Stress is a normal part of of everyday life. The demands of life create stress, which motivates us to act and do. Stress can be exciting and exhilarating, but sometimes stress can be a burden, especially when it drains your energy. A BIG part of living abundantly is managing your stress levels. Unmanaged stress can wreak havoc on your health, peace of mind, and general feelings of happiness. In the D.A.W.E.S method for abundant living, (an acronym of my last name), D stands for debt relief, A stands for abundance, W stands for wholeness, E stands for enjoyment, and S stands for success. Abundance can be defined as having your needs met with overflow. Unmanaged stress is a sign of needs NOT being met, with overflow (of unmet needs), which is the opposite of abundance. The key to managing stress therefore is having those needs met, which will restore balance, and create wholeness in all areas of life.
What Are Our Needs?
In 1943, American psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed a 5-tiered hierarchy of needs, from basic physiological needs to higher level self-fulfillment needs.
Physiological needs include your basic physical needs for food, clothing, and shelter. Safety needs include your need to feel safe such as employment and health needs, as well as financial and physical security. Love/belonging needs are psycho-social needs and include the need to give and receive love, intimacy, family, friendships, and belonging. Esteem needs are psychological needs and include self-esteem, self-worth, and recognition needs. Self-actualization needs are higher spiritual and self-fulfillment needs and include the need to achieve your highest potential, and creativity. Any inability to fulfill any one or more of those needs is going to be a cause of major stress your life.
Financial Needs
A HUGE source of stress for many people is the inability to financially provide for their needs. It’s one thing to have a need, but when you lack the resources to provide for that need, it can get pretty frustrating. Many people go into debt trying to take care of a need, but debt creates it own set of needs, as debt creates lack in your finances, thus threatening your safety need for financial security. Sometimes too, people use money as a ‘crutch’ in attempt to fulfill needs which cannot be satisfied with money. Many people think that if only they had more money they would be happy, and thus pursue money and material things in attempt to fill spiritual voids in their lives, whether it’s a void caused from separation from God, or voids caused from loneliness, or lack of meaning in their lives. It has been said that financial problems are the number two cause for divorce, with infidelity being number one. Many marriages have been ruined because people do not understand marriage finances, or are too selfish to share resources within a marriage. There isn’t any “his money – her money” in marriage, and yet people tend to carry that same single-person mindset into marriage, when it comes to money. People also bring with them personal debts into marriage, and if not managed correctly, it can cause financial issues in marriage; however, if handled correctly, it should not cause any marital problems at all. My five-step debt relief program is designed to help single and married people get out of debt, and manage their finances.
Effective Stress Reduction
Money may not be the cause of major stress in your life, but you may have other unmet needs which are not money-related such as poor health, abusive relationships, loneliness, family conflicts, and so on. If you are stressed-out, take a look at your life as to the causes, and see what you can do to eliminate or reduce those things which are causing you stress. Sometimes however it’s not always possible to eliminate everything in your life which is causing you stress. Life can get overwhelming at times, and whether you are going through major stress or minor stresses, it’s always good to pause, and engage in activities to reduce stress.
Effective stress reduction is achieved through practices for physical, psycho-social, and spiritual relief. As a physical therapist, I often engage patients in exercises to build muscle and relieve pain, but I’ve have found that some of those same exercises are good for stress relief as well. Physical exercise, combined with social engagement, as well as spiritual practices are very effective means to reduce stress. This is why I have developed a three-week stress reduction program, which addresses the physical, psycho-social and spiritual aspects of our needs.
Week One: Physical Relief – releases built up stress hormones and substances in the body, providing stress relief in a physical way, by removing the “issues in your tissues.”
Week Two: Pyscho-social Relief – takes the mind off self and your problems, as you interact joyfully with others.
Week Three: Spiritual Relief- goes beyond self to higher states of awareness, and provides emotional security, peace of mind, and the inner strength to withstand the challenges of life.
At the end of this three-week program, you will feel less stress in your life as you work through your problems, while finding the relief you have been seeking, for a more joyous life.
For more information on how you can get started today, please fill out the form below, and in the message box type the words “STRESS FREE” and someone will get back to you.
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