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How to Reduce and Control Your Stress Level, and Have a Happier Life: The CENT approach By Dr Jim Byrne
Are you interested in learning how to stress-proof yourself, your friends and family, or perhaps your counselling and therapy clients? Perhaps you know that the level of stress in a person's life is partly about the pressures under which they are living, but also significantly about the coping resources they have to help them deal with those pressures. Maybe you would like to find out some more about how to build those coping resources. This book will help you to do just that, whether the solutions are for yourself, you family members, or your clients. This is the third e-book on Cognitive Emotive Narrative Therapy (CENT), by Dr Jim Byrne, published by the Institute for CENT. 'How to Reduce and Control Your Stress Level...' is a 126 page e-book (with some illustrations, tables and forms). You can buy this book, in one of two formats, from this page. ~~~
~~~ To purchase a copy of this book, please go to one of the following outlets: ♣ For a PDF copy, please go to ClickBank, a secure server which we have used for more than ten years without a single problem or complaint. Every sale has been delivered to the satisfaction of our customers: Buy *How to Reduce and Control Your Stress Level*, from ClickBank.*** ♣ For a Kindle copy, please go to the Amazon outlet that provided your Kindle device:
~~~ Product Description
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~~~ The contents page of this book reveals just how comprehensive and detailed this system is:
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~~~ To purchase a copy of this book, please go to one of the following outlets: ♣ For a PDF copy, please go to ClickBank, a secure server which we have used for more than ten years without a single problem or complaint. Every sale has been delivered to the satisfaction of our customers: Buy *How to Reduce and Control Your Stress Level*, from ClickBank.*** ♣ For a Kindle copy, please go to the Amazon outlet that provided your Kindle device:
~~~ 1. Dedication and Acknowledgements
I also want to acknowledge the published work of Hans Selye, Michael Marmot and Richard Lazarus, who have contributed much of the foundations of modern theory of stress and how to control it. For their contributions to how to meditate and how to relax, I want to acknowledge Paul McKenna, Glenn Harrold and Shunryu Suzuki. For their work on diet and exercise, I want to acknowledge Dr William Hay, Patrick Holford, Michael Tse, Lam Kam Chuen, and Sarah Key. For their work on time management, I want to thank Charles R. Hobbs and Brian Tracy. And for their work on assertive communication, I am grateful to Robert Bolton and Helen Hall Clinard. ~~~
~~~ To purchase a copy of this book, please go to one of the following outlets: ♣ For a PDF copy, please go to ClickBank, a secure server which we have used for more than ten years without a single problem or complaint. Every sale has been delivered to the satisfaction of our customers: Buy *How to Reduce and Control Your Stress Level*, from ClickBank.*** ♣ For a Kindle copy, please go to the Amazon outlet that provided your Kindle device:
~~~ 2. Introduction
Section 7 presents an example of long term stress, by examining the case of Harry Flint, who was helped by the author a couple of years ago. Sections 8-10 look at the role of irrational beliefs in the maintenance of stress, and how to get rid of irrational beliefs that are causing problems. This results in the reduction of your feelings of being stressed. Section 11 looks at frame theory, and how we always ‘frame' our experiences by some decisions made in the past. This is like looking at the world through tinted lenses, which can be changed from moment to moment, from a positive colour to a negative colour, and vice versa. If our way of framing an experience is very negative, then we are likely to have strong negative feelings about it. When we adjust that frame, and see it through a more realistic lens, then our negative feelings decline in intensity. We go from feeling stressed to only feeling concerned, or sad or irritated by the same negative experience that was earlier stressing us to our limits.
Scenario 1: Imagine a woman who weighed ten stone (or 70 kilos). Imagine she has no shoes on, and she stands on the bare foot of a man. He will experience a little discomfort, but not much pain. He would certainly not think this was unmanageable pain or discomfort. (He will not be ‘greatly stressed' by this experience). Scenario 2: Now imagine that this same woman, still weighing 70 kilos, puts on a pair of very thin stiletto heeled shoes, and stamps on the same man's foot with all her might, bringing her heel down directly on his skin. Now he is likely to jump and scream. He is likely to be very seriously hurt, and probably he will need hospital attention. (He is likely to be ‘greatly stressed' by this experience). Scenario 3: But now imagine, before Scenario 2 could occur, I tipped the man off that the stilettos were going to be used, and he put on a pair of training shoes. What now would be the result? He would be hurt, but less so. (He would be stressed by the experience, but his ‘coping resources' would be greater, because of his training shoes). Scenario 4: But imagine instead of training shoes that he had put on a pair of tough, leather boots with steel toecaps, designed for working on dangerous building sites, and the woman stamped on the steel toecap. What now would be the outcome? The man would not be hurt at all. He would not experience any physical stress, because his ‘coping resources' (the steel toecaps) would be more than adequate to neutralize the stress bearing down on his foot.
In order to demonstrate this relationship of pressure to coping resources, let us develop some examples, using an unspecified unit of measurement. A pressure of 100 units divided by coping resources of 10 units would equal a stress level of 10 units. But the same pressure of 100 units divided by coping resources of 50 units would only equal 2. Therefore, in this illustrative example, if you want to reduce your stress level from 10 units to 2 units, you need to increase your coping resources from 10 units to 50 units. Or, in plain English, if you want to manage your stress level better, you need to learn a range of coping strategies and techniques which could serve as resources which will reduce the impact of fixed stressors on your life. This book contains a range of such techniques and strategies designed to increase your coping resources for dealing with stressors in your life, at home and at work, and in the wider world. If you only learn one or two of those techniques, that will be like putting on thick socks before the woman in our example above stands on your foot with her stiletto heel. If you learn half a dozen of them, that will be like putting on training shoes. But if you learn a dozen or more, then that will be like putting on steel toe-capped boots. You can use this book by reading it from cover to cover, and doing each of the personal reflection activities as you come to them. Or you can choose to go straight to some techniques that you think you might favour. The more you read and re-read this book, and the more you apply the techniques described here, the more your coping resources will increase, and the less will you be affected by the fixed stressors in your life. It is advisable to end your engagement with this book by constructing an action plan, as described in section 12. If you want to maximize your chances of reducing your stress level, you should apply yourself diligently to implementing your own, personalized action plan. ~~~
~~~ To purchase a copy of this book, please go to one of the following outlets: ♣ For a PDF copy, please go to ClickBank, a secure server which we have used for more than ten years without a single problem or complaint. Every sale has been delivered to the satisfaction of our customers: Buy *How to Reduce and Control Your Stress Level*, from ClickBank.*** ♣ For a Kindle copy, please go to the Amazon outlet that provided your Kindle device:
~~~ 3. What is Stress?
Stress is therefore a physical and mental experience of great discomfort or distress, which arises out of the interaction between an external pressure and an internal perception of that stressor. It is quite definitely not "all in the mind". In fact, it's the fight and/or flight responses getting turned on inappropriately, and/or getting stuck in the switched-on mode after the threat, danger or frustration has passed! Or it switches on in contexts where it is not realistic or productive to fight (e.g. the boss!) or to run away (from a traffic jam!)
Up to a certain point, pressure is good for you and for your performance in the world. (This phase in the build-up of pressure is called Eustress, and is both enjoyable and motivating. See Appendix ‘A', at the back of this book, for a full description of the relationship between pressure and human performance). But there is a point beyond which the pressure you are under becomes greater than your ability to cope. In other words, the pressure is greater than your resources (of time, energy, and mental resilience) for coping with it. As soon as you become overly stressed, (or distressed), your brain begins to malfunction; you become more vulnerable to physical and mental illnesses; and your performance in work and life generally deteriorates. This is summed up in my dictionary of psychology as follows: Stress is "Psychological and physical strain or tension generated by physical, emotional, social, economic, or occupational circumstances, events, or experiences that are difficult to manage or endure".[iii] The one thing missing from this definition is you: Your way of "seeing" the tensions and pressures - and your way of "talking to yourself" about these tensions and pressures - your ways of ‘framing' your experiences - are central to the experience of stress. ...
~~~ ... ~~~ To purchase a copy of this book, please go to one of the following outlets: ♣ For a PDF copy, please go to ClickBank, a secure server which we have used for more than ten years without a single problem or complaint. Every sale has been delivered to the satisfaction of our customers: Buy *How to Reduce and Control Your Stress Level*, from ClickBank.*** ♣ For a Kindle copy, please go to the Amazon outlet that provided your Kindle device:
~~~ 6. A range of techniques to reduce your stress level
~~~ Week 1 6.1 Develop your awareness: If you are ever going to manage your stress level, then you have to become aware of the external sources of your stress, and your contribution to it. One of the best ways to develop your awareness of the sources of stress in your life is to keep a stress diary. The purpose of the stress diary is to track down the specific stress problem(s) you are confronting. Get a large notebook to use as your stress diary. Set some quiet time aside, just for you to work on your stress diary. (Since this activity will inevitably improve your productivity, it is legitimate to take this time out of your working day!) Try to identify your problems in this order:
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~~~ To purchase a copy of this book, please go to one of the following outlets: ♣ For a PDF copy, please go to ClickBank, a secure server which we have used for more than ten years without a single problem or complaint. Every sale has been delivered to the satisfaction of our customers: Buy *How to Reduce and Control Your Stress Level*, from ClickBank.*** ♣ For a Kindle copy, please go to the Amazon outlet that provided your Kindle device:
~~~ [i] The Paperback Oxford English Dictionary, edited by Catherine Soanes, Oxford University Press, 2002. [ii] How to Control Your Anger Before it Controls You, by Albert Ellis and Raymond Chip Tafrate, Citadel Press, 1998. [iii] A Dictionary of Psychology, by Andrew M. Colman, Oxford University Press, 2002. [iv] Selye, Hans (1956/1978) The Stress of Life. New York: McGraw-Hill. [v] Adapted from the Stress-Doc @ http://www.stressdoc.com/. Downloaded 30th March 2004. [vi] Colman, 2002. A Dictionary of Psychology... [vii] Quoted from the website of Stress Management Consultants @ http://www.reducingstress.com/ Downloaded: 30th March 2004. [viii] Marmot, M.G., Davey Smith, G., Stansfeld, S., Patel, C., North, F., Head, J., White, I., Brunner, E., Feeney, A. (1991) ‘Health inequalities among British civil servants; the Whitehall II Study'. The Lancet, 337: 1387-1393 [ix] CE = Current era, which was previous expressed as AD (or Ano Domini). [x] Epictetus (1991) Enchiridion, New York, Prometheus Books. |
The purpose of this book is to teach the reader what stress is, and how to combat it. It is written in the form of a self-help
manual, with spaces for self-reflection exercises. However, it could also be used by counsellors, counselling students, and
interested others, as a means to learn, understand and present the CENT approach to Stress Management in counselling, coaching
and therapy contexts.
This book is dedicated to Albert Ellis, Renata Taylor-Byrne, and Brian Tracy, from whom I have learned most about stress and
how to manage it.
What is stress? That question is answered in section 3 below, and its causes are explored in section 4. Section
5 looks at the question of whether it is possible to control your stress level, and then section 6 describes about eighteen
different techniques which you can use to manage the level of stress in your life.
From this description of framing and re-framing of experiences, you will have gathered a very important feature of the problem
of stress. Stress is not a ‘fixed entity', like an iceberg, or a mountain. It is rather more variable
than that. Here's an illustration:
What these scenarios hint at is this:
In very simple terms, stress is about having too many pressures, or too much pressure
in your life; and feeling very unpleasant emotional and physical feelings about that pressure. According to my dictionary,
stress is "a pressure or tension exerted on an object", in our case, a human; or "a state of mental or emotional
strain".
If a barking dog leaps at you, you will automatically respond by fighting or fleeing - or sometimes freezing. But you
cannot run away from most things in life, such as frustrations; a loss that has already happened; an irritating phone call
at work; perceived possibilities of future threats to your income; piles of work on your desk; current unemployment; a traffic
jam; or (often) other people's bad behaviours towards you. And you cannot solve most of your problems by responding
aggressively! (It is a myth that anger pushes you to get what you want. Mainly it messes up your relationships
and your life.)
In this section I have accumulated and presented eighteen techniques that should help you to totally master any kind of stressors
that come into your life. Each of these techniques has been tested by the author and his associates, and many other
individual practitioners in the personal development and self therapy field, and in some cases they have been tested over
a period of hundreds of years. Take your time in reviewing each of these techniques, and allow plenty of time to fit
them into your daily life. Begin with small steps, and slowly build up to significant change.