Think

Why should you let this person control how the rest of your day is going to be?

You are the one in control. You will take a deep breath, tell yourself there is no reason to be upset. Then you will get on with it.

Stress in the Checkout Line

Wow! We have certainly experienced many things that would typically ruin our day, but we have done a lot of work to see that that won’t happen. We have learned what to do and say to ourselves to make sure we will have a good day.

We have taken several things that have occurred throughout the day, and turned our negative thinking into positive thinking. We are having a great day.

What else could we possibly encounter that might stress us out?

Imagine the next scenario:

You are on your way home from work. You have a list of errands to run. Your first stop is at the grocery store. You are in the checkout line when you hear the dreaded message announced: “Price Check on Register 5”. You look up and see the number “5” for the checkout line you are in.

You immediately get stressed. Some of your thoughts might be:

• Why do I always get in the slowest line?

  This is going to take forever

  How am I going to get all my errands done?

You start tapping your foot, looking around to see if there is a shorter line that is moving faster. Then that age-old question pops into your head: “Should I move to another line, or just stay here and wait it out”

You decide to wait. Now your stress level is going higher and higher.

Stop and Think

How can I turn this experience into a positive experience? How can I bring my stress level down?

Change your thoughts.

It took me awhile to figure this out, and this is what I tell myself when I am in this situation. Instead of getting stressed out because the line is going slow, think of this situation as a gift. Yes, that is right, a gift.

This is YOUR time. Take a deep breath and relax. You have been given an opportunity to relax and meditate. Just think how wonderful it is that you have been given this time in your busy day to just do nothing. All you need to do is relax, concentrate on breathing, and think and meditate.

What better way to take something that is a stress-builder and turn it into a stress-reducer.

Remember, this is YOUR own personal time to choose the way you are going to think about this situation.

Make the most of this time. We do not get many opportunities to just relax and feel good.

Filling Up the Car With Gas

Ok. We have accomplished quite a bit today. But then, when you left the grocery store, you realized you needed to fill up you car with gas.

As you are driving, you start getting stressed. The price of gas is so high, how am I going to afford it? I hate filling up my car. I hate wasting time standing there waiting to fill up the tank.

Again, this is one of those situations that we can turn from negative to positive.

First of all, we have no control over the price of gas. We need to fill our car with gas to get to and from work, and to run errands. We must learn not to get upset about the things we cannot control. Nothing is accomplished by this. Yes, that is right, NOTHING. So, why waste our time getting stressed about things we have no control over.

Think of the time you are taking (not wasting!) to fill up the tank as a “me” time. Remember what we did when we were at the grocery store and the line was moving slow”

Use those same tools in this situation.

Keep those positive thoughts going:

• This is my time.

  Even though it is only a few minutes out of my day, I am going to enjoy the chance to stop, relax, and think positive thoughts.

I hope you have enjoyed reading what I have wrote, and more important if the content of this has helped just one person, then my goal has been accomplished.