reducing stress
Change can be stressful for some people. The best way I have found to reduce stress is to first step out of the situation and imagine that I am advising another person on what to do. This helps ease the emotion so you can do a reality check and get a good look at what’s really going on. From this perspective, the opportunities that this change may represent can be sought.
Be careful to assess where you are making assumptions. Assumptions are the imaginary rules we put in our way that block possibilities.
There is often fear associated with change. Fear can create the feeling of stress. Most of the time, fear is based on what you imagine is going to happen, instead of what is actually a fact. When you start to feel that fear, ask yourself, “What do I know to be absolutely true in this situation?” Don’t allow yourself to think of imaginary possibilities. Identify what is real and what is not, and focus on reality. Let your mind be creative in developing positive results. Your mind can only hold one piece of information at any given time. If you have a positive thought, there is no room for negative thoughts.
Some changes can be planned in advance. This also helps reduce stress. In business, we talk about strategic planning where we look to the future and up-to-date plans for how to deal with major changes that could affect our business in the future. We may not know which one is going to happen or when, but if something does happen, we already have a plan for how to deal with it.
We can do the same with any area of our life. This process can be very creative, so you may even come up with ideas you never would have thought of. Brainstorming is a great way to find options and solutions.
times of change
As an example, a company (name cannot be disclosed) recently had an opportunity to change where it does business. First of all, their products and services are not only available throughout New Zealand, earlier this year they opened their doors in Australia! A great change and a great opportunity!
Second, as a result of turning change into opportunity, they have restructured the way they do business and realized another dream: making business so flexible that they can work from anywhere. Being a web-based company, they can move quickly to make the most of opportunities when they arise. This means that they will be on the move, which brings or opens many more possibilities.
Since change is constantly happening, we might as well learn to work with it and choose what works for us. As Gary Zukav says in his book titled The Mind of the Soul – Responsible Choice, “You cannot change yourself by wishing, thinking, wanting, or wishing. You must change. When you do, you will stop attracting people who want, think, to want and desire to change. You will enter a new realm of experience, and you will find new friends there.” Changing the way you think about things brings many opportunities. If you want to achieve more than what you already have, change your thinking and your actions.
It is time to change!