Stress
It’s like she was a jar with the lid screwed on too tight, and inside the jar were pickles, angry pickles, and they were fermenting, and about to explode.”
Some stress is good, it can even help with productivity, engagement and success.
Short bursts of high stress are OK and even beneficial if managed properly and released.
Stress becomes a problem when it is ongoing with no release or let up.
Our brains do a poor job distinguishing between daily stress and life-threatening events.
Common External Sources of Stress
- Workplace Stress
- Family Stress
- Relationship Stress
- Dating Stress
- Gambling Stress
- Credit and Debt Stress
- Holiday Stress
- School Stress
- Mental Stress
- Parenting Stress
- Marriage Stress
- General Financial Stress
Internal Sources of Stress
- Chronic worry
- Pessimism
- Rigid thinking, lack of flexibility
- Negative self-talk
- Unrealistic expectations/Perfectionism
- All-or-nothing attitude
What is the cause of all this stress?
In days gone by we would run, or fight, yell, and tremble, which all served to release the build-up of stress and stress hormones. We also had more down time than we do now.
In our modern ‘civilised world’ we don’t have the same opportunities to release stress, the world is awake 24/7.
We are often unaware that our bodies are reacting to everyday things; like the ding of our phone or the appearance of an email, the worry about our weight or finances, or the day to day juggle of life, the toxins in our food and environment. And we do react to these as if they were threats to our survival by releasing stress hormones which instruct our bodies to act in a protective way.
We often have too much to deal with on a weekly, daily, hourly basis.
On a physical level the ongoing stress and constant high level of stress hormones can reduce our immunity, leading to inflammation, which may progress on to disease and illness and the often gradual breakdown of our bodies.
On a cognitive level with continual stress, we stop functioning from the logical ‘thinking’ part of our brain, and as part of the natural fear response we move into the ‘emotional’ part of our brain. When operating from the ‘emotional’ part of our brain our reactions are subconscious – driven by our early life learnings (beliefs). We become more reactive, we can’t think straight, our memory becomes impaired, we might act out of character and have mood swings and feel out of control.
We can think of ourselves as stress pressure cookers. We can cruise along just fine putting stress in and letting some out, maintaing a balance. The problems arise when the outlet gets blocked or the cooker gets too full. Then it can take just one more seemingly little thing for the whole lot to blow. This can show up as outbursts, acting out, illness, skin problems, not thinking clearly, sleep problems….
Tapping is shown to reduce cortisol (a stress hormone), in one group trial by 43%. Regular tapping at home can help manage your stress. Barb works with you reduce your stress levels and get to the source of your stress and stress reactions to release these.
How is stress showing up in your life?
Cognitive Symptoms
- Memory problems
- Inability to concentrate
- Poor judgment
- Seeing only the negative
- Anxious or racing thoughts
- Constant worrying
Emotional Symptoms
- Depression or general unhappiness
- Anxiety and agitation
- Moodiness, irritability, or anger
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Loneliness and isolation
- Other mental or emotional health problems
Physical Symptoms
- Aches and pains
- Diarrhea or constipation
- Nausea, dizziness
- Chest pain, rapid heartbeat
- Loss of sex drive
- Frequent colds or flu
- Skin issues
Behavioural Symptoms
- Eating more or less
- Sleeping too much or too little
- Withdrawing from others
- Procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities
- Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax
- Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)
- More screen time
Our brains have one job; to keep us alive and so will use the strategies it is familiar with, right or wrong, in its attempts to keep us safe and alive. Tapping, Matrix and NLP, are great tools to reduce the effects of stress at any point and are helpful in retraining your brain with new effective strategies.
Benefits of Reduced Stress
- Raised energy levels
- Raised enthusiasm
- Weight loss
- Improved memory and brain function
- Better relationships
- Better sleep
- Improved physical and mental health
- Positive outlook
Are you ready to master your stress?
Emotional Freedom Technique (tapping) is now proven through clinical studies and MRi scans to reduce stress levels and therefore cortisol levels, it calms the brain. As the emotional part of the brain calms you are able to move back into the thinking, logical, decision making part of your brain, and make better choices.
EFT is effective as a stress management tool to reduce daily levels, it has been shown to reduce cortisol levels by as much as 24% in one hour!
EFT can greatly enhance any relaxation techniques you already use.
EFT provides you with self-help tools allowing you relief from stress and opening up an overall better quality of life.
EFT is effective for deeper work, understanding the root causes of your stress
Learn more about EFT
How Can Working with Barb Empower You?
Barb will work with you to bring your current stress levels down and you will learn tools that you can use at home to reduce and manage your stress levels.
You can then choose to go further and look at the way stress is showing up in your life and get specific to reduce symptoms and effects and eliminate the cause
Barb is also well equipped to help you get the root cause/s of your stress, the beliefs that are no longer helpful to your quality of life and explore and develop new and healthy beliefs that support the life that you want. Click here for more information.
Are you Ready?
Contact Barb Today!
Call Barb at 021 173 5743
Email Barb at barb@empoweryou.co.nz
Barb's Hours
Barb is available Monday through Saturday.
Phone or text Barb on 021 1735743.