Stress and Your Performance

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Real Life Trumps Beach Life - Every Time

Posted on February 19, 2010 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Have you ever played bridge?  When the players finish bidding they arrive at a suit that is called trump.  Trump suits win every time, no matter if you have the highest card in the deck.  What I noticed this last week is that Real Life held the trump card over my musings on the beach. 

It is amazing how I was so clear and focused about what I wanted to do when sitting on the beach with my broader perspective of  life.  When I got home to the real world, the greatest plans to connect and write about my experiences fell by the wayside. That is my truth. 
 
My life has been awesome and fulfilling but alas, I did not carry through on the writing of my experiences as I promised. I am giving myself permission to tell the truth about not doing what I said I was going to do and will find the silver lining in what I have been doing. 

Where have I been

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Day 5 - Back to the Real World

Posted on February 8, 2010 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Getting back to the real world after being on vacation can be a rude awakening.  As I travelled back from Maui with it's sun, sand and surf, I felt an incredible sense of gratitude for all that I have in my life.  Living in the moment was easy to do as I took in my last day of Paradise with my family.  I did not keep notes for my blog as I decided to let let days 3 and 4 go unrecorded.  As a brief summary, they were amazing.  We had a beautiful last day, travelled the island to take in some different sites on our way to the airport. 

 
Flying all night to get back home was a little exhausting and when I walked into the house and saw the stack of mail and emails I needed to deal with I felt a little overwhelmed.  However, I set up a plan and a strategy for how I wanted this week to go.  I feel ready to get back to the real world.

Living in the Moment is more challenging to do in the real

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What Do You Want Your Life to Look Like?

Posted on January 19, 2010 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

 If you were to sit back today and take stock of your whole life, how are you doing? Take some time and look at the following categories. Write a list of the things you would like to complete in each of these areas. This list is not meant to stress you out but to bring into your conscious awareness the things in your life that you know need some attention. By being more aware of these areas, you can then set up a plan of what you can do to take care of them day by day.

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Noticing Stress In Your Life

Posted on October 29, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

My last few blogs have focused on Living the Life you Want and steps to help you get there. We talked about
  • “Who are you” 
  • What is important to you 
  • What is your truth and
  • How not living your truth creates stress.
 
A couple of years ago, I really got it about how not living my truth was causing me stress and negatively impacting my life. I began a very busy job that was both exciting and fulfilling. I was excited about all the opportunities that presented themselves for me in this position. As I became more immersed in the work, I had several ideas about how this position could grow and evolve. I used my creativity and determination to try and bring about all that I believed was possible. It was a challenging time.

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Not Living your Truth Creates Stress

Posted on October 27, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

 

Stress for many people is caused by their living life out of integrity with what they hold near and dear to their heart – their truth. 
 
For example, if you value honesty but fear that speaking up and telling the truth in your workplace will result in losing your job, you may consciously or subconsciously make a decision that you will not say anything about the situation. Another example may be that you were educated and trained to deliver care or service in a particular way, yet the realities of the workplace make it impossible for you to do that.  You try and stuff the thoughts to the back of your mind and ignore the situation.  If you are like most people, trying to ignore the situation, not say anything and “letting it go”, creates an internal turmoil that often shows up in different ways.
 
Withholding your truth creates stress

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September Stress – Where did that summertime bliss go?

Posted on September 24, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

 The other day I met with a client who was back to work after a great summer of little routine and lots of fun. He commented on how challenging it was to get back into the mindset of work and get things done.  He had many things on his list, but felt like he was walking in quick sand trying to accomplish them.

 
 If you are feeling this way – you are not alone.
 
After a summer of fun, relaxation and rejuvenation, many people find that 3 weeks into September they are wondering what they are doing and why they are doing what they are doing because they have lot all of that summertime bliss. Many people miss how great they felt and figure they will not feel that way again until their next holiday.

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5 Steps to Overcome Procrastination and Take Action

Posted on September 9, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

 Do you procrastinate and often find a myriad of excuses as to why you have not got things done? Do you feel overwhelmed with the many things you have on your “to do” list and wonder how you will ever get started doing them let alone get them all done.  Many people blame a lack of time as the reason why they do not get things completed on their list. Granted, time is precious and there are many demands on all of us. However, sometimes the size of the list can often be the biggest reason why people do not get things done. They just don’t know where to start. What I have outlined are 5 simple steps that can help you tackle some of your list?  So let’s begin.

 
Think about your list of things you need to get done in the next week.  Take one of the items on your list and let’s work with it.

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7 Steps to Help You SLOW DOWN

Posted on May 30, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

I remember several years ago I had a flurry of speeding tickets. I owned a children’s clothing store which was starting to falter, I had three kids doing various activities, we were building a house, and I never seemed to have enough time to do anything.  I always seemed to be rushing from hither to yon and within a three week period of time, I received two speeding tickets and a warning. I failed to mention that at this time, I was also doing a lot of soul searching on how I was living my life as I WAS NOT HAPPY.

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Giving Myself Permission to do NOTHING

Posted on May 24, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Life has been busy for me lately with the re:design and content development of my web site, writing and recording podcasts, writing blog posts as well as seeing clients and all of the administration that comes with owning my own business.  I just took training on Twitter and Linked-in and feel a bit overwhelmed with all I have to do.  I absolutely love it all and feel on track with everything but the volume of work at times seems a bit over the top.

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Feeling good – “in the moment”

Posted on May 21, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

There has been a lot written about the “Law of Attraction”, “The Secret”, “Power of Positive Thinking” and many others to help guide us on the road to living and thinking more positively.  These books and self improvement movements are attempting to teach us that we can manifest and achieve greatness in our lives depending on our perspective and our beliefs.  In order to have the life we want, we need to change how we think and feel in order to achieve what we want to attract in our lives.

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7 Unrecognized Signs of Early Stress

Posted on May 20, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

People think of stress as being burnt out, crying alot, feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope.   While these are definately signs of stress, they are often preceded by some earlier warning signs that people do not necessarily attribute to stress. These include:

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The Intentional Breath

Posted on May 19, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

The breath is the most underutilized tool available to us “in the moment”. Research shows that when we breathe deeply into the very base of our lungs that we can calm down our nervous system which is responsible for many of our stress symptoms.

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Real life stress

Posted on May 16, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

My education into the world of stress came to me a few years ago when I was working at a very demanding job. When I took on the job I was gung-ho and set up a variety of systems to insure I did the job well.  I was  organized, articulate and efficient at what needed to get done and  I felt  capable and confident in what I was doing.  As time went on, I  achieved great strides and many kudos from my colleagues.

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Cortisol – We need you but enough already

Posted on May 15, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Cortisol is a hormone that is secreted by our adrenal glands and is a necessary part of our waking and sleep cycles.  We need it to wake us up in the morning but if we have too much cortisol, it can be a problem.

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Stress and Adrenaline – what can you do?

Posted on May 13, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

Adrenaline is a hormone that is secreted by our sympathetic nervous system in response to an event real or imagined that has us scared.  People often refer to it as the fight, fright or freeze response.  It is the hormone that is responsible for people having an uncanny amount of strength in scary situations e.g. lifting a car off a person to save their life etc.

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BLOW OFF SOME STEAM!!!

Posted on May 11, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

One of the ways for helping to get you in the moment is to ask:

In this moment – how do I feel? Many of my clients feel angry, frustrated or overwhelmed by the demands put on them by themselves, their families or their workplace.  Yet they put on a mask by being nice all of the time, holding it in and not telling the truth about how they are feeling.  On the inside they are seething.

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