Ever felt like your mind is running away with you? That your head is spinning with thoughts of disaster? Here are typical things we say to ourselves (Yes, we all do it!) ‘You stupid idiot! You’ve done it wrong, now everyone will laugh.’ ‘I can’t do that.’ ‘Why did I ever say I’d do this . . . ..’ And so on.

Despite what you might feel or believe due to these thoughts your state of mind is something you have control over.

Often the cause of our stress is imagination. We let it run away with reality, building mountains out of mole-hills and bombarding us with bad news and foreboding.

The way to less stress is to break this habitual thought pattern but to do so very distinctly.

One of the easiest and unobtrusive ways is to simply take a long slow breath in through the nose, then gently hold it for a count of four and let the breath out as if sighing slowly. Try it now . . . . . feel the difference it makes with just one breath. Now try two more and with each out breath say the word ‘relax’ to yourself. Now how do you feel? How easy was that?

A simple exercise like this is the beginning of taking control of your mind instead of being hi-jacked by your mind.

Keeping with the theme ‘we are what we think’, here is another simple way to remind ourselves that we are in control of our minds.

Mindset for Success

Decide what you really want. (This is very powerful, as we often get embroiled in situations at work or with our nearest and dearest, simply because we haven’t been clear to ourselves and to them what it is we want.)

Take one step at a time. Each accomplishment builds confidence, enthusiasm, and power.

Expect good things to happen.

Enjoy life! You are free and your potential is unlimited.

These are just two ways that you can turn the tables on that demon ‘Stress’. When you realise that you can change your thoughts you set yourself up for success and the effect can be miraculous.

All those bothersome habits, such as eating too much, nail-biting, always feeling grumpy etc, begin to loosen their grip. We start to feel more like looking after ourselves and our perspective on life in general gets warmer. And all you need to start this life-change is take some slow, deep breaths . . . . What are you waiting for?

Want to feel less stress and be more relaxed? Take the first steps with my free Symptoms of Burnout report. Visit my home page and look to righthand side where you can claim your free copy.