Four StressBusters to Eliminate Lousy Feelings

Have you ever suddenly discovered in the middle of a conversation or word-processing a report you felt really lousy?

Like the burst of a lightning bolt, you realize somewhere, somehow, within yourself, your mind and body is off kilter.

Well, what is your strategy? Forget pills or calling 911, it is not a wake-up call from the Angel of Death, it is merely a signal from your right-brain area called the Fight-or-Flight Syndrome.

Ever feel the cumulative effect of too many meetings or presentations, how about a miasma of fear-of-failure or rejection? Let us label it Chronic Stress: people, places or things being the boss of you.

Would it be nice if you could take a two-minute break and eliminate this loop of negative thoughts and feelings?

We call it Behavioral Intelligence Strategies (BIS); it is fast and easy-to-learn, and a skill our ten-year old graduates use.

The Bear Claw

No deep cognitive explanations are required it is a skill thing, and a baby-simple one at that.

a) Shake hands with yourself by gripping the finger-tips of your left hand pulling against the finger-tips of your right hand. The fingertips of one claw are pulling against the fingertips of the other one.

b) Close your eyes and visualize you are competing in a five-fingertip pulling contest with Two-Ton Tony Galento. But wait you have to keep even with him not win.

c) Pull using all the power of your dominant hand (right), while your passive hand (left), is staying-the-course into a draw.

d) Now open your eyes and focus on your fingertips pulling against each other (for the second sixty-seconds). Take a deep breath and as you exhale slowly pull with all your strength left-fingertips against right-fingertips.

e) This is an isometric exercise equal to lifting up to two-hundred pounds of weight. Take another deep breath and as you exhale,

let your eyes-and-mouth smile widely as you continue to do the

Bear Claw exercise.

Two minutes have expired and all your stress and strain, anxiety and tension have left your mind and body. Elvis has left the building, and you are feeling deeply relaxed and better-and-better.

Temple Massage

a) Relax you neck muscles and drop your Chin down toward your chest. Permit it to relax.

b) Close your eyes and create a mental-movie of enjoying a day at the beach. Feel the luxurious sun on your face. Let it make you feel so-o relaxed.

c) Use both hands to massage your temples clockwise for one-minute. Keep visualizing yourself at the beach, while your fingers are messaging your temples. Do it slowly one-dozen times.

d) Eyes open, still at the beach, start to massage both your

temples with the fingers of each hand Counter-clockwise.

Do it slowly one-dozen times.

Two-minutes have expired and all the stress and strain, anxiety and tension have left your body and mind. You are feeling deeply relaxed and better-and-better.

Ear-to-Shoulder Exercise.

a) Head straight up. Now press your left ear downward

toward your left-shoulder.

b) Close your eyes and mentally visualize yourself in a pool of cool, clear water. Move your head upright from the left- shoulder. Let your head drop down again and move it upright once again. Do it gently a total of 12 times. It takes just one-minute.

c) Open your eyes and drop your head down to your right-shoulder. Same exercise move your head to an upright posture, and down again to the shoulder slowly twelve-times. It takes another one minute.

Two minutes have expired and you are feeling very re-laxed, and better-and-better. You are exercising the muscles, tendons and ligaments of your neck, and increase the blood flow to the your neck.

Shoulder-Roll

a) Sitting or standing, place your right hand on your right-hip and rotate your right-shoulder twelve-times in a large 360 degree circle. Do six rotations left-to-right, and six more right-to-left to complete your dozen reps.

b) Switch to placing your left hand on your left-hip, and rotate your left-shoulder a total of twelve-times in a large circle. Do six rotations left-to-right, and another six right-to-left to complete your dozen reps.

Endwords

Why bother doing these simple exercises, what can they do for you?

Research on over one-thousand indicates your mind follows your body, as well as vice-versa. Manipulating your body appears to trigger the nerves to release endorphins (pleasure hormones), to sooth away stress, anxiety and tension.

A two-minute Behavioral Intelligence Strategy appears to offer positive feedback and deep relaxation for up to 90 minutes. Sounds like a good cost-benefit analysis to me.

See ya,

copyright 2006
H. Bernard Wechsler
www.speedlearning.org
hbw@speedlearning.org