You are not alone if you have too much to do, competing demands, relationship conflicts and financial worries that keep you up at night.

When you are dealing with several issues at once, it can be overwhelming.
As someone recently described her situation to me: "It's like I'm going through the motions of my life and I'm not in control of any of it."

At that point, stress is more than a frustration or an annoyance—it's a danger to your health and well-being. With all of the available articles and published research on that topic, you probably already knew that. Yet, you may feel helpless to change because you are caught up in a non-stop cycle of activity.

One of the key issues causing stress is a misalignment between priorities and actions. For example, you may believe that your family is your highest priority, yet you consistently miss important events or celebrations in favor of work. Or, you may state that your health is very important, but have not scheduled an annual physical or taken action to reduce your blood pressure.

Since there are many factors that contribute to stress that are out of your control, it's useful to focus on something on which you can take action. Knowing that you are not living true to your highest priorities is stressful, and you can change that. Try not to be critical of yourself as you recognize where some things are out of line. Here's how you might begin:

1. List the highest four priorities in your life.
2. Rate yourself from 1-5 on how closely your life reflects these (i.e. Are you walking your talk?)
3. Pick one priority that is out of alignment (rated 1-3).
4. Identify one small step you can take within the next two weeks to make this priority more prominent in your life. Do not underestimate the power of any step in shifting the whole pattern. The point is to begin the change.
5. Repeat the exercise every 3 months or sooner.

Be careful not to make up negative stories about what might happen if you make these changes. If there are several areas of out alignment, check in with yourself and let you heart tell you where to start.

Heart At Work Career Workshops
offered by Amy Jaffe, MA:
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Weeknights and Saturday mornings-$30 each
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Call Amy for details: 207-846-0644
or email: amy@heartatwork.biz

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