Being fired… Witnessing a crime… Getting bad medical news… Finding out you’re pregnant… The computer getting a virus… Coming into (big) money… Getting engaged… The laundry coming out pink… Being offered a new job… The pet running away… Getting lost in the woods… Losing the wallet… If any of these stressors have happened to you,…
Tips and coaching for making sense of stress.
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Stress Attacks!
Good stress motivates and mobilizes to action. Bad stress, of the pathological kind, ambushes and attacks with vicious relentlessness. Its favorite areas of attack are self-esteem, self-assessment and analytical abilities as they relate to past experiences, present situations, and expected outcomes. When stress strikes, the past can become a repository of bad precedents, the present…
Stress Software: Of Mice and Men
Animals, and particularly rodents that are routinely used in observations and experiments, tell us a lot of what we know about our own psychology. Rodents? How can a mouse or a rat know the first thing about what motivates and directs human reactions and behaviors? As a matter of fact, no rodent has yet provided…
Stresshack #2: Stressed by Stress?
When stress hits, sometimes all bets are off and even the best loses it. That’s bad, right? Like, maybe, even… very bad? To be avoided, as in, cool is best (“I should be the picture of calm and I am anything but”)… Why can’t I react any better than this, one may ask. Or, why…
Stresshack #1: The Top 6 Job Stressors
The top six on-going job conditions, thus excluding exceptional events such as a job loss, that may lead to significant stress are: 6. The structural and environmental conditions in which we must perform our tasks, which can range from mildly unpleasant to physically dangerous. There may also be noise, bad breathable air, overcrowding or…
Stress Hardware Review: The Limbic System
The limbic system is the complex neuronal circuitry that controls emotional behavior and motivational drives. The good news: It comes preinstalled in your brain. The bad news: It controls not only behavior but also body temperature, the drive to eat and drink, and the ability to control body weight. The bottom line: Stressful emotions can set…