Two Ways to Stop Stressing and Stay Positive

Two Ways to Stop Stressing and Stay Positive
By Guest Blogger – Gordon Simmons

Imagine constantly trying to do something you’re not very good at, something that does not utilize your best strengths. Day after day, you struggle through. You might improve over time and learn skills you didn’t have before, but because the activity is not a core strength, you’ll expend a lot of time and energy only to meet with mediocre results at best. Like success author Jack Canfield says, it’s like driving a car with the emergency brake on.

But what if you decided to take that energy and use it to build on your strengths, something that is more natural for you? Imagine how far that might take you. Right now much of the world is watching the Olympics, and you can bet that the people who accept the gold on that podium know the benefits of capitalizing on their strengths.

You can benefit from the very same mindset. Make a decision now to understand your strengths, and then endeavor to use them, improve upon them, and benefit from them even more. Release the emergency brake!

Here are two things you can do right now to stop stressing and stay positive:

Number one: Take ten minutes or so and write down as many of your strengths as you can think of.  As my friend from Texas used to say:  “It ain’t braggin’ if it’s true!” Keep in mind that this exercise isn’t designed to turn you into a braggart. It will simply let you see on paper that you have many strengths. When you are done, your list might look something like this:

I am a good listener
I play the piano pretty well
I am a very safe driver
I am very good at hitting deadlines
I possess a great imagination
It’s easy for me to be a member of a team

And so on . . .

Your strengths can be somewhat general to very specific. When you have your list, take some time to reflect on what you do well, and then think of some ways you can use one of those strengths to your benefit. You can apply your strengths to your current job, to relationships, to activities, to community service, to any area of your life.

The purpose of this exercise is to get you focusing on what you are good at so that you can do more of it. That’s one way to stop stressing and to begin enjoying yourself more. The formula is simple: Do more of what you like and are good at, and do less of what you aren’t so good at.

As you employ this idea, you’ll constantly reinforce positive feelings you have about yourself, which will in turn make you feel better  You’ll find this repeating over and over.

The second activity you can do is to keep a success journal. Ideally every night take a few minutes and write down the successes you experienced throughout the day. Write down at least five. So often it’s easy to get caught up in what went wrong during the day; we forget about all the stuff that went right. Remind yourself in writing each night exactly what went right. Include both big and small successes. A night’s list might look like this:

1.      I got to work on time!
2.      I remembered to send Joe a birthday card.
3.      I made the sale!
4.      I made time for my son by playing his favorite a video game with him.
5.      I balanced my checkbook.

Constantly focusing on your weaknesses saps your energy and multiplies stress, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Focusing on your strengths won’t necessarily make your weaknesses go away, but it is always better to put positive energy to work in place of negative energy.

Author Mike Dooley is fond of saying “thoughts become things” and that is true. Each statement you make is a creation, and when you are involved in activities that do not tap into your core strengths you end up creating a lot of “I can’t. . .” and “I’m not . . .” thinking. Over time, those thoughts become your reality. Focusing on your strengths lets you choose to turn toward more empowering thoughts so they become your reality.

Everyone has strengths. Identify yours, and then get to work employing them every day and create the life you want to live.

Gordon Simmons and Tracy Brown, started Happiness Inside because they truly believe that when people turn their awareness inward, they can begin to discover how to become happier.  And I agree! Just like getting fit is no mystery, getting happier isn’t really complicated either. And yet, both can be difficult if you don’t have support, knowledge, drive, and a set of tools you can use to accomplish the job. So they started www.HappinessInside.com Because they know that when you are happier, so are your friends and family – and even their friends and family. What if we could get millions of people focusing on increasing their happiness? What wonderful ripple effect could be created in the world?