Stressed?

“Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress, working hard for something we love is called passion.” - Simon O. Sinek (author and consultant on leadership).

We all know the dangers of stress. Stress can promote disease, compromise your immune system, hurt your heart and ruin your teeth and gums. It also makes it difficult to control your emotions, make you gain weight and can make you look older. That’s not a healthy list.

WebMD identifies various ways to relax your mind from focusing on the present to meditation and to relax your body from breathing techniques to exercise. Shawn Achor in The Happiness Advantage suggests additional strategies to stimulate the left pre-frontal cortex where positive emotions lie.

Gratitude: Identify 3 new things to be grateful for Journaling: 1 positive experience in the last 24 hours Random acts of kindness: For example, send 1 email praising or thanking someone Shawn’s research shows that raising your level of positive in the present not only reduces stress, it improves performance

The brain is 31% more productive 37% increase in sales performance 19% increase in doctors diagnosis accuracy and speed Dopamine makes you happier and turns on all the learning centers in your brain Every time I start a workshop or a coaching session, I need to tell people my age. In my profession of executive coaching, one needs to be of a senior age. People are constantly surprised when I tell them I’m 60. Of course my fitness regimen impacts it, but the real difference is every day, I get to use my passion in my job. I feel like I’m doing what I was meant to do. What a stress reducer!