Is Your Job Making You Sick?

Is Your Job Making You Sick?

Is your job making you sick?  Your work environment plays a large role in your overall health.  Studies have shown that people who work long hours, in stressful conditions, and depressing work environments are more likely to get sick than their counterparts who work in a healthier atmosphere or have developed life skills to deal with stressful environments.  

What is the answer?  Quit your job?  Change careers?  For a lot of us that is not an option in this economy.  There are ways to make yourself healthier at work no matter what your conditions.  

Perspective is everything. I always tell my clients to examine their perspective about their work situation.  Rather than focusing on the things you hate about your job think about things you like.  A few examples could be:

• My desk is by the window, I can look outside when I need a mental break.
• I enjoy working with Susie, we are a good team.
• I can listen to my Ipod while I work - it allows me to tune out the negative.

 Find two good things about your job and focus on them rather than negative. 

The next thing I tell my clients is to take a work inventory:

• What tasks bother me the most? Why?
• Which co-workers irk me the most? Why?        

Really explore and be curious your work situation.  Don’t judge yourself for how you feel about these situations.  Why don’t you like these tasks or co-workers?  Really dig deep.  When you open yourself up to possibilities, you allow yourself to find solutions rather than dwelling on the problem.  Also, you might there is no solution for some of the problems, and that is okay too.  If you can’t change it, you can let it go.  

Taking the time the time to look at what you don’t like about your job will help you discover what you do like.  For me when I looked at what I didn’t like about my job it lead me to a career I loved.  I had to take a hard look at the things I didn’t like first.  

Stay present.  Remember you choose your thoughts.  You can look at the time and think “It is only 10 o’clock and wish it was 4 o’clock” or you can focus on the task at hand and stay present.  Staying in the moment helps with anxiety. 

Always, always allow yourself a few minutes to daydream.  That momentarily break from the situation allows us the mental break we need to deal with the task at hand.  It’s a mini vacation at work.  Remember children go to school and daydream throughout the day – they come home and say they had a wonderful time.  

Never give your job the power to make you sick.  You are the only person who can take responsibility for your life.  If you are unhappy with your career – you have the power to change!

Love Yourself

Every day I speak with women who tell me they hate how they look.  They hate the rolls of fat on their stomach.  Because of self-hate they do what I like to call self-flogging, they go on strict diets and extreme exercise routines.  The end result is always a feeding frenzy in front of the refrigerator.  

I lived like that for years.  A bad day at work, a relationship ending, feeling stuck, and even celebrating good news – a food frenzy always followed.  I never felt better afterwards.  Food did not make a bad day better or enhance a celebration.  It lead to feelings of guilt and more self-punishment.  I was never able to change my weight because I was doing it out of self-hatred rather than self-love.  I hated me so I had to change me.  

Think of it like this how often do you cooperate with someone who disrespects you or puts you down? I never have. I fight back, I rebel.  It’s human nature.  When you do that to yourself why would the results be any different?   

It wasn’t until I loved myself that I wanted to stop hurting myself.  The way I ate hurt me.  It hurt me emotionally and physically.  After a binge I would look for a way to “fix it” another diet.  Diets don’t work because they take away our ability to trust are own judgment, that is another form of self-punishment. 

Once you take the first step to self-love you will stop wanting to hurt yourself.  You will look for ways to “take care” of you, not “hurt” you.  I tell women to make a list of non-food things they really enjoy.  Next time they feel they need to have a food frenzy – pick an activity on the list.  Really notice how they feel doing that rather than eating afterward.

Before you start the next extreme diet really at how you view yourself.  What are your beliefs are about yourself? You are a wonderful creature who deserves all things magnificent – especially love.  Love is the greatest miracle cure.  Loving ourselves works miracles in our life. 

Attitude of Gratitude and Stress

Attitude of Gratitude and Stress

Like everyone else in this world I have experienced stressful times in my life.  Lately, I have been dealing with chronic stress that has affected my physical health, my emotional well-being, and started to bleed into activities that used to bring me joy. 

I firmly believe we are not in this world for a short time to be miserable.  Nor did God put us on this planet to suffer through our day at work.  With that in mind I started to think what I could do for myself to shift from “miserable” about an ongoing situation to “happy” and balancing myself out.  I did a lot of research because I know what will benefit me will benefit the wonderful women I work with. 

Did you know that studies show that this one thing can make you 25% happier? It boosts your immunity to anger, disappointment, and frustration.

It's even been shown to heal pain and illness in your body. It can certainly heal relationships, especially with your beautiful and miraculous body.

That one thing is GRATITUDE, and amazing things happen when you integrate it into your meditation practice.

Here's a fun exercise to try:

1. As you sit down to meditate, breathe in deeply and imagine your heart filling up with glowing, green light. Allow this energy to pulse and radiate to light you from within. As you deepen into the glowing, green energy in the center of your chest, begin to give thanks for your life. Give thanks for anything that pops into your head.  No filter, just give thanks for it and show it appreciation. 

2. Think about five things to be grateful for on this day. See these events as pictures. It may be the way your dog greets you or that nice person that let you have the parking space in the crowded lot. It could even be seeing the birds fly to their nests as darkness comes. Just let the images flow in and notice the feelings they give. If an unwanted image pops in, let it pass like a random car on the road. If it is important, you can think on it later.

3. Now, see the people behind the images you are grateful for and express thanks to each of them.

4. Remind yourself that whatever you focus on expands. When you focus on gratitude and positivity, you will get more of that in return.

What you appreciate, appreciates. 

Be mindful that you will attract more abundance, love, and health by being grateful for your current state in these areas. Your body, your health, and your relationships can only be improved by honoring where they are in this moment.