Stress Management and Prevention Program Resource Guide
Stress Management and Prevention Program Resource Guide
Stress Management and Prevention Program Resource Guide
Prevention
1
Stress Management and Prevention
Program Resource Guide
By
Lauren A. Rogers
01 February 2019
Table of Contents
UNIT 1 THE NATURE OF STRESS
Information to Remember ................................................................................................................. 3
Assignment ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Journal Writing .............................................................................................................................. 4-5
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 38
REFERENCES 39
Information to Remember:
Personally, my level of stress has been only at an acute level. Acute stress means, “Stress that is
intense in nature but short in duration” (Seaward, 2015). I don’t let things fester for long, I have a
Key Learning Point: Identify areas of possible health risks related to stress.
“Chronic stress: Stress that is not as intense as acute stress but that lingers for a prolonged period of
time (e.g., financial problems)” (Seaward, 2015). This kind of stress can lead to many health risks
To be mindful you need to be fully aware and living in the present moment. You live without judgement
and learn how to relate with your life (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010).
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Assignment:
The assignment was on my mandala of spiritual, emotional, physical and emotional. According to
Seaward, he explains the four areas as follows: “Mental well-being: The ability to gather, process,
recall, and communicate information. Physical well-being: The optimal functioning of the body’s
eight physiological systems (e.g., respiratory, skeletal). Emotional well-being: The ability to feel and
express the full range of human emotions and to control these feelings, not be controlled by them.
Spiritual well-being: The state of mature higher consciousness deriving from insightful relationships
with oneself and others, a strong value system, and a meaningful purpose in life” (Seaward, 2018). I
was able to look at the different areas of my life I was lacking in, and figure out ways to better
Journal Writing:
training
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Trying to stay in contact with friends/family back home 7 5 3
(military life)
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Unit
Information to Remember:
Everyone views stress differently person to person. What stresses you out might have no significance
to the next person. But “A decade of brain research reveals that humans are hard-wired for stress
through an intricate pattern of neural pathways designed for the fight-or-flight response. Research
also suggests that chronic stress appears to atrophy brain tissue, specifically the hippocampus”
(Seaward, 2015).
Some physiological effects that prolonged stress can have is not only a huge impact not our brains, but
also our bodies. The hippocampus is very sensitive to the stress hormone cortisol, which helps in
memory formation. Where the amygdala is the part of the brain for emotional content of memory
(mostly fear). “Repeated excessive exposure to cortisol accelerates the aging process of the
hippocampus and may, in fact, damage or shrink brain cells. Moreover, chronic stress may affect
memory and learning processes. (In Vietnam vets with post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD], this
region of the brain was 26 percent smaller than in their peers without PTSD)” (Seaward, 2015).
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Being mindful can help you control daily stressors better because of your mind body connection. If
these stressors are more manageable in the mind then you body won’t have the negatives of what
of physical aspects that stress causes on your body (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010).
Assignment:
In this assignment we looked at neuroplacity and the brain, and well as how stress affects the nervous
and immune systems and what diseases can be affected from prolong chronic stress. What I took
away from the brain aspect what, ““According to the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) the three main
objectives of neuroscience are to: understand the human brain and how it functions, understand and
describe how the central nervous system (CNS) develops, matures, and maintains itself, and analyze
and understand neurological and psychiatric disorders, and discover methods to prevent or cure them”
(Psychology Career Center, 2014). The diseases from chronic stress can go anywhere from migraine
Journal Writing:
Right now, the stress of other people is not really affecting my life. I’m not in a relationship at
the moment. I was in a relationship very recently that was giving me more stress and anxiety than it
was joy, and this is when I knew I had to make a change for my own wellness. I have great
friendships and people in my lives, and I normally don’t try to take on others stress if all possible.
Lately my work stress has been very high. I got a new job working as my superintendent and
commander’s secretary. I often have to remind myself that I am only one person, make a list of things
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I need to do that day in order of importance, and ask questions as needed (even though I really dislike
to do so). I’m constantly being pulled a million directions, will very little time to focus on myself.
When I first got into this job, I was very negative and I’m trying to wake up with a more positive
outlook in order to not make every day a rough one. I have been being mindful.
I only stress about the things I can control. If it is out of my realm, I try to not focus on it
unless I’m actively doing something to change it or make a impact to change it.
How is stress or anxiety about food and eating habits affecting your life?
I have a lot of stress and anxiety about food and eating habits. In the last few months I have
done a few bikini competitions, and I was very used to my body being lean and tiny. I’m trying to not
be obsessive with weighing my food and guilting myself when I eat something that isn’t the best for
me. I’m trying to love my off-season body again and this is probably the number one stressor in my
life right now, I spend a LOT of my day thinking about these things. I’ve been wondering if I should
maybe talk to somebody that has gone through a prep to see how they were able to come back after
and be positive.
How is stress or anxiety about sleep and sleeplessness affecting your life?
I sleep 7+ hours every night with very few interruptions. I’d say my stress and anxiety on
sleep and sleepless ness is very low. When I don’t get a lot of sleep, it affects the stress in ALL other
aspects of my life, so I really try to take my sleep seriously in order for my health and wellness to stay
strong. Somedays at work I feel exhausted and it is not from lack of sleep but because my job is
constantly making me think outside the box which is mentally draining. This then ties back in with
How is stress or anxiety about exercise or lack of physical activity affecting your life?
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Sometimes I stress a lot about exercise because I feel like I need to be in the gym 6+ days per
week. Exercise is very important in my life. But I do see many people at the gym and in my life that
become obsessed with it. I don’t want to get to the point where I feel like I need to do 30-60 minutes
of cardio every day on top of my weight lifting. I enjoy the gym a lot though and it seems to take
many of my other stressors and make them not as significant. When work is stressful, I take myself to
the gym after, put my music in, and reflect and focus on my inner energy and realize that those events
were not as big of a deal that I made them feel like throughout the day.
Summary
There are always going to be stressors in our lives. They will fluctuate between which ones are more
significant at that point in our lives. Some of examples of this are different jobs, friendships and
relationships, exercise and diet. We just need to figure out which ones are the problem, and be
mindful of these, this is the first step in being able to cope with them. Stress can be good and bad and
we need to get more of those good stressors and get rid of the bad. (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010).
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Unit
Information to Remember:
Learn how to control your anger, get comfortable with all your feelings, and learn to express them in
a positive manner, and stay in shape. Also getting comfortable with your feelings and expressing
them is important. This while cause you to dig deeper into why you have these feelings of anger
in the first place. When I say stay in shape this doesn’t mean just physically but mentally,
emotionally, and spiritually. “Studies show that people who are in good physical shape bounce
back from anger episodes more quickly than those who are not. Exercise has been proven to be
beneficial as one step in the catharsis process, to validate feelings of anger (Seaward, 2015).
In the information age we need to get back to communication face to face. Ways we can make sure this
is beneficial is by making eye contact, LISTENING to verbal’s and nonverbals, and just caring
about the people we are speaking with. Email and text have taken over our lives and we need to
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I’ve learned a lot about this in the last ten weeks. From getting in a comfortable position, to making
sure you have no distractions, focus on your breathing, bringing your mind back when you find it
Assignment:
From this assignment, I took away some information about the Tibetan culture, “In the words
of the Dalai Lama, “I think there are two kinds of desire. Certain desires are positive, a desire for
happiness. It’s absolutely right. The desire for peace. The desire for a more harmonious world, a
friendlier world. But at some point, desires can become unreasonable”” (Seaward, 2015). Also,
looked at different theorists which all had different views but what I found in common was that they
all speak about coping and problem solving to deal with stress. Stress can be good and bad but they
all speak about the defenses that protect our minds from painful and dangerous times in our lives.
Ways we can cope with anger and fear in our lives, which include facing your fears, some more
aggressive than others, but I believe the best way is to relive the fear in order to make sure you aren’t
living in fear that it might happen again. Finally, become better at communication in this day and age,
my five ways to better my communication were: to enhance my vocabulary, avoid putting others on
the defensive, avoid asking someone else to pass on your thoughts or feelings, avoid information
Journal Writing:
Take some time to write about whatever you came up for you mentally, emotionally, and
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When doing this exercise for the first time surprisingly not many thoughts went through my
head. I believe the reason for this is because it is very hard for me to relax and not stress in the first
place. I found when doing this exercise, I had to focus on my breathing a lot. The text said to not
focus so hard on your breathing that you altered it but this was very hard for me. It seemed if I didn’t
focus on the inhale and exhale then I would stray away from the current moment and my mind would
be running like usual. My brain seems to think of all the things I need to do all the time, and
sometimes I can’t even get one task completed because I’m thinking of the fifty other things that need
to be done. This type of exercise is SO beneficial to people like me that are on the go constantly and
never give themselves time to live in the present. I get so tied up in living in the past and future that I
don’t appreciate what is right in front of me. Throughout the next few weeks I’m going to make sure I
am living in the present as much as possible. In this exercise I did focus on my breathing most of the
time, maybe even too much, but it felt really relaxing, I remember thinking to myself this feels good.
We don’t give ourselves enough me time, and it is so important, only five minutes of our time and I
felt so relaxed. As time goes on I know the mindfulness will become more of second nature, but at
this point it is going to feel like work to me. Mentally I felt like it was quite a bit of work for me, lots
of focus went into this. Emotionally, I didn’t have much emotion besides peace. Finally, physically I
felt relaxed, it almost made me feel tired. Of the eight attitudes of mindfulness I want to begin to work
on non-judgment and letting be, I think this is where I lack the most. Overall, this exercise is going to
be practiced by me on the daily until it is a natural state of mind. Everyone could benefit from taking
some time to themselves every day to sit and reflect on the moment they are in. We are so worried
about what happened and what is going to happen next that we don’t focus on our body, mind, and
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Unit
Information to Remember:
The one I looked at was “sensation seekers”. “…Zuckerman focused on four specific traits—
the parameters of sensation seeking” (Seaward, 2015). This one stuck out to me because this is
Key Learning Point: Self-esteem and how this plays a role in stress management
“Low self-esteem is the common denominator in stress-prone personalities, as can be seen in Type A,
codependent, and helpless-hopeless types. High self-esteem is a prerequisite for creating stress-
resistant personalities because it is directly linked to the accessibility of one’s internal resources”
(Seaward, 2015). If you are a positive person it is going to take more than a minor stress to bring
you down. It is easier to look at a problem in a positive light and see what you can take from it
rather than how bad your life sucks. Being positive and happy fall into self-esteem and loving
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Step 1 is to investigate pain and tension in the body. Learning to recognize our bodies’ sensations and
feel where the source of the pain is. Step 2 is to work with our emotions in physical pain. The power
of acceptance allows us to accept it. Step 3 it to be living in the present moment which is the
Assignment:
In this assignment we looked at our relationships, value, and meaning of life are affected by stress.
We have to work through these internally in order to not let this take over our well-being as
individuals, we will constantly evolve but we have to keep the “homeostasis” in order to keep our
stress low. Hans Selye explains that the best way to conquer the stress someone is facing to maintain
purpose in like is the “aim of life”. To be able to do this you need to set short-term and long-term
attainable and smart goals that you can see. As well as our perspective on the differences between
values, attitudes, and beliefs. Then we took one lifestyle activity and put it through Prochaska’s
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Journal Writing:
Anxiety: I feel this in my stomach like knots, it then works its way into my throat making it
hard to speak, and my brain where it fills my head with crazy thoughts. I don’t feel this emotion often
but when I do it is very scary for me, it is very common in my family to get bad spouts of this emotion.
The event that comes to mind most is basic training, this as a high stress time for me and I remember
many times having to tell myself it is going to be okay, because I felt as if I was going to pass out from
being very overloaded with emotions that I hadn’t felt before. Jumpiness/nervousness/worry kind of
go together for me, this emotion for me is also found in my stomach. I feel as if I was brought up to be
very paranoid and nervous that everything bad is going to happen (aka my mother), this is my
pessimistic side. If things are going good for too long I ponder about what bad thing is going to
happen which puts me on edge. Lastly feeling overwhelmed is a common everyday feeling for me, this
happens majority in my brain. I feel overwhelmed because I give myself to many tasks at once, and I
seek perfection which is the worry that I won’t do my best work. I am a people pleaser and I hate to
let people down, this emotion happens mostly at work because I’m my commander’s secretary at the
moment, I’m constantly getting tasks thrown at me with little instruction, expected to do them
perfectly. In my everyday life I’m overwhelmed because I want to be the best I can be and nervous I
will steer myself wrong and not pick the best route.
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Honestly, I wasn’t going to pick any of these because it is not a common emotion for me. Chaotic is
the only one I can kind of relate too. This emotion is found in my brain. Where I have so many
thoughts going crazy and I can’t focus on one because there are 100 other things I am currently
thinking about. I often forget why I am in a certain place or doing what I’m doing because my brain is
I often feel annoyance, it starts in my brain and takes over my body. This emotion is hard to hide for
me because it shows all over my face. It sounds horrible but this emotion makes me think of my mom,
love her to pieces, but for some reason a short amount of time with her and I can feel myself getting
short with her and being a brat. Next, frustration/irritation occur on the daily for me. I’m a very
happy person and that is why I didn’t highlight any of the grumpy ones, but my irritability and
frustration comes on easily and only lasts for a short amount of time. I find that these emotions
happen a lot at work, I like to have complete direction and know exactly what I’m doing, when I’m in
this new position I don’t get that and it makes me very frustrated. This emotion is mostly my fault
because I don’t seek as much help as I can because I like to be self-sufficient, but asking rather than
making myself irritated would be a much better route. The only time I feel rage is when I’m driving. It
is a horrible trait, and every time I get in the car I try to deep breath and tell myself it is not that
serious, and that I’m going to get wherever I need to be. I don’t know what it is about peoples driving,
but it takes over my entire body, makes me feel hot, and I scream things out that are not of my nature.
This is something the last few years I’ve been trying really hard to contain because it’s not worth
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SADNESS: alienation, anguish, despair, disappointment, gloom, grief, hopelessness, insecurity,
We all experience gloom at some point in our lives. This is very rare for me, but the days you wake up
and just feel bad for yourself, I’ve felt those. It takes over your brain and body, and it seems to take a
day for me to shake. It almost feels like everything is going wrong, and that nothing can fix it, yet I
remind myself in these times of all the positive things I have in my life and snap out of it. I can see
how if someone were to live in gloom for longer than a day or so, could definitely get depressed. The
other sad emotion I’ve felt is insecurity. As a young adult it is easy to judge yourself based off of
others, don’t know anyone that hasn’t. I was overweight out of high school, got really into fitness
about 3 years ago, and recently did two bikini competitions. This made me feel on top of the world,
but now in my off season gaining some weight back, I’ve felt very insecure. I know this is natural, but
it takes over my brain, causing me to see things that others don’t, and has almost become excessive.
I feel guilt in the pit of my stomach, when I know I haven’t done something. I’ve never been able to lie
because it would just tear me a part. I seem to guilt myself a lot when I tell myself I’m going to do
something and don’t go through with it. Embarrassment doesn’t happen to me often but I feel this in
my stomach and ALL over my face and body. I get hot and sweaty and tremble my words. This
happens to me when I get in front of large crowds, I’ve gotten better and put myself out there more in
LOVE: affection, arousal, attraction, caring, compassion, desire, fondness, infatuation, kindness,
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With the emotions that go with love I chose them all. At one point in my life or another I’ve felt all of
these. I’m so grateful to have amazing family and friends, relationships, etc. These feelings fill your
heart with warmth, your belly with butterflies, and your mind with positive hormones. These are the
best feelings in the world, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
As I did in love, I chose all of the joy emotions. Love and joy seem to go together for me. They are
whole body experiences that everybody wishes to have. They are being with people that make you
laugh until it hurts, achieving a goal that you never thought possible, going on a roller coaster, putting
your faith in something, or just simply making somebodies day. There are so many joyous events that
happen every day and I hope more people see the joy in life.
Overall, this assignment proved to me that the happy emotions are very full for me and the
negative or less appealing emotions were a bit harder for me to pick things out. I’m not sure if those
negative emotions are overpowered by my positive emotions so it was hard for me to pick them, or if
I live a very blessed life. In all, I try to make a positive out of every situation and life in general, we
have so many emotions that run through our mind, body, and souls, every day, and it’s our decision
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Unit
Information to Remember:
Dr. Lisa Rankin states that disease is not just a consequence of our genetic make-up, pathogens, or
even bad luck. For better or worse, our health is greatly influenced by our mindset(attitude)
“Norman Cousins was right: Positive emotions augment the mind-body relationship. Laughter
indeed influences the body’s physiology, resulting in restoration and possibly healing)” There
are many psychological affects to include stabilizing blood pressure, moving blood through
RAIN is an acronym. Recognize when a strong emotion is present. Allow or acknowledge that it’s
there. Investigate the body. Non-identify with whatever is there (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010). Some
of us practiced the mountain pose, downward dog, cobra, etc. All of us had great results from just
one week!
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Journal Writing:
Take some time to write about whatever came up for you mentally, emotionally and physically when
Meditation has never been easy for me. Relaxing in general and focusing on the present
moment is difficult for my brain to stop running a million miles an hour. I do enjoy to walk so I
thought the walking meditation would be a good exercise for me to practice my mindfulness. When
starting this exercise, I was focusing a lot on just the walking and trying not to think about anything
else. As I got more relaxed I was able to focus on my breathing, emotions, etc.
Physically, listening to my breathing kind of gives me a bit of anxiety and almost makes it feel
like a chore for me, so I switched my attention elsewhere. I enjoy to just listen to my body in these
relaxing times. I feel very light, and I’d assume this is because I’m at peace with myself. I then would
switch my attention back to my feet, where every step felt heavy. Normally we walk without thinking
about it, it is very effortless. But it is very calming to feel your heal strike the ground followed by the
rest of your foot, where you can take in a deep breath of air into your lungs. Then I observed my
senses. I could hear the pitter patter of my dogs’ feet hitting the ground. Other than that, noise my
house was very quiet and I could hear the buzz of the lights. I could smell my Scentsy’s in the air,
which are my favorite smells, which puts myself at ease. My arms moving back and forth at my sides,
brushing my hips each time. Physically I like the way my entire body felt during this process,
regardless if I couldn’t relax completely, I felt a sense of relaxation take over my body.
Mentally, my mind kept straying away from the walking and my mindfulness. Over the course
of ten minutes, I had to pull my attention back to this activity probably five or so times. I think if I
were to practice this more often I would get better at keeping the attention in the present. This could
be very good for my brain because I know I carry high stress because of the pressure I put on myself
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on a daily basis. I overload my brain with so many thoughts ad activities it is hard for me to relax. I
lay in bed for a long while at night and think about all the things I need to do the next day.
Honestly, while doing this exercise I didn’t feel much emotionally, or if I did I didn’t realize it
like I should have. I think peace within myself is the best way to explain how I was feeling
throughout. I was pretty relaxed when starting this assignment, but I think if I would have done it at a
time that I was angry, sad, excited, etc. than I would have had a different experience. This will allow
me to calm myself down, especially if I was feeling angry. I’ve heard of people taking walks when
they are heated and I think this works very well for people that don’t know many ways to calm
themselves. Doing this would give you time to reflect on how you were feeling, and let your brain
have some time to settle down rather than always being on the go. It was nice to be able to have some
me time while not stressing about anything else that was going on in the world at that very moment.
basis in order to come to peace with myself and living in the present rather than the past or future. I
worry so much about the future that I don’t appreciate the right now. I’m making a promise to myself
to do walking meditation for ten minutes per day when getting home from work to self-reflect. I’m
then going to journal how my day was, followed by how my mediation was following this in the
formal practice log in our journals. I think this will help me see how the meditation helps based on
how my mood/day had been previously. I’m excited to be able to do this for myself and to see if I see
any significant changes in how I react to different situations throughout my days. I have been
previously working on the mindfulness/breathing exercises in my car and it has helped significantly
with my road rage that I have experienced in the past (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010).
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Unit
Information to Remember:
According to Kristin Neff, “Instead of mercilessly judging and criticizing yourself for various
inadequacies or shortcomings, self-compassion means you are kind and understanding when
confronted with personal failings – after all, whoever said you were supposed to be perfect?”
(Neff, 2019). Waking up and telling yourself you are great, you can do it, will greatly affect your
life.
Key Learning Point: Imagery and visualization can be used for relaxation
Three ways the imagery and visualization can be used for relaxation is through mental imagery,
visualization and predictive encoding (Seaward, 2015). Allows you to view things in a positive
light.
Meditation has many remarkable effects on the mind and body. The physiological effects that occur
from doing meditation on the regular consist of, “decreased oxygen consumption, decreased blood
lactate levels, increased skin resistance, decreased heart rate, decreased blood pressure, decreased
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muscle tension, increased alpha waves” (Seaward, 2015). Also, with many positive effects to our
Assignment:
Our assignment focused on diaphragmatic breathing and relaxation benefits it has on the mind and
Assume a comfortable position- this can include sitting or lying down on your back.
Remove tight clothing. When you are a beginner it is suggested to place your hands on
by finding a nice quiet place. It is easy for your mind to wander especially when you
are new to practicing this, when you notice this just try to refocus your attention to
your breathing.
Phase I: Inspiration, or taking the air into your lungs through the nose or mouth
Phase III: Exhalation, or releasing the air from your lungs through the passage it
entered
Phase IV: Another very slight pause after exhalation before the next inhalation is
Visualization- some of these include breathing clouds (change in exhaled air from gray
to off white), alternate nostril breathing (breathing threw just your right then just your
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left), and energy breathing (feeling of the breathing throughout your entire body)
(Seaward, 2015).
Some of the positive effects of imagery and visualization are: use unconscious mind for better
performance, physical calmness, and healing effect of being able to alter your five senses in a way to
make negative thoughts, positive. These are so important because “…directed exercise in mental
imagery; consciously creating images of success, healing, or relaxation for the purpose of self-
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Journal Writing:
Throughout my day today I focused on being mindful of how I interact with myself. On a
daily basis, I would say I normally tell myself one to two negative messages. Mostly they have to do
with my weight because I’m currently struggling with becoming comfortable with my body after
doing a bikini competition. I found I told myself, “you look chunky”, every time I looked into the
mirror today. This really does get into your head and can become unhealthy I believe. The phrases
that I say to myself aren’t as hurtful as “I’m worthless”, but it is still negative to say those type of
things to yourself on a daily basis, it will make you think it overtime. It is easier to talk to yourself in
this manner than others. If you were to talk to others the way you talk to yourself, you probably
wouldn’t have any friends or people that liked to be around you. Yes, these unkind messages to
myself increase my stress and anxiety significantly. I constantly worry about what I’m eating and how
I feel. If I got more comfortable with my body than I wouldn’t have these stressors and bring this
anxiety upon myself. In my mind it feels very overwhelming, and it takes up unnecessary space. I
could be using these parts of my brain to be doing more productive tasks besides stressing about
things that aren’t significant, or even a problem in my life. My body isn’t really affected by these
negative thoughts, if it was more often and thoughts that hurt myself more I could see how this could
Seeds of suffering?
If I were to stop “watering my seeds to suffering” I would probably see a significant change in my
life. Confidence and self-esteem are everything to a person’s well-being. When I was confident with
my body, I wanted to go do more things, and post pictures of myself. It makes you a happier person
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overall, you can see a person beaming with confidence from miles away. I’ve only been watering this
seed for a very short amount of time, normally I am very positive. Now realizing this, I’m going to be
To bring an open heart and beginners mind to a situation where someone is pressing your buttons
would actually feel great. It is so easy to let your emotions get the best of you. But doesn’t it feel even
better when after a confrontation or hard encounter you think to yourself, “wow I was the bigger
person!” It is a self-accomplishment, and later that person will be thinking that they should have
handled the situation better. People don’t say “kill them with kindness” for no reason. I’ve had
situations where someone was nasty to me, and it wasn’t just me it was with everybody. If you
continue to do these acts day in and day out (which is not an easy task for anybody, especially when
you are being mistreated) MOST of the time this person will come around and it will be all because of
you. I always like to remind myself that I do not know what this person is encounter in their daily
lives for them to be acting the way they are. Maybe they are going through a break up, maybe they are
being sexually abused, maybe they just got into a car accident, maybe they couldn’t afford to eat
breakfast this morning. We all have our daily struggles and just remember when you weren’t in the
best mood, you’d want someone to try and flip your day upside down, and that might just be by
Reflection on writing?
Overall, being kind to yourself and others is so important in our daily lives. If you aren’t kind to
yourself, but are kind to others, how does that make sense. You need to be able to build your own self
confidence in order to radiate onto others. Just as you wouldn’t say those unkind messages to others,
you shouldn’t say to yourself. This week I’m going to be very mindful about if I say an unkind
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message to myself (which I don’t hope to do), flip it around and give myself two kind messages to
myself in order to build myself back up. It is always a work in progress but it is a road worth taking in
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Unit
Information to Remember:
Certain food we eat can actually imitate or prompt the stress response in a person’s body. The stress
response will also diminish important nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that our bodies need
(Seaward, 2015).
2. Domino 2: Our American lifestyle doesn’t promote healthy eating habits which then those
3. Domino 3: Some bad foods increase sympathetic drive that keep these stress responses elevated
(i.e. Alcohol)
4. Domino 4: contribute to a cumulative effect of toxins (i.e. pesticides makes the immune system
When this final domino falls, one’s health is really affected which can cause cancer, cold, etc.
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“The fall of each domino increases the chance of health-related problems as a result of the
confluence of stress-prone eating habits. This section highlights important aspects of these factors
so that you can make choices about what you put in your mouth to nourish mind, body, and spirit”
(Seaward, 2018).
(Seaward, 2015).
Stress causes our bodies to not absorb the nutrients it needs from the foods that we eat which can cause
a deficiency in our bodies which can cause health issues. (Seaward, 2015). IBS, constipation,
diarrhea, etc. are all common because our bodies aren’t taking in and disposing of the nutrients
correctly.
Journal Writing:
I chose to do formal practice sitting meditation for this journal assignment. The reason that I
thought this would be good for me to get used to is because I do a lot of sitting at my job and if I
could take advantage of doing this while having a rough day at work this will benefit my well-being
The exercise started us out focusing on our breathing, normal breathing, in and out. I like
doing this portion because for me it is very relaxing and I don’t feel like it is much work, and I don’t
have to worry about my mind shifting because I’m focused on this one act. I caught myself during the
exercise having to come back to this quite a few times to makes sure I was staying mindful and in the
present time. It is easier for me to focus on my abdomen when focusing on my breathing, this way I
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Next, I focused on sensations. This was a bit weird for me. I could feel the soreness in my
body from the last few days at the gym and I tried to relax them. I then got very relaxed and could feel
the tingling of my nerves on my hands, feet, and on my head. My body almost started to feel
weightless but heavy, not sure how I got both of those feelings in conjunction, but I did.
After that, we focused on sounds. I could hear the ticking of the clock every second, and the
buzzing of the lights. It was very peaceful to me. There wasn’t much internal noise besides myself
thinking about what I was hearing and feeling at that exact moment, no additional thoughts were
going through my head. I’m not sure if this is a good thing but it has always been easy for me to block
out unwanted thoughts and emotions that were running through my mind unless I want them to be
there, or I’m trying to work through them. Letting unnecessary emotions and thoughts run through my
head on a daily basis seems to cause me unwanted stress that I don’t have the time or energy for.
Then, it shifts us to our thoughts and emotions, but tells us to not fall very deep into them. For
a few moments I think about all the things I have to do for the remainder of the day but I then shift my
focus back to me breathing because this is where I feel more comfortable and relaxed.
I think as I practice mindful meditation for often it will get easier for me to go with th flow
and let my emotions and thoughts run through my head without taking to much time or effort on
them. But since I’m so new to this practice I feel mostly safe just focusing on my breathing, and my
senses. I know this will get easier with time, but once I let certain feelings take over I get nervous I
won’t be able to get back to a sense of peace which is why I like to use this practice. Once I get better
at this, I’d like to use it when I’m feeling stressed or in a position where I just need some me time, this
will allow for a way healthier way for me to realize stress than most other ways I can think of.
While doing this exercise I noticed that if I took more time to myself to do sitting meditation I
believe my life/well-being would be greatly affected. We all spend way too much time under stress
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which can cause horrible outcomes in the future and I think if we all went to practices such as
meditation, yoga, etc. we could live much happier and stress free lives. Also, I was really stuck
between which practice I wanted to do for this assignment, so on my own time I am going to practice
the mindful lying yoga and record how I was feeling after and compare the two and see which one
made a bigger difference on the way I was feeling. I’ve done a lot of yoga in my life and done all of
those poses, and I know they make you feel great afterwards but I haven’t really focused on the
spirituality factor as much as how my physical body felt as more of a workout routine. The book
states that you should start with sitting meditation and once you get that down, switching to lying
yoga is more beneficial because you have the breathing down and then being able to move your body
with it is a great way to bring mindfulness. Which also has many health benefits to include keeping
aging bones, muscles, nerves, and organs healthy (Stahl, B., & Goldstein, E., 2010).
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Unit
Information to Remember:
Some of the benefits of physical exercise on our stress levels and health include: decreased resting
blood pressure, decreased muscle tension, better sleep, better immune system, decreased
cholesterol. “Nutrition plays a crucial role in both minimizing and increasing the physiological
arousal of the stress response. The stress response increases the rate of metabolism by activating
the mobilization of carbohydrates and fats into the bloodstream for energy production” (Seaward,
2015).
Hatha yoga is now recognized as a suitable complementary healing modality for many chronic health-
related issues as well as a multimodal approach to stress management. Here is a look at some of
the most recent research (Seaward, 2015). Also, many have found it to decrease stress, depression,
and anxiety.
“Interpersonal mindfulness is what happens when we are able to apply the way we relate to ourselves
through mindfulness practice to the way we relate to others. It allows us to access the deeper
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meaning behind what people say and to recognize the way their words affect us personally, from
one moment to the next” (Dorce, 2016). The purpose of this is to avoid burnout, and make sure you
are able to really listen to somebody and care what they are saying rather than overlooking it. This
Assignment:
This assignment we got to use teamwork to create a mind body program for our workplace and pitch
it to our partner. They then would respond and give us feedback so we could make changes to our
program that we might not have seen. The purpose of this program is to reduce the stress of
employees in the workplace, while building morale, and improving fitness. It will be a quick break
from our everyday busy lives to focus on ourselves and how we are feeling by using mindfulness.
The reading states that mediation allows the individual to train themselves to clear their mind of
negative, overwhelming thoughts or sensory overload, and become more calm and focused.
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Journal Writing:
I chose a person that we haven’t always seen eye to eye and came from very different
backgrounds. I care very deeply for this person and when reading the directions to this assignment I
knew instantly that I wanted to use these interpersonal mindfulness qualities in order to think about
OPENNESS: I was telling myself to listen and not interrupt. That what they are saying is not wrong, it
is just a different view than what I had on this matter. We aren’t always going to see every situation
the exact same and that is okay, that’s what makes us our special self. Also, when it is my turn to
speak I remind myself to not point fingers, it is easy for me to say, well you did this. Well I need to
look at myself and see what I can do better rather than becoming so defensive, nobody is perfect.
EMPATHY: This subject is hard for me, I’ve learned over the years to hide my feelings. I wasn’t
brought up this way but I think the military and life has made me a little hard on the outside. As I’m
speaking to this person I get a sense of sadness and think maybe they are feeling this same way. If I’m
not sure how this person feels, I ask them, how are you feeling at this very moment to clarify rather
than assume. I also feel a lot of love in my heart for this person even though I don’t express it as I
should, and neither do they, this is a hard subject but maybe getting clarification on this matter would
COMPASSION: I know this person has lived a very hard life filled with tons of pain and loss. I’ve
always felt compassion towards this aspect of their life. How strong this person must be to have lost
their mother at a young age and not have a good father figure. My heart feels heavy for them, and
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LOVING-KINDNESS: I want nothing but happiness for this individual no matter where our lives take
us. I hope at all times, even at the moment they are deployed, I pray every night that they are safe and
SYMPATHETIC JOY: This person brings me so much joy that I try to return these feelings of
EQUANIMITY: This person has wants and needs to be respected and loved for, as I have been doing
since I’ve known them. I hope that everyone that comes into contact with this person I care deeply
about they treat them the same way, as they would their own family/friends.
Overall, it was nice to look at this person in such a positive light. It is sometimes so easy to be
negative and looks at the bad things when everyone has great qualities about them they just
sometimes can be overshadowed with thoughts or judgements. Everyone deserves to be treated right
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Unit
Information to Remember:
“A pleasurable pursuit or interest outside one’s daily work responsibilities through which one begins
to make order out of chaos” (Seaward, 2015). The reading explains that they are not promoting
avoidance of our issues in order to reduce stress BUT taking your conscious mind away from the
thoughts and feelings for a while will be better for you return to deal with it. You do have to view
your hobby as leisure and fun not being perfect at it or it can become more of a stress in your life
“A coping technique for anger-related stressors for which a shift in attitude is adopted toward those
against whom a grudge was previously held” (Seaward, 2015). Letting these toxic thoughts go is
Key Learning Point: Mindfulness is optimal physical, emotional and mental well-being
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“The idea inherent in both distraction and decentering is that a shift is taking place. During the former,
one’s ability to distract and redirect attention away from rumination and to sustain attention on the
neutral breath is a literal shift in attention that cultivates regulatory processes intrinsic to
psychological well-being” (Wolkin, 2015). If you can’t live in the present, you will miss out on
crucial events in your life from being stuck in past and future.
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Additional Information
Book: Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-being
I choose our digital book because everything I’ve learned about stress and the importance has come
from it.
Article: The Wisdom of Art and Music Therapy
“According to Seaward, “Long ago, mystics and healers held the inherent wisdom that
indeed, music has a very special power to restore a sense of wholeness to any
individual in need of tranquility…” (Seaward, 2007, page 228, ¶2). “Even Plato
suggested the merits of music as a panacea to ill health” (Seaward, 2007, page 228,
¶2). The role of art predates contemporary society by thousands of years. From the
earliest caveman drawings on rock walls to finger painting by school children art has
been recognizing as a way to unlock the creative expression residing in the human
mind. The use of creative expression in the form of art therapy is a recognized tool for
managing and preventing stress”
Many of us use music and art as a form of stress therapy.
Seaward, B. L. (2007). Essentials of managing stress. Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
Website 1: The Power of Positive Thinking
https://www.successconsciousness.com/index_000009.htm
“Positive thinking is a mental and emotional attitude that focuses on the bright side of
life and expects positive results.
A person with positive thinking mentality anticipates happiness, health and success,
and believes that he or she can overcome any obstacle and difficulty”
Website 2: The Insight Center
http://www.theinsightcenter.com/
“At the Insight Center, we foster the growth and well-being of our clients by helping them
cultivate insight—a type of awareness which allows people to live more freely and make the
best use of their own resources. We do this through the therapeutic relationship and through
teaching mindfulness—the inherently nurturing and transformative capacity to be more fully
aware and accepting of life as it unfolds, moment by moment. We embrace a holistic
approach, grounded in the best modern scholarship, and emphasize the integration of mind,
body and spirit in maximizing health and promoting personal growth”
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References
Dore, J. (25 Feb 2016). Interpersonal Mindfulness for Clinicians. Retrieved from
https://pro.psychcentral.com/interpersonal-mindfulness-for-clinicians/
elements-of-self-compassion-2/
Psychology Career Center. (13 November 2014). What is Neuroscience? Retrieved from
https://www.psychologycareercenter.org/what-is-neuroscience.html
https://www.successconsciousness.com/index_000009.htm
Seaward, B. L. (2007). Essentials of managing stress. Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
Seaward, B. (2015). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and well-being (8th ed.).
Stahl, B. & Goldstein, E. (2010). A mindfulness-based stress reduction workbook. Oakland, CA: New
The Insight Center. (2019). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Retrieved from
http://www.theinsightcenter.com/
Wolkin, J. (24 Nov 2015). How Mindfulness Impacts Well-being. Retrieved from
https://www.mindful.org/how-mindfulness-impacts-well-being/
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