Copyright 2006 Mary Desaulniers

Straddling the end of winter and the beginning of spring, March has always been a hectic month?a month of reckoning as it were?when last year’s issues must be faced head on. Income tax returns must be filed, and spring cleaning ( both inside and out) tend to become a logistical nightmare. This March, I had a personal difficulty to work through as well and for a while it seemed as though the world was an unending series of burdens. It was then that I tried a strategy that I had read about in Wayne Dyer’s book, “Your Sacred Self “( 1996): in times of turbulence, walk out of your body!

I began by imagining that I had walked out of my body and that I was looking at myself as though I were another being. This took some practice because the tendency of the mind was to stay within the ego and I had to keep reminding my mind that I was outside looking in, not inside looking out. After a while, the exercise became more fluid and I was able to maintain this “observer” position with greater ease.

I began with a side view of my body, imagining myself as I would appear to someone who was watching me from the side. I went from head to feet– acknowledging the angle of head, hair, shoulders, slant of body and even the way my legs were crossed at the ankles. Then I went through the whole process again this time adding the colors of my hair, shirt, pants, socks and slippers. And then in my mind’s eye, I walked backward a step or two, pretending that I was seeing “me&#

“A being who is overwhelmed emotionally”

What did I sense about this being?

“She need not fret so much; she is perhaps a bit overdramatic about her situation,but it is not the end of the world. After all, this too will pass.”

The remarkable thing was that as an outsider, I received immediate confirmation that all suffering was temporary. From an observer’s point of view, the person suffering was not the self. Just seeing “me” as another being allowed me to feel the temporariness of the situation. I then placed myself (as observer) in a different location?up on the ceiling and I imagined my body as it would appear to someone floating above. Then I went through the same process, digesting my being from that angle.

The more I played this game with myself, the more I was released from whatever worries I had in the first place. The overwhelming conviction was that I was larger than what stood before me and that all this fretting and worry would pass. Outside my body, I could feel a sense of limitless possibility that seemed impossible to sustain inside( the body). It seemed as though I had been suddenly released into an open field. The expanse of the spirit was everywhere, especially when I broke through the ceiling and roof and took a wild and fantastic circle around the skies.

Children do this everyday and we have a lot to learn from them: they use the imaginal to tame the real. If we examine the practice itself, we can see that there are several reasons why walking out of your body can be a sound strategy for diffusing stress.

1. Placing yourself in a third-party observer point of view makes allowance for the distance that is so crucial to an accurate assessment of any situation. How often have we remembered a past wrong in the light of distance and time and recognized the folly of our grievance? Our judgment is often dimmed by an experience that is too raw and close to us. Walking out of our body allows us to tame that rawness.

2 .If experience is recorded as cellular memories in our bodies, then getting a distant, less distorted perspective is not only important, but critical to our survival as intact and holistic beings. Fred Allan Wolf in “Mind Into Matter” (2001) refers to our bodies as “living scripts”: “at the level of the body, the observed and the observer are the same thing.” Would you prefer an observation that burns everything to the ground or one that hatches an escape route through the ceiling? Would you prefer a script that leaves you a victim, paralyzed by fear or one that allows you to take the reins in your hands and gives you a shot at turning the situation around? My almost 5 grandson understands this totally; he is a master inventor of escape routes and his favorite stories have always been those where the hero found a way out, a wormhole though the keyhole.

3. Walking out of our body allows us to raise our threshold to stress. Stressful events are an inevitable and unavoidable part of life. While removal of stressors is often impossible, raising our threshold to what is bearable for us is more than a viable possibility. Raising our threshold is like breaking though a barrier?what was once unthinkable becomes plausible. What once caused pain and furor becomes not only understandable, but accepted as part of our evolutionary process. The advantage we have to seeing our burden as a necessary part of a larger dynamic is that we have grown large enough to accommodate it within our system. We have grown because we can now metabolize it; we are ready now to transform it (the pain) into something greater than itself, something creative and inspiring. This is only possible when we can take the pain outside us and place it within a larger and evolutionary context.

Instead of succumbing to the sweet song of victimization( who does not enjoy the “poor me” chant?), a more effective strategy when confronted by stress, is to walk out of your body because that immediately places your pain in perspective.

Mary Desaulniers

Author Bio

A runner for 27 years, retired schoolteacher and writer, Mary is helping people reclaim their bodies. Nutrition, exercise, positive vision and purposeful engagement are the tools used to turn their bodies into creative selves. You can visit her at http://www.GreatBodyat50.com or learn how she lost her weight at http://www.greatbodyproteinpower.com

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Most people know all about the great things golf does for a person, like exercise and stress relief. But the dark side of golf is often something that people choose to be rather selective about and choose to ignore. This dark side can include a lot of aspects that can cause a normal person to be driven quite insane by the game, leading to some serious conclusions about the game of golf that need to be aptly considered.

One of the cons of golf is the possible medical problems that can result from playing the game intensely. Those who play the game of golf incorrectly may injure their arms. Golfer’s elbow is a common condition found among avid golfers. Similar to tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow is characterized by a pain in the elbow, particularly in the medial area of the joint.

The pain can be present at rest, but is intensified when the flexor muscles are activated. The pain is caused by an inflammation of the tendon that attaches the flexor muscles to the elbow. The flexor muscles are the muscles in the forearm that cause the fingers and thumb to bend. Golfer’s elbow is particularly painful when the fist is clenched.

Golf easily can become an excessively expensive hobby! Not only does the golfer need to have all of types of golfing equipment to be successful in the game, but he or she will also need to pay the green fees to play on golf courses. Typical greens fees on quality courses can run around fifty dollars or more to play in the peak time of day. Of course, those golfing on a budget can golf in the later evening hou

Golf is not an easy sport to teach a child. In order to teach your son or daughter to golf, you will need to invest considerable amounts of money, time, and energy just to get your child on the golf course! You have to pay the greens fee, buy or rent the equipment, and pay for lessons, all before your little golfer decides whether or not he likes the game.

In order to be exceptionally good at golf, potential pros really should start as children. Unlike other sports like basketball and football, a group of kids cannot start a pick up game of golf in the back yard. If a kid is going to learn to play golf, it will take a level of commitment and dedication that most kids are not ready for.

The proof is in the inherent substance of the game. With expenses and other negative aspects of golf in the way, the sport has a definite negative influence on a lot of society. But this influence isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It is a stark reality, bright with the contrast of money making and the impossibility of teaching golf to kids. With this type of negativity, it’s a wonder that they hired Tiger Woods to become really good at it and then sell it to children. But it is what it is and we need to realize that before it’s too late and our world is swallowed up by holes in the green.

Graham Johns

Author Bio

Graham Johns owns and writes regularly for GolfingLife.net where you can read many more articles on all aspects on the price of golf and equipment. And go to Well Spoken Audio for a collection of entertaining and informative golfing audiobooks on golf and golf courses including Augusta and many others.

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There is so much power in positive thinking than we realize and if only we can put in practice some of these principles, they would totally change our lives. There are people who have had their lives changed when it comes to the issue of stress. Negativity is the heart of stress and this is why the best remedy is positivity. Firstly, you need to know what stress is and how it affects the lives of human beings. When you have too much to handle and you feel that your energy or resources are not being replaced in a healthy way and while in such a situation, there is no doubt that pressure is going to increase and stress will begin to set in. There are many ways we deal with stress and they include the following.

If we allow stress to take over, you will not have enough positivity to fight back the stress. You might not even realize that you are dealing with stress until much later where you will go to a doctor with a variety of symptoms which will have devastated you. The doctor will seek to find out whether you have a specific stressor. You might have work overload which will definitely be associated with the turmoil in your life. You will be given a few pointers to show you how to deal with the problem but, the first thing that will come out is the issue of positivity. You might be told not to worry too much.

The worse way to go through life is with pessimism. If you believe nothing can work, you are just following the motions of life and when you are alone, there is no sense or accountability and life will be more stressful. Therefore, you are

Peter Gitundu is a Web Administrator and Has Been Researching and Reporting on Stress for Years. For More Information on Stress Management, Visit His Site at STRESS MANAGEMENT You Can Also Post Your Views About Stress Management On My Blog Here STRESS MANAGEMENT

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You need to learn how to meditate because you will be learning an easy way of relieving stress which works wonders. Meditation is a form of relaxation that seeks to bring the body into harmony that will facilitate serenity and peace. Meditation has been seen to lower high blood pressure. When you are under stress, your body also becomes affected and the result of this is high blood pressure which is highly dangerous and it can cause strokes and a host of other conditions which are definitely not good for the body. Meditation has also been seen to decrease the heart rate where a sufferer of stress may have found themselves with very quick heartbeat. Also, it has been credited to promote natural healing in the body.

Meditation is not complicated at all although, you need to be guided on how to make sure you reach deep into tranquil territories where you can relax and feel heavenly. The method is quickly being adapted by hospitals to treat patients and this only shows how effective the method is. Many people who tend to medicate have spiritual inclinations and this means they are also taping into their god as they seek relief from stress. To meditate, you need a private or an open space where you will take time as you enter into medication. By focusing on your srength and abilities, you are able to keep a positive attitude. Meditation can be done at any moment and some people do it several days a week.

Meditation is a bit controversial on religious lines and members are very cautious because they do not want to end up meditating on the wrong relig

Peter Gitundu is a Web Administrator and Has Been Researching and Reporting on Stress for Years. For More Information on Stress Management, Visit His Site at STRESS MANAGEMENT You Can Also Post Your Views About Stress Management On My Blog Here STRESS MANAGEMENT

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I am going to make a pronouncement. Now, I am sure that a lot will protest against this, but I know that I will have a lot of supporters too. You know what is the most difficult job in the world? There is no doubt about it, but full time motherhood tops the list. Oh yeah, perhaps second only to the presidency of the United States.

It is the most stressful job physically, mentally and emotionally. You wake up in the middle of the night to a shrieking waking baby. You prepare their meals; you cater to their every whims and bickering. You become a negotiator, conciliator, and a judge all at the same time.  I sometimes suspect that mothers have more energy than a long-distance marathon runner. You doubt me? Try running around after a three year old the whole day while cleaning after all the chocolate stains and milk spills that he left in the sofa and the new carpet.  You suddenly even find yourself mastering some pretty nifty hand maneuvers in preventing them from stuffing unknown stuff into their mouths at lightning fast speeds.

In the past, Barney the creepy purple dinosaur does the trick of maintaining my sanity in the house. Once the “I love you. You love me. We are a happy family.” song started coming out of the television, peace finally descends in the house, albeit temporarily.  I often resort to long silent prayers that my purple friend here could somehow stop time too or even just accelerate the hours of the day.

Now, Barney’s magic can only do so much. Different tastes often mean world war three over the remote control. There

Fortunately, I discovered a different brand of magic, and it’s even wrapped in a fancier name than Barney: Bratz games.  I stumble upon Bratz games while looking for some Bratz dolls to buy online. My kids love Bratz: The original Bratz for my girl and Bratz Boyz for my boy.  Most of the games in Bratz games cater to my little girl, but some of it could also be played by my boy. There are dressing up the dolls games and loads of other relief for the haggard mother, so when world war three over the remote threatens to erupt again, I just say the magic word Bratz games and things get back to normal. I part the warring factions leaving one to the television and one to play the world of Bratz games.

It would become such a relief for me for the kids can learn while having fun at same time. It leaves me to finish cleaning up after the mess they leave around and to do other things like preparing dinner for my husband. Most importantly, it also gives me a lot of time to have quality moments with myself. With all the unknown stuff sticking to me, I need a lot of time bathing to look like a human being.

Lea Smith is a bratz dolls enthusiast and she loves to play various bratz games . She is also the webmaster of http://www.bratzgames.biz wherein you can find tons of great online flash games to play.

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