So, you sit down and play some video games or Facebook games or mess around online until the feeling that your head will explode goes away. Did you know that there’s a tree in the tropics that has exploding fruit? It’s called a sandbox tree, and believe me – you don’t want your head to do that. Talk about shrapnel. Exploding fruit! That’s about as pleasant as an exploding human head, so let’s avoid that.

So here we are: you get up, get the kids fed, ready, and off to school. You realize there’s no hot water. The dryer breaks. Your washing machine sounds strange, and you get about 5 phone calls within 30 minutes. Clients, your boss, collaborators, a friend – who knows.

You’ve just taken a bite out of life and work that seems impossible to chew and swallow in the least. What do you do?

A. You curl up into the fetal position and rock back and forth mumbling inaudible gibberish until someone shows up to splash water on your face and tell you everything will be okay.

B. You run around in circles doing a fraction of one thing after another and never finish anything.

C. You sit down and read a book or watch a movie to get your mind off of everything and distract yourself.

D. You make a list and tackle one task at a time until you’re too tired to keep going, take a break, and do whatever else you can.

If you answered anything other than D, it’s time to develop a personal system for productivity so you don’t lose clients, your job, or your ability to care for your family because it’s just too much.

There’s a pretty cool quote I read recently, posted on a Facebook page I’m following called Positively Positive: “Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it.” – Ella Williams.

There are a few tricks you can learn as far as how you think about things that can make your entire world, life, stress, everything easier to handle. One of those things is to have faith. And no, I’m not going to start preaching at you about my religion. What I mean by having faith is that you just know that there’s a way to handle it, and it’s only a matter of figuring it out.

Coming from someone who has to solve problems on a strict budget all the time, this is kind of an important lesson. Somehow, I had to come up with enough money to fill a propane tank this morning because if I didn’t, my family would have o go without any hot water until I could figure it out. Yes, I had to ask for help… but who cares? This is my family’s comfort we’re talking about.

As soon as I started freaking out about money and then realized that money always comes from somewhere if I let it, new clients started pouring in while old clients came back asking for more work to be done.

I personally believe that anyone and everyone can have this kind of dumb luck – things just falling into your lap from nowhere because that’s what you need and you aren’t focusing on what will happen if you don’t get it – you’re focused on taking comfort in maintaining stability because you will get it.

This simple shifting in perception, in thought, makes life easier not because it’s some magical tool to get everything you want, but because you control your own freak-out factor, regulate it, and refuse to let anyone but you run your own life, including your own emotional weaknesses.

Life is full of stress and disappointment. It’s the way you handle it that determines whether you lead a good life or a stressful one. If you get angry and snippy and freak out at people, what does that really accomplish? If you maintain your calm, stay productive, and get something done to help shift things toward the better, what does that accomplish?

Here are some easy tricks to maintain your cool, stay productive, and not let your inner crazy person run you and your life into the ground:

1. Make a to-do list.
   This makes all of your individual tasks easy to see, and lets you observe as things begin to get crossed out or erased off of that list. Feels good to knock it out one by one – try it =).
2. Resolve to stay focused.
   Don’t let the number of tasks you have to complete get the better of you. The more you think about it and mull it over in your mind, the more work it’ll all seem like, the less you’ll want to do any of it. Instead of trying to wrap your head around the entire day’s tasks, just think about the next hour and what you could accomplish during that time.
3. Take breaks if you get stuck.
   If you’ve been working for 3 hours and suddenly find yourself lagging, maybe it’s time for a lunch break. Especially if your work is mind-intensive, you need to recharge, regroup, and get focused again in order to finish everything you need to.
4. Don’t freak out if you don’t get everything done.
   It’s not the end of the world. Simply copy your leftover tasks into the next day’s to-do list and make them a priority.

After reading this and trying out some of these simple little steps, if your head still explodes like the fruit of the sandbox tree, I’m not sure how to help you. You may be one of those interesting types of people that needs a tattoo artist to permanently draw tears on your fingers so you can take pleasure out of mocking people with your fake-crying?

            Is there such a thing, as being too nice? According to the bible we are suppose to help one another, be kind and loving; yet what happens when we are too nice in today’s society? WE GET ABUSED AND WALKED ALL OVER!

            As an individual who has been through this phase of ones life, I have come to realize that sometimes we must draw the line; learn to say NO! And then stand firm. If you don’t then others will see that your gullible, easy, and where does that leave you; over burdened and stressed. In many attempts to make things right I have just hurt myself, by doing for others, opening my door to all, or providing a safe environment for family and friends; my list is endless and where has it left me? Stressed and hurt, that is where I am at this point, and in some cases “not good enough”; it is at this point that I have learned to step back.

 At least that is what I hope I am doing, I don’t want to appear rude or nasty, but darn it stop invading my space. For some they have their own family to care for them, and yet there family knows nothing about them; or for others you give and give until there is no more to give. Then you give more, no matter how much it hurts, or stresses you out.

If your kids can’t take care of you as you age, then this is sad! And yet society has accepted this, as a way of life. Until some “too nice” of a person comes along and picks up where your kids WON’T. I have come to realize that it is not that they can’t it is that they won’t! Why? Because some too nice of a person will take care of it.

So if the burden is too heavy, or your stressing over something that is really none of your business, then it is time to step back and analyze your actions.  People do things for all sort of reasons, don’t let the “need to be liked” or that the bible tells us to be nice, kind, and loving. 

Be nice to one self, and then you can truly be nice to others.

Your at work, and you have a dead line to meet, and your feeling anxious and irritable; now is the time to take a five minute break. Even a five minute break, away from the hosile ground you may have created, will help you sort things out. Leave everything right where it is and give yourself just five minutes. More than likely it will give you a much need break and when you return to the task at hand, you could have an entirely different perspective. Most importantly right now, in order to give yourself this break, is you need to try to totally clear your mind, and really focus on the following instructions.

First off, relax your entire body, allow yourself to feel heavy; as you breathe. Close you eyes, take in a few deep breaths; in through you nose, hold it for a second, and exhale through you mouth. Keeping this pattern going, focus on the top of your head, visualize the sun warming this area.Very slowly let this warmth take over your forehead, eyes, and cheeks; slowly relax this area, while still breathing through you nose and exhaling through you mouth. Feel the sun or the warmth radiate over your shoulder, down your arms, to the tips of your fingers, now visualize the stress leaving these areas. Enjoy the moment! Now feel that warm sensation trickle down you back, and over you chest, with each breathe you exhale, release these areas of stress. Slow visualize the warm extending down your legs, first your thighs, over your knees, through you calves, really relax; continue your breathing. The last part now is very important, as you relax your ankles, and feet, really feel the warmth as it extends through your toes, and prepare with you this breathe to release all the stress and tension,  take in a really deep breath, hold it, and exhale getting rid of the stress. Now take a few moments to enjoy this relaxed state, continue breathing. Now slowly proceed back to your task at hand, but not before getting yourself a cup of fruit juice or eating a piece of fruit to slowly get yourself back in the work mode.

Some people’s reaction to this, is to say;”how can I take a break I have too much to do”? What you don’t realize is that when you reach a state of mind where you are over-whelmed, your begin to run in circle, and accomplish nothing.

So go ahead, take five minutes and relax.

Have you ever met with a friend, family member, who after you left, you were totally wiped out. That person is probably what I call an energy vampire. They take all our energy and leave us totally drained. Usually this is a person, who has so many things going on, and they feel they have to burden you; or perhaps they are so negative, no matter how you try to “paint a pretty picture” they just shoot down every idea. Well if this sounds familiar then you have come in contact with an “energy vampire”, and you know exactly what I mean. Sometimes the drain can be so severe that it can lead to depression, or feelings of being totally overwhelmed, and out of control; and unless you recognize this, you can go in complete circle and truly believe it is all depression.

I find the best way to deal with such people is to avoid them, but sometimes that is not practical, but the realization that a particular someone is giving off negative energy, or is an “energy vampire” will help prevent such an invasion.  Try to keep your positive energy flowing to do this; you must focus on goods things, smile, and be cheerful. Do not pay much attention to what they are saying or doing. Never let, the person affect you, once they have, that is when they start sapping your energy, You MUST put up your shields!!!!

If you are going to visit someone who you know has that affect on you, then you can prepare your self. If you meditate, do so before coming into contact with the “energy vampire”, if you exercise or jog, again do so; by doing what you enjoy and getting your mind set on positive things, and surrounds you with the positive energy that surround you. By taking action before the invasion starts will help ward off any drain of negative influence, or being overwhelmed by it.

Positive Energy is fantastic, it helps you be creative, fun and loving. When you are surrounded by positive energy, everything flows much easier, your thoughts are in prospective, and your day mores along nicely and your feel completely balanced.

Using positive energy is very much like positive thinking. You can make yourself feel good by using affirmative words. A simple sentence like “ I feel great” or “today is going to be a great day” can and will have a large impact on you day.

So think positive and avoid those “energy vampires”.