Have you ever heard that nifty little quote? I could probably just end this blogcast right here without going any further. Enough said. “Why?” you may ask. Well, in my experience and observation, people who operate on the fringe (what I call “fringeing”) or those who are “running on empty,” often end up going from one problem to the next and then the next. In a nutshell, THIS is why it’s so important to never allow yourself to operate on an empty tank. Existing in a cloud of problems or crisis is no fun and can easily ruin your life or at the least, seriously set you back.

Running on Empty or “Fringeing” Defined Again

To recap, my definition of “running on empty”, “empty tank,” or “fringeing,” is someone who is either in or on the verge of crisis, someone who is operating on limited resources – at a deficit. It is someone that is one step away from a crash. Unfortunately, many people in today’s microwave, spur of the moment, immediate gratification society find themselves in this predicament. Even more unfortunate, I believe, is the possibility that those who FRINGE could be just one problem away from breakdown, disaster, or full-blown crisis. The upside is that I believe this caustic condition is entirely preventable. Let me tell you why . . .

Why I Believe “Fringeing” is Preventable

In my last blog I used the metaphor of a car’s gas gauge to represent “fringeing” or “operating on empty.” I stated that when your gas level indicator starts pointing towards empty, that you go to the nearest station and “fill ‘er up.” In a similar fashion, our lives need to be consistently “filled” with things that will nurture the mind, the body, and the spirit – to achieve proper life balance. It should be obvious that if you find yourself at the point of “being on empty” and “on the fringe,” that you’ve neglected to keep your tank “filled.” Your life is most likely out of balance and possibly on the verge of spiraling out of control.

I believe this “fringeing” is preventable if you take the necessary steps to keep your needle away from the “E” on your life tank level indicator. To stay away from the fringe, it’s important (as I wrote in my last blog) to nurture the mind, body and spirit on a consistent, ongoing basis. I realize at this point, that I’m speaking a bit in the abstract. I’m doing this mainly because I want you to fully understand the concept of “fringeing” and also because every person is different. Every person is at their own unique point in their life journey.

Your Take Away

Hopefully at this point of reading or listening, you should now have a good idea of the signs and the concepts of what operating on empty or “fringeing” are. You should also know that to prevent “fringeing” from ever happening in your life, you’ll need to consistently keep your life tank filled. But how or with what? My advice is to consider the following, which are in no particular order. Think about how you can use them to “fill your tank” and avoid the fringe.

• Faith
• Prayer
• Family
• Friends
• Exercise
• Rest
• Education
• Nutrition
• Boundaries

Over the next few blogs, I’ll dig deeper into these particular topics and discuss how they will help you avoid “fringeing” or “operating on empty” and keep your life in proper balance.

As always, feel free to contact me if you need some help. Also, feel free to leave a comment or question below.

Fat Burning Furnace for Quick and Easy Weight Loss

Related posts:

1. A Balanced Life Is a Healthy Life
2. Are You Running on Empty?
3. Life Lessons from Tragedy

Click here to view the embedded video.

Occasionally, there are days when I feel exhausted, defeated, depressed and discouraged. Do you ever feel like this? Who am I kidding? Of course you do. In fact, it’s the plight of being human to have bad moments and bad days from time to time. Sometimes the sting of reality becomes a bit hard to take, which is pretty normal in my experience. But, if we’re not careful, the bad moments and bad days can unsuspectingly sneak up on us, snowballing into bad weeks, bad months and even bad years. So, how do we keep this from happening? And how do we know when it’s creeping up on us?

In the title of this blog, I ask the question – “Are you running on empty?” You see, I believe that at any point in life we can easily lose our way if we’re not firmly grounded (having
the right foundation) and filled with the right fuel. Quite easily and unknowingly, we can find ourselves taking a proverbial “drive through life” with our tanks running low on fumes – operating on the fringe. Even worse is when things come to a screeching halt, keeping us from achieving the right goals or reaching our destination.

Running on Empty or “On the Fringe” Defined

To be clear, my definition of “running or empty” or “operating on the fringe” is when a person conducts their life on limited resources, in danger of breaking down. It’s one who doesn’t have clearly defined boundaries, a person who has no set goals, a person who fails to nurture the body, the mind and the spirit. It’s Popeye without his spinach, grass without fertilizer, a car with little or no gas. You get the picture.

And speaking of cars, for most of us, our vehicle represents freedom and independence to do what we need to do and to get where we’re going. Not only does it represent our freedom, but it also facilitates (makes easier) most of what we need to accomplish daily. But, what happens when our car breaks down or runs out of gas?

Quite simply, no gas means “no go.” We all know that. It’s an easy concept to grasp. When the needle on the gas gauge starts pointing towards “empty,” what do we do? We drive to the nearest gas station and “fill ‘er up.”

But, what about our life tank? It’s not always easy to figure out when or if we’re getting close to empty. And there’s more than just one tank that needs to be kept filled. There are mental, spiritual and physical components that make up the whole, healthy person. And I believe that the combination and proper balance of these three directly affect our emotional wellness.

So what if our “life needle” starts pointing to empty? Many times we seek help or try to find ways to recharge or refill our life tank, if we even recognize our need. But many times, we seek out the wrong things or perhaps we just keep going, thinking we’ll soon make it to that gas station and get a refill.

Now I understand that there are always going to be unexpected things that occur in life, things that cause grief and heartache, things over which we have no control. They are difficult to deal with and present challenges to us. It’s important though, to remember that if they happen while operating on empty or when close to empty – WATCH OUT! The aftermath can become a life wrecker and really difficult to overcome. This is why foresight, vigilance and preparation are so important.

In my coaching, I talk to people with all kinds of problems. Whether it be work, relationship, health, addiction, anxiety, mid-life crisis or a combination of these issues, one thing seems overwhelmingly clear to me –

Those who are operating on empty or on the fringe don’t cope well with the challenges that life presents. And not only that, but when problems begin to occur, while operating at a deficit (that is, being on or close to empty), more problems begin to take shape. In fact, much of the time, a type of snowballing occurs. Before you know it, a person is in full-blown crisis and unable to think, cope or adequately respond to the difficult matters at hand.

Your Take Home

So here are three things for you to consider today.

1. Look at the signs above and try to determine if you’re running on empty.
2. Begin to take precautions to keep yourself from operating on the fringe: mentally, spiritually and physically. Nurture these fundamental aspects of your life, keep them full and balanced so that when adversity comes, you’ll be equipped to deal with the challenges at hand.
3. If you’re already in a state of crisis and operating on empty, then find someone wise and supportive to talk to. Now is not the time to try to deal with your chaos alone. It’s important that you have wise support and encouragement – someone good to talk to.

Over the next few blogs, I’ll discuss some things you can do that will help keep you from operating on empty or “fringeing, as I like to call it.”

As always, feel free to contact me if you need some help. Also, feel free to leave a comment or question below.

Related posts:

1. Staying Filled – The Importance of Refilling Your Life Tank
2. An Answer for Doubt, Fear and Uncertainty
3. A Balanced Life Is a Healthy Life

“. . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control . . .”

(Galatians 5:22-23)

I don’t know about you, but for me, these particular attributes are what I need on a moment by moment basis to be the best that I can be. The amazing thing is that they come from God! Being tapped into Him means being supercharged to plow through all the daily muck and mire.

Furthermore, it’s the only way that we can keep moving forward – PROGRESSING and not sliding backwards!

My prayer for all of us today is that we keep ourselves “plugged in” to our real Source of strength and wisdom:

1. Focus on God’s truth.
   
2. Pray for His strength, wisdom and guidance.
   
3. Decide to consciously follow what He reveals.
   
4. PROGRESS in your faith and move forward!

Related posts:

1. A Balanced Life Is a Healthy Life
2. Negative Perspective – Are You Wearing Sunglasses at Night?
3. An Answer for Doubt, Fear and Uncertainty

Related posts:

1. An Answer for Doubt, Fear and Uncertainty
2. A Balanced Life Is a Healthy Life
3. Life Lessons from Tragedy

Wictionary defines a boundary as “the dividing line between two areas.” Quite simply, just think of it as a wall or fence that keeps the bad out and the good in. I suppose it can be thought of in terms of “black and white,” with the line in between being the boundary. Over the course of the next several blogcasts, I’ll attempt to delineate between the two, but for now, let me try to help you get a better image of what healthy boundaries are. It’s not a difficult concept, but many times, for those who find themselves in a cloud of crisis or despair – understanding, recognizing and establishing healthy boundaries may not be as obvious as you might think.

Boundaries defined

I’m not going to get complicated here trying to define what boundaries are, so I’ll attempt to draw you a mental picture. Here are a couple of examples to think about to help understand what boundaries are. Try to imagine each situation. One thing should be pretty clear upon contemplating each of these “boundary” examples. At first, it seems simple to figure out the boundary or boundaries for each, but if you think about it, each example can have more than one boundary – in fact, each may have several, depending upon the circumstances and the desired outcome.

Example 1. The Island

You’re on a small island in the ocean, all alone and you can’t swim. What are your boundaries?

In this situation (with the desire to stay alive) it would seem that the only clearly defined boundary is the coast or shoreline. On an island you would have the freedom to explore wherever you like, as long as you stay away from the water, since you can’t swim. But, what if there are also dangerous creatures on that island? Perhaps there are snakes that nest in or around the base of certain trees in the wooded areas of the island. How would this affect your boundary lines? Instead of having the freedom to roam all over the island, you’ll need to stay out of the woods, to avoid being bitten by a poisonous, life-threatening snake. Or, what if you taught yourself to swim? How would that affect your boundary?

My point is simple, every situation or circumstance comes with its own set of boundaries. And many times, these boundaries are situational and relative to the person involved.

Example 2. The Recovering Alcoholic

For a person addicted to alcohol or “alcoholic” – boundaries are going to look very different than for one who does not have a drinking problem. As a recovering alcoholic, some of the boundaries may look like the following:

• Avoid any pubs and bars.
• Avoid the beer and wine isle in the grocery store.
• Avoid social situations where alcohol is being served.
• Avoid friends who drink during social drinking hours.
• Avoid those who don’t support your being a teetotaler, who insist on your social drinking, instead of being abstinent.

As you probably already realize, the above “boundaries” can vary among recovering alcoholics, depending upon the degree of wellness and time elapsed. For a ten year reformed alcoholic, perhaps it’s okay to associate with friends during a social drinking hour. However, for a newly recovering alcoholic, the above boundaries must be carefully observed, to avoid temptation, which could lead to relapse.

Whether a non-swimmer on an island alone, an alcoholic trying to recover, or a person with other issues – good, established boundaries play an essential role in maintaining a healthy and happy life. Even the most well-adjusted, healthy individuals have established boundaries in place, whether they realize it or not. Boundaries are an essential part of their achieving healthy balance, success and happiness in life.

Your Take Away:

On a more personal level, what are your boundaries? If your life is currently riddled with problems, distress, discontent or crisis, it may be that you have boundary issues or “B.A.D.” Meanwhile, take the time to think about your current troubling situation. Make a list of the boundaries that are in place in your life. Are they working? If not, then maybe they need to reordered or changed.

Related posts:

1. A Balanced Life Is a Healthy Life
2. Do You Have Boundary Issues?
3. Staying Filled – The Importance of Refilling Your Life Tank

Crisis among the masses is rampant. I’m not even talking about the life crushing perilous, heart rending tragedies that occur all over the world. I’m talking about small, irritating, yet paralyzing crises that occur in our everyday lives. Almost daily, I encounter different people – clients, friends, acquaintances and strangers alike, most of who share a common, often unseen problem…

Boundary Amorphic Disorder – “B.A.D.”

“Boundary Amorphic Disorder” or “B.A.D.” is a condition that I’ve labeled myself. It simply means “having no clearly defined boundaries in one’s life.” Perhaps it’s an oversimplification of more complex underlying issues plaguing many, but nevertheless, I believe “B.A.D.” to be a fundamental cause of pain, heartache, problem and crisis for many people. In fact, when coaching people in crisis, one of the first questions that I often ask is “What are your boundaries?” Sadly, most people have never even considered the thought. Many don’t even know what a boundary is or how it should apply to one’s life.

Here’s my point: People who do not have clearly defined, healthy boundaries, have problems – usually a lot of them.

With that in mind, here’s a question for you to ponder for today –

Do you have “B.A.D.?” Or, if you do have boundaries, what are they and how firmly are they in place in your life?

In my next blog, I’ll discuss boundaries in more detail and discuss why having them in place will help you stay safe, sane, healthy and happy. Meanwhile, feel free to leave a comment or question below.

Related posts:

1. What Are Healthy Boundaries?
2. Are You Running on Empty?

From time to time I come across a program within the “self-help” area that I feel really helps people with certain issues and problems. Here, I’d like to share a powerful article (by permission) on Panic and Anxiety, written by Joe Barry – founder of the Panic Away program. I hope you find it as helpful and informative as I have.

Causes of Panic Attacks

The short and obvious answer: panic attacks are caused by high anxiety. But, what exactly is anxiety? Understanding how anxiety crops up will help you defeat panic attacks.

One of the biggest myths surrounding anxiety is that it is harmful and can lead to a number of various life-threatening conditions.

Definition of Anxiety

Anxiety is defined as a state of apprehension or fear resulting from the anticipation of a real or imagined threat, event, or situation. It is one of the most common human emotions experienced by people at some point in their lives.

However, most people who have never experienced a panic attack, or extreme anxiety, fail to realize the terrifying nature of the experience. Extreme dizziness, blurred vision, tingling and feelings of breathlessness—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

When these sensations occur and people do not understand why, they feel they have contracted an illness, or a serious mental condition. The threat of losing complete control seems very real and naturally very terrifying.

Fight/Flight Response: One of the root causes of panic attacks?

I am sure most of you have heard of the fight/flight response as an explanation for one of the root causes of panic attacks. Have you made the connection between this response and the unusual sensations you experience during and after a panic attack episode?

Anxiety is a response to a danger or threat. It is so named because all of its effects are aimed toward either fighting or fleeing from the danger. Thus, the sole purpose of anxiety is to protect the individual from harm. This may seem ironic given that you no doubt feel your anxiety is actually causing you great harm…perhaps the most significant of all the causes of panic attacks.

However, the anxiety that the fight/flight response created was vital in the daily survival of our ancient ancestors—when faced with some danger, an automatic response would take over that propelled them to take immediate action such as attack or run. Even in today’s hectic world, this is still a necessary mechanism. It comes in useful when you must respond to a real threat within a split second.

Anxiety is a built-in mechanism to protect us from danger. Interestingly, it is a mechanism that protects but does not harm—an important point that will be elaborated upon later.

The Physical Manifestations of a Panic Attack: Other pieces of the puzzle to understand the causes of panic attacks. Nervousness and Chemical Effects…

When confronted with danger, the brain sends signals to a section of the nervous system. It is this system that is responsible for gearing the body up for action and also calms the body down and restores equilibrium. To carry out these two vital functions, the autonomic nervous system has two subsections, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.

Although I don’t want to become too “scientific,” having a basic understanding of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system will help you understand the causes of panic attacks.

The sympathetic nervous system is the one we tend to know all too much about because it primes our body for action, readies us for the “fight or flight” response, while the parasympathetic nervous system is the one we love dearly as it serves as our restoring system, which returns the body to its normal state.

When either of these systems is activated, they stimulate the whole body, which has an “all or nothing” effect. This explains why when a panic attack occurs, the individual often feels a number of different sensations throughout the body.

The sympathetic system is responsible for releasing the adrenaline from the adrenal glands on the kidneys. These are small glands located just above the kidneys. Less known, however, is that the adrenal glands also release adrenaline, which functions as the body’s chemical messengers to keep the activity going. When a panic attack begins, it does not switch off as easily as it is turned on. There is always a period of what would seem increased or continued anxiety, as these messengers travel throughout the body. Think of them as one of the physiological causes of panic attacks, if you will.

After a period of time, the parasympathetic nervous system gets called into action. Its role is to return the body to normal functioning once the perceived danger is gone. The parasympathetic system is the system we all know and love, because it returns us to a calm relaxed state.

When we engage in a coping strategy that we have learned, for example, a relaxation technique, we are in fact willing the parasympathetic nervous system into action. A good thing to remember is that this system will be brought into action at some stage whether we will it or not. The body cannot continue in an ever-increasing spiral of anxiety. It reaches a point where it simply must kick in, relaxing the body. This is one of the many built-in protection systems our bodies have for survival.

You can do your best with worrying thoughts, keeping the sympathetic nervous system going, but eventually it stops. In time, it becomes a little smarter than us, and realizes that there really is no danger. Our bodies are incredibly intelligent—modern science is always discovering amazing patterns of intelligence that run throughout the cells of our body. Our body seems to have infinite ways of dealing with the most complicated array of functions we take for granted. Rest assured that your body’s primary goal is to keep you alive and well.

Not so convinced?

Try holding your breath for as long as you can. No matter how strong your mental will is, it can never override the will of the body. This is good news—no matter how hard you try to convince yourself that you are gong to die from a panic attack, you won’t. Your body will override that fear and search for a state of balance. There has never been a reported incident of someone dying from a panic attack.

Remember this next time you have a panic attack; he causes of panic attacks cannot do you any physical harm. Your mind may make the sensations continue longer than the body intended, but eventually everything will return to a state of balance. In fact, balance (homeostasis) is what our body continually strives for.

The interference for your body is nothing more than the sensations of doing rigorous exercise. Our body is not alarmed by these symptoms. Why should it be? It knows its own capability. It’s our thinking minds that panic, which overreact and scream in sheer terror! We tend to fear the worst and exaggerate our own sensations. A quickened heart beat becomes a heart attack. An overactive mind seems like a close shave with schizophrenia. Is it our fault? Not really—we are simply diagnosing from poor information.

Cardiovascular Effects Activity in the sympathetic nervous system increases our heartbeat rate, speeds up the blood flow throughout the body, ensures all areas are well supplied with oxygen and that waste products are removed. This happens in order to prime the body for action.

A fascinating feature of the “fight or flight” mechanism is that blood (which is channelled from areas where it is currently not needed by a tightening of the blood vessels) is brought to areas where it is urgently needed.

For example, should there be a physical attack, blood drains from the skin, fingers, and toes so that less blood is lost, and is moved to “active areas” such as the thighs and biceps to help the body prepare for action.

This is why many feel numbness and tingling during a panic attack-often misinterpreted as some serious health risk-such as the precursor to a heart attack. Interestingly, most people who suffer from anxiety often feel they have heart problems. If you are really worried that such is the case with your situation, visit your doctor and have it checked out. At least then you can put your mind at rest.

Respiratory Effects

One of the scariest effects of a panic attack is the fear of suffocating or smothering. It is very common during a panic attack to feel tightness in the chest and throat. I’m sure everyone can relate to some fear of losing control of your breathing. From personal experience, anxiety grows from the fear that your breathing itself would cease and you would be unable to recover. Can a panic attack stop our breathing? No.

A panic attack is associated with an increase in the speed and depth of breathing. This has obvious importance for the defense of the body since the tissues need to get more oxygen to prepare for action. The feelings produced by this increase in breathing, however, can include breathlessness, hyperventilation, sensations of choking or smothering, and even pains or tightness in the chest. The real problem is that these sensations are alien to us, and they feel unnatural.

Having experienced extreme panic attacks myself, I remember that on many occasions, I would have this feeling that I couldn’t trust my body to do the breathing for me, so I would have to manually take over and tell myself when to breathe in and when to breathe out. Of course, this didn’t suit my body’s requirement of oxygen and so the sensations would intensify—along with the anxiety. It was only when I employed the technique I will describe for you later, did I let the body continue doing what it does best—running the whole show.

Importantly, a side-effect of increased breathing, (especially if no actual activity occurs) is that the blood supply to the head is actually decreased. While such a decrease is only a small amount and is not at all dangerous, it produces a variety of unpleasant but harmless symptoms that include dizziness, blurred vision, confusion, sense of unreality, and hot flushes.

Other Physical Effects of Panic Attacks:

Now that we’ve discussed some of the primary physiological causes of panic attacks, there are a number of other effects that are produced by the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, none of which are in any way harmful.

For example, the pupils widen to let in more light, which may result in blurred vision, or “seeing” stars, etc. There is a decrease in salivation, resulting in dry mouth. There is decreased activity in the digestive system, which often produces nausea, a heavy feeling in the stomach, and even constipation. Finally, many of the muscle groups tense up in preparation for “fight or flight” and this results in subjective feelings of tension, sometimes extending to actual aches and pains, as well as trembling and shaking.

Overall, the fight/flight response results in a general activation of the whole bodily metabolism. Thus, one often feels hot and flushed and, because this process takes a lot of energy, the person generally feels tired and drained.

Mental Manifestations: Are the causes of panic attacks all in my head? is a question many people wonder to themselves.

The goal of the fight/flight response is making the individual aware of the potential danger that may be present. Therefore, when activated, the mental priority is placed upon searching the surroundings for potential threats. In this state one is highly-strung, so to speak. It is very difficult to concentrate on any one activity, as the mind has been trained to seek all potential threats and not to give up until the threat has been identified. As soon as the panic hits, many people look for the quick and easiest exit from their current surroundings, such as by simply leaving the bank queue and walking outside. Sometimes the anxiety can heighten, if we perceive that leaving will cause some sort of social embarrassment.

If you have a panic attack while at the workplace but feel you must press on with whatever task it is you are doing, it is quite understandable that you would find it very hard to concentrate. It is quite common to become agitated and generally restless in such a situation. Many individuals I have worked with who have suffered from panic attacks over the years indicated that artificial light—such as that which comes from computer monitors and televisions screens—can can be one of the causes of panic attacks by triggering them or worsen a panic attack, particularly if the person is feeling tired or run down.

This is worth bearing in mind if you work for long periods of time on a computer. Regular break reminders should be set up on your computer to remind you to get up from the desk and get some fresh air when possible.

In other situations, when during a panic attack an outside threat cannot normally be found, the mind turns inwards and begins to contemplate the possible illness the body or mind could be suffering from. This ranges from thinking it might have been something you ate at lunch, to the possibility of an oncoming cardiac arrest.

The burning question is: Why is the fight/flight response activated during a panic attack even when there is apparently nothing to be frightened of?

Upon closer examination of the causes of panic attacks, it would appear that what we are afraid of are the sensations themselves—we are afraid of the body losing control. These unexpected physical symptoms create the fear or panic that something is terribly wrong. Why do you experience the physical symptoms of the fight/flight response if you are not frightened to begin with? There are many ways these symptoms can manifest themselves, not just through fear.

For example, it may be that you have become generally stressed for some reason in your life, and this stress results in an increase in the production of adrenaline and other chemicals, which from time to time, would produce symptoms….and which you perceive as the causes of panic attacks.

This increased adrenaline can be maintained chemically in the body, even after the stress has long gone. Another possibility is diet, which directly affects our level of stress. Excess caffeine, alcohol, or sugar is known for causing stress in the body, and is believed to be one of the contributing factors of the causes of panic attacks (Chapter 5 gives a full discussion on diet and its importance).

Unresolved emotions are often pointed to as a possible trigger of panic attacks, but it is important to point out that eliminating panic attacks from your life does not necessarily mean analyzing your psyche and digging into your subconscious. The “One Move” technique will teach you to deal with the present moment and defuse the attack along with removing the underlying anxiety that sparks the initial anxiety.

Learn more at http://www.panicaway.com.

Joe Barry is an international panic disorder coach. His informative site on all issues related to panic and anxiety attacks can be found here: http://www.panicaway.com.

Related posts:

1. Do Anxiety & Panic Play a Role in Your Crisis?
2. An Answer for Doubt, Fear and Uncertainty
3. Are You Running on Empty?

Let’s face it, we’re all dealing with some kind of difficulty nowadays. Today may be one of your good days, or like many, it may be one of the bad ones. At any rate, here’s a simple little question to answer for yourself that should make things better, if you take it to heart –

Will This Matter a Year from Now?

You see, much of the sadness and frustration that we experience in our lives can easily be overcome, if we would simply and actively seek to put things into perspective. I wrote another article on the half-empty, half-full perspective a while back. I would suggest you use the link and go read it. For now though, as a quick tip to make your life a bit sweeter, a bit more pleasant today, think through the question – “Will your present trouble or difficulty matter at all a year from now?”

If we taint the current troubling situation with negativity and hopelessness, then the answer to that question might actually be “yes, it WILL matter a year from now”. But I believe that if we choose to see the grander scheme, the bigger picture, the good in our lives – striving to put things into perspective, our current trivial worries will melt away in light of the huge blessings that God already has working in our lives.

Your Take Away

Don’t let your current frustration, worry or trouble rob you of today’s blessings and happiness. Seek to dwell in the light of God’s promises, His blessings and hope. Doing so will ensure (or at least greatly increase your chances) that today’s trouble truly will not matter a year from now!

Related posts:

1. Negative Perspective – Are You Wearing Sunglasses at Night?
2. A Balanced Life Is a Healthy Life
3. Finding Guidance & Peace During Crisis & Difficulty

Okay, so maybe in the overall scheme of things, laughter may not be the BEST medicine, but it surely will make life better and happier. Not only that, but you and I are much more fun to be around if we’re laughing and jovial.

How much time do you spend laughing it up? I know, if you’re having crisis moments or lots of difficulty, laughter seems a million miles away from your current stress situation. You’re probably thinking to yourself – oh, if I could only bring back the laughter.

Well, there’s a man named Norman Cousins who did some extensive research on the physical benefits of laughter and happiness. He even established a “Humor Research Task Force” to do some worldwide clinical research on humor. Do you know what his conclusion was?

Laughter, Happiness and Joy are the Perfect Medicine for Stress

In fact, here are some of the benefits that he concluded come from laughter:

• Stress reduction
• Mood elevation
• Lower blood pressure
• An Immune System boost
• Better Thinking & Memory
• Healthier Heart
• Better Sleep & Relaxation
• General Feeling of Satisfaction

Interesting, huh? Now, you’re probably thinking, “I’d like to laugh more, but with my situation, I can’t!”

Well,I say, now is your chance to be proactive in the midst of difficulty, crisis and stress. Do something and start laughing it up. Several weeks ago, I wrote in a blog about how exercise releases endorphins, which are nature’s pain killers in the body. Did you know that laughter also releases these powerful endorphins? In essence, endorphins, when released in the brain, affect the body a lot like morphine does. Endorphins create a feeling of well-being throughout the whole body and help relieve pain. Hence the benefits that I listed above.

My SUPERCHARGED suggestion for you today is NO MATTER WHAT YOUR CIRCUMSTANCE – Practice making laughter a real part of your life. Watch a funny movie. Spend some time with an upbeat, positive – happy go lucky friend. Allow some of that infectious joy and laughter to rub off on you. Fight to find a way to make your stomach hurt with a good belly laugh.

The Bible says in Proverbs 17:22 – “A cheerful heart is good medicine.”

Today, determine within your heart that you’re going to do whatever you can to laugh more, at every opportunity. Do this and watch the sun shine light into the midst of your crisis and stress.

Related posts:

1. An Answer for Doubt, Fear and Uncertainty
2. A Balanced Life Is a Healthy Life
3. Personal Crisis and Negative Thinking

Managing Stress

Stress kills. But before it does so, it will knock your life out of whack. In my case, in the midst of striving to learn to be a fit and healthy person – I severely neglected the mental, emotional and spiritual side of the equation. I was eating right for health, but was not properly nurturing my soul. I soon found myself overstressed, anxious and quite literally, out of balance. I constantly felt physically ill and soon found myself worrying and stressed about everything – namely work, relationships with others AND my health. It seemed that my life was spinning out of control. The interesting thing is that the more I tried to control it – the worse it got and the worse I felt. I adjusted my diet a hundred different ways; I increased and changed the dietary supplements I was taking; I did research, perusing the internet looking for solutions for everything, including work and my health; I went to the doctor repeatedly to find out what was wrong with me; and I’m even ashamed to say, I began drinking a glass or two of wine in the evenings just to relax (which I rarely did before). Ultimately, I developed a very severe case of gastritis that was misdiagnosed, resulting in a lot of pain and unnecessary intestinal surgery.

I tell you all of this to demonstrate how lack of balance in my life completely threw things out of whack and caused me a lot of sickness, pain, worry and frustration. In case you didn’t get it,

Life without Proper Balance Isn’t Healthy Living

Life IS a juggling act. And quite frankly, most of us are NOT very good jugglers. I know I wasn’t. In the midst of my attempts, I was dropping things left and right. No matter how hard I tried to fix things, they continued to get worse and I just got sicker and more frustrated. I was missing the big picture. For those of you who are visual, look at this diagram that I created below, which I believe to represent proper balance in life:

Ideally, this is where we should be – having proper balance in life between these three main areas (Body, Mind, Soul). Imagine the above as a wheel that rolls perfectly, because all areas are in balance. If you were able to inflate or deflate one of the above areas, indicating a lack of balance, the wheel would cease to roll smoothly.

Many of us, due to neglect to our “life circle of balance”, if you will, have a deflated ball or circle, basically like what you see below – deflated, unfulfilled (lacks air or inspiration) and won’t roll or bounce. Take a look:

What you see above was representative of my life a few years ago. To put it simply, when you have a life out of balance, chances are some or many of the following issues may describe what you will experience:

• Poor health, malaise or sickness (headaches, nausea, acid stomach, ulcers, or worse)
• Anxiety or Panic
• Obesity, weight gain or even weight loss
• Insomnia or perhaps you sleep too much
• Relationship problems (have trouble relating to others)
• Depression
• Self-doubt

These are but a few symptoms of a life out of balance. And, if your personal life balance is representative of the deflated, uninspired diagram above, just imagine how it must affect everything in your life.

If your life is like mine was, like the above wheel or ball that won’t roll or bounce, here are three fundamental things to remember that may help inspire you. They are not so much about action as they are about your perspective. You may not be able to change your situation right away, but these may actually add some air (inspiration) to your life (tire, ball, wheel) so that it at least keeps rolling forward:

1. Stop focusing on your problems and worrying yourself sick about them. Worrying will not change one thing about your situation, in fact, it will only make it worse. Here’s what Christ Himself said about it in Matthew 6:27 – “And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the span of his life?”
2. Change what you can. Ok, so you can’t control everything, but there are things about your life that you can control. Many times in life we obsess and worry about things over which we have no control. Stop doing that and refocus on what you CAN control and change.
3. Focus on the good, the positive, the right things about your life. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is from Philippians 4:8-9, ” Whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them]. Practice this and the God of peace (of untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you.”

If you practice the above three suggestions, your ball will begin rolling in no time. Meanwhile, keep working on solving the problems in your life.

Before you know it, balance will return and success, renewal and joy will abound.

Related posts:

1. What Are Healthy Boundaries?
2. Staying Filled – The Importance of Refilling Your Life Tank
3. Life Lessons from Tragedy