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Articles from Lynette Crane | Selfgrowth.com
- Do you know where your Will Power has gone? - by Submitted on Jan 31, 2013 from Lynette CraneYou know will power – that elusive stuff that other people seem to have, but you don’t? Or maybe you had a lot of it on January 1, excited by visions of a new you, but somehow the visions have gotten dimmer as the weeks have gone by. The parking lot at the fitness center was so crowded on New ...
Views: 912 - Little habits can make big changes - by Submitted on Jan 17, 2013 from Lynette CraneAs 2013 approached, I felt, as many do, that I was being given a clean slate, a chance to order my life better – if only I could stick to that plan. It has long been my dream to not only run my own business, meditate, and exercise daily, but also to resume practicing singing several times a ...
Views: 709 - Healthful Holiday Hints - by Submitted on Nov 21, 2012 from Lynette CraneThe holidays are a particular challenge for those of us who know we must be vigilant every day to maintain our health through good eating. But everyone needs to be careful not to put on weight that is going to be hard to lose later on, or worse yet, develop a health problem. Here are some of the ...
Views: 753 - Are you determined not to age? - by Submitted on Oct 31, 2012 from Lynette CraneWe live in a youth-oriented society, where the fastest growing group, the Baby Boomers, learned, “Never trust anyone over thirty.” They’ve probably extended that limit by now; I haven’t checked recently to see what it is. 60? 70? We see ads everywhere for products and services to erase ...
Views: 737 - The Work of Worry - by Submitted on Oct 10, 2012 from Lynette CraneDoes worrying ever do any good? Yes, if it means that you are planning ahead. That is the work of worry: to foresee a problem and take steps to avoid it. Whether it involves getting your car checked before a long road trip, turning off the water to the outside of your house before the big freeze ...
Views: 741 - Are you listening to your body? - by Submitted on Sep 28, 2012 from Lynette CraneThere’s an old story about a city slicker watching a farmer begin to train a mule. First, the farmer picked up a two-by-four and hit the mule over the head. Then he did it again … and again. The city slicker finally said, “I don’t get it. What are you trying to teach him?” The farmer replied, ...
Views: 780 - Is relaxation time impossible for you to find? - by Submitted on Sep 07, 2012 from Lynette CraneDo you find yourself rushing all day, hoping to save some time at the end of the day in which to relax? Only to find that the time you “saved” by rushing wasn’t to be found later on? Perhaps your day is filled with “must do or else” activities that make it difficult for you to find time to slow ...
Views: 763 - Can I be an introvert and a champion too? - by Submitted on Aug 14, 2012 from Lynette CraneThe short answer is, You Bet! Too many people equate introversion with shyness, when in fact introverts are simply people who rely more on inner resources than outer ones, and deeply need a certain amount of solitude in which to re-charge their batteries. Introversion may lie behind ...
Views: 1258 - Stress – it’s a matter of choice - by Submitted on Jul 31, 2012 from Lynette CraneIt’s time for a reminder about the basics of good stress management, and especially about the skills you can easily master that will make you more stress-resistant – i.e., less likely to develop a stress response that you have to “handle.” Life should be about more than just “handling” negative ...
Views: 828(1 vote) - Underlying Issues - by Submitted on Jul 25, 2012 from Lynette CraneWhat’s the real source of your stress? Coaches and therapists will tell you that when people are stressed or angry, what they say they are upset about and what is the real cause are two different things. If a driver cut in front of you and made a rude gesture, is the irritation you feel ...
Views: 923 - Be a Good Samaritan and Reduce Your Stress - by Submitted on Jun 21, 2012 from Lynette CraneThe stress response in our bodies might be thought of, from one point of view, as the result of a combat between two opposing parts of the nervous system. The sympathetic division, triggered in response to a perceived threat, is responsible for the increased heart rate, higher blood pressure, ...
Views: 902 - Evaluating Other People - by Submitted on Jun 14, 2012 from Lynette CraneBuild relationships and teams by giving value to your interaction This is the last of a series of articles on handling criticism constructively and without stress. Evaluating other people is something you will do all of your life, both formally, as a teacher, parent, or manager, and ...
Views: 912 - Handling criticism from other people: Go for the gain and not the pain - by Submitted on Jun 11, 2012 from Lynette CraneIn my previous article, I talked about the difference between feedback and criticism, and how we can handle our own inner voices more constructively. But what about those outer voices? That’s the topic of this article. Into each life a little rain must fall. Into each life a little – or ...
Views: 916 - Feedback - by Submitted on May 31, 2012 from Lynette CraneHow often do you criticize yourself during a given day? How often do you hold yourself back from doing or saying something because you’re afraid you will make a mistake? Then you’d receive that awful thing, criticism – if not from yourself, then from someone else. None of us wants to live in ...
Views: 861 - Planning to take a risk - by Submitted on May 25, 2012 from Lynette Crane(Last week I discussed the reasons for taking a risk, and the preparation for doing so. This week’s article continues with planned steps to gain the most from taking the risk, while minimizing the stress.) General George Patton once said,“Take calculated risks; that is quite different from ...
Views: 879 - Why take a risk? - by Submitted on May 17, 2012 from Lynette CraneSome people take risks more readily than other people. And risks can be a little scary, whether they involve making a major career change and/or cross-country move, asking for a promotion or a raise, declaring your affection to someone else when you’re not sure how that person feels, or when it ...
Views: 768 - Movement is good for you - by Submitted on May 10, 2012 from Lynette CraneIt’s now official: MOVEMENT IS GOOD FOR YOU. Oh, wait, you knew that already. And you’re doing it, right? Well, not right now, but as soon as you have time. Of course that time never seems to come. But what if regular sessions of movement actually helped create time in your life by ...
Views: 756 - Rose sniffing - by Submitted on May 05, 2012 from Lynette CraneWe had a lovely speaker return to my women’s group last week. She is an expert on women’s health, and once again she provided us with arcane and useful information that we could have gotten nowhere else. She did it with such gentle grace and humor that we felt soothed and refreshed at the end ...
Views: 836 - Hassles and the havoc they can create - by Submitted on Apr 19, 2012 from Lynette CraneIn the movies, we have often seen a character receive a shock, clutch his heart, and fall to the ground in a heart attack. No one thinks life’s daily hassles are dramatic, but in fact they can be just as deadly as a major shock. Real crises, such as having your house burn down, activate ...
Views: 714 - Take charge of your stressful assumptions - by Submitted on Apr 12, 2012 from Lynette CraneIt has been said that the bulk of aggression in the world is the result of poor communication. Sometimes the wrong words are chosen; sometimes the wrong words are heard. In addition to someone producing a communication and another person hearing that communication, there is another layer: ...
Views: 666 - Is anybody listening? - by Submitted on Apr 04, 2012 from Lynette CraneOne common stressor is the feeling that we are trying to get others to understand our needs and our points of view, but somehow, no matter how hard we try, the message isn’t getting through. The solution to this stress? Try to understand the needs of your listener; then shape your ...
Views: 712 - Stress and Your Health - by Submitted on Mar 28, 2012 from Lynette CraneIn my last article, I talked about “stress stupidity” and how it causes us to make mistakes and lose time. It actually does more than that: A recently released Yale University study, published online the week of January 9, 2012, in the journal Biological Psychiatry, shows that stress ...
Views: 723(1 vote) - Highly-educated, highly-intelligent people can do incredibly stupid things - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2012 from Lynette CraneStress can make even intelligent people screw up, look slightly crazy, and even undermine their health and well-being. It’s true: even highly-educated, highly-intelligent people can do incredibly stupid things under stress. Take the woman, who upon finding that her house was on fire, grabbed ...
Views: 1477 - Women’s Warning Signs of a Heart Attack - by Submitted on Feb 28, 2012 from Lynette CraneThe “Hollywood Heart Attack,” where the character, clutching his chest, slumps to the floor immediately, does sometimes happen. But many heart attacks do not mimic this model. In particular, women’s symptoms of heart attack may be very different from men’s in both quality and severity. It ...
Views: 633 - Handling the stress of rejection - by Submitted on Feb 16, 2012 from Lynette CraneRejection can cause a particularly deep form of anger, because rejection seems to carry with it a heavy load: loss of self-esteem, and even of identity. Rejection can also result in depression. Sometimes it takes this shock of rejection to make you realize that you may have been asking for ...
Views: 733 - The Best Gift of All - by Submitted on Dec 11, 2011 from Lynette CraneI was looking over the collection of greeting cards I have received over the years. All of them I treasure for one reason or another; one of them I truly cherish. It is from a friend who is very like me – in some ways. We both enjoy solitude, and can sit together companionably, reading, without ...
Views: 659 - Holiday Hints at the Buffet for the Heart-wise - by Submitted on Nov 23, 2011 from Lynette CraneThe holidays are a particular challenge for those of us who know we must be vigilant every day to maintain our health through good eating. (Actually, that’s pretty much everybody.) Here are some of the challenges, and how to meet them. The holiday party, with its buffet of delectable treats, ...
Views: 556 - Let a smile be your umbrella - by Submitted on Nov 15, 2011 from Lynette CraneNovember can bring gloomy days, rain, and even snow. Some people love this autumn weather; others are less enchanted by it. Add in a few ordinary life mishaps and you can create deep gloom. Here’s how to lift the gloom when you’re suffering from the “grumpies”, a discontented feeling that ...
Views: 719 - Time Zones - by Submitted on Nov 08, 2011 from Lynette CraneThe wellness expert I was speaking to after her talk commented that she had almost been late for the conference. “I was stuck in traffic,” she lamented, “and I was really stressed.” I asked her what she was worried about, given that the audience was a group of very supportive women who ...
Views: 740 - Persistent Perfectionism - by Submitted on Nov 08, 2011 from Lynette CraneDefeat Time and Energy Bandits Time and energy bandits are habits and thought processes that can suck you dry, leaving you exhausted and harried. One of these, which particularly rears its head at the holiday season, is perfectionism. Now perfectionism is a wonderful trait – in its ...
Views: 850 - No Fault De-Stressing - by Submitted on Oct 28, 2011 from Lynette Crane85% of major illness is now attributed to stress. The figure is alarming because it implies that the responsibility for our well-being lies directly in our own hands, as in a way it does. People who already have a major illness feel dismayed, and even angry, about the new emphasis on ...
Views: 600 - Just Breathing - by Submitted on Oct 26, 2011 from Lynette CranePause, breathe, choose: I remind my clients (and myself) of this sequence frequently, adding that the response we make to a stressful event is our choice, not a given. To reach the point where we recognize other choices, it is important to be able to distance ourselves from the world and ...
Views: 794 - What’s in your Holiday Bucket? - by Submitted on Oct 25, 2011 from Lynette CraneIcons of black cats with arched backs are appearing everywhere, to be followed soon by turkeys in all stages, from on-the-hoof to lying down, legs in air wearing a golden brown crust. Can wreaths, holly and jolly fat men in red suits surrounded by elves be far behind? Your memory bucket is ...
Views: 609 - You Mean Stress Is a Choice? - by Submitted on Sep 23, 2011 from Lynette CraneA week ago, I was awakened just before midnight by an alarming phone call. The security company was calling to tell me there was an alarm going off at the historic house I manage (on a purely volunteer basis), and asked if they should send a fire engine. “Yes, of course,” I gasped, surprised ...
Views: 1014 - Stress of Being Praised - by Submitted on Sep 13, 2011 from Lynette CraneLast week, I looked at the evaluations of a talk I had just given. One was excellent; when I glanced at the page, I realized the name of the writer. “Oh,” I remarked, “that’s just a friend.” The implication was that since the writer was a friend, there was something less valid about the ...
Views: 917 - Creative Writing for RAWs - by Submitted on Aug 29, 2011 from Lynette CraneSome years ago, I called a dear friend of mine, Mary, to ask her advice. All I got was her answering machine, hour after hour. Alarmed that this usually accessible person didn’t seem to be available, I called her best friend, Amy. Together, we become more alarmed. Both of us started making ...
Views: 967 - What If…? - by Submitted on Aug 29, 2011 from Lynette CraneWhen I ordered the tickets for the paddleboat cruise, I was told to bring the printed order form plus a form of picture identification. We showed up at the dock, I reached into my purse – and remembered that I had put my major credit card and driver’s license into a small pouch the previous ...
Views: 1011 - Does persistence really pay off? - by Submitted on Aug 22, 2011 from Lynette CraneWe’ve heard these phrases all of our lives: “Persistence pays off”, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”, and “Success comes the day after you give up.” But are they really true? If you’re feeling tired, despondent and burned out, you may wonder just how long you have to persist ...
Views: 1305 - Recapture Delight In Your Life - by Submitted on Aug 01, 2011 from Lynette CraneWhat immediately comes to mind when you think of rewarding or pampering yourself? Let’s say you’ve been under a lot of pressure and you realize you must find a release. I asked a client recently what she would do if she took time to pamper herself, and she didn’t know. She hadn’t thought ...
Views: 997 - Why Are You Running, If There’s No Prize? - by Submitted on Jul 21, 2011 from Lynette CraneI arrived home from a trip recently and observed the same scenario I see every time I travel. When I get off an airplane, I step on the moving sidewalk and rest my carry-on bag on the moving railing, stepping to the right, just as the instructions say: “stand” on the right, and “walk” on the ...
Views: 915 - The Power of “Yet” - by Submitted on Jul 21, 2011 from Lynette CraneWhen I had a heart attack a little over five years ago, I asked, “Why?” And my doctor told me that I had a high level of a rare form of cholesterol that sticks to itself and to artery walls like Velcro, making me three times more liable to have a heart attack than the average person. ...
Views: 1257 - Whose Deadline Is It, Anyway? - by Submitted on Jul 04, 2011 from Lynette CraneThere are real deadlines it’s important to meet: dialing 9.1.1. within seconds after witnessing symptoms of a heart attack or stroke comes to mind immediately, and an example that meets the true definition of “deadline.” Responding to the urgent request of a loved one, especially a child, or ...
Views: 1204 - How Can You Laugh When Your World Isn’t Funny? - by Submitted on Jun 18, 2011 from Lynette Crane“What do the simple folk do, to help them escape when they’re blue”, sang the King in the Broadway musical, Camelot. He felt someone had the secret, but he did not. It’s difficult to force yourself to laugh, and annoying if someone else urges you to do so when you don’t feel like it. But ...
Views: 1045 - Why do some people just seem to have all the luck? - by Submitted on Jun 13, 2011 from Lynette CraneEarlier in my life, I was bemused at the sight of a number of people who had talent and persistence, but never seemed to get the break that allowed them to display that talent. At the same time, it was puzzling to see much less qualified people rise to the top. Not always, not even very often, ...
Views: 1157(1 vote) - How Guilt Undermines Your January Resolutions - by Submitted on Jan 18, 2011 from Lynette CraneA professor of mine used to remark, ”The perfectly scientific life is impossible to lead.” You will sometimes fail to follow guidelines for good health. You will feel too tired to exercise, and you may be right. You can be so tired that you are more likely to have an accident or injure ...
Views: 566 - How A Little Stress Leads to More Stress …and what to do about it - by Submitted on Dec 15, 2010 from Lynette CraneA little stress goes a long way, because it leads to more stress, until you don’t know how to stop the whole process. But there is some good news. An estimated 10% of stress is due to what happens to us such as job loss, accidents, major damage to our home, to ourselves or to a loved ...
Views: 651 - How Stress Makes You Stupid …and what you can do about it! - by Submitted on Dec 10, 2010 from Lynette CraneStress makes you stupid. It sooner or later makes all of us stupid. I can prove it. So can you. Think back to the last time you rushed get to the post office before it closed to mail a package, only to discover when you got there that the package was back on your desk; or rushing to an ...
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