The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "Managing Perceptions".

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Managing Perceptions
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
STRESS
MANAGEMENT
Managing Perceptions

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Managing Perceptions
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner
to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a
trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans.
COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL
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Managing Perceptions
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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Managing Perceptions
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
The process of perception is the way in which information
from the world around us is selected, organised and given
meaning. Perception gives rise to responses, depending on
how we interpret the stimuli. We can change our
interpretation at will by a simple change of perception and
thus change our response. Perception is the essential
mechanism by which we detect dangers in the environment
and is therefore the first step in triggering, or defusing, the
stress response.

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Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
PERCEPTION OF DANGER
When our attention is drawn to an external set of stimuli,
we scan it with every part of our brains.
1. we look at it with our instinctive brains to decide if it
represents a danger
2. we look at it with our emotional brains to decide which
emotion it calls forth
3. we look at it with our thinking brains to make sense of
it.
In terms of our evolution as human beings, the instinctive
brain - which seeks out danger - is the oldest and most
important part of the brain for our survival. Every new or
familiar situation can thus be interpreted as a potential
threat, which our perception will then seek to confirm or
deny.

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Stress Management
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SURVIVAL STRATEGIES
As children we don't start to apply our thinking brains to the
outside world until we are about three years old. Until this
age, we see the world as essentially protective. From this
age onwards, however, we begin to interpret the world as
either safe or hostile.
In order to survive in potentially hostile environments, we
develop one of three main strategies:
1. the power response: we learn to attack what we think is
threatening us
2. the sensation response: we learn to manipulate the
threat from others so that they won't harm us
3. the security response: we weigh up the situation and
find the safest way out of it.
These three strategies are carried with us throughout the
rest of our lives.

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MTL Course Topics
SELF-PROTECTION
Our first experiences of hostile situations in childhood evoke
in us responses which, if they work, become programmed
into our brains as survival strategies.
The three main strategies - to attack others, to manipulate
others and to seek safety from others - provide three
centres of self-protection:
1. Power, (the aggressive approach)
2. Sensation (the compliant approach) and
3. Security (the defensive and avoiding approach).
These strategies enable us to cope in the world and, through
giving us protection, enable us to believe we are strong, safe
and worthy. However, these strategies are based on a view
of the world which is hostile. They are like castles where
everyone inside is safe and everyone outside is an enemy.
They thus separate us from the world and delude us that we
are coping when we are not.

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SELF-PROTECTIVE STRATEGIES
We have each learned to respond to perceived threats from
one of the 3 self-protective centres: Power, Sensation and
Security. Each of these centres has its own strategies:
1. Power strategies are beliefs that you are superior:
(a) I am stronger than they are.
(b) I am right; they are wrong.
(c) I don't have to face this situation so I won’t.
2. Sensation strategies believe you can change others:
(a) I'll be OK if I get them to want me.
(b) I'll be OK if I get them to like me.
(c) I'll be OK if I get them to treat me special.
3. Security strategies believe you can outsmart others:
(a) I'll be safe if I do what they want.
(b) I'll be safe if I work out what's going on.
(c) I'll be safe if I move quickly enough.

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PERCEPTIONS AND STRESS
When we adopt one of the self-protective strategies for
survival, as we all do from childhood onwards, we are also
acquiring our own stress-generating mechanisms. This is
because...
1. every time we perceive a situation as hostile, the stress
response is triggered, even if at a barely conscious level
2. our skill in using a survival strategy may reduce the
apparent amount of stress but it cannot avoid it
3. the more we perceive situations as threatening and use
an apparently successful strategy, the more we become
convinced that this approach works; it becomes an
addictive and repeated response.
By the time we are mature adults, many of us see the world
as a largely, hostile place in which we survive and thrive by
the skill with which we use our strategies.

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SELF-PROTECTIVE EMOTIONS
When we perceive the world as hostile, we use a strategy
for survival based on one of the three centres - Power,
Sensation, and Security. Each of these centres produces
emotions to help us survive but, because they recognise the
threat as a threat, they often only serve to reinforce our
stress.
1. emotions from the Power centre are: anger, annoyance,
irritation, impatience, frustration, exasperation, hate,
rage, fury, disdain, indignation, hostility. All these
emotions help us feel that we are in the right.
2. emotions from the Sensation centre are: frustration,
disappointment, disgust, grief, jealousy, boredom.
3. emotions from the Security centre are: fear, worry,
dread, anxiety, panic, terror, despair, hurt, sadness,
helplessness, loneliness, shame, guilt, embarrassment.
These emotions help us take avoiding action.

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Stress Management
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PAY-OFFS
The pay-offs are the reasons we give ourselves for holding
on to self-protective strategies in face of a potentially
hostile world. Some of the reasonings are:
Power pay-offs
• I feel alive when I'm angry.
• I win and feel superior.
• I get to prove how strong I am.
Sensation pay-offs
• I get to play martyr (or victim).
• I get attention, sympathy, pity, approval, comfort.
• I get to share these feelings with others who feel the
same.
Security pay-offs
• I get to enjoy this fantasy of winning.
• It feels safe to keep a distance from others.
• I don't have to really experience what I'm feeling

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RIP-OFFS
When we operate from a hostile view of the world and use
our coping mechanisms, there is always a penalty to pay.
They are known as rip-offs, because, while we think we are
succeeding, we are not. We are being fooled. There are 12
types of "rip-offs".
They are:
1. physical exhaustion
2. separating emotions, such as fear and hate
3. feelings of low self-esteem from not being loved
4. inability to feel close to others
5. wasted energy on unnecessary conflict
6. missing the beauty around us
7. lack of spontaneity
8. lack of humour
9. ego conflicts
10. addictive "tunnel vision"
11. lack of growth
12. instead of enjoying life, pre-occupied with protecting it.

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CHANGING PERCEPTION
Unlike animals which respond to outside stimuli using their
instinctive and emotional brains, man has the capacity to
respond to outside stimuli by using his thinking brains: we
can actually decide whether to interpret a situation as
threatening or not.
1. we can simply refuse to interpret a situation as a threat
2. we can look at our own reactions to situations rationally
and ask ourselves what the real threat, if any, is
3. we can put things into perspective; very few situations
in life today are genuinely as threatening as we believe
they are
4. we can re-programme our thinking brains with new
strategies based not on a win-lose view of the world but
on a win-win one, not on self-protective separating, but
on open and trusting connectedness. In this way, we can
avoid false, addictive and stress-producing reactions.

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RE-PROGRAMMING
We can re-programme our perceptions in both the short-
term and long-term. The short-term approach can be used
whenever we need to make an off-the-cuff response to any
situation; for example, when the boss phones and says
"come and see me at once", perceptions based on the self-
protective strategies might evoke fear, anger, withdrawal,
ingratiating humour, excuses and so on.
The following re-programming responses avoid any such
stress-generating strategies:
1. suspend judgment until we know more
2. identify negative thoughts and put an immediate stop
on them
3. replace any negative thoughts and words with positive
ones ("Mm, sounds important. I wonder how I can
help.")
4. re-frame the relationship using positive goals.

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STRESS-CONTROLLING SELF-TALK
The following are two examples of re-programming our
negative self-talk into stress-controlling constructive self-
talk.
1. You have to give a difficult presentation:
Negative monologue: "What if nobody laughs at my jokes?
What if they don't like me? What if I dry up? What if the
video fails? What if the boss is critical?
Constructive self-talk: "This will be fun. They'll enjoy it. So
will I. This could be a very valuable experience for
everyone.“
2. You have a difficult boss:
Negative monologue: "I hate her. She's so unfair. Why does
she always pick on me? She doesn't know how to manage."
Constructive self-talk: "I want to get on with her. I know
there are ways we can hit it off. I'm sure there are problems
she has that I'm not aware of."

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THINKING UNDER PRESSURE
How you breathe when you encounter surprise, change, or
stress determines which part of your brain is in control.
The thinking brain
indicators are:
• Curious/compassionate
• Resilient/optimistic
• Focused on solutions
• Can find the humour
• Supportive
• Team-player
• Collaborative
• Lets the past go
• Moves forward
• Healthy/energetic
• Sees the good in
situations
• Creative/adaptive
The survival brain
indicators are:
• Critical/negative
• High drama
• Personalizes things
• Overwhelmed
• Ineffective
• Disrespectful
• Argumentative
• Chronic pain/fatigue
• Blaming/complaining
• Rigid/controlling
• Stubborn/tired/irritable
• Recycles the
story/insists on “I’m
right”

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THE SURVIVAL BRAIN
The survival brain is designed to physically react and not to
think or relate. The survival brain’s fight, flight, or freeze
state prevents accurate memory, perception, and an
appropriate range of behaviours.
The survival brain misreads people, data, and situations. It
often makes thoughtless decisions and terrible mistakes. Yet
this is when people are absolutely positive that they’re right
and they will fight and argue to prove it.
The survival brain requires so many chemicals that, when
activated, the chemicals needed for thinking, digesting,
food, physical growth, and normal body repair and
regeneration all become depleted.

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BELLY BREATHING
When people are surprised or upset, they hold their breath.
This tells the brain that something is wrong and it responds
by sending out stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline,
which activate the fight, flight, or freeze reactions.
Conversely, when you slow down and belly breathe, the
brain receives the message that you are now safe and it
stops producing the chemicals. Instead it produces a
different set of chemicals, including serotonin and
endorphins.
These activate the thinking brain and the body’s growth and
repair systems. Once again, you can think clearly, stay calm,
and behave professionally.

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WORKING UNDER PRESSURE
One of England rugby manager, Sir Clive Woodward’s key
selection criteria for his 2003 World Cup winning side was
based on an individual’s ability to perform under pressure.
His analogy was TCUP. ‘Thinking correctly under pressure’.
After their failed 2005 World Cup, the All Blacks worked
with a forensic psychiatrist to help them understand how
the brain works under pressure. The language they now use
is:
Red head: Unresourceful, off task, panicked and ineffective.
Blue head: Optimal, on task and therefore operates at best
ability.
The players then devised their own ‘triggers’ to help switch
from Red to Blue during a game.
Now the team has a ‘war room’ where they encourage role
play by giving match scenarios to players while under
physical duress.

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LONG-TERM CHANGE
As well as choosing stress-free short-term responses to
situations, we can also learn long-term re-programming
techniques.
These are based on three steps:
• awareness of stressful responses
• acceptance of ownership of our perceptions
• willingness to change.
When we abandon the need to respond to situations from
the separating centres of Power, Sensation and Security, we
are able to move towards the unifying centres of Love,
Abundance, Non-judgmental relationships and
Connectedness.
Instead of the negative emotions of fear, worry, hate and so
on, the unifying centres create the stress-free emotions of
love, calm, peace, harmony, joy, wonder, and unity with
everything else in the world.

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PATHWAYS TO GROWTH
The following ten strategies are pathways that
can change our perceptions about ourselves and
the threatening world around us. They are
pathways from self-protection to harmonising.
Awareness pathways
1. I am constantly aware of how my restless
mind scans situations and responds to them.
2. I am aware that when I respond to stimuli
from any of the three centres of power,
sensation and security. I am separating myself
from others in a basically hostile view of the
world.
3. I am aware that I can choose to change my
perceptions to a non-hostile view of the world
based on the four unifying centres of Love,
Abundance, Non-judgment and Connectedness.
4. I recognise how my addictive self-protective
actions affect me and others around me in
stressful ways.
Acceptance pathways
5. I accept that my perceptions are the result of
my own programming and not what others say
or do.
6. I accept that I have everything I need here
and now for my own happiness: I am not
dependent on others, on the dead past or on
the imagined future.
7. I accept that I and others may continue to
operate in self-protective patterns. I don't need
to respond in similar ways when others are
defensive or attack me.
8. I accept my thoughts and perceptions here
and now as a necessary part of my growth.
(Contd)

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PATHWAYS TO GROWTH (CONTD)
(Contd)
Change pathways
9. I recognize the need, however painful, to give
up my need for self-protection which makes me
want to control my world and to be more open
to others.
10. I will try to avoid acting whenever I am in a
self-protective pattern whether in a defensive,
attacking or manipulative mode.
(Thanks to Ken Keyes and Penny Keyes:
"Handbook to Higher Consciousness")

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PERCEPTIONS OF WORK
Much of the work we do we do with reluctance, distaste
and unhappiness. Some of us find ourselves in work which
we have programmed to perceive as unpleasant, tedious,
and dull.
These perceptions and the resulting separating emotions of
fear, hate, and boredom create battling strategies with
others, "Them" and "Us" mentalities, resent-revenge cycles
and prolonged unhappiness: the very stuff of mental stress.
By changing our perceptions about our work, we can change
how we label it, how we feel about it and how we actually
do it.
"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it
so." (William Shakespeare)

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NEW ATTITUDES
Philosopher William James said that the most significant
discovery of our age is not a discovery in the physical sense
of new lands or new inventions but the discovery that we
can change our life by new attitudes.
"New attitudes change the very experience of daily work.
Work becomes a ritual, a game, a discipline, an adventure,
learning, even an art as our perceptions change.
The stress of tedium and the stress of the unknown, the two
causes of work-related suffering are transformed. A more
fluent quality of attention allows us to move through tasks
that once seemed repetitious or distasteful. We see that
meaning can be discovered and expressed in any human
service: cleaning, teaching, gardening, carpentry, selling,
caring for children, driving a taxi."
(Marilyn Ferguson: "The Aquarian Conspiracy")

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WORK AS ADVENTURE
We can re-programme our perception of daily work from
"chore" to adventure by seeing it as:
1. a challenge, in which we can create our own targets.
"I'm going to be the best cocktail-maker in town."; "I
want to complete the dish-washing in the fastest time."
2. learning, in which we can develop our curiosity about
the job, how things are made and work, as well as trying
out new skills to see if the job can't be done in a better
way.
3. a game, in which we create interest and fun by injecting
a new twist into the job, such as the bartender who
took to compiling lists of barstool bores.
When work is seen as an adventure, every day becomes one
of discovery.

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MTL Course Topics
WORK AS SERVICE
Much of the stress we experience in the workplace
originates from an excessive pre-occupation with ourselves
and others with whom we work.
Some of the particularly strained relationships we can
experience arise out of...
1. internal politicking
2. departmental rivalries
3. poor or mismanaged relationships
4. game-playing
5. bad supervision and management of people.
While these situations are not solved overnight, we can
make major changes in how we see them and how we feel
when we shift our perceptions from an internal to an
external focus, from ourselves to others. Then work ceases
to be about us and our survival and becomes an act of
service.

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WORK AS RITUAL
When we see work as ritual, no matter how mundane it
may be, it is lifted into something more meaningful. We do
it not for the rewards but for its own sake. It is like the Zen
Buddhist monk who sweeps the snow from the monastery
steps even while it is snowing - simply because it is snowing.
1. when we see work as ritual, it becomes absorbing
2. when we see work as ritual, the minutest details are as
valuable as the grandest gestures
3. when we see work as ritual, we connect with it, become
part of it, are joined in the rhythm of it
4. when we see work as ritual, we develop a natural pace
and flow and go with it as in a dance.
"The best work is done without strain, as if we had no goal
in mind."

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WORK AS EXPRESSION
When we perform routine work, we have the choice
whether to see it as a chore and a means to an end or to
turn it into something special.
When work is made special, it becomes an art form: a way
of putting on theatre; a form of self-expression.
This can apply to the way we make a slab of pizza dough, to
the way we stack supermarket shelves, to the way we take
care of the school hall: no matter how repetitive and
routine, each act can have our own distinctive stamp on it.
"I don't like work - no man does - but I like what is in work:
the chance to find yourself, your own reality - for yourself,
not for others - what no other man can ever know." (Joseph
Conrad)

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WORK AS MEANINGFUL
In their book, "Thank God it's Monday", Charles Cameron
and Suzanne Elusorr relate a story told by John Rassias,
professor of languages at Dartmouth college.
Rassias was attending a university meeting which was late in
starting because the student representative had not arrived.
When the young man at last appeared he proceeded to do
six chin-ups on the door frame to the obvious disapproval of
the meeting. Rassias bounded over to him saying: "I like
that. I like a man who has the guts to express his feelings."
He then joined him in the chin-ups before escorting him to
his seat.
Years later, Rassias met the student, now a successful
businessman, and recalled the incident. The man revealed
how on that day he had had enough of the pointlessness of
existence and had told himself he would give his fellow
humans one last chance to show that life was worth living.
Rassias's simple gesture showed him that it was.

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THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn