Organize your life to make sure you won't burn out - Part 3

This is the third part in the series to Organize your life to make sure you won't burn out 

2. Be thankful

1 Thessalonians 5:15-18

The Message (MSG)

^13-15 Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.

^16-18 Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.

Bible tells us to be thankful and to have a positive attitude towards to life over and over again.

It is not surprising that modern research have found out about the huge impact that thankfulness and positive attitude have in a person’s brain and body.

There are research results that indicate that the stress hormone cortisol levels lowered 23% percent in the brain when a person thought about what they were thankful for.

Positive thinking lowers down the stress concentrating your thoughts into something else than the things causing you the stress.

Positive thinking and thankfulness

Make a conscious decision to think about something positive that happened to you every day.

Make a list of three things that you are thankful for that day at the end of every day.

Positive view of life does not mean ignoring the difficult and painful issues.

Instead it means denying you wallowing on them or asking yourself “what if”.

That way it prevents the downward spiral of negative thoughts because that is what sucks all your strength for certain.

If your negative thoughts contain stigmatizing words like “never” or “always” or “a complete failure” write them down and go them through with another person.

That way you can be certain that they are not true but just your feelings.

Concentrate on facts instead of feelings.

  

This is the third part in series about Organizing your life to make sure you won't burn out

If you with to read the first part, go to Part 1

If you want to read the second part, go to Part 2 

Organize your life to make sure you won't burn out - Part 2

This is the second part in the series to Organize your life to make sure you won't burn out

1. Turn down the stress

Usually we use give stress as a word a negative connotation.

But in reality stress is a physiological and emotional state and if it does not exist, the person is not able to function at all.

The right amount of stress helps the person to be at his, or hers, best.

But too much stress cripples and in long-term will cause a burn out.

Coping with the stress is knowing how to control the amount and duration of the stress, not eliminating stress for good.

The most important thing is to seriate the stress, not live in a constant stressful state.

Disconnect and connect

Find your own way to break out and disconnect from the thoughts and activities that cause you stress, both daily, weekly and yearly.

In today’s world a lot of things that stress us out are related to the technology.

Spending time without different electronic devices and communication is one of the easiest ways to disconnect and turn down our stress levels.

Another very effective way is interaction with other people.

Talk about your worries to another person, who is there, physically.

Listen to their worries, and share time together with them.

Just being close to another person can be very significant in lowering your stress levels.

Sleep

Sleep is also invaluable in turning down the stress.

People, who manage their stress well, sleep well.

Prioritize a good night’s sleep to the highest level in your own life’s order and do whatever is necessary to get enough rest.

This is a part of a on-going series about stress and burn-out, their biblical side and how to prevent them by organizing your life.

If you enjoyed the post maybe you would like to read the previous post: Organize your life to make sure you won't burn out - Part 1

Organize your life to make sure you won't burn out - Part 1

The pace of modern life gives us different challenges than the lifestyle in Bible’s times.

Still in the Bible we are told to take care of ourselves.

The Bible sets us an example of a mature Christian who has a balanced life and endurance for his activities.

Paul, in his letter to Corinthians exhorts us to run this long run in a way that we will win.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

The Message (MSG)

^24-25 You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally.

^26-27 I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.

He is talking about self-discipline and being goal-oriented.

Part of the running for a goal-oriented winner is controlling the pace and the power distribution.

Without controlling your pace you will not reach the goal, at least not as a winner.

Many times us Christians distribute our power like a race car.

We have a huge motor and when we start it we have a lot of speed and we get a lot done.

But when you only have a race car and you use it for shopping and commuting it can be a waste to lot of resources, like gas and money.

Besides if you are always travelling on high gear it’s hard to slow down fast enough.

How to use your motor in a wise way?

How to run so that you will be able to cross the finish line?

What is stress? 

If you were to ask a dozen people to define stress, or explain what causes stress for them, or how stress affects them, you would likely get 12 different answers to each of these requests.

The reason for this is that there is no definition of stress that everyone agrees on, what is stressful for one person may be pleasurable or have little effect on others. 

We all react to stress differently.

Stress is difficult for scientists to define because it is a highly subjective phenomenon that differs for each of us.

Things that are distressful for some individuals can be pleasurable for others.

We also respond to stress differently.

Some people blush, some eat more while others grow pale or eat less.

Numerous surveys and studies confirm that occupational pressures and fears are far and away the leading source of stress for American adults and that these have steadily increased over the past few decades.

Just as stress is different for each of us there is no stress reduction strategy that is a panacea. 

The key to reducing stress is to prevent it.

Getting enough sleep, a proper diet, avoiding excess caffeine and other stimulants and taking time out to relax may be helpful in this regard.

Many stress relievers work because of the power of the placebo effect that comes from having faith in the procedure or the therapist.

Other very different approaches can achieve the same results because they reduce feelings of helplessness and provide a sense of control over the problem.  

 

In this five part series we are going to talk about stress and how to control it, from Bible's point of view.