These Behaviors Identify Stress

In further examining stress and it's effects on life, it's important to identify certain behaviors that could potentially identify stress in your life:

1. A lack of concentration
2. Anger
3. Irritability
4. Insomnia / sleep disorders
5. Nervousness
6. Fear and phobias
7. Eating Disorders 
8. Erratic behavior (ex: crying for no reason)
9. Taking drugs, drinking, illicit sexual activity
10. Feelings of betrayal
11. Feeling ashamed
12. Guilty feelings
13. Loneliness
    

If you can identify with these behaviors that may indicate severe stress in your life, don't ignore them.  Seek professional help and look for ways to practically reduce stress in your life.  My Learning Center has a number of stress management articles available to help assist.

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Michelle Howard Smith is a stress and pain relief professional helping individuals to address health from a natural perspective. She distributes Young Living essential oils under distributor # 1066504. Subscribe to The Stress Less newsletter to receive information on stress and pain management.

Stress - Things to Consider

As a stress and alternative pain relief infopreneur, I thought it befitting to do a series on stress and pain relief.  I won't make each post very long, just long enough for you to digest the points and ponder them over until the next point.

Starting with the topic of stress, there are some things that you really need to know.  Some of them you may already know.  Others may be an eye opener or even a refresher.  In any case, if you are going to be successful at managing your stress levels or meeting stress head on by using some techniques I'll share down the line, then you must first be armed with guess what? INFORMATION.  Yippee my favorite word.

Let's get started.  What is Stress? 

A simplified yet very practical definition is: Stress is physical, chemical, or emotional pressure causing your body or mind to experience tension that may result in disease or illness.

Now that's a pretty serious definition.  Think about it for a while.  I'll be back in a couple of days to build upon it.

Pain and Stress are brothers

I started to say that pain and stress are sisters but hey I'm a woman. Why would I equate two such annoying and disturbing conditions with women? Nope. The men can have those titles (sorry fellas).

Anyway, I've been really busy for the last week or so. I've been promoting my beauty brand, Blended Naturals and also attended a beauty tour and blog summit. That's why I haven't had as much time to devote to writing here and dumping my brain with topics on stress and pain.

While I will say that stress has been a close companion this last week or so. It's mainly because I have so much to do with not enough time. I have to evaluate a number of beauty products and brands, write reviews and also work on my search engine optimization for my websites. I am a one woman show so some things have to wait.

What I wanted to give you today is more of a nugget to chew on and think about:

"If you stop to think, pain that is caused from an injury, illness or surgery can result in tremendous levels of stress. Even if all is well in your world, if you are in pain your mind and emotions can be overwhelmed. Stress and pain are brothers!"

Think about that. Mull it over and let me know your thoughts. I'll start writing more in the next week or so. I'd also like to know what topics you would like for me to write about. Share!

Detox Your Mind for Stress Relief

I'm off the organization kick and on the detox kick now. There are so many ways for you to find stress relief that I am going to share as many as I can find and share them with you.

Today I want to talk about detoxing your mind with aromatherapy for stress relief.

There are ten key therapeutic essential oils beneficial for detoxifying your mind:

Atlas Cedarwood
Chamomile
Eucalyptus
Geranium
Jasmine
Lavender
Lemon
Lime
Rose
Ylang-ylang

These therapeutic essential oils are very potent and can be administered for stress relief in 3 main ways:

• Diluted with a carrier oil such as almond oil followed by a full body massage
• Added to bath water for a relaxing soak that allows the oils to penetrate your skin, traveling through your bloodstream for natural wellness
• Added to steaming hot water for inhalation
  

In a few days I will talk about another way to help ease stress...Relaxing breathing techniques

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Michelle Howard Smith is a stress and pain relief professional helping individuals to address health from a natural perspective. She distributes Young Living essential oils under distributor # 1066504. Subscribe to The Stress Less newsletter to receive information on stress and pain management.

The Easiest Way to Organize Your Closet

Last week I started on this organizing kick to help avoid the stress of disorganization. One of the most stressful encounters can be when you get up in the morning and can't find a thing to wear! That's when you know it's either time to go shopping for a new wardrobe because you've outgrown the old one or maybe you just need to do some good ole closet organizing.

Let's say you have put on a little weight. That doesn't mean everything you have doesn't fit. However, it does mean you need to organize your closet and get rid of some things. Not only clothes either. Maybe your shoes and purses are no longer in fashion. You need to work through those as well.

First, to organize your closet start by working on different things at a time. Some will say you should empty out the entire closet but let's make it easier. Rather than empty it out and make a bigger mess, start with the floor. Pull out all those shoes, boxes, falling bags and whatever else may be hiding amongst the dust bunnies. Go through those items and dump or give away what's no longer fashionable, can't fit or damaged beyond repair.

Second, tackle your closet shelves one at a time. Backtracking a bit, if you don't have them already, pick up some plastic shoe boxes and/or hat boxes to help you organize items such as purses and hats! Yes, and of course other things that you have hidden away up in the top of your closet. You can hang your purses by size smallest first - if you have hooks

Lastly, it's time to go through your clothes. Pair up shirts, blazers, skirts and pants together that match. This way you won't have as much difficulty finding a complete outfit each morning. Another way is to put all the shirts together on one side of the closet, followed by the blazers, then the pants, then the skirts and dresses (assuming you wear them). It's all about your personal choice. Just make sure you give away or throw away anything you can't fit or haven't worn in at least 6 months. You probably won't ever wear them again.

Send clothing that needs to be repaired (if you still fit it), or cleaned to the cleaners and when you pick them up, always take the plastic off. The chemical residue picked up at the cleaners is not good for you to inhale.

Now, I want to hear from anyone else who has organizing tips. Organizing helps avoid stress. Of course, not major stress but hey. Address the things you can control. Don't just leave it up to fate. You'll have plenty of other things that you can't control. 'Toodles and til next time....

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Michelle Howard Smith is a stress and pain relief professional helping individuals to address health from a natural perspective. Subscribe to The Stress Less newsletter to receive information on stress and pain management.

Increase Energy and Improve Mood

A new all natural product that is supposed to increase energy and improve your mood is in pre-launch to be launched this weekend to the public. I came across this information in one of my professional groups on Linked-In.

For 1 week samples will be offered at http://www.StressFreeHomeBusiness.com. It has been reported that over 80% of participants are seeing results the very 1st week and over 95% the second week. I don't have the details on this but since the product is all natural perhaps you'd be interested in checking it out. If you are feeling Tired, Stressed, or Depressed visit http://www.StressFreeHomeBusiness.com today to sign up for the free trial.

For therapeutic stress relief products that are not ingested such as massagers, aromatherapy and alternative pain relievers, visit http://stressreliefbyrv.com

Why Go Green with Eco-Friendly Products?

Your decisions and actions affect not only yourself, but others. Many people are so focused on what they want and need that they forget the impact these decisions have on other people as well as other things.

Reducing your consumption and making "greener" choices with respect to your personal care, household and other items will not only help you, it will help protect our planet and reduce your negative impact (carbon footprint) on our environment.

Looking for a major source for your eco-friendly products? You have a number of greener eco-friendly choices for yourself and your business:

Organizing Ideas for Your Undergarments

For some reason I'm stuck on the whole clutter thing. I guess it's because clutter can cause undue stress. There are too many things in the world that cause stress that we can't control. You may as well work on the things you can control. That's why I'm going to continue offering organizing ideas that will help reduce clutter and ultimately your stress levels.

Today's post is especially for the ladies. I want to teach you in 4 simple steps how to organize your undergarments. Sounds fun right?

For starters, let me point out that when I say undergarments, I am referring to it all...your bras, panties, pantyhose, girdles, slips, and SEXY lingerie. Now let's get organized:

1. If it doesn't fit or is worn out, toss it. Maybe buy some more like the ones in the image (courtesy of Victoria's Secret)
   
   
2. Now, separate your undergarments by type. In other words panties with panties, bras with bras, handcuffs oops not that....all together.
   
   
3. Now fold your bras in half, tucking in the straps. Fold panties and other items tucking in corners and any hooks. We don't want any accidental snags.
   
   
4. Finally, assign each item type a drawer. If you don't have enough drawers then combine two item types that go together in one drawer. For example, add bras and panties to the same drawer or add slips and girdles to the same drawer. Tip: get a plastic divider to put in your drawers to help keep items organized and separate

So, now that we've organized our undergarments, let me think about what else needs organizing to reduce clutter. I'm thinking the junk drawer, closets, desks and you guessed it....pocket books! If you have any organizing ideas, please feel free to share.

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Michelle is President of Reviyve LLC, an online stress and alternative pain relief resource. Michelle conducts regular research related to alternative health and has helped many to achieve stress and natural pain relief. Subscribe to Michelle's monthly Stress Less newsletter for stress management and alternative health information.

Getting Rid of Clutter

Tinted Stacking Drawers from The Container Store

Clutter can be a big cause of stress. When things are out of order and can't be found, your schedule is thrown out of wack, your plans are put on hold and your ability to move from task to task is now delayed. Getting rid of clutter gets your life back on track.

I know when I accumulate clutter I start to feel overwhelmed and that eventually leads to stress! You know how sometimes you know what to do but neglect to do it anyway, then you have a ton of clutter? Well that's the story of my life! At least thus far. If you are a "hoarder" like me then you may be dealing with clutter too.

Getting rid of clutter is however a cycle that you may have to go through over and over before you get it right. You may not ever get it 100% right but getting rid of even 50% of your clutter and working towards clutter control is better than doing nothing at all.

Here are some things I recommend (some I actually do!) to get rid of clutter:

• Control clutter daily by addressing your incoming mail. Open, file, shred...immediately!
• Storage and more storage: Buy containers, storage boxes, plastic shoe boxes, file boxes..all the storage you need to be able to organize. The Container Store has a ton of neat stuff to help you organize.
  
• Schedule it - Add a monthly date to your calendar (preferably the weekend) when you can go through any clutter you managed to accumulate through out the month. If necessary, make it a weekly appointment
• Go through your cabinets on a monthly basis (add that to the schedule) and get rid of old food, supplies etc. Don't forget to clean out your junk drawer of old batteries, screws, nonworking pens, etc.
  

Finally, give yourself a break. Don't be too hard on yourself if you are a clutter bug. Keep at it and you will find that getting rid of clutter isn't so hard after all.

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Michelle is a full time working mother of three. She enjoys doing research related to alternative health and has helped many people to achieve natural pain relief. Subscribe to Michelle's monthly Stress Less newsletter for stress relief and alternative health information.

Know Your Headache

Headaches are big pain (no pun intended) for many people. There are tension headaches, migraine headaches, and cluster headaches. Many times headaches are the result of stress. However, sometimes there are underlying medical conditions that cause headaches.

Below is an excerpt from an article I read online at the Brigham and Women's Hospital website. It provides a comprehensive overview of what headaches are, the type of headaches, causes of headaches treatment and more:

What is a headache?

A headache is pain or discomfort in the head or face area. Headaches vary greatly in terms of pain location, pain intensity, and how frequently they occur. As a result of this variation, several categories of headache have been created by the International Headache Society (IHS) to more precisely define specific types of headaches.

What aches when you have a headache?

There are several areas in the head that can hurt when you have a headache, including the following:

• a network of nerves that extends over the scalp

• certain nerves in the face, mouth, and throat

• muscles of the head

• blood vessels found along the surface and at the base of the brain (these contain delicate nerve fibers)

The bones of the skull and tissues of the brain itself do not hurt because they do not have pain-sensitive nerve fibers. Read More

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Michelle Howard Smith is President of Reviyve LLC, a distributor of stress and alternative pain relief products. Subscribe to the Stress Less Newsletter to receive stress management tips, alternative health info and exclusive offers for subscribers only.

Melatonin: A Natural Insomnia Remedy

I thought I'd give you just one more natural insomnia remedy...just in case you need a little more powerful help.

If you are not sleeping well, consider going to your health food store and picking up some melatonin supplements.

Melatonin is a hormone produced by your body naturally and promotes sleep. If your melatonin levels are off, that may be the reason why you are having difficulty sleeping and experiencing insomnia.

Well, I hope the last week of natural insomnia remedies have helped. I don't want to ever recommend pharmaceutical drugs. It's always best to go the natural route and I'm confident that one of these natural insomnia remedies will help you.

Have A Blessed And Sleepy Evening!



Wondering what this is? click on it

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Michelle is a full time working mother of three. She enjoys doing research related to alternative health and has helped many people to achieve natural pain relief. Subscribe to Michelle's monthly Stress Less newsletter for stress relief information.

Insomnia Remedies Finally!

So how are we doing with sleep this week? I hope some of the natural insomnia remedies I've shared are helping. Here are the last few that you can try:

• Just before going to bed, try a little reading (I like the Bible...it always puts me to sleep...ok that didn't sound right but I meant it to be right). Turn off the tv and all other distractions. Electronics are stimulating so it's best to keep them out of the bedroom. Ok maybe not the tv but at least computers and video games.
  
  
• Pray. I don't believe in counting sheep. Those sheep would be dead by the time I fell asleep. Anyway, what better way to fall sound asleep than communing with the Creator of the Universe at the end of your day.
  
  
• Create a schedule for what time to go to bed and stick to it. I know it's easier said than done but if you stick to your sleep schedule, you will be training your body. Since your body needs approximately 8 hours of sleep (like that will ever happen!) to refuel for the next day, you should aim to get to bed no later than 10pm. Then again that depends on your day schedule. If you work at night, you will have to adjust to make sure you get your 8 hours.

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Michelle is a full time working mother of three. She enjoys doing research related to alternative health and has helped many people to achieve natural pain relief. Subscribe to Michelle's monthly Stress Less newsletter for additional stress relief information.

Natural Insomnia Remedies 2 More!

I hope all you insomnia sufferers out there are getting some sleep after my last two natural insomnia remedies. If not, here are two more you can try:

• Make sure your bedroom is the right temperature. If it's too warm then you won't be able to sleep well. It's written somewhere that your thermostat shouldn't be above 70 degrees in order to sleep well at night.
  
  
• Apply therapeutic grade Valerian essential oil to the soles of your feet. The Valerian root has been used for thousands of years for its calming, grounding, and emotionally balancing influences. (Purchase therapeutic grade oils either retail or wholesale at www.youngliving.org with distributor # 1066504)
  

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Michelle is a full time working mother of three. She enjoys doing research related to alternative health and has helped many people to achieve stress and pain relief. Subscribe to Michelle's monthly Stress Less newsletter

Natural Insomnia Remedies - 2

Not being able to sleep is really a bummer (for lack of a better word). You can't adequately function when you don't get enough rest. I have quite a few natural insomnia remedies to recommend to those who have insomnia and are having difficulty sleeping. For the sake of not reading your eyes off (since you are probably tired anyway), I'll offer two each day until you know them all. Here we go:

1. Avoid eating sweets before bedtime. Foods high in carbs can cause your blood sugar to spike and then crash. Having an up and down blood sugar party makes it difficult for you to sleep. If you must snack, do so with a small amount of lean protein and whole grains (ex: a turkey cold cut - without nitrates or nitrites in it, on a whole wheat cracker)
   
   
2. No Caffeine. This is nothing new but deserves to be reinforced. Caffeine can keep you up at night so have your last cup 4 hours ahead of time

Back in a few days with 2 more! Try these and let me know how they work.

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Michelle is a full time working mother of three. She enjoys doing research related to alternative health and has helped many people to achieve natural pain relief. Subscribe to Michelle's monthly Stress Less newsletter for stress relief information.

Get Out Of Debt Help Advice

When you are having money problems, not only does your credit suffer so does your peace of mind. I know. I got out of debt twice and stupidly got myself back in it. This caused a lot of tension in my home, especially with me and my husband. The worst part is when you get out of debt and get back in it, it's usually worst than before.

Having too much debt can cause undue stress and it's important to get it under control at the first sign of trouble.

Here's what NOT to do to get out of debt:

• Don't close your credit accounts. By all means cut up the cards but don't close the accounts or transfer the debt into one account. This will negatively affect your credit rating and score.
• Don't use home equity to pay off debt. You are putting your home at risk and you need to live somewhere while you are getting out of debt and even after you are out of debt.
  

Here is the number one option I recommend to help you get out of debt if you don't see any other way out and you can't make ends meet (been here done it and now my credit score is in the mid 700s):

• Consult a Credit counseling Agency. In many cases, they will set you up on a debt management plan and they can help get your creditors to lower your interest rates or payments. On top of that, you will only have to make one monthly payment that will be distributed amongst all of your creditors.

A word of caution: Before entering an agreement with any credit counseling agency, make sure they are members of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies (AICCCA) or the National Foundation of Credit Counseling (NFCC). These two organizations regulate and monitor these credit counseling agencies to make sure they operate legally and are not taking advantage of those who are in debt looking for help.
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Michelle Howard Smith is President of Reviyve LLC, a distributor of stress and alternative pain relief products. Subscribe to the Stress Less Newsletter to receive stress management tips, alternative health info and exclusive offers for subscribers only.

Article Thieves!

You want to talk about stress, how about the fact that I just discovered that two different people stole original articles that I have written and not given me credit for it!

I contacted both websites and no response so i'm blowing them up right here as well as reporting them. I work too hard writing articles and dumping my brain every day onto paper for people to come along and claim my work.

So here the two lying article thieves have stolen my work and now they are so cowardly they don't even have the decency to reply.

I wrote an article entitled, "STRESS: Is It Your Silent Killer?" and I submitted a copy of it to Ezinearticles (http://ezinearticles.com/?STRESS---Is-it-Your-Silent-Killer?&id=1080550) in March of 2008. The article thief posted it on their blog at burnettconsult.com/stress-is-it-your-silent-killer.htm (and no i didn't create it as a link because why should I help their search engine rankings) word for freaking word! On top of it, he or she has no contact info. on their blog other than a comments form for each post. He/she has not responded to me. The original article is on my site at http://www.stressreliefbyrv.com/stress. You'll notice in the article that I post scriptures in the Bible and everything. I even talk about a situation where I at work and had a difficult time with a co-worker. This person probably doesn't even believe in God!

The other article I wrote, "Understanding Adult Acne and Hormones" was stolen from ezine articles (http://ezinearticles.com/?Understanding-Adult-Acne-and-Hormones&id=2637614) where I am credited as the author but it's posted on kissawayacne.com/2009/07/understanding-adult-acne-and-hormones as if they are the author. The original work (mine) is also on my site at http://www.deadseastorebyrv.com/adult_acne_and_hormones. I talk about how I got adult acne and didn't have it too much as a teen. Notice however that on the original article posted on my site, there is one little line at the very end that does not appear in the ezinearticles version or the thief's copy. It says "I suggest the latter." It's on my site because I'm the author!!!

I guess I shouldn 't be shocked since there are always going to be devious dishonest people in the world but I am. I am so pissed off I can't even begin to express. I have experienced some horrible people talking about me like a dog for the last few days and now this. I don't bother anybody and I keep to myself. Is it too much to ask for people to treat me the way I treat them???

Blogging is a great outlet for me to write but I certainly don't appreciate that all of my writing is being done to be stolen and profited by someone else. However, the Bible says that you will reap what you have sown so for all of the article thieves, back biters, liars and the like I say this: "You will have your day when you have to stand before the God of the universe to give an account for every evil deed and you WILL pay for everything you have done unless you repent.

That's all I have to say. I'm going to try and enjoy my weekend and I hope everyone reading does the same.

Share What You See Get A Free Ebook

What Do You See In This Image?

Share and the Most Thought Provoking Responder will receive my complimentary new e-book,
"Is Your Home Your Refuge or Is It Making You Sick"

Blue Tansy Therapeutic Essential Oil Blends

Woo it's been a busy week! I've been running around taking care of business for my two sons and boy has it been a handful. I am looking at new schools for my youngest one and there aren't many choices close to home for a little boy with cerebral palsy so... Then the oldest one has his issues but that's another story. I thought once they turned 21, my job was over NOT!

Anyway, our final essential oil for natural pain relief is Blue Tansy. Over the past few weeks I presented to you Frankincense, Basil, White Fir, Pine, Peppermint and Balsam Fir, each with unique properties to alleviate pain in various parts of the body. Today let's talk about Therapeutic Grade Blue Tansy Essential Oil.

Blue Tansy is a natural anti-inflammatory and analgesic agent and may be used to alleviate a number of painful ailments and diseases from sore muscles to rheumatoid arthritis. Blue Tansy can be used full strength or combined with a carrier oil for natural pain relief to ease aching muscles, musclur sprains, joint pain and even sciatica.

Young Living offers a number of therapeutic grade essential oil blends that contain blue tansy including Australian Blue, Peace & Calming, Release, Sara, and Valor. Here's a little about each:

Australian Blue™ is a powerful, exotic essential oil to with calming and stabilizing effects.

Peace & Calming™ is a gentle fragrance that promotes relaxation and when massaged on the bottoms of the feet can cause a wonderfully peaceful night's sleep.

Release™ may stimulate a sense of harmony and balance within the mind and body

SARA™ has a fragrance that stimulates relaxation and the ability to cope with painful memories

Valor™ helps balance electrical energies within the body and has also been found to help the body self-correct its balance and alignment.

Therapeutic grade essential oils for natural pain relief can be obtained from Young Living (shop with distributor # 1066504).

What Do You See July 29, 2008

What Do You See?

Do You See What I See?

The Person with The Most Interesting Response will receive a jar of Sooting, Relaxing Dead Sea Bath Salts formulated with Chammomille Essential Oils by Blended Naturals.

No replies and I just put it back in stock and sell it to one of my customers, who is really into achieving stress relief and relaxation.

Deadline: Midnight on August 1st, 2009

What Do You See Wednesday - July 22nd '09

What Do You See?

I will continue to add these abstract images until I get responses. I think this can be a useful exercise for getting to the root of stress.

Still Giving Away A Free Summer Care E-book for
the First Five to Respond