Stress and Your Work Station

Stress on the job can refer to a toxic supervisor, duties that you dislike, hours that work against your body's natural rhythm, and other complicated factors that aren't solved by a simple fix.  There may be a simple fix, however, for end of the day tension and fatique. CBT psychologists recommend that you consider changing posture as a way to better coping with work demands.  How you sit at your desk might be adjusted to greatly decrease your physical stress, to free yourself from a frequent cause of back, neck, and shoulder pain.  Take a look at this video to get an idea of ways to improve your posture in the work place or at your home computer station. 

--Sandy Andrews, PhD 
Clinical Psychologist w/ expertise in CBT
Austin, TX  (South Austin)

Cubicle Got You Down?

Want to be happier at your job?  Here is one way:  Ask your boss if you can install a tub in your cubicle.  After she finishes laughing at you, return to your cubicle, sit in your office chair, and imagine you are taking a bubble bath.  A long, relaxing, soaker bath with scented bath oil and fluffy white bubbles and a glass of your favorite beverage at your side.  And while you're imagining this bath?  Breathe...  Breathe...  Breathe...  Slow, quiet inhales and exhales.  Feeling your chest expand, your shoulders rise, your nose take in the subtle current of air.  After two minutes of this relaxing bubble bath of your mind?  Return to work.  

According to researcher and educator, Shawn Achor, after doing two minutes of breathing meditation, your productivity will go up.  You will feel less stressed, more focused, and experience greater optimism.

  

Most of us work somewhere in the vicinity of 40 hours per week.  That is a lot of our lifetime spent working.  For many, that's a lot of time spent hating one's job, feeling trapped, dreading the rest of the work week, avoiding that dreadful coworker.  

Do you have fifteen minutes to watch a video that will help inspire you toward feeling better about your job? Can you take fifteen minutes, or  less than one-tenth of one percent of your work week to steer yourself out of the work-week-blues?  Sure you can. You owe it to your physical wellbeing and future happiness to do so.  

Besides being entertained by Achor's delicious humor, listening to his TED Talk will help you  learn that job success is largely determined by:  

1. optimism levels

2. social support

3. ability to see stress as a challenge, not as a threat

You will learn that, happiness isn't determined by what you do, what you have, or where you are.  Rather, "Ninety percent of your long term happiness is predicted ... by how your brain processes the world."  Happiness, in other words,  is determined by how you think about what you have and where you are.  

So even if you're stuck in a tiny cubicle, you can think your way into a more productive, more challenging, more successful mindset.  And mindset is, according to research Achor discusses, seventy-five percent of the happiness equation.  

Watch the video and you will also learn that, "being positive in the present - turns on the learning centers of the brain."  You have the opportunity to be better at what you do, learn more, and impress your boss with your willingness to go the distance.  

Watch Achor's TED Talk, here.  

--Sandy Andrews, PhD 

Clinical Psychologist

Austin, TX 

Advice Your Mother Probably Never Gave You

Sit up straight!  Go outside!  Take a nap!

What do these three statements have in common?  Things your mother said when you were a kid?

Maybe so.  But they're also part of a list of Twenty-Eight Scientifically Proven Ways to Boost Energy Instantly.

Need a mid-workday energy lift?  Here are a few other suggestions that your mother probably did not tell you:

Turn up the volume.  Listening to music and tapping your feet can help you feel more alert.

Eat chocolate.  Cocoa contains flavonoids which have been found to boost cognitive skills and elevate mood.

Take a break. Put your work on pause and get a change of scenery.  Leaving your desk can help you feel more energetic and improve your focus.  Even if it's just to look out the window.  Getting outside for fresh air and sunshine? Better.

Click on the link here to read more than twenty additional ways to energize.

And then leave a comment with your personal tips for beating the mid-afternoon blahs.

Turn your face to the sun 

and the shadows fall behind you.

 -  Maori Proverb

The Park Bench by Karsten Stier