The American Lung Association has a list of 52 stress reducers on their site. (I wish I could remember the resource that orginally pointed me to this… it looks like a lifehack.org thing, but I can’t be sure.)

The points that hit home for me:

1. Get up fifteen minutes earlier in the morning. The inevitable morning mishaps will be less stressful.

It’s become a running joke around our home: I never think that there’s enough time to do anything! If I have to be at work in 3 hours, and my wife wants to go out to breakfast, I always have to calculate exactly how long everything is going to take, then double the time that a normal person would take. Making sure that I’ve got an extra 15 minutes for anything is always a huge load off of my mind.

3. Don’t rely on your memory. Write down appointment times, when to pick up the laundry, when library books are due, etc. (”The palest ink is better than the most retentive memory.”- Old Chinese Proverb)

All of the alcohol that I used to pour down my throat (followed by godknowswhat after enough Heinekin was swallowed) sure didn’t do my memory any good. I use notepads and lists like crazy. Google Calendar and its reminders have helped me get somewhere I need to be more that once. And I can’t wait till I can pick up a Hipster PDA!

Where was I? Oh… yeah…

7. Be prepared to wait. A paperback book can make a wait in a post office line almost pleasant.

I’ve done this since I was a kid. When I was 12, maybe 13, my brother and I ended up on the front page of our local paper reading books while waiting for the school bus. Of course, it didn’t do much for my social skills…

11. Allow 15 minutes of extra time to get to appointments. Plan to arrive at an airport one hour before domestic departures.

See #1…

15. Pollyanna-Power! For every one thing that goes wrong, there are probably 10 or 50 or 100 blessings. Count ‘em!

I’ve learned that, while this is a great way to adjust your own attitude, it’s not always the best idea to verbally share your positivity with others while they are caught up in negativity. You don’t have to join in their romp through the dark side… but you also don’t have to beat them about the head with positive platitudes while they are dealing with their own issues.

27. Write your thoughts and feelings down on paper. It can help you clarify and give you a renewed perspective.

You may even end up with material to blog about!

35. Add an ounce of love to everything you do.

Everything.

45. Do one thing at a time. When you are working on one thing, don’t think about everything else you have to do.

Yet another area where having a place to record your thoughts does the trick. When I’m at the computer, the Scratch Pad gadget for Google Desktop and the Google Notebook (can you tell that I’m a Google freak?) are great tools for getting stuff out of my head so I can focus on what I’m working on. Away from the computer, a small notepad is more than enough (but I still want my Hipster).

And my own favorite stress reducer?

I recognize that psychological stress is based on my own perceptions. Change my perceptions, and I reduce or eliminate stress.

The belief that everything that happens in my life is there for my own benefit is a powerful one. All of the supposed “bad stuff” (the bill that I don’t know how I’m going to pay, the illness that we can’t find a cure for, the addiction that just won’t quit) become my teachers and guides, leading me to a closer connection with The One. It hasn’t been an easy change for me, and I’m not where I’d like to be with it, but it’s coming along nicely.

Here’s to a stress free day!

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