Healthy Happy Loving Life: What Causes Your Stress?

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at choice, choices, Effective living, Kebba, living beyond, stress, Stress causes, Stress Management

© 2021 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.

What’s stressing you out?

As a stress management expert and holistic guide, I hear people describe their stress every day. What they are usually describing are the stress symptoms, not the causes– headaches, stiff necks, back pain, legs that ache, feet that burn… the list goes on and on.  They are often grasping a body part that hurts, or rubbing points on the face.  Many of these people didn’t realize they “had stress” until something began to hurt.  Their bodies tell them when stress causes are too much.

A second group I talk with are the ones looking for strategies and solutions for the causes of their stress: conflicts, unmet needs, and circumstances.  Here’s a chart of these causes:

Stress Sources

CONFLICTS

Difficult People

Available Time vs. Needs and Goals

Available Resources vs. Needs and Goals

Personal Values vs. Values of an Authority Figure

Worry/Anxiety About These

UNMET NEEDS

Unmet Emotional Needs

Unmet Physical Needs

Pain, Chronic Health Conditions

Limited Body Mobility

Old Emotional Agendas

Feeling Limited Or Trapped

UNEXPECTED EXTERNAL FACTORS

Significant Personal Loss (Death of Spouse or Child, Job Loss)

Significant Community Loss (9/11 Attacks, Superstorm Sandy, COVID19 Pandemic)

Do you have any of these stress sources in your life?  Of course you do!  We all do.  What we need to keep in mind is that stress symptoms in the body can turn into conditions and diseases.  In Oriental medicine, this is area-specific; each emotion affects a particular part of the body.

 

Shutterstock photo

One of my mentors said this:

“Stress is probably ultimately the underlying cause of all disease.”

 –Dr. Gladys T. McGarey MD, MD(H)

Medical research has proven that stress is a factor in human health conditions, especially depression, heart disease, HIV/Aids, and some virally caused cancers. In a review of a range of medical studies, psychology professor Sheldon Cohen, of Carnegie Melon University, found two pathways by which stress might increase how sick we are.

Stress creates changes that may, in turn, cause or increase illness.

First, stressed people don’t sleep well and are less likely to take care of themselves and follow doctors’ orders.  Second, stress impacts the body’s endocrine system, which should be releasing certain patterns of hormones that affect the immune system and inflammation.  Stress creates changes that create changes that may, in turn, cause or increase illness.  Cohen found a strong relationship between stress and depression, especially in people with strong social stress factors, like a divorce or the death of someone they love.  Workplace stress and other forms of chronic stress, however, were more likely to contribute to heart disease.  Since 2000, a number of studies have also shown that there is a link between stress and HIV/AIDS.  No doubt upcoming studies will relate stress and COVID19 symptomology.

Given the Pandemic we are living with currently, it seems wise to manage our stress as well as we can, to stay as well as we can.  There are so many tools for dissolving stress and its symptoms: attitude/philosophy, developing personal peace, breathwork, diet, exercise, meditation, energy therapies. We’ll discuss those more in upcoming articles.

Stress can be costly, and this is your life!  Wouldn’t you rather be Healthy, Happy, and Loving Life^sm?  It’s up to you!  

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Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM, is a stress solutions expert, holistic guide, and award-winning author who celebrates life.  She has a longtime energy healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are available on Amazon and through Kebba’s office.   To email us, kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Staleness Stress: How You Got That Way and How to Prevent it In Future

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Kebba Buckley Button, stale and stressed, staleness stress, Stress causes, UpBeat Living

Recently, I wrote about Staleness Stress and Instant Ways to Get Unstuck (http://wp.me/pw4HM-oF). These are crucial tools for the Upbeat Living framework on Life.  Some of you have been really taking those quickstart pointers to heart.  This time, the topic is Staleness Stress for non-emergencies.  For how to prevent Staleness Stress, so you don’t get into a totally stuck situation, read on.  Then do the steps!

The Main Reason You’re Stale and Stressed

So you’re not on a deadline.  This is the perfect time to look at your bigger picture.  There are 2 main causes for your Staleness Stress.  First, maybe you’re thinking, “[W]ell, my last client session/chapter wasn’t that hot.” So actually, you’re stuck in worry that you’re not good enough and your work   is not good enough.  Here’s the truth:  you need to– and you can– get some fresh new input in your life and overall routine.

You need to let go of old thoughts and self-judgement.  No one is more qualified to do exactly what you do than you are. Now consider that you are currently the best You that you have ever been.  The Universe has unique plans for each of us, and each of us is uniquely qualified for our particular journey.

The Other Reason You’re Stale and Stressed

The second reason your sense of things has gone stale is simply that you need to mix it up!  A pipe can’t deliver water unless there is water flowing in.  If you dam up a stream, it dries up.  So if your thoughtstream or your heartstream are dry, the dam needs to let new thoughts and feelings flow in and through.  The quickest way to do this may be to shift your routine or your scene, even for a couple of hours.

Lyor Cohen, CEO and founder of 300 Entertainment, said:

I like moments of staleness and mildew, simply because it creates the lane for change.

How to Really Solve Staleness

What a great way to look at staleness stress!  Are you in?  Then check this out:  the top method for refreshing your professional brain in 2 hours is one that may surprise you.  You can mix it up by taking a couple of webinars with people you dislike!  Seriously.  As you listen, you can object to their methods and have a lively session, taking notes and running a wildfire through your professional mind.  Now your work is fresher.  Oh, hey, you knew there were reasons why you disliked them [SMILE].

For your overall mind-body system, take a microvacation to the Botanical Garden or the Zoo, camera in hand. Or see an indy movie.  Go ice-skating at that indoor rink you keep driving by.  Have lunch on the patio of a new café afterward.  As you take in the new sights, smells, sounds, and activities of these places and experiences, journal out (into the Notes section of your phone, if you like) your new thoughts and feelings.  Take more photos, even videos, even selfie videos of your experiences.  Now there’s new flow in your thoughtstream and heartstream. Now schedule in time to make bigger trips, see new people, do new arts, and have new adventures.  Sign up with a coach;  book a retreat, plan a trip to the beach, book a few days at a cabin with hiking.  Go somewhere you’ve never been.  Just the planning can refresh your thoughtstream.  And the New Thing doesn’t have to be expensive to be rejuvenating.

Any time is the perfect time to freshen up your life and your work.  This is your new moment, your new day. Allow it.  Journal about it.  Court it.  Be it. The freshness is yours.  Enjoy your fresh start!  Now that’s Upbeat Living!

_____________________________________________________

Energy – Peace – Meditation

 

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition. Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine. Both that book and Peace Within are available through her office. Just email books@kebba.com.
• For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com.

Beating Deadline Stress: 3 Top Tips for Writers!

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deadline drag, Deadline Stress, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, Stress Management

© 2015 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.

© Berc – Fotolia

Your deadline looms. You sit at your computer, your iPad, your yellow pad, or your typewriter, and the words aren’t flowing. You know your general topic and the length your piece or chapter needs to be. You know everything you need to know to write this piece. The clock is ticking. And the words aren’t flowing. You’re starting to worry you won’t get the piece done on time. Your shoulders are tight. Your chocolate barometer is going off. The idea of reaching for candy is getting tough to ignore. Still, the words aren’t flowing. You have Deadline Stress!

You need to shift into Go Mode, into focus and flow. But how can you do that? Most advice you see on writers’ block, and on generally being stuck, is all about using thoughts to control your thoughts. But in fact, when you are in brain lock, you can’t get hold of your thoughts to control your thoughts! Your brain is depleted at this moment.

But wait! You can use physical ways to shift your brain into Go! Here are three top techniques!

• The Shoulder Shift. Roll your shoulders up and forward, then around, slowly, stretching, for one minute. Now roll them up and back and around, slowly, stretching, for one minute. Notice the warming in your ankles and feet. You have just opened up the circulation to the whole body, which will get to the brain in one more minute. In one minute, notice a warming sensation flowing up the back of your neck. This is energy, and it is recharging your energy-starved brain. You may notice your optimism rising already.
• The Chocolate Churnover. Earlier, were you craving chocolate? Now is the time to munch an ounce of dark chocolate to help your brain. The antioxidants and theobromine in the chocolate will lift your energy and metabolism. Stimulating the tongue and mouth, by eating, lifts the energy of both the Fire- and Earth Meridians. The bitter flavor in the chocolate stimulates the Fire Meridian, and the sweetness energizes the Earth Meridian. If you heat your chocolate in almond- or dairy milk, drinking your hot chocolate will warm the entire digestive system, which stimulates brain function, increasing clarity. Also, the potassium in either form of milk will assist brain optimization. Now you have churned your whole energy system, and it is pumping in support of you.
• The Latte Lift. If you are a latte lover, try this trick. Drink your favorite latte and relax in your recliner or lie down for 20 minutes, having set a timer. You get a break, and as you’re rising, the antioxidants and caffeine (or in tea lattes, L-Theanine, theobromine, and theophylline) are just hitting your blood-brain barrier. Now you’re rested and refreshed, yet your blood, oxygen, and energy are flowing well.

Now, you no longer have to dread Deadline Stress! Play around with these techniques and make them part of your regular writing practice. You never need to be stuck again. Now you’ll be beating all those deadlines and soaring as the writer you are meant to be.

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Energy – Peace – Meditation

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert and award-winning author.  She also is an ordained minister and has a natural healing practice. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br),and Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition(http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc ). Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, available through her office. Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com .  For an appointment, or to ask if Kebba can speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com .
  

UpBeat Living: Manage Your Energy, Not Your Stress

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at choice, choices, Effective living, energy, Feeling energized, fulfilled, Health, living beyond, Negative stress, Positive stress, stress, Stress Management, trading stress for energy

© 2013 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

Paraglider over Rio
Photo by iStockPhoto

Many people think of stress as something of a climatic condition, a sort of heat. Picture a large thermometer labeled “How hot will you get today?”  Let’s call that The Stress-O-Meter (sm). In this model, people talk about “heating up” as they get stressed and “cooling off” as they unstress. They may say, “Boy, he really got hot under the collar at that meeting!” or “Yow, that’s a hot topic!” or “What a heated discussion we had at that board meeting!” People may tell a stressed-out person to “cool off” or “chill out” or even “calm down” meaning “come down in your stress/heat level.”

People ride up and down their personal Stress-O-Meter, the thermometer of stress, during their day. They heat up, then they cool off or chill out.   What happens when someone gets so stressed out that they hit the top of their Stress-O-Meter? They “explode” or “go over the top,” just as a thermometer explodes when overheated.

While this way of seeing stress is very popular, it doesn’t serve us.  In the Stress-O-Meter model, we have no real control of our stress.  How much more powerful is it to see stress as a matter of perception and focus, as we’ve been discussing, with each of us as the manager of our personal energy budget each day?

“Now you can become an energy manager!”

–Kebba Buckley Button

Now, you can become an energy manager!  Right now, try stretching your ideas about how to use your week. Imagine that your energy is measurable in Energy Dollars, instead of in hours and minutes. Imagine that, for each day of the week, you have a budget of 1440 Energy Dollars. That’s one Energy Dollar for every minute of the day. Now imagine that it’s up to you to invest your Energy Dollars wisely. You lose Energy Dollars when you invest them in people and activities that exhaust you. You multiply your Energy Dollars when you sleep really well or invest in people and activities that energize you.

We have talked about the power of positive stress vs. negative stress (https://kebbabutton.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/upbeat-living-the-upbeat-living-energy-equationsm/ ). Review it again now, and journal a few examples of ways you became tired or energized in the last week or two. Just for fun, try giving  your positive and negative energy investments Energy Dollar values. Do you see any patterns? Overall, are you gaining or losing energy during your week?

Stress can come from internal or external causes. We cannot fully control anything outside our own body or mind. We can, however, control our reactions (meaning “choose effective responses”) to internal or external causes. We are most likely to choose effective responses and strategies if we are selecting proper breathing techniques, proper diet and fluids, best posture, best exercise regime, good sleep, and satisfying recreation.

How would you like to start getting younger again?

–Kebba Buckley Button

Operating your life as though there is a giant Stress-O-Meter can only lead to an exhausting lifestyle, running on nervous energy. I call this the False Energy Range. In that range of energy, both fatigue and dis-ease, or “disease”, will accumulate. To escape the False Energy Range, you need excellent rest, correct refueling, breathing clear air, drinking high quality water, and beginning refreshing re-creation, or “recreation.” Escapees from the victimhood of exhaustion and negativity can then use LifeTools(sm) to convert stress to energy and respond more effectively to situations. This restructuring of thinking and responses then leads you into what I call the Real Energy Range. Now energy and productivity start climbing up, and each person starts to recharge, re-empower, revitalize, and actually rejuvenate.  How would you like to start getting younger again?

Next time:  Positives we can add, to lift our energy!

———————————————

● Kebba Buckley Button is a corporate stress management trainer and the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You, and the 2012 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.

● Your comments are welcome!

● Get these articles by email– just click the Subscribe Free option in the right column.

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

UpBeat Living: The UpBeat Living Energy Equation(sm)

Tags

at choice, Effective living, energy, exhausted, Feeling energized, Health, Kebba, Negative stress, Positive stress, stress, Stress Management

© 2013 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

Photo by Microsoft

Today, there are two take-home messages:  using the word “stress” to mean “focus”, and using the UpBeat Living Energy Equation(sm).  Enjoy!

1.  Use the Word “Stress” for Focus

When people talk about “having stress,” sometimes they mean causes and sometimes they mean effects. For example: people say they “have stress” when they mean they have too much to do.  Other people say they “have stress” when they mean they have headaches or other physical results of their reactions to having too much to do.  So, some people are telling you about conditions that could cause stress, and some people are describing the symptoms in their bodies. It’s certainly valid to say you have too much to do, or any other situation you don’t like.  However, it adds to your confusion and therefore to your stress, to throw causes, choices,and results all into the mental bucket labelled “stress.” I want you to clear your mind by changing the way you use this word “stress” now. Think of what you want to  “stress,” emphasize, or “focus on,” in your life. Think of people saying, “The Mayor gave a speech today, and he stressed how important it is that we improve the quality of  downtown lifestyle.” In this example, the Mayor put emphasis on a topic.  He made it important.

So how can you imitate that?  What do you want to make important?  How do you want your life to be? Do you want to spend your life responding to annoyances? To Discover The Secret Energized You, it is vital that you become an Energy Manager in your life instead of managing the stress around you.

2.  Live By the UpBeat Living Energy Equation^sm

Now that you are focusing and emphasizing, you’ll find The UpBeat Living Energy Formula is simple yet powerful:   ADD POSITIVE STRESS TO GET MORE ENERGY, AND ADD NEGATIVE STRESS TO GET LESS ENERGY.  We have less overall energy with more negatives in our day and more overall energy by adding positives to our days and our lives. Negative stress makes us tired, and positive stress gives us energy.  So: what are some positives you could add to your life?

If you aren’t convinced yet, that stress can create either disease or wellness, here are some of the many potential negative health effects of negative stress, if it is allowed to go uncontrolled for too long:  mental distress,loss of concentration, depression, crabbiness, emotional outbursts, physical pains, illnesses, aging, shorter lifespan, and even death.

One emotion that has been proven seriously damaging to our health is anger. In biomedical studies announced in 1995, The Heartmath Institute learned that persons who hold an angry thought of their choosing for only five minutes have seven nervous system factors depressed for six hours. The factors are functions of a part of the nervous system which controls the body’s immune system. Therefore, we know anger damages the immune system. And how many of us, when we have a really hot, angry thought going, limit ourselves to only five minutes?

It is vital that we learn to see things differently and respond differently, or learn to discharge anger. Some simple discharge techniques will be covered later in this series.  You may be surprised at how enjoyable these methods can be.

Consider journalling out your thoughts about the types of stress causes and effects you have in your life.  What’s going on for you, and what are you focusing on?   It’s your life.

———————————————

● Kebba Buckley Button is a corporate stress management trainer and the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You, and the 2012 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.

● Your comments are welcome!

● Get these articles by email– just click the Subscribe Free option in the right column.

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

UpBeat Living: What Causes Your Stress?

Tags

at choice, choices, Effective living, Kebba, living beyond, stress, Stress causes, Stress Management

© 2013 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

“Stress is probably ultimately the underlying cause of all disease.”

 –Dr. Gladys T. McGarey

Photo by iStock.com

“The Mother of Holistic Medicine”, Dr. Gladys T. McGarey (M.D., M.D.H.), has said, “Stress is probably ultimately the underlying cause of all disease.”  Now, medical research has revealed that there is no longer any doubt that stress is a factor in human health conditions, especially depression, heart disease, HIV/Aids, and some virally caused cancers. In a review of a range of medical studies, psychology professor Sheldon Cohen, of Carnegie Melon University, found two pathways by which stress might increase how sick we are.

Stress creates changes that create changes that may, in turn, cause or increase illness.

First, stressed people don’t sleep well and are less likely to take care of themselves and follow doctors’ orders.  Second, stress impacts the body’s endocrine system, which should be releasing certain patterns of hormones that affect the immune system and inflammation.  Stress creates changes that create changes that may, in turn, cause or increase illness.  Cohen found a strong relationship between stress and depression, especially in people with strong social stress factors, like a divorce or the death of someone they love.  Workplace stress and other forms of chronic stress, however, were more likely to contribute to heart disease.  Since 2000, a number of studies have also shown that there is a link between stress and HIV/AIDS.

Have you ever noticed you were more tired when stressed?  Did you ever have a cold that got worse when you got bad news?  Who has experienced neck pain and headaches, when there is too much to do, or there is just too much going on around you?

Your symptoms are natural!  The body does not like negative stress!  Below is a chart of Stress Sources.   Glance over the chart and ask yourself, “when was this true for me?”  Then journal out your thoughts.

How do you react to stress, or how you have reacted in the past?

Next time, we begin a series on specific tools for beating stress, whatever the cause!  Stress is costly, and this is your life!

Figure 1.  Stress Sources

 

CONFLICTS

Difficult People

Available Time vs. Needs and Goals

Available Resources vs. Needs and Goals

Personal Values vs. Values of an Authority Figure

UNMET NEEDS

Unmet Emotional Needs

Unmet Physical Needs

Pain, Chronic Health Conditions

Limited Body Mobility

Old Emotional Agendas

Feeling Limited Or Trapped

UNEXPECTED EXTERNAL FACTORS

Significant Personal Loss (Death of Spouse, Job Loss)

Significant Community Loss (9/11 Attacks, Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy)

———————————————

● Kebba Buckley Button is a corporate stress management trainer and the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You, and the 2012 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.

● Your comments are welcome!

● Get these articles by email– just click the Subscribe Free option in the right column.

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .