stress

Nov

2022

How To Control Your Temper

Reading Time: 3 minutes

One of the ways to manage stress is learning how to control your temper. Do you get mad when somebody cuts you in traffic? How about when your child does not listen to you? How about when your staff can’t get his/her work done properly? All of us encounter situations that irate us and test our patience on a daily basis. Getting angry and frustrated is normal. However, if it gets out of control, it becomes destructive on both our health and relationships with other people. Managing how to respond to such situations is a skill that all of us must have.

Here are 10 tips on how to calm down and control your temper:

1. Breathe Deeply

Deep breathing always comes in handy whether you are angry, anxious or nervous. It removes stress and lowers your anxiety levels. It helps you relax.

Breathe slowly through your nose until you fill your lungs with oxygen. Then hold our breath for a count of three. And then exhale slowly through your mouth until you have emptied the air in your lungs.

2. Count 1 to 10

Just like what you do when counting sheep, try counting one to ten first before blurting out your emotions. Remember to count slowly. Breathe in and breathe out before you say a number. Your nerves would have already calmed by the time you reach the number ten. You will also be able to think clearly and not be blinded with emotions.

3. Think Happy Thoughts

By thinking happy thoughts, you are actually breaking your negative thoughts and replacing them with happy ones. Your focus will shift and your mood will follow.

4. Think Before You Say Anything

Words are powerful. It can make or break a relationship. It can lift a person’s morale and at the same time, it can break their spirits. So think first before you say something that you might regret later on. Pause and construct your sentences first before blurting out your emotions.

5. Exercise

Doing exercises can help you relax. Although mind-body exercises like yoga, tai chi and qigong are quite beneficial for both mind and body, other exercises and physical activities can also help. Doing exercise helps produce endorphins, the so-called happy hormones.

6. Avoid Triggers

If there are certain people, events or situations that make you mad, it is better for you to avoid or at least limit your exposure to them. If traffic drives you crazy, then avoid rush hours. If certain people annoys you, then stay away from these negative people.

7. Listen to Music

Music has a calming effect on both our minds and body. However, do take note that fast music makes you more alert and hyper; thus, it is better to listen to slow and quiet rhythm like classical music.

8. Smile

When you are angry, I’m pretty sure that the last thing that you want to do is smile. However, as weird as it may sound, smiling can make you happy. The act of smiling actually tricks your brain and your emotion follows. Thus, smiling reinforces your happiness. Unfortunately, it works two ways. In the same way that if you frown, you are also reinforcing your negative emotions. So, use the power of a smile to your advantage and be happy.

9. Change the Way You Look at Things

It is a fact that bad things do happen in life. We cannot do anything about it. Focusing so much on the bad things can really aggravate our mood. Instead, change the way you look at things. Try to have an open mind. Maybe the other person did not mean to hurt you. And besides, by being angry, you are only hurting yourself. Anger can cause high blood pressure and even heart attack.

We cannot control everything that happens to us in life, but we can control how we respond.
– L. Lionel Kendrick

10. Use Calming Scents

Use calming scents to help you relax. Put them in your car, room or workplace. Lavender, chamomile, jasmine, bergamot, rose and ylang-ylang are just some of the scents that you can use to help you calm down and relax.

First Published in Pinoy Smart Living 13.03.2019

Feature Image by Robin Higgins from Pixabay

Oct

2021

Signs That You Need Professional Help For Your Anxiety

Reading Time: 2 minutes

All of us have our anxieties but it should not interrupt our daily life. If your worries and fears are bothering you too much; then see if you are exhibiting signs that you need professional help for your anxiety.

Anxiety and anxiety disorders can manifest in different ways. People with generalized anxiety disorder worry about a lot of concerns such as their health, finances, career, family situation, etc.. They keep worrying that something bad is going to happen to them at some point in time.

Cognitive Symptoms

Your mental health is where your anxiety usually manifests its initial effects. If you’re having memory issues, have a hard time concentrating, can’t fall asleep or developed insomnia; then you may need professional help for your anxiety. Forgetting things from time to time is normal. If you are forgetting things that happened just recently, then that is a cause for concern. Similarly, if you can’t focus while reading a book, watching a movie or writing something; then your anxiety is disrupting your life. One of these happening more frequently than usual, or a combination of these happening at the same time means that you should look into your anxieties more seriously.

Emotional Symptoms

Do you always feel overwhelmed? Do you burst out of rage, anger or resentment at the smallest things? Some people even have a constant feeling of hopelessness, dread, or even apathy. They end up procrastinating or withdrawing from social interactions altogether. If you already feel emotionally overwhelmed or find that you can’t control your feelings; then you might need professional help for your anxiety. Having hope is always a reassuring feeling. However, other people will suddenly feel sad and can’t help but cry for no reason. They may feel hopelessness for themselves or even for the world. Emotional issues from anxiety are hard to detect so observation and self-awareness is important.

Physical Symptoms

If you feel like a caveman being chased by a wild animal every time you are in a particular situation; then your anxiety has become unhealthy. Symptoms include your heart rate going up, sweating, headache, trouble breathing or you freeze from nervousness. Another sign is if you are constantly feeling fatigued even when you were able to rest physically.

When anxieties get worse, people can experience panic attacks. Symptoms include sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, a pounding headache, increased heart rate, feeling like one is choking, and just having a feeling of dread. Phobias and certain social conditions can trigger panic attacks. Before this happens, you should seek professional help.

Prevention is always better than cure. A professional’s help will not cure your anxiety immediately. It takes time and constant effort to achieve any goal, including healing yourself from any illness. Keeping a positive attitude is always helpful. Most importantly, do not be ashamed to seek a professional’s advise. Going to an expert instead of dealing with things on your own is not a sign of weakness. Rather, it shows that you are aware and acknowledge your own limitations. It shows that you are mature and courageous enough to take steps to improve yourself.

Feature Image: Original Photo by Uday Mittal on Unsplash.

Jul

2021

5 Ways to Destress in 15 Minutes or Less

Reading Time: 3 minutes

We give you 5 ways to destress in 15 minutes or less. It is common practice for our minds to be jumping from one thought to the next while our bodies are actively reacting to these thoughts. When this habit starts to feel unpleasant, our mental state becomes one of anxiety and our bodies can start feeling discomfort. This is when we start feeling stressed.

There are different types of stress. It can be triggered when facing a tight schedule, a heavy workload or when one is assaulted by too many things that need to be acted on from different areas of life. Stress can make one feel overwhelmed and helpless. During these times, maintaining a positive outlook can be challenging but it’s not impossible.

There are many ways to quickly combat stress, especially in the workplace. Stress is primarily a mental state so aside from quieting one’s mind, relaxing one’s body also helps to calm down a stressed mind. Here are some things you can do to destress in 15 minutes or less.

1. Rest Your Eyes

When we see a lot of things in front of us that we need to act on, this puts us in an anxious state of mind. To stop ourselves from being overwhelmed, it is helpful to close our eyes and rest them for a few minutes. Darkness can also have a calming effect on the mind.

A good exercise to do is to rub your hands together to warm them up. Then apply the palms of both hands on top of each closed eye and press gently for 15 to 20 minutes. Don’t press too hard though. Just enough to comfortably warm your eyes. Rub your palms again to warm them up while you keep your eyes closed and repeat as needed.

Another way to do to rest your eyes is to look through a window with a distant view. Gaze at this view for at least 15 to 20 minutes as you try to breath deeply. Be sure to sit in a relaxing position to do this or stand in front of the window.

2. Focus on Your Breathing

For this activity, it is also helpful to close your eyes while regulating your breath to help you focus. You can do this sitting or lying down. This exercise can also be a form of meditation and is a great way to destress.

Put your hands on your abdomen to help you focus. Inhale deeply and exhale slowly through your nose, feeling your abdomen contract and expand as you do so. This is the proper way to breathe.

You can also try inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. Exhale completely using your month. Then close your mouth and let your tongue touch the roof of your mouth. Inhale through your nose for 4 counts, hold your breath for 7 counts, then exhale for 8 counts. Repeat until you feel relaxed.

3. Self Massage

Massages can be helpful to relax yourself. You can give yourself a neck and head massage, a hand massage or a foot massage while sitting down. It only takes a few minutes and it’s easy to do. It’s one of the most pleasant ways to destress.

Here some videos you can follow and practice with to give yourself a good massage.

4. Stretching Exercises

You can do stretching exercises even while sitting or you can stand in front of your work desk to do some stretches. You can also find a wall to support yourself as you stretch.

Start from your neck to your feet. Stretch each part for 8 counts on each side. You can use your chair or desk for support for standing exercises. A good way to stretch the soles of your feet is to try and move a tennis ball or a similar-sized round object by touching it with the bottom of your foot.

Here’s a good stretching exercise to follow along. You might look silly while doing this if you’re doing it alone so try to ask an officemate to partner up with. Otherwise, you can always just grin at the questioning looks you may get from your colleagues and bear it.

5. Take a Walk

One of the best ways to destress is to get away from the situation. You don’t have to move out of town. Just take a short walk around the block. Try to find the sun, observe your surroundings or count yours steps as you walk to relax your mind. The trick is to find something else for your mind to think about and to get you physically out of a stressful environment. This will help you recalibrate your thinking and revitalize your body to tackle the tasks ahead.

Try out one of these DIY relaxing routines to melt your stress away. Most importantly, never lose your positive attitude to keep stress from piling up on your desk or in your mind.

Updated. First published on Pinoy Smart Living on 2019.01.13.
Feature Image: Original Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash.

Jan

2021

Ways To Make Your Room More Relaxing

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Are you feeling stressed out? Do you experience difficulty in sleeping? The best thing to do is allocate a space or room in your house for you to relax. More often than not, this space is your bedroom. You should be able to learn to forget all your worries once you enter this room. The goods news is that there are little things that you can do to make your room a tranquil space. Here are ways to make your room more relaxing.

1.Use Cool Colors

The color of your bedroom will play a significant role in how you feel, think and act. Warm colors are stimulating. They are best to use in rooms that have a lot of activities and movements. On the other hand, cool colors are relaxing and calming. Thus, it is recommended to use cool colors in the bedroom. Cool colors include blue, green, purple and other variations of the three. Use muted shades, neutral or pastel colors.

2. Put Warm Lighting

Use warm lighting in your bedroom. Leave your white and bright lights in other parts of your house. Warm lighting is the color of a candlestick. It is not stressful in the eye and helps promote relaxation. The natural circadian rhythm of the body predicts the external environment such as sunset and sunrise. Warm lighting gives signals to the body that it is time to unwind for the day and prepares the body to sleep.

3. Use Your Bed for Bed Activities Only

Beds are created to help you sleep and relax. Doing other activities such as working or watching television on the bed will make it more difficult for you to sleep and relax. Your brain associates your activity with your surroundings. If you work on the bed, your mind will associate the bed with work rather than sleep. Thus, it is best to allocate a space for work or studying. In the same way that the light emitted from the television set tricks the body into thinking that it is still daytime. It hinders the secretion of melatonin, the sleep hormone. So it is highly recommended not a television set in your bedroom.

4.Use Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is the use of oils that are extracted from plants to promote relaxation and relieve stress. It is also used as a healing treatment. The oils are either applied directly to the skin, sprayed in the air, inhaled or you can put it on bath water. Essential oils are supposed to stimulate the nerves in the nose that is directly connected to the brain creating a calming effect.

5.Use Blackout Curtains

Blackout curtains are made of thicker fabrics or materials resulting in pitch dark blackness in the room when drawn shut. They minimize the amount of light going inside the room making it feel like it is nighttime even though it is daytime outside. They also reduce the amount of heat going inside the room making the room cooler. This effect will improve your overall sleep quality.

6.Put plants

Bring nature in your room by Instilling bedroom plants. Real plants can help improve the quality of your sleep by giving you fresh and oxygen to breathe in.

7.Play Soft Sounds

A sound can either be soft or loud, depending on the volume. Soft sounds have a low volume and can be very gentle. That’s why soft sounds can help you relax. Examples of soft sounds include audiobooks, classical and soft pop music, clock ticking, guided meditation, nature sounds like birds or cricket chirping and a voice of a loved one.

8. Declutter

Numerous studies suggest that clutter has a negative effect on a person’s overall well being. It increases levels of cortisol, the stress hormone in the body. Thus, it is always important to declutter and keep your surroundings clean and orderly.

Feature Image by DarthZuzanka from Pixabay

Oct

2020

Managing Relationship Stress in The New Normal

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Maintaining healthy relationships during a time of uncertainty is quite stressful. Each person is under different kinds of stress which takes its toll on relationships. So it is important that we learn our way in managing relationship stress in the new normal.

With many individuals facing unemployment and families grappling with financial instability, stress build-up is a common occurrence in this new normal. Relationships are important as they provide meaning to person’s lives. Social ties also provide individuals with a sense of hope and a circle of support during tough times.

Tips to Managing Relationship Stress in The New Normal

Here are some tips to keep in mind as you navigate through relationship stress not only in this new normal, but in the times ahead.

Understand each other’s unique needs

No two relationships are the same because each person has unique needs and expectations. Thus, there is no one method that fits all types of managing relationships.

It is more helpful to first figure out what each person’s unique character is and how you are different from them. This way, you have a better idea of how to communicate with them about challenges.

One way to look into is to figure out what love language each of you has. This way, you already have an idea of how to comfort the other person when they are stressed out.

Stay on their side when things get stressful

When you see that the other person is under great stress, cut them some slack. Give them breathing room to think and vent out. You may be feeling just as stressed but getting into a verbal fight won’t help things.

The best thing to do is to walk away from each other until both of you have calmed down and are not as emotional about the issue. Give each other some time to think things through. Giving the other person time to manage their emotions is also being kind to yourself as you don’t stress yourself even more. After all, you can’t calm someone down if you aren’t calm yourself.

Most importantly, remember that this situation is just a phase and it will also pass. So there is no need to dwell in it too long. Talk only when both of you feel that you are ready. Trust that in the end, everything will go well.

Take the time to listen to each other

Only talk when both of you feel that you are ready to sort things out and be honest when doing so. Don’t go into the conversation with the intention of winning the argument. Your main goal should be to understand the situation as a whole, which means understanding the other person’s point of view.

This means that you have to listen actively. Listening actively involves letting the person finish their thoughts instead of butting in. Asking them questions to clarify what they mean instead of explaining your own point of view. This is key to a deeper understanding of the other person’s feelings and perspective.

Take turns to listen and express your feelings and perspectives. Pause to think when you need to. Clarify when you need to by asking questions. Be honest and sincere so that the other person will do the same.

Give and respect each other’s alone time

It may seem like the wrong approach but taking some “alone time” or “me time” is important during challenging times. Even if we crave for social interaction so we can talk out our issues, alone time provides us with the breathing space to vent out and to truly understand how we feel about the situation and how we hope things will turn out.

So if someone suddenly doesn’t return your messages or calls, don’t send them an angry text or make incessant calls. Instead, send them an encouraging message and tell them that you look forward to talk with them again as soon as they have time or when they are ready.

In the same way, taking time out for yourself to process the thoughts and emotions that stress you out. This will also help with your mental health. This gives you the space to clarify things in your own head and heart so you can talk about it with honesty and sincerity.

There is no magic recipe for how to make relationships work. There is certainly no guide book in managing relationship stress in the new normal. However, maintaining healthy relationships is an important part of every person’s life. Stress caused by challenges is also a part of each person’s reality and in every relationship. It will help you grow individually and help your relationship develop even further.

It is important to give each other time and space to do what they need and maintain an attitude of understanding when conflicts and problems arise. In this way, you are able to resolve conflicts and manage stress so you can maintain your relationships.

Featured Image: Original Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash.

Sep

2020

The Dark Mode Challenge

Reading Time: 3 minutes

All of us experience different kinds of stress in our daily lives. We often force ourselves to act as if nothing is wrong; pretending that everything is just fine. We may be feeling sick and tired emotionally or mentally. All throughout the day, we act like everything’s just normal. We make the effort to smile and be cheerful just to make sure no one notices that we’re not okay. For this scenario, the Dark Mode Challenge is a way to get through.

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.
— Carl Jung

This is how most of us cope with challenging mental and emotional issues – we pretend that we’re just fine. We have been programmed to believe that showing our vulnerability is a weakness. We believe that it is unacceptable to indulge in or to show our negative emotions to anybody else. In the process, we are engaging in toxic positivity.

The Dark Mode Challenge

Your challenge is to indulge your dark mood, by switching on your Dark Mode. Your task is to do everything you need to do to express your feelings. Keep in mind that you should do this without harming yourself or someone else. You can do this with a friend or on your own. This process is you accepting that it’s okay to not to be okay.

You can’t control everything. Sometimes you just need to relax and have faith that things will work out. Let go a little and just let life happen.
— Kody Kiplinger

Schedule a whole day, or the weekend. Go offline, laze around and unwind. Focus on what you are feeling. It doesn’t matter if you decide to watch sad movies and cry all through it. If it takes finishing off a tub of your favorite ice cream; don’t stop yourself. Write, draw, paint, listen to music or dance your heart out. The goal is to do whatever you need to do to get the negative feelings out and truly feel them.

Everything worthwhile in life is won through surmounting the associated negative experience. Any attempt to escape the negative, to avoid it or quash it or silence it, only backfires. The avoidance of suffering is a form of suffering. The avoidance of struggle is a struggle. The denial of failure is a failure. Hiding what is shameful is itself a form of shame.
— Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

Use Your Imagination

Imagine yourself as Batman, who is always on dark mode. As Batman, you are trying to engage your negative feelings. Your goals is to draw them out from within yourself. Put a name to each one of them if you can, and in the process, vanquish them. In the morning, you can switch to your light mode again.

Named must your fear be before banish it you can.
— Yoda

This doesn’t mean that you dwell in the negative state. That’s why you have to set a time limit for yourself. Have a friend remind you that your time is up. Give yourself a day or two, no more.

Toxic Positivity

We are often told to “just get over it”. Worse, this is what we tell ourselves. This overgeneralization of a happy, optimistic state results in the denial, diminishment and invalidation of our emotional experience. This is toxic positivity. You are essentially denied the right to experience your emotions.

We often do this to ourselves and sometimes to other people. It is a form of self-sabotage that we have come to treat as normal. This should not be normal. You should take the time to indulge in your negative feelings.

The whole purpose of bawling your eyes out, or writing your heart out, etc.; is to get the heavy emotions and thoughts out of your system. This will help you feel a little lighter mentally and emotionally. The process will help you clarify your thoughts. This will make it easier for you to start working on how to get back up from your dark mode. You can slowly start switching to your light-hearted mode again.

Featured Image: Original Photo by Giulia Bertelli on Unsplash.

Jul

2020

The Mind-Body Connection

Reading Time: 2 minutes

You felt sick. You went to the doctor and for some reason, your medical results indicate that everything is perfectly normal. And the doctor’s diagnosis is stress. To be well again, you just need to learn how to manage stress. Did this thing ever happen to you? Well, this is because stress, health and your overall wellness are all connected. This is what you call the mind-body connection.

Mind-Body Connection

Our thoughts and emotions greatly influenced our health. Our whole body, each part, every organ and its functions, all system and its processes are controlled by neurotransmitters coming from the brain. Thus, everything that is on our mind directly influences our body because our body only interprets and reacts to messages coming from the brain. In short, our intellectual and emotional health directly influence our physical health.

The mind body connection tells us that the physical state of our body is a direct result of our attitudes, beliefs, feelings, thoughts and mindsets. Because of this connection, what we do with our body such as the food that we eat, the numbers of hours we sleep and exercise, the water that we drink even our posture also influences our mental well-being.

To put this into perspective, take the mind and the body as one entity rather than two different parts. What you do with one will influence the other and vice versa.

Mind-Body Therapies

Mind body therapies are activities or practices that promote healing, induce relaxation, enhance positivity and improves overall health and general well being. These activities include the following.

Acupunture
Aromatherapy
Creative Arts (art, music and dance)
Group Support
Hypnosis
Imagery
Massage
Meditation
Prayer
Qigong
Relaxation
Tai chi
Yoga

The mind and the body are like parallel universes. Anything that happens in the mental universe must leave tracks in the physical one.
– Deepak Chopra

So, always remember to think positive thoughts!

Feature Image from Okan Caliskan from Pixabay Images

Jul

2020

How to Manage Stress

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Are you under too much stress? Do you feel like giving up? Are there so many things in your life to be worried about right now? Do you feel powerless? If you do, then you are obviously stressed out. Stress is not necessarily a bad thing if it can become your source of motivation to improve yourself and your life. However, too much stress can affect your health. That’s why it is important to learn how to manage stress.

What is Stress?

Everyone experience stress. It happens when you have too much pressure which is much more than you can handle. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines stress as “the reaction people may have when presented with demands and pressures that are not matched to their knowledge and abilities and which challenge their ability to cope”.

Components

Based on the WHO definition, stress has three components:

Demands / Pressure – This means that there is an outside force that is compelling you or forcing you to do something.
Knowledge and Skills – Knowledge pertains to your understanding about a specific subject or situation. Skills are learned ability or expertise on something.
Ability to Cope – How you are able to deal with responsibilities, challenges and difficulties plays a big part on your stress level

In short, stress arises when the outside pressure is not at par with your knowledge and skills. You will be better equipped in handling the same situation if it arises again only if you have learned from that past experience and made conscious effort to improve yourself.

Take a look at the video by Ted-Ed to find out how stress affects our body.

Thus, it is important that people learn how to manage stress. Here are five techniques in managing stress.

1. Take a Break from the Stressor

A stressor is the one that causes the stress. A stressor can be a person like your boss, life changes like a death of a loved one, an everyday problem like money issues, an environmental problem like a calamity or a health crisis such as the pandemic. While it might be impossible to completely distance yourself from the stressor, you can take a break from it by doing something else that will keep your mind off things even for just 20 minutes.

2. Exercise

When you exercise, your body produces endorphins, a hormone that acts as natural painkillers and mood elevators. It also improves your ability to sleep. Thus, exercise not only benefits the physical body but the mind as well. Thus, doing regular exercise will help lower your stress levels.

3. Smile and Laugh

When you smile and laugh, your body also releases endorphins. Endorphins lower your stress hormones cortisol. Too much cortisol produces negative feelings. A good hard belly laugh can reduce tension. Even a fake smile helps reduce stress and lowers heart rate. So, if you want a quick release of tension, forced yourself to smile.

4. Get support

A co-study done by Sarah Townsend of USC Marshall School of Business, Heeding Kim of UC Santa Barbara and Batja Mesquita of University of Leuven, Belgium that sharing your stress or worries with someone else, especially if that person is undergoing the same kind of stress, helps decrease the stress. It is important to talk to someone who understands you. A support group is necessary in life.

5. Meditate

Meditation is deep state of relaxation and tranquility. Meditation controls our breathing, pulse rate and blood pressure. It is a simple technique, but if practice just for a few minutes, it will give you many benefits. It releases negative emotions and helps clear your mind of worries.

First published in Pinoy Smart Living on 01.06.2019

Feature Image by kalhh from Pixabay Images.

Apr

2020

How to Help Kids Manage Lockdown Stress

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Most government around the world resorted to lockdown to protect its citizens from getting infected with the virus. Although such measures protected your physical health, it gave rise to a different kind of health issue; that is mental health. Mental health is crucial to our overall well-being. It affects our thoughts, emotions and behavior. A study done at the University of Adelaide showed evidence that the one-month confinement measures did affect the people’s mental health. But it is not just the adults who are affected, new data from Hubei shows that children also showed depression and anxiety symptoms. The challenge now for parents is how to help kids manage lockdown stress.

Children are creatures of habits. They take comfort in what is familiar. Children are used to going to school everyday. Now, they are forced to stay at home. The routine had stopped. And this causes confusion. Then, they are restricted to stay inside the house together with parents who are also trying to cope with their own stress, fears and anxiety. So, children take on cues from their parents on how to react to the situation. They know if parents are worried. At the same time, they are trying to understand how the world has changed.

Parents need to take this matter seriously and handle it with care because according to the World Health Organization, most mental health issues of adults begin in childhood. Even if we all go back to normal after the world discovered the vaccine, psychological damages won’t easily go away. This can lead to anger issues, depression, addiction and even suicide if left unchecked.

As parents, here are things that you can do to help your children manage lockdown stress:

1. Keep a Routine

Rather than doing things different everyday, it is better to keep a routine. On school days, there are study time, meal time, play time, TV time and nap time. Continue doing these activities at the same time that they are used to. The study time can further be divided into Math time, Reading time, Art time, etc. You can make use of technology to continue their learning. If content material is not available from their school, there are still tons of available information online.

2. Teach Them the Importance of Hygiene Using Their Own Language

Instead of forcing them to follow you or scaring them that they are going to die if they get the virus; teach them the importance of basic hygiene in a language that they do understand. For example, you can make them watch the Sesame Street Coronavirus special and let Elmo teach them about proper hand washing and use of face mask.

3. Encourage Them To Talk with Friends

Encourage your children especially your teenagers to do group teleconferencing online to stay in touch with their friends . At this point in time, the support and encouragement of friends will do wonders to their mental health. Just make sure that they are really talking with their friends and not some random strangers that they met online.

4. Talk and Play with Your Children

For most children, love is synonymous with time. Now is the perfect time for you to make up for lost time with your children. More than ever, they need your love, support, kindness and strength to help them go trough these tough times. Spend time with them. Play with them. Do activities together like art works, cooking, and baking. You can play board games or video games as family. You can even binge-watch movies with your kids.

Take advantage of the time to get to know and establish an open communication with your teenagers. Establish a connection by knowing about their interests, hobbies, their friends and their dreams. Listen to their music, stories, thoughts and concerns. Do things together. Try not to judge and refrain from controlling them.

5. Create Family Goals

Family goal setting will shift the focus of the whole family from the problems of today to the hope of a better tomorrow. Family goals will make the family closer to one another. It gives you something to look forward to in the future. It is the perfect venue for both parents and children to voice out their opinions, dreams and preferences. Open communication is established. Accountability, responsibility, commitment and group support are also encouraged.

Feature Image by Lisa runnels from Pixabay Images

Apr

2020

Remove Stress by Decluttering

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Look at the photo above. How do you feel? Don’t you feel mentally exhausted? You will feel stressed just by mere looking at it. Does your environment look similar? The fact of the matter is that a messy living and working environment do cause stress and anxiety. A study done by anthropologists from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) showed a direct link between clutter and stress. So, to remove stress, you must begin by decluttering.

Clutter Defined

What is clutter? A clutter is a collection of things from mails, books, magazines, plastics, pens, dirty clothes or just simply anything that is scattered everywhere creating a mess. It results to the impediment of movement and it reduces the functionality of the space.

It is difficult to maximize the use of your space if you have clutter everywhere. Not only that, chances are, you will be wasting a lot of time looking for missing items. In addition, clutter can also make you lose money by misplacing your bills. You might also feel embarrass when there is an unexpected guest. Thus, removing clutter will help you get rid of that unnecessary stress, worries and fear.

Causes of Clutter

Common causes of clutter include:

Emotional attachment to things
Guilt in disposing presents
Lack of time to clean up
Procrastination
Shopping for things that you don’t actually need
Unfinished projects

How to Remove Clutter

Here are some tips on how you can remove clutter in your home:

1. Allot 15 Minutes per Day

Decluttering can be overwhelming if you have managed to accumulate tons of it for the past several years especially if you are busy. It would be very difficult to do it one sitting. The best approach is to allot 15 minutes a day for decluttering. All you need is a timer and a calendar. Set the timer at the start of the 15 minutes and mark your calendar with an X once you are done. This 15-minute daily habit will not only slowly transform your home but will also result to an improvement in your quality of life.

2. Do it One Room at a Time

If clutter is present in your whole house, the best approach is to do it one room at a time. Choose the room where you spend most of your time.

Figure out what the purpose of that room is. Each room in your home needs to have a clear purpose. What is it for? Is it a place where you sleep and rest? Is it a place to entertain your guests or to eat with the family?

Once you have clearly defined what the specific purpose of that space is, now you need to remove all things that do not relate to that specific purpose. Start with the left hand corner going down and slowly moving to the right. Think of it as if you are reading. Once you have finished with one room and see the results, you will be more than motivated to continue to the next room.

3. Use the 3-box-method

First look for items in your house items in your house that you need to declutter. Get 3 boxes and label each box with the following:

Keep
Donate
Dispose

Then begin filling each box. Make sure to fill up each box equally. For items that you are unsure of, ask yourself whether you need that item or not. If you do need that item, do you use it? If your answer ‘no’ to both questions, then that is a sign that it is time for you to let go of that item.

4. Do the Oprah Winfrey Closet Hanger Experiment

If your problem is on how to organize your wardrobe, a quick and easy way is the Oprah Winfrey Experiment. Start with hanging all your clothes in the opposite direction. After wearing a specific clothing, return it back to your closet but this time in the correct direction. Do this for six consecutive months. After six months, you will have a clear idea on what items to dispose and not. You can try this approach with other household stuffs such as linens, bedsheets, cleaning products, etc…

5. Stop Buying Stuff

If there is a need for you to declutter, it only shows that you have so much stuff in your home. It would be very difficult to proceed with your decluttering if you are going to continue buying stuff. So, stop buying in the meantime until you have finished your decluttering. You will also be saving money by not shopping.

First published in Pinoy Smart Living on 07.22.2018

Feature Image by Posted by A.L. Jonas in Environmental, 0 comments