Your Life Changes The Moment You Make A Committed Decision

                                                   "Your life changes the moment you
                                         make a new, congruent, and committed decision."
                                                              - Tony Robbins.


When was the last time that you made a true and committed decision?

And I don't mean a decision on what to wear or what restaurant to go to.

A real decision that would have a great impact on your present and also your future?

I bet you can't even remember the last you did this.


                                                "It's in the moment of your decisions
                                                      that your destiny is shaped."
                                                                - Tony Robbins


Most people don't make decisions about their life because they don't see how they are going to get there.
Instead they keep on doing things that they can see how they are going to get there and that is why their life really never changes.

Make that decision today that you have been putting off for some time.
Get out of your comfort zone and create a vision that will make you grow, something that will force you to start taking action today.

Make the decision!!!

                                                          www.karinglannstam.com

If You Stay Stuck In The Past, No One Will Stay There With You

                                             "If you keep telling the same sad, small story,
                                              you will keep living the same sad, small life."


We all have stories to tell.
But sometimes we get stuck on telling the same story over and over and over again.

It really doesn't matter what happens to you.
What matters is, what are you going to do about it?
What are you going to do NOW?

How long are you going to tell everybody at the bus stop, at work, in the line at the grocery store, at parties, at family gatherings or to anyone that would stand still and listen to you?

How long are you going to repeat the same story? How many times do we have to hear it?

Don't go around telling everybody your story.
80% don't care and 20% are glad that it's you and not them.

We to a great extent behave, think, react because of some previous experience we have had.

A close friend of mine allowed his tragedy to destroy him. His own mother wasn't there for him when he was a child and he said that his mother had made him so miserable and that he was going to pay her back. Now he took this attitude to other relationships. Especially relationships with women, looking for something to go wrong. He had gotten so burned by his own mother that he didn't want to risk pain again. When the relationship became too close, he would do something to make sure that the relationship did not work. He would always try to find something wrong with the other person. 

Since no one is perfect it won't be hard to find faults with another person.

What was going on here? 

He was stuck on revenge.

Another friend of mine realized that her husband didn't love her as much as she loved him. He left her for another woman. She got a divorce but even when she got married again she kept on telling her story. Every time I came over to her house she kept on repeating the same story of how her ex-husband cheated on her and left her for another woman. She kept telling her story about how her ex mistreated her. How long do you think her second marriage lasted? Not very long.

What was going on here? 

She was stuck in anger.

I once had a neighbor. She had gotten some illness some years back, but when I talked to her it sounded like she was still in the middle of it. Every time I ran into her she would tell me the same story over and over again. She would tell me all the reason why she couldn't do anything and how this illness totally had destroyed her life. The only thing she could do today was sleep late, sit around her house all day watching TV and spend her evenings gossiping on the phone.
What was going on here?
She was stuck in self-pity.


Let your old disempowering and sad story go.
Don't allow some tragedy that happen in the past to control your today and your future.

All of us have experienced some kind of tragedy, and if we haven't, we will.
You can either let the tragedy destroy your life or you can build upon it.

You can allow the tragedy to hold you down or you can decide that you will get out of this rut and stop repeating your sad story today.

                                                           www.karinglannstam.com

What Is Life?

                                                      "Live life to the fullest 
                                            because you only get to live it once."


As I mentioned in my blog this past Monday, life is always changing.
Sometimes you are up and sometimes you are down. If we can just learn to accept this we will avoid a lot of suffering.
Just know that sometimes you are happy and sometimes you are sad. Even when you are not happy and things are not going right in your life, just remember that this too shall pass.
Brighter days are coming.

If you missed Monday's Blog.....here it is
http://karinglannstam.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-challanges-of-life.html

Life is like an onion, you have to peel it one layer at a time, and sometimes you cry.

I heard something beautiful about life the other day that I want to share with you today.

Life is a challenge.....Meet it.
Life is like a gift.....Accept it.
Life is like an adventure.....Dare it.
Life is a sorrow.....Overcome it.
Life is a tragedy.....Face it.
Life is a duty.....Perform it.
Life is a mystery.....Unfold it.
Life is a song.....Sing it.
Life is an opportunity.....Take it.
Life is a journey.....Complete it.
Life is a promise.....Fulfill it.
Life is a beauty.....Praise it.
Life is a struggle.....Fight it.
Life is a goal.....Achieve it.
Life is a puzzle.....Sole it.


                                                       "Life is a matter of choices,
                                             and every choice you make makes you."
                                                                - John C. Maxwell

                                                             www.karinglannstam.com                      

The Challenges Of Life

                                                  "Life is full of ups and downs.
                                                    The trick is to enjoy the ups 
                                             and have courage during the downs."


We all know that life is always changing. It never stays the same.

We also know that sometimes you are up, and sometimes you are down.
Sometimes you are happy and sometimes you are sad. Sometimes you are filled with energy and sometimes you don't feel like you can get out of bed.
Life is seldom even and smooth. If it is, it won't stay that way for very long. We need to accept this.
It is what we call LIFE.

Anybody can feel good during the UP moments of life.
It's easy to feel good when you have your health, your business is doing great, your relationships are working well, your kids act right and all your bills are paid.
Anyone can be positive then.

It's easy to have faith when everything is working well in your life.
It's a lot easier to have a larger vision and it's a lot easier to take action on your goals then.

But the real growth, mentally, emotionally and spiritually comes when you get knocked down.
How you handle it.....that is where the real growth takes place.

Are you going to stray stuck during a down moment in life, or are you going to grow through it?


Now if you happen to get stuck.....how do you get yourself unstuck?

First you must evaluate where you are at the moment.

Then ask yourself, what brought you here? What role did you play?

Next question is, what did you learn from it?
Are you learning anything or are you going to keep on repeating the same lesson over and over again?

"Until you handle it with grace, it will stay in your face."

You know that you will keep on getting the same lesson over and over again until you completely accept it and understand it.
Then you will graduate onto the next challenge in life.
Life is never at a standstill.


What is the biggest challenge that you are facing today...either in your business or personally?

                                                           www.karinglannstam.com

What You Do Every Day Matters

                               "It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives.
                                                  It's what we do consistently."
                                                         - Tony Robbins


Little by Little A little become A lot.

Every great teacher will tell you that when you want to build any habit..... consistency is key.

Here is a great metaphor of what I am talking about.


A stonecutter hits a rock with his hammer. The stone splits. the casual observer sees and thinks, "WOW! That guy is really strong. I can't believe he broke that rock with one single blow!"
The reality is that the stonecutter didn't break the rock in one single blow. He'd been hammering away at that rock for a long time. Many, many blows went into the rock before it finally split.

Many people will look at the person on top of the mountain and say..... aren't they lucky to be standing there. And they forget to look at all the hard work it took for that person to reach the top of the mountain.

Most people see someone who has achieved success whether it's financial wealth, fitness, enlightenment or celebrity status, and think....."WOW, they sure are lucky."


So, keep on hitting the rock.....over and over again.

                                                        www.karinglannstam.com

5 Tips To Stay Healthy And Keep Your Weight Under Control

                                               Every small achievement will soon be
                                                        one amazing success.



Do want to feel healthier and have more energy?

Most of  us do.

How about being able to keep your weight under control and to feel awesome?

Are you interested?

Here are 5 simple things that you can do to live a healthier, more energized life and keep the weight under control.

These tips are so easy and so simple to do. They have worked very will in my life and I hope that you will try them.

Step One
Move more.
Get inspired to add a few more activities into your life.
I've had dogs for the past 30 years and that has helped a lot with moving my body. I enjoy taking my dogs out in nature for walks on a daily base. Great exercise for both me and the dogs.
Decide do move more. It doesn't matter what you do.
Start walking with a pedometer and set a goal of 10,000 steps per day.

Step Two
Find out what works.
Find something that you like to do. For me as I mentioned in step one I love to walk my two dogs on a daily base.  I also enjoy doing yoga. I used to do classes at the gym but now I do three 30-minutes sessions per week at home.
Figure out what you like to do, or chances are that you won't do it.
Sign up for some specific class. Find a few friends and do something together.

Step Three
Start small.
Don't be a weekend worrier at the gym and then end up on the couch for the rest of the weak because you hurt yourself.
Make tiny changes both when it comes to your diet and your exercise. Instead of eating a big salad start with adding a vegetable or two to your meal on a regular base. Replace a soda or a candy bar with a piece of fruit. Eventually you will start craving more fresh food and less junk.

Step Four
Be consistent
I eat the same healthy breakfast everyday. Sticking to the same meal takes the guess work out of how to start my day on a healthy note. I walk about the same distance every day. Rain or sunshine, it doesn't matter. Consistency pays off big time. Little by little a little become a lot.
Develop stickability.

Step Five
Be kind to yourself and appreciate yourself and your body.
You might want to clean up your self-talk. Remember whatever you say to yourself.....you are listening.
Stop beating yourself up. You must become your own biggest cheer-leader.


Here are a few empowering  affirmations to say to yourself. 

I accept who I am with joy.
I love myself exactly as I am.
I always stand up for myself and I know I am a person of great value.
I am committed to be successful.
I have inner strength.
I am capable.
I am proud of my body.
I am healthy, I am strong and I am powerful

                                                         www.karinglannstam.com

Wake Up And Be Awesome

                                            "Every morning you have two choices.
                                                 Continue to sleep with dreams
                                                                        or
                                              wake up and chase your dreams."

Willpower is a muscle and you can increase it by using it more often. The more you use it the stronger it gets.

Having a huge willpower muscle will assist you in your pursuit of your dreams and it will help you accomplish anything in your life.
Today I will give a you a great way to increase that muscle.


Today's Challenge

I believe that how you start your day is the way you day will continue. If you want to have a successful day I believe that you have to have some morning success habits that will set the tone for how your day is going to go.


                              "This morning I will show up. Stepping forward in growth."


Strengthen  you willpower muscle every day, by committing to waking up at a designated time  (Maybe trying to bet the sun up!)

Spend that extra time before the world wakes up to do yoga, meditate, read a book, journaling, reading your statement with your goals, write, paint, go for a walk or a run.
Do something that will inspire you. Something that will boost your energy level and that will make you feel alive for the day.

Re-commit every evening to get up again the next morning.
Commit to do this for at least three weeks and you will be amazed at how happy, inspired and energized you will feel.


                                          I have got a dream worth more than my sleep.

                                                          www.karinglannstam.com

Eat To Fuel Your Body - Not To Feed Your Emotions

                                                         It's not a short term diet.
                                                   It's a long term lifestyle change.



Most people take better care of their cars than they do their own bodies.

We must all realize the consequences of our mistakes and understand the benefits of the right decisions when it comes to eating right. It's time to stop cheating and be serious about changing our eating patters to improve our health and our entire lives.

A lot of people are wandering through life just eating whatever is tasting the best. Not paying much attention to how is affecting their body and their energy, long term. Short term pleasure and energy but often long term pain later in life.

Surveys show that almost 70% of American adults are now overweight and obese. We are eating high calorie nutrient deficient food and we mix it with a sedentary lifestyle. Not a good combination for health and vitality.

Today people are eating a lot of processed foods and meats, lots of refined grains and a lot of added fat and sugar.

My Story!
Talking about sugar.....I have to come clean here and admit that I love sugar. 
Yes.....I love sugar way too much. More that I should. Sugar is my best friend. It's there when I feel sad. Sugar is there when I am happy. Sugar is helping when I feel worried and sugar is there when I need a energy boost. How can you not love sugar? I don't think that I know anybody that doesn't like sugar.
But I have come to realize that sugar and I cannot be best friends anymore. Because my best friend sugar is not good for me. The friendship was ruining my health and my energy. So I decided that I have to let go of this best friend because my best friend was toxic.
Nowadays I have some new friends. Their names are apples, melons, pears, tangerines and carrots just to name a few.
Many years ago I was also totally hooked on drinking Diet Coke. It helped me with my boredom at work. Looking back on it now I realized that I should have changed profession a little earlier instead of depending on diet soda to give me an energy boost. 
Today I don't touch soda. Diet or not, it doesn't matter, because it's really bad for you and it has absolutely no nutritional value.

By the way.....if you love to drink wine or alcohol …..you are probably deep down addicted to sugar. There is a lot of sugar in these drinks.

                                         A healthy lifestyle not only changes your body,
                                    it changes your mind, your attitude and your mood.


So what are we suppose to do to be able to live healthier?
Change Our Eating Pattern

Eat Food
Eat the right amount (not too much)
Mostly plants

This sounds very simple and it's actually a very simple solution.
It's simple.....but not so easy to do.

Today we are not eating whole food. We are eating things that look like food.
Twinkies, launchables, spray on cheese and margarine, cereals loaded with sugar, low-fat or no fat brownies, half the calories potato chips, just to name a few.
Does anyone know what is in a chicken nugget? I don't think I want to know.

Don't eat too much food. I don't think I need to talk about this one. People are just eating way too much food. Look at the size of our plates....they have gotten bigger so that we won't realize how much we are eating.
A good rule is.....never go back for a second serving. Resist the temptation.

A lot of people are eating even when they are not hungry. They are eating as a way of dealing with their emotions.
Why are you eating when you are not hungry? What are you trying to avoid by numbing your feeling(s) with food or sugar?
Trying to fill the empty whole inside will never work. The more you fill the hole the bigger it gets.

Make a new habit of eating mostly plants. There is now evidence that more meat in your diet, the greater the risk of heart disease and cancer.
Decide to add more vegetables to your diet.....and I am not talking about broccoli that is getting topped off with cheese sauce.


Adopting and maintaining a healthy diet is the first and the most important step on the path to wellness and vitality.
Food is medicine and the best medicine is preventative. Food will help protect us against heart disease, stroke, some cancer, high blood pressure, depression, mental decline associated with aging, diabetes and other weight related illnesses.

Feeding our bodies better fuel will allow us to live a life of higher quality.

Take good care of you body because it's the only place that you got to live.

                                                        www.karinglannstam.com

Why We Self-Sabotage

                                       "Just imagine how much you'd get done
                              if you stopped actively sabotaging your own work."
                                                      - Seth Godin


Most of us want changes in our lives, but it seems like only a few of us are able to accomplish the changes that we know that we need to make.
Most of us want to be happier, healthier, wealthier and more more successful.....but unfortunately most of us are having a difficult time making the changes to make this happen.

We want and we expect change, but we are not doing the most important and effective things to make lasting change happen. A lot of us keep on doing the same thing over and over again and for some strange reason, we expect a different result.

So why is this happening to a lot of us?

Think of a thermostat. You have it set for 75 degrees. On a warm sunny day, if the temperature reaches over 75 degrees in your house, your AC kicks in and runs for a while until the temperature is back down to 75 degrees. Same thing with heat. If it gets too cold in your house, your heater will kick in and bring the temperature up to the desired heat that you have set your thermostat for.

Now, think of yourself as having a automatic thermostat built into you. This is a thermostat that will keep you within your comfort zone. This thermostat will tell you what you can or cannot succeed at. How much money that you feel comfortable making, how much weight that you feel comfortable carrying, what kind of love that you will allow into your life..... just to give you a few examples.

Unfortunately our family, teachers, friends told us who we were, and since we were only children at the time this programming was going on, we didn't know any better. We believed them and unfortunately this set our programming and our thermostat.

In other words.....your ability to succeed at something later in life is largely determined by what you were told as a child.

You might consciously want the changes in your life right now, but your thermostat, which is mostly unconscious (you are not aware of your programming as a child), won't allow you to change for a longer period of time. It doesn't matter how hard you are trying to change on a conscious level, the thermostat might keep on bringing you down to a level where you are feeling more comfortable at being.

If you find yourself to be unhappy right now, your thermostat will bring you to do things that you enjoy and it will try to find a solution to your unhappiness. That is a good thing.

But here is the catch, if you find yourself to be too happy, the thermostat will make you sabotage yourself and bring down your happiness level to a point that feels more within your comfort zone.

Same thing with weight loss. You lose the weight and feel great for a while but then you thermostat kicks in and starts to sabotage you. You start to gain some weight in order to return to a level where you feel more comfortable. Your own comfort zone.

Your thermostat might bring you up for a while, but eventually it will just stop and not let you go any higher.

This is why the majority of lottery winners end up losing all their money and even end up bankrupt. They were too far out of their comfort zone.

Most of us are not aware of our own thermostat. And since it is mostly unconscious it will end up limiting us from taking the right kind of action to be able to accomplish what we desire.
In a way it knocks us off the path that we started to walk on. It knocks us back onto a path that feels more familiar to us, even though we don't really want to walk that path.

We consciously want the new path but since our thermostat is mostly unconscious and 95% of our lives are controlled by the unconscious, well..... you can guess where most of us will end up....back on the old path.

                                                         www.karinglannstam.com

I Have The Power!

                                                      I create my own reality.
                                                      I create my own future.
                    My mind is strong enough to change and create anything in this world.
                                                          I have the power.

Are you happy with your life right now?

Did you know that you are the creator of your own life?

Who is creating this?

Who is creating your life experience?

You are the one creating.

If you don't like what you are creating, stop looking at the outside world and know that from your own consciousness you are manifesting this world around you.

If you don't like what you are manifesting, you don't need to change the world.
All you need to change is your own consciousness and your own limiting programs that you are running on a daily base.

Other people are not to blame.
We are all responsible for our own lives and what we are manifesting.

The moment you blame others you are dis-empowering yourself.
Basically saying...…"I don't have anything to do with this.....I'm a victim."

You are the creator of your own life and if you want what you are creating to be better, you are the one that have to make it better.

Stop waiting for other people. If you wait for others to change you will wait forever.
Do you actually think people around you are going to change just because you want them to change? I don't think so!!!

What if people and the world is not changing..... then how is your life going to get better?

When you change, take your power back and start creating what you want.


You are more powerful than you think!

www.karinglannstam.com

Don't Allow Toxic And Manipulative People To Hold You Back

                                        Do not keep people in your life that are not for you.
                                             Eventually these people will stress you out 
                                               and become the source of your downfall.


If you are a person that have made some positive changes in your life recently you might be surprised by the reaction of some of the people closest to you.
Sad but true, you must realize that not everyone is going to be happy for you and your new life style.

Maybe friends and family members are not supporting you the way you thought they would?
Maybe your growth and new way of thinking and living is actually a threat to them?
Don't be surprised if the people closest to you and even family members try to sabotage your efforts.
I'm not saying that people will consciously try to sabotage you, but they might do this in order to protect you or themselves from change.

Always pay attention to what people are saying to you.
The information might be of great value but it can also be a hidden agenda.
Pay attention to what is being said and what their motives are.

Some people will be overprotective of you because they don't want you to get hurt. Maybe if you try something you will end up failing. These people are generally acting with care, love and concern and it might be difficult to discover their hidden agenda.
This one is hard to catch and hard to fight because they act like they are really concerned for you.

Other people will be upset with you because you actually accomplished what they themselves had always wanted to be able to do. You succeeded and they didn't.
Some people feel that you have something that they themselves want.
These people will try to sabotage you in order to bring you back down to their own level.

Some people will only feel comfortable in familiar circumstances even if their circumstances are bad. Ever heard...."Better the devil that I know than the one I don't know"? A change is a huge threat to them and always scary, even if it's a change for the better. It's still a change.
These people don't want to venture out of their comfort zone.....ever.

Other people will try to take your power away by telling you things like....."Who do you think you are, trying to start a business of your own. You don't have any business experience" or "Do you really think that you will be able to keep the weight off that you have lost?" or "You are way to old to accomplish your dream. You might as well stay here with us, because if you leave us you will fail."
These people will try to strip you of your own power in order to maintain their relationship with you.

TIP!
Toxic and Manipulative people come in many forms. Develop a strong sense of what type of people that you want to have in your life. The clearer you are about what you want and what is acceptable behavior will make it easier for you to identify people and situations where manipulation is happening and toxicity is spread.


If you are a person that are determined to live your life in the most authentic degree, you must realize that you are going to disappoint a few people.
Just make sure to not allow these people to set you back on your new path in life.

                                                                www.karinglannstam.com

Yes You Can!

                                                      Turn your "I can't" into a 
                                                           "HELL, Yes I can".



Have you ever told yourself that you can't do something? Or that you can't stop doing something that you know that you shouldn't keep on doing?

I just can't stop eating fast food, even though I know it makes me gain more weight. I just can't stop eating these hamburgers.

I can't stop having a drink or two after coming home from work. It makes me feel relaxed after a stressful day at work. I just cannot stop drinking...... then how am I going to relax?

I just can't stop shopping online. I know I am in debt and I should really try to start a saving account instead of spending my money. But shopping makes me happy and it energizes me. I just can't seem to stop shopping.

I really need to start going to the gym but I don't have enough time in the day to do everything and there is simply no time left over for exercising.

I should get off the phone and the internet in the evenings and spend more time with my spouse and my kids, but I need to catch up with my friends online too.

I should come home a littler earlier and have dinner with my family instead of always working late. But for some reason there is always more work to do at the office.

I can't survive without my morning coffee and a doughnut.

I can't wait until the afternoon to check my emails.

I can't go to be earlier than 11pm.

I can't stop eating sweets.

I can't get out of bed before 7am.

I can't start my own business. I'm not smart enough.

I can't follow my dreams.

I can't.....I can't.....I can't......I can't!!!!

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Have you been telling yourself that you just can't do something?

It might not even be your fault that you have been saying these lies, because a lot of times other people like parents, siblings, teachers or friends might have initiated the lie by telling you that you are not good at something, and then you believed it and have been reinforcing it for years and maybe even decades.
Stop  believing these lies.

The biggest lie that we tell ourselves is "I can't".

Maybe it's time for you to stop thinking this way and to stop lying to yourself and decide that you can either stop doing certain things that you need to stop doing or start doing things that are important and that you know that you should be doing.

You can change your life by start telling yourself the truth.

Stop accepting your own lies. Go from telling yourself that you can't do something, which is a lie to telling yourself......YES I can do it and I will do it, which is the truth.

The truth is that all of us can stop doing certain things or start doing things.
We can stop eating unhealthy foods, we can stop drinking, we can stop spending money, we can start exercising, we can stop surfing the internet for hours every evening, we can get to bed before 11pm and we can get going before 7am.

Then what is going on here? Why are we continuing to tell ourselves these lies?
Because it's easier for us to say that we can't and to use that as an excuse rather than to venture out of our comfort zone and test ourselves.

The worst thing is if we continue to say "I can't" eventually we won't even try.

It's better to try something and quit after a while or try something else, but saying "I can't" without even trying....that is really bad. How do you know you can't? You don't..... because you didn't even try one time.

We lie to protect ourselves. It saves us from feeling discomfort and from pain, in the short term. But in the long term it makes us feel confined, powerless and almost feeling like a caged bird. Stuck in a cage for all our lives and not ever trying to tap into our potential.

I can't really means.....I won't.

I will not take a chance. I will protect myself and live a small and secure life.

But is true that you really can't?

Next time you are tempted to say....."I can't"......Try "instead.....I can and I will".

                                                           www.karinglannstam.com

Build A Quiet Space In Your Mind

                                          When life gets busy and hard to deal with,
                                                          go off by yourself.
                                      Find your own quiet space within yourself
                                            where you can relax and decompress.



In today's world we are constantly being bombarded with stimuli from everywhere.
We carry our phones with us wherever we go and we seldom allow ourselves to decompress and relax. Often when we get home at night we are so wound up that it is hard for many of us to let go and relax. This is not a good way to live and it will cause us a lot of stress and that will eventually affect our wellbeing, both physically and mentally.

We are always on the go. If  it's not physically, it is mentally, and that is why I suggest that we build a quiet room in our mind. A place where we can go several times during the day to just relax, decompress and escape. This room will be like your own decompression chamber.

We all need a place within ourselves where we can go to simply get away for a few minutes and not be disturbed.

How do we build this quiet room within ourselves?

Sit down and think of a place that you like. It can be indoors or outdoors. Create it in your imagination.
It might be by the ocean or in the woods. Maybe a beautiful meadow or by a quiet lake. It doesn't matter as long as it relaxes you. This place needs be quiet, beautiful and peaceful.

You can create a indoor room and paint it with whatever color you like. Don't have a lot of furniture in it and don't hang a lot of pictures on the walls. Keep it as simple as possible.

Create a retreat for yourself and then make a habit of returning to this retreat for a few minutes while you try to relax and decompress.
Don't bring your worries and your stress to the retreat. Simply learn to relax and  then imagine this retreat or quiet room in your mind.

Visit this place as often as you need.
Make it a tool that you use several times during the day when you feel that life is getting too busy and out of control.
Take some deep breaths and travel to this quiet place for a few minutes.
Make sure that you don't let anything bother you while you are relaxing at your retreat.
Nothing can touch you while you are in your quiet place.

Doing this will allow you to return to your workday world better prepared to cope with it.

Tip! 
You might also want to spend a few minutes in your quiet room or your retreat before you leave your office and go home for the day to prevent you from bringing unnecessary stress home with you.

                                                          www.karinglannstam.com

Is Secondhand Negativity And Stress Contagious?

                                                You can pick up negativity
                                          just like secondhand smoke."
                                                    - Shawn Achor


By now we all know that secondhand smoke is dangerous to our health.

But how about stress? Is stress contagious? Is there such thing as secondhand stress?

The answer to this question is YES.
We can pick up negativity, stress and uncertainty like secondhand smoke.

How about the person at work that gets agitated because he/she is not being able to do everything on their to-do list. How about the person that gets frantic if he/she is missing a phone call or a text and can't answer it right away. Or the person that is going through a nasty divorce or is having some financial difficulties and they desperately need you to listen to every tiny detail.
Secondhand stress is also more contagious from a romantic partner than a stranger.

How do you feel after spending time with these people? A little on the agitated yourself?

According to research, the negative effects of stress, like increased levels of the hormone cortisol can actually be triggered merely but observing a person who is wound up.
If someone in your visual field is anxious and highly expressive, either verbally or non-verbally, there is a big chance that you will experience these emotions as well and unfortunately it will negatively impact your brain's performance.

They have found out through experiments with mice that if a mouse is getting a light electrical chock the other mouse will react with alarm.

Like if you watch a co-worker getting chewed out by the boss, you will get knots in your stomach.  You are not getting chewed out yourself but you know exactly how it feels.

We know that prolonged stress is bad for our health. It weakens the immune system and it will also increase the risk for heart disease, high blood pressure and sometimes even death.

I am a highly empathic person and sometimes this is causing me a lot of pain and loss of energy.
If you are a empathic person it's easy to want to get away from highly stressed people and situations to avoid being totally drained by the stress and negativity. On the other hand we don't want to completely lose our compassion for others, but at the same time we don't want our compassion to cause us pain.

The key is to recognize what is our own stress and what is someone else's stress.
When we are calmer and more relaxed we are better able to recognize secondhand stress and we are also better able to separate other people's stress from our state of being.

When you can recognize other people's stress and realizing what is yours and what isn't, then you are in a better position to help others.


A Few Tips!

One of the best tools against picking up other people's stress is a stable and strong self-esteem. The higher your self-esteem, the more likely you will feel that you can deal with whatever situation you face.

Exercising is a great way to build your self-esteem. When you exercise your body releases endorphins.
Endorphins are morphine-like chemicals produces by the body that help diminish pain while triggering positive feelings.

How are we going to protect ourselves in the future from other people's stress and negativity?
In order to be able to protect ourselves from other peoples stress is to improve our own emotional immune system.
Our own mindset affects not only ourselves but also other people.


                                "Adapting the right attitude can convert a
                                     negative stress into a positive one."
                                                    - Hans Selye

                                                       www.karinglannstam.com

Who You Spend Time With Will Influence Your Future

                            Surround yourself with people that reflect who you want to be
                                     and how you want to feel, energies are contagious.



Do you find it difficult to find good, positive and supporting people in your life?

Who you associate with does make a huge difference in your life. The people around you will inspire or discourage. Choose wisely.

                    You will become like the 5 people you surround yourself with the most.

Is your environment and social network slowing you down or even preventing your growth?

If you believe this to be so, I suggest that you make a list of the 5-10 people that you spend the most time with and then make a list of your own values and your top goals. Then take some time and compare the lists. Be completely honest when you compare the lists and then ask yourself.....are the people that you are spending most of your time with congruent with your vision and your goals. If the answer is NO, you might be held back by this association.

Maybe it's time for a change?
Time to find some more positive and growth minded people that are going somewhere. People that have a vision for their life and pursuing it by taking action and not just talking about it.
Maybe it's time to find some people that have the same goals as you do and making progress towards these goals.

Maybe the environment isn't the right fit for you either?
Here is an example of what I am talking about.
The Kol fish grows in proportion to its environment. If you keep it in a pail of water, it grows only 2 inches. But if you let the Kol fish loose in the wild it can grow up to 2 feet.
Are you the Kol fish that has been kept in a pail?

If what you are doing right now is not working, guess what you must do? CHANGE.
You can change any time you want to. You can change the direction of your life, starting right NOW.

Never settle for less than what you are capable of doing. Don't be like the Kol fish in the pail.

Get out of your comfort zone. Take action and know that anything is possible. Consider brand new ideas and a new way of thinking.

Design your own life and don't let anyone prevent you from living your dream.

                                                           www.karinglannstam.com

Power Thinking - Reframe Your Thoughts

                                    
                                                   "The happiness of your life 
                                       depends on the quality of your thoughts."
                                                          - Marcus Aurelius

You have the ability to control your mind. You can control the thoughts that you are thinking.
It means that you can change a disempowering thought into a empowering thought if you want to.
How do you do this? Simply by refusing to accept the negative thought. Cancel it and replace it immediately with a more positive one.

If you missed my blog from last Monday....here it is again.

No Thought Lives In Your Head Rent-Free
http://karinglannstam.blogspot.se/2018/05/no-thought-lives-in-your-head-rent-free.html

You have the ability to control your thoughts  You have the ability to cancel any thought that isn't supporting you and what you are trying to do in your life.
You can also install self-empowering thoughts at any time, simply by choosing to focus on them.

Everything that happens is neutral. That means that nothing has meaning except the meaning we give it.
So you can give the same incident a negative meaning or a positive meaning. The incident is neutral, but you will add the meaning to it by adding your own story.

Let me give you an example of what I am talking about.
This example comes from a fantastic book.....Psycho-Cybernetics written by Maxwell Maltz. 
(If you haven't read this book I strongly suggest that you do. Absolutely amazing book.)

Even in regard to tragic conditions, and the most adverse environment, we can usually manage to be happier, if not completely happy, by not adding to the misfortune of our own feelings of self-pity, resentment, and our own opinions.
"How can I be happy?" the wife of an alcoholic husband asked me.
"I don't know," I said, "but you can be happier by resolving not to add resentment and self-pity to your misfortune."
"How can I possibly be happy?" asked a businessman, "I have just lost $200,000 on the stock market. I am ruined and disgraced."
"You can be happier," I said, "by not adding your own opinion to the facts. It is a fact that you lost $200,000. It is your opinion that you are ruined and disgraced.
I then suggested that he memorizes a saying of Epictetus, which has always been a favorite of mine: "Men are disturbed not by the things that happened, but by their opinion of the things that happened." 

Back in early 2012 when my whole life imploded, I could very easily have fallen into self-pity, anger and resentment and adapted a very disempowering story of what just had taken place in my life. Of course I can't deny that I had a lot of days of doom and gloom and plenty of "stinking thinking".

But out of that crisis also came a new beginning....I became a life coach and started my own coaching company. Since then I have also written two books and the third one is going to be published this summer.

I decided to turn a huge crisis and what I thought was a setback into something more empowering.

A comeback for a new and very different life. I did this by reframing what had just happened in my life. If it had not happened I don't know what I would be doing today. But I am grateful it happened because I discovered that I had lived a life that wasn't mine for a very long time and that it was time for a big change. 

I am where I am today because I decided to add a story that supported me to what happened in 2012 instead of letting the incident break me.

"When you reframe who did you wrong as one who lead you to define what is right,

 wisdom replace pain."

- Stace Morris

Everything that happens in life is neutral. Nothing has meaning, except the meaning we give it.

And since we are going to make up a story anyway, we might as well make up a story that supports us and empowers us instead of a story that disempowers us and weakens us. 

Same incident but what story or opinion are you going to use?

One that empowers you and supports you or the one that die-empowers you and makes you weaker?

In the end you decide what story or opinion to use when it comes to anything that happens in your life.

                                                         www.karinglannstam.com