How do you feel physically?

Just notice they're there and let them fade on their own, as your main focus is on those breathing sensations (60-second pause). TECHNIQUES AFTER A MINDFULNESS EXERCISE Next, I stop the recording, tell LENNY he can open his eyes, and then ask him a series of questions. How intense is the sadness now, 0-10? How was that for you? What did you notice? Did your mind seem to wander? Were you able to bring your attention back to the breath? Yet, I am sure that you are tired of living the way you are, filled with stress day in and day out. You want to change your life for the better and have taken the important step of reading this entire article. Luckily, you have found all the right ways of reducing stress. I'm confident that you have the courage to create the life you deserve. We all crave happiness. But you know that happiness begins with you and that real joy comes from deep inside of you. Unfortunately, that is true of stress as well. It comes from deep inside of you, too, which is why it is so hard to shake. Stress and happiness are in a constant tug of war, and it's up to you to find a way for happiness to win, no matter what tricks, deception, or strength that stress may have. This article has helped you understand what stress is, where it comes from, and why it makes you feel the way that you do. Lastly, being involved means being approachable. When your child comes to you with an Internet problem whether it's inappropriate content or a nasty message from a so-called friend, stay calm and help them navigate through it.

If you want to keep the lines of communication open, the worst thing you can do is punish them by banning the Internet. BE A GOOD ROLE MODEL Now it's time to turn the mirror onto yourself. Are you constantly on your cell phone or iPad? Follow your own rules and turn off the technology. You can't expect your child to strike a balance with his usage when you're not able to yourself. Remember, you are a role model so if you're doing something--like texting and driving--you can expect your kids to follow suit. How to teach kids about guns is almost as controversial as the guns themselves. Mr Doom-and-Gloom is on the podium. Neutralise it This is an optional step that gives room for a huge amount of creativity. I use the word `neutralise' to mean take your thoughts and put them into a new context, where you can see them clearly for what they are: nothing more than pictures and words; In the previous article you did this in several different ways: silently singing your thoughts, hearing them in silly voices, putting them on to a computer screen. And in this article you've imagined them as a broadcast on the radio. However, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of ways to do this. Here are a few ideas to stimulate your creative juices. I encourage you to play around with them, see how they work for you, and see if you can come up with some of your own. You could visualise the thought as a caption on a birthday card, or a slogan on a T-shirt, or graffiti on a wall. What happened to your emotion as you practiced mindfulness? What do you make of that?

Was this helpful? Do you think it would be good to practice this for your Action Plan? You should encourage your clients to use either formal (if feasible in the moment) or informal mindfulness exercises when they find themselves stuck in an unhelpful thought process or caught up in an uncomfortable internal experience. This mindful technique was designed to be used when clients worry excessively (Beck & Emery, 1985) and/or experience excessive anxiety. You can adapt it for angry or depressive rumination. Here are the steps: Accept the anxiety (or other emotion). Act constructively with it. Whether your stress comes from work or from your home life, you now are able to analyze it and root it out at the source. You must always remember that there are terrible stressors you can't avoid, no matter how hard you try. You can't control these unavoidable stressors, either, and you can't stop tension from crossing your path all of the time. Life has a way of constantly creating stress for all of us. However, you can reduce your levels of stress, and you can equip yourself to face stress and minimize its hold over you. You can learn to tolerate some sources of stress and reduce others. You can turn to breathing, mindfulness, meditation, self-hypnosis, and self-reflection methods in order to uplift, rejuvenate, revitalize, and soothe yourself. You now have the perfect blueprint for developing a unique stress management plan that takes into account your various stressors and also gives you the right techniques for dealing with them. Even the most ambitious people can lose their zest when stress overwhelms them. As the tension builds, you start losing track of your vision and mission while your agitated inner-self tries to convince you that you're not good enough and you might as well give up. Some parents believe the way to teach children to be safe around guns is to expose them to guns. If you teach young kids to shoot and how to properly handle a gun, their curiosity diminishes.

Then if they find one, they will be less likely to play with it. Other parents educate their kids about the dangers of guns and teach them to never touch a gun. Some schools are taking this stance and are implementing gun safety programs in their curriculum, like The Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program. Developed by a task force of teachers, law enforcement personnel, and psychologists, this program is available to parents through the National Rifle Association. The program includes tools to teach kids one message: If you find a gun, stop! Don't touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult. You could say the thought aloud in a squeaky voice or a foreign accent, or sing it to the tune of your choice. You might write it down, draw it or paint it; You might visualise your thoughts as the credits of a movie, scrolling up the screen (or maybe even floating through space, as in the Star Wars movies). You can place your thoughts on clouds, and let them drift across the sky; You could imagine an actor reading your thoughts from a script. Or you could imagine them as text messages, emails or pop-ups on the internet. And if you came up with a metaphor in step 2, such as the fascist dictator, or Mr Doom-and-Gloom in step 3, you could take it further. You might actually imagine a fascist dictator saying your thoughts out loud, giving a speech to a crowd of fanatic followers. Or you might imagine Mr Doom-and-Gloom as a character in a comic article, and see your thoughts popping up inside his speech bubbles. Basically, you can do anything that helps you step back and see that thoughts are nothing more or less than `mental events': constructions of words and pictures; Repeat the steps. Expect the best.

To teach clients to use this technique, ask them to briefly describe an upcoming situation in which they predict they'll feel anxious. Then ask them to imagine the situation as if it's happening now and visualize themselves using the five steps. Mindfulness is maintaining your attention on your immediate experience while being open, accepting, and curious. Research shows that mindfulness can make treatment more effective, especially when clients are engaged in rumination, worry, obsessive thinking, continual self-criticism, or avoidance of internal experiences. Integrating mindfulness into therapy is likely to be more effective than teaching it as a standalone technique. Encourage clients to practice mindfulness daily, using formal and informal strategies. REFLECTION QUESTION In what ways could adopting a mindfulness practice be helpful to you? By employing a stress management plan, you are assuring that happiness always wins over stress. And once you are full of joy and peace again, your confidence will soar and you will start aiming high and reaching for your goals again. When you feel the top of your game, nothing can stand in your way of going for gold and winning the day. If you want to spare yourself from being bullied by stress for the rest of your days, you need to make some changes. Big changes. At the end of the day, you are in control of your life, and you have the ability to make major adjustments for the sake of the well-being of yourself and the ones you love. You might not be superhuman but you do have the power to alter your mindset, improve your attitude, and change the way you take care of yourself. You can do this. Emotion can override our thoughts and profoundly influence our behavior. Developing emotional intelligence skills helps us recognize, contain, and effectively communicate our emotions, as well as recognize the emotions of other people. HOW TO ASK OTHER PARENTS IF THERE IS A GUN IN THEIR HOUSE You've taken safety precautions to keep your kids safe from guns in your home and you assume your child's friend's parents have to, but are you certain?