Healthy Reflections Newsletter 
                       http://www.mentalhealthcorner.com 
                                    
 
 

Linda Young, Ph.D.

Marriage and Family Therapist
Publisher
 
January 22, 2008
 
 
In This Issue
Rules For Low-Stress Working
Quotes To Ponder
Mental Health Dictionary
When Your Self-Confidence Takes A Nose Dive
Today's Sponsor
Hopefully, most of us had a restful and reflective Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday yesterday.  As we settle back into a work week, I thought it might be helpful to include in this edition a short article on "Rules for Low-Stress Working".  The article outlines some useful, practical ways we can strive to reduce the level of stress we experience on the job.  Also, included is an article on positive and negative self-talk, entitled "When Your Self-Confidence Takes A Nose Dive."
 
I invite you to give me feedback on articles or topics you'd like to see in Healthy Reflections newsletter.  Your comments or questions are always welcomed.  You can reach me at: feedback@mentalhealthcorner.com.
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Rules For Low-Stress Working
 
1.  Build rewarding, pleasant, cooperative relationships with as many of your co-workers as possible.
 
2.  Rate your work by order of importance and manage your time effectively.
 
3.  Build an effective and supportive relationship with your boss.  Try to understand his or her problems and help your boss to understand yours.
 
4.  Inform your boss about your workload in order to keep assignments reasonable.
 
5.  Negotiate reasonable deadlines on important projects with your supervisor.  Be prepared to propose deadlines yourself rather than having them imposed upon you.
 
6.  Find time every day for detachment and relaxation.  Close your door for five minutes each morning and afternoon and take a "five minute visualization break."
 
7.  Make a noise survey of your office area and find ways to reduce unnecessary racket.
 
8.  Get away from your office or cubicle from time to time for a change of scene and a change of mind.  Don't eat lunch at your desk.
 
9.  Limit interruptions.  Try to schedule certain periods of "interruptability" each day but conserve periods of time during the day in which you are not to be interrupted.
 
10. Make sure you know how to delegate effectively.
 
11.  Don't put off dealing with distasteful problems.  Accept short-term stress instead of the long-term anxiety and discomfort of avoidance.
 
12.  Make a constructive "worry list."  Write down problems that concern you and beside each, write down what you're going to do about them.  Get your worries out into the open where you can deal with them.
 
 
Taken from Stress and the Manager by Albrecht and Selye.
 
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Quotes To Ponder:
 
The measure of mental health is the disposition to find good everywhere.
----Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
Take the first step in faith.  You don't have to see the whole staircase.  Just take the first step.   --- Martin Luther King, Jr.
 
If I could wish for my life to be perfect, it would be tempting, but I would have to decline, for life would no longer teach me anything.
--- Allyson Jones
 
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Mental Health Dictionary

Couples Counseling and Family Therapy:

 
These two similar approaches to therapy involve discussions and problem-solving sessions facilitated by a therapist-sometimes with the couple or entire family group, sometimes with individuals. Such therapy can help couples and family members improve their understanding of, and the way they respond to, one another. This type of therapy can resolve patterns of behavior that might lead to more severe mental illness. Family therapy can help educate the individuals about the nature of mental disorders and teach them skills to cope better with the effects of having a family member with a mental illness-such as how to deal with feelings of anger or guilt.
 
--- National Institutes of Mental Health
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When You Self Confidence Takes A Nosedive
 
So you've had a couple of failures. You've applied for a few jobs but got turned away, the person you loved has dumped you for somebody else ... and your self confidence took a nosedive. You find yourself thinking "I'm not worthy, I'm not clever, there is nothing good about me...". However, that doesn't mean you are 'no good' and it's vital to avoid such self destructive thoughts.  Life has its ups and downs and we all have dips in our self confidence from time to time when things don't go how we would like them to go.
 
Regardless of the cause, giving yourself a whole set of negative suggestions internally will only reinforce your feelings of worthlessness. Watch what you're saying to yourself: "I'm not intelligent", "I'm not talented" and so on ... You've got to get out of this negative self talk! Your subconscious mind responds to these self suggestions and will try to do everything to fulfill them. So if you constantly repeat to yourself you are not talented, you're programming your subconscious to shut off your creative resources.
 
It's been said that the conscious mind is the general and the subconscious mind is the army.  Whatever we tell our subconscious, it works hard to make reality.  If you can catch yourself every time you fall into negative self talk and replace it with a positive one, your subconscious mind will reprogram the old negative pattern and find resources to fulfill the newly formed positive program.
 
Remember, you create your reality with your thoughts and words so be careful what you say to yourself and others!
 
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Today's Sponsor
 
Best-selling author Michael Webb has put together 1,000 of the most important questions couples should ask each other in order to deepen their relationship.  These questions are designed to help you really get to know the thoughts, feelings and desires of your loved one or spouse. 
 
To learn more about 1000 Questions for Couples, go to:
 
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                    Healthy Reflections Newsletter
                                       http://www.mentalhealthcorner.com
                                     Linda Young, Ph.D., LMFT
                                                Publisher
                                           (850) 656-1404
                             email:  info@mentalhealthcorner.com
 
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