Stress book draft.pdf

Frank McDonald “Stress Management – Awareness and Coping Strategies”By accepting irrational beliefs Numbers 2 and 4 (see 10 Popular IrrationalBeliefs) they make a problem out of a problem. They then feel anxious aboutfeeling anxious and it cannot go away because they don't accept their anxietyand let it live in peaceful co-existence with the part of them that is striving to berational for most of the time. Instead, a war continues inside their heads withoutany sign of truce, keeping the anxiety alive.Countering with rational ideas Numbers 2 and 4 will end the battle, provided itis done often and intensively enough.How to handle bad feelings better(Refer to your Daily Stress & Tension Logs for suggestions below.)1. Be aware that how you think is how you feel. Your perception of an event(based on your attitudes, beliefs and experiences) determines how you feelabout it.How you feel does not depend on the event but how you think about theevent. This is very handy because how you think is entirely under yourcontrol.Recognise that the more control you perceive that you have the lessdistressed you will feel.2. Get in touch with your feelings. (Hard if you've been into denying them).Diary them. For example: "Monday afternoon - felt anxious at work".Record feelings not thoughts.3. Next to them write the thoughts you have about the situations in whichyou are having bad feelings. Thought example: "My colleagues will befurious at me if I don't measure up to their standards".4. Test your self-talk. What evidence is there about the situation andyour thoughts on it? How realistic is your thinking? What is amore rational/realistic view?5. Accept that you can cope with bad feelings.45