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Showing posts from August, 2005

Anxiety Proofing Your Decisions

There are two extremes of how people make decisions, both are equally dangerous. There is one group who don't think about the decision at all and just impulsively 'jump in.' Then there is a larger group who think about the decision too much and don't ever dive in at all. They just keep waiting and waiting for the time to be right, for conditions to change, for more information or any other excuse that they can think of to delay the decision making process even further. Both have anxiety that they created. Here's why. One group are delaying the anxiety about a decision by being impulsive on the front end, to likely have way more pressure after they jump in because they weren't prepared for what was over the edge. I call this approach, 'short term gain/long term pain' because it can take a long time to undo the damage caused by ignoring the risks of a major decision. The other approach creates significant anxiety on the front end, so much so that a d

Moving Beyond Back to School Stress

by Dwight Bain   Summer vacation ends with the first RING of the school bell, yet for many students it's not just the end to relaxing days, it's the beginning of major change and stress.  Back to school stress is a common emotional reaction that every child has to deal with from elementary through college years.  Most kids transition through this adjustment within a few days to a week and settle in for the challenges of the school year ahead.  However, it's getting more common to see children developing stress related disorders that affect their sleep, diet, energy and mood.  In extreme cases its possible that this build up of emotional pressure can grow and lead to other problems like childhood anxiety, depression and social phobias.  Thankfully there are a number of things that you can do as a parent, (or teacher) to help a child move from feeling overwhelmed by back to school stress by building in some strategies to bring early academic success.    Thes

A Grandfather's Story ~ Stoms Make You Stronger

By: Dwight Bain The worst of nature brought out the best in people is a good way to explain the heartwarming stories of neighbors connecting to each other as neighbors to recover after the destruction from last years hurricane season.   Yet, I believe the greatest stories are the ones that will be told a generation from now.   Stories like this one between an aged grandfather and his grand-kids during a fierce afternoon thunderstorm some sixty years in the future.   Picture the old man distracting the frightened children from the wind and rain outside by sitting them down to tell about the time that he and his daddy made it through the "Monster Storm Season back in '04".   How his family reached out to help the people in the neighborhood get back on their feet after being knocked flat with 100MPH winds because they were too overwhelmed to make it back up alone.   The grand-kids sit wide-eyed in anticipation of a story from their poppa.   He takes a b

Surviving Major Life Crisis - 10 insights to guide you through stressful events with greater strength

by: Dwight Bain, Author, Counselor and Executive Coach Life is harder than ever it seems, yet not everyone seems to be completely overwhelmed because of it. Why do some people face major life transitions like financial stress, death, divorce, health problems, job loss, or business problems with a hopeful attitude of rebuilding and recovery while others just want to hide in fear? Everyone will face times of major life crisis, but not everyone will know how to respond to move beyond the challenge today to build confidence tomorrow. Here are ten things about crisis that will help guide you through the process of managing stressful situations to come out stronger on the other side. 1) Crisis events are more common than you think Every time you watch the evening news you are hearing about someone in crisis, but it doesn't really affect you as much because you probably don't know them. Accidents, fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, terrorist attacks, bank robberies, child