Putting Things into Perspective

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Putting Things Into Perspective
Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
STRESS
MANAGEMENT

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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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MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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Stress Management
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
It is perhaps no coincidence that the high levels of modern-
day stress have come about at the same time as a decline in
traditional beliefs. Many people no longer have deeply-held
principles, values or faiths to turn to when they face the
pressures of work and life. So, as well as providing physical,
perceptual and emotional strategies for handling stress, a
holistic stress management programme also needs to take
into account our spiritual, or belief, lives.

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MTL Course Topics
BELIEFS
A belief is a feeling of certainty about something. Although
usually based on an idea for which we have some evidence,
a belief takes root because of our commitment to it even if
we cannot always prove its absolute truth. Because of this
commitment, a belief can have much greater power than
any series of rational arguments or facts.
Beliefs, and the thinking and attitudes which they generate,
inspire human beings to achieve goals and dreams which
ordinarily would be regarded as impossible. Thinking has a
much greater sway over our happiness than any number of
external objects or possessions; and beliefs drive straight
through the limiting factors in our lives, such as
disappointment, obstacles and setbacks.
"They conquer who believe they can." (Emerson)

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MTL Course Topics
RESTRICTING MUST BELIEFS
"Must" beliefs are the irrational but deeply-held beliefs we
create in order to safeguard our place in the world. Because
they are externally driven, these types of belief put pressure
and stress on us and need to be managed.
There are nine kinds of "must" beliefs:
1. I must be competent at all times; if not, I am a failure.
2. I must be needed by others; if not, I am useless.
3. I must have the approval of others; if not, I am unworthy.
4. I must be special; if not, I have no sense of importance.
5. I must work out what's going on; if not, I will feel out of
control.
6. I must feel safe; if not, I feel threatened.
7. I must be happy at all times; if not, I will feel great pain.
8. I must be strong and in control; if not, others will control
me.
9. I must be free of commitments; if not, I will feel trapped.

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MTL Course Topics
ENHANCING SELF-BELIEFS
Self-belief - a belief in our own ability to succeed and
control our destiny - is the strongest factor in determining
whether we will achieve our goals in life or not.
Self-belief is not dependent on competing with others and
overcoming them to get what we want, but on releasing and
realising our own potential. It generates a feeling that we
are unique and that we can stand on our own with
confidence.
"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at
the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is
suicide; that he must take himself, for better or worse as his
portion; that no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him
but through his toil bestow'd on the ground he is given to
till." (William James)

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MTL Course Topics
FAITH
The American psychologist, William James was the founding
father of the self-belief movement. His writings inspired
many of the modern day self-development writers such as
Dale Carnegie, Maxwell Maltz, Anthony Robbins, Norman
Vincent Peale and Steven Covey.
The following quotes summarise the power James gave to
personal self-belief:
1. "Faith is one of the forces by which men live and the
total absence of it means collapse."
2. "Our belief at the beginning of an enterprise is the one
thing, (now get that the one thing), that ensures the
successful outcome of the venture."
3. "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human
beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of
mind."

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MTL Course Topics
A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE
All philosophies are concerned with man and his
relationship with the world around him.
Philosophy attempts to answer questions such as "Why are
we here?"; "What is the point of it all?"; "How should I lead
my life?"
History gives us insight into the philosophies which have
sought answers to these questions in the past.
Two historical times in particular were rich in philosophical
thinking: ancient China and ancient Greece.
Of the hundreds of philosophies which emanated from
these cultures, two contrasts are of special significance and
interest to us today: the philosophies of Athens and Sparta
in Greece; and the philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism
in ancient China.

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VIEWS OF MAN
The ancient cultures of Greece and China provide examples
of contrasting philosophies of Man and his place in the
world.
Confucianism, like its Spartan equivalent in ancient Greece,
sees man as the most important creature on the earth.
Through rigid man-made rules, each individual can attain
mastery over his environment. This mastery extends to wars
and conquests and a hierarchical social and political system.
Taoism, like its Athenian equivalent, takes a different view.
Man is not "better" than his environment, he is of it and can
only be happy and successful by understanding it and
working with it. If Confucianism sees man's aim as mastery
over his environment, Taoism sees man's aim as harmony
with it.

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MTL Course Topics
SPIRITUAL ATTUNEMENT
While the Confucianist approach to life is the most alluring,
with wonderful prizes for life's winners, it is also the most
stressful. Winners only win by constantly staying on top. The
Taoist view, on the other hand, is stress-free.
"Man has always known, he has known that life is
fundamentally good, that the universe, the stars in the sky,
the animals, plants, minerals, the elements of earth are not
malevolent but cosmically saturated with the purpose that
gives order.
The purpose is the inherent sacredness, the order of the
universe itself. As long as man has kept this sacredness
before him, indeed, as long as he has woven it into the
pattern of his heart, through humility and spiritual
attunement, the pattern of human society has also reflected
the sacredness and order with which all things are
endowed." (Jose Arguelles)

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MTL Course Topics
THE LOW-STRESS OUTLOOK
In "Stress and the Manager", Karl Albrecht has described the
low-stress outlook on life as one in which the individual...
1. accepts creative stress for periods of challenging activity
2. negotiates low-stress relationships
3. has escape routes allowing occasional detachment
4. engages in rewarding but challenging work
5. manages a well-balanced workload
6. balances threatening events with worthwhile goals
7. acts assertively in pressure situations
8. invests energies in a variety of balancing activities
9. can laugh at him or herself
10. likes a relatively role-free life and is able to express
natural needs without apology
11. finds pleasure in simple activities without feeling the
need to justify playful behaviour.

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MTL Course Topics
THE SPIRITUAL OUTLOOK
A spiritual outlook moves one step beyond a philosophical
outlook on life, to consider our relationship not just with
our environment but with something beyond anything that
we can rationally conceive of: God.
The Department of Education defines spirituality as: "the
valuing of the non-material aspects of life and intimations of
an enduring reality.“
A spiritual outlook means an extra dimension to our lives.
When work takes centre place and the only place, not only
does it introduce stress into our lives and the need for stress
management, it also signals a spiritual waste ground.
"Of the hundreds I have treated, (for psychiatric problems),
not one over 35 was not that of finding a religious outlook
on life." (Carl Jung)

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MTL Course Topics
WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS
Religious philosopher, Teilhard de Chardin said that we are
not human beings having a spiritual experience but spiritual
beings having a human experience. Giving ourselves over to
our spiritual side - letting go - is the way we re-discover this
truth.
A religious outlook on life encompasses...
1. a belief in something greater than yourself
2. a belief that this something greater is benign and
protective
3. a belief that there is a purpose to your life which you
may still not fully understand
4. a belief that your life has a destiny
5. a belief that you are part of something that is timeless
and ageless
6. a belief that you can connect to this deity through
prayer
7. a belief that this deity should be loved and worshipped.

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MTL Course Topics
MY IDEA OF GOD
"The most beautiful and most profound emotion that we
can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the
sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a
stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe,
is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us
really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and
the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can
comprehend only in their most primitive forms - this
knowledge, this feeling is at the centre of true religiousness.
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the
illuminable superior who reveals himself in the slightest
details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble
minds. That deeply emotional conviction for the presence of
a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the
incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God." (Albert
Einstein)

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MTL Course Topics
THE POWER OF PRAYER
"Prayer is a force as real as terrestrial gravity." (Cattell)
Prayer achieves five things:
1. it is a way to think about what is important for you
2. it gives you time to be alone with your thoughts
3. it enables you to ask for things which otherwise would
seem impossible
4. it is positive thinking in practice.
5. it stimulates creative ideas by releasing answers which
are already there.
"Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect any
praise or reward. If you let go a little, you will have a little
peace; if you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace; if you
let go completely, you will know complete peace and
freedom, your struggles with the world will have come to an
end." (Achaan Chah)

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MTL Course Topics
FROM DESIDERATA
Prayers and poems have always been gateways into our
spiritual lives. Reading them can often act as an instant
stress reliever. The following piece from "Desiderata" has
this effect on many:
"You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and
the stars. You have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God,
Whatever you conceive him to be.
And whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy
confusion of life,
Keep peace in your soul
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,
It is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."

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MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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

Putting Things into Perspective

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