Napoleon Hill and Dale Carnegie paved
the way for a massive explosion of personal growth experts and
motivational speakers to emerge – and greatly change the way that
21st century thinking has developed.

It is no longer thought of as strange or maverick to want to
improve your life. Tony Robbins told us how to unlock the giant
within us all. All we have to do is follow the instructions.

An entire new language of personal development training emerged -
Neuro Linguistic Programming – NLP for short – has merged the
sometimes wooly self help advice that early writers published
with hard-hitting, proven psychological principles. It is no
longer enough to simply repeat affirmations to bring about change
in you life – NLP gives you powerful tools to reprogram your mind
away from the things that are holding you back and into patterns
that will almost force you to succeed.

Personal development training, as we now know it, really got
started with the publication of a book called ‘As a Man Thinketh’
in 1902, by an English writer called James Allen. He told his
readers that you don’t necessarily get what you want in life, but
you do tend to get the things that you most consistently think
about.

At the time, that was a revolutionary idea: that we are in
control of our own destiny and that our way of thinking can
change our way of being. It became a bestseller and still gets
much critical acclaim more than 100 years later.

The people who most took the message, that success comes from
thinking successful thoughts, to heart were publishers. They saw
the future and the future was personal development training!
Nobody knows how many selfhelp books have been published in the
110 years since, but the best seller lists always have several
high in the charts.

It is estimated that over half a billion copies of self
improvement books have been sold, and the real total may be even
higher.  Type ‘self help books’ into Amazon and they’ll present
you with almost 105,000 to choose from. And with the current
ebook explosion in full force, the personal development industry
is growing even faster than ever before.

Does the vast array of books, courses, CDs, tapes and DVDs that
characterize the personal growth market suggest that it is all
hot air: castles of hope built on shifting sands?

I don’t think so. It seems to me that the hope that we can change
our lot in life, the promise that a few simple actions will turn
our circumstances around and the idea that we only have to follow
the advice of a few charismatic trainers who have discovered the
secret is what personal development training is all about. Yes,
it is selling dreams, but dreams can come true.

And it is so much better to live with dreams that can come true
than to merely exist without them.

10-Minute Stress Busters for Working Mums

A lot of working mums will agree that balancing a great
career and a happy family life can mean bringing the weight
of the world on their shoulders. The idea of a taxing
career and kid to take care of at the same time can exhaust
the air out of any woman, particularly those who do not know
how to relax after a long day at work.

Mums easily shun away from the thought of taking a breather
even after being advised by online life coaching experts.
For many, there just isn’t enough time for one. However,
what most do not know is that it doesn’t take much to get a
real, invigorating break. In fact, this article will tell
you that there are many stress-relieving activities that you
can squeeze into your busy schedule—and they don’t even
take longer than ten minutes!

1. Be a bathing beauty.

Never underestimate the power of a warm bubble bath! It’s a
time-tested technique to ease a person’s fatigue after a
stressful day in the office. Pick your favorite bubble bath
cream and make yourself a relaxing bath. Light some scented
candles and play soothing music in your bathroom. Immerse
yourself in your warm watery bliss and let the soapy water
wash all your tension away!

2. Indulge your sweet tooth.

You might have been watching your weight every since you
gained your pregnancy pounds. Now that you have made it to
having a baby and keeping your job, it’s high time you
reward yourself. Yes, it’s the opportune moment to have your
dessert fix! Indulge your taste buds with your favorite ice
cream or make a sumptuous chocolate fudge from a simple
brownie mix. Forget the calories. Tonight is the night you
will follow your sweet tooth’s desire.

3. Have a power nap.

Lunch break or coffee break? Instead of lingering in the
office cafeteria after your meal or going over to the vendo
machine, try staying inside your cubicle for a quick power
nap. Many women have learned through professional coaching
that this short siesta can do wonders for you. Catnaps can
up your energy to a level you have not anticipated.

4. Phone-a-friend.

Making a short phone call to a trusted pal is not only
beneficial in game shows but in your life as a working mum
as well. Dial your friend’s number and engage in a brief
chat. A little catching up can later leave you feeling happy
and jovial. It will also lift up your spirits if you get to
share the challenges of work and motherhood with a friend
who is in the same boat with you. You will learn that you
are not alone in your journey and this will definitely keep
you positive and encouraged.

5. Keep a journal.

Having a journal is not just for teenage girls. It is even
more helpful for working mums who are living each day with
tons and tons of new experience. Immortalizing your
blessings and challenges through the written word will make
it possible for you to go through them in the future and
thereby help you appreciate the things you have accomplished
and the events you have been through.

These are just some of the numerous ways to alleviate the
load of motherhood. Professionals who specialize in coaching
for women assert that it is important to always have a “mom
time,” even if it is just ten minutes a day. This will make
a big difference in your everyday life as a working mum.

About the Author:

Amanda Alexander, Director of Coaching Mums, helps
pressure-cooked, exhausted working mums who long for more
hours in the day. Through her professional coaching
programmes and online coaching courses, Amanda helps mums to
create a balanced, fulfilling life that works for them. For
self-coaching tips tailored to working mums, sign up for
Inspire, our free newsletter at http://www.coachingmums.com

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Does Today Feel Like a Perfect Day?

The dawn of each new day and each new moment is flawless even when it seems flawed by our thinking and emotions.

When things are going well it’s easier to say or think, “today is a perfect day”, but when times are trying in your personal and/or professional life, it can be difficult to see beyond the present empasse or loss.

What once seemed like it couldn’t be more ideal soon can be filled with sadness, doubt, worry, anxiety, and angst.

What happened to those wonderful, exciting, fun, passion filled days? Where did they go?

They didn’t go anywhere. They are hidden in the perfection of imperfections in occurences.

The problem lies not in the actual event happening, but in our thinking towards it.

We can become engulfed by our emotions or pretend they don’t exist but they’re there and can become triggered by situations or people.

We can close ourselves off from the wonderous ways and the grander plan because we spend endless hours, days, weeks, or years wondering “why” things occured or shouldn’t have occured, or trying to bypass them all together.

When you are going through tough times, I’m sure the last word you would use to describe it is “perfect”, and the world doesn’t seem to wonderous at that time either, does it?

You may even begin to lose faith that things will ever get better or you may become stuck in the mindset of questioning why God would allow this to happen.

Wonderful? It may feel far from it, but something is about to change even though it may not feel ideal at the time or for some time, but rest assure it’s opening up new beginnings for you.

When challenging people or situations occur and you feel you are spiraling down into the abyss of emotions, or running for the hills to escape them, remember these imperfect times are really perfect for your growth and expansion.

View stressful situations as just the right thing you need to move forward.

We can’t always change things that occur in our lives, but we can change the way we move through them.

Paramahansa Yogananda said, “You should look at life unmasked, in the mirror of your experiences… Look at the perpetual current of emotions and thoughts that arise within you…Seek understanding with your highest intelligence, wisdom, love and vision.”

The next time you are having a day, week, month, or year that seems less than ideal remember it’s perfect just the way it is because it’s opening new beginnings, possibilities, mindsets, opportunities, and ways of being even if you don’t see the bigger picture at the time.

All things happen at the perfect time for the perfect orchestrated plan.

Find out how using my technique into insight can assist you in seeing the perfection in the imperfections in yourself and life.

About the Author:

Kimberley Cohen is the Founder, Facilitator and Personal Insight Coach of The Insight Technique. She founded the Insight Technique™ – Your Insight to genuine Happiness, Purpose and Prosperity to assist herself and others in transforming limiting mindsets.

Soar through the limiting beliefs holding you back and experience the freedom of unlimited possibilities. http://www.TheInsightTechnique.com

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