Chris Pirillo » stress

Healthy Body – Healthy Mind – Healthy Geek

Chris — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:39:35 +0000

Healthy Body – Healthy Mind – Healthy Geek is a post from Chris Pirillo

I’m sure by now you’ve seen my Yoga video, right? I’ve come to realize in recent months that my level of productivity had decreased. I simply no longer had the energy to keep up with all I had to do. I know my stress levels were through the roof. What I didn’t realize is that having a healthy mind is also tied to having a healthy body… and vice versa. By getting out and participating in more physical activities, I’m also learning to relax my mind, and de-stress myself. It’s working, too… I have renewed energy and enthusiasm!

How do you relax? What’s your little secrets and tricks that you use in order to try to keep some semblance of order and peace in your mind? One thing I have always done, as you know, is to read up on what is going on in our community. I learn things, I laugh at things, and I even at times empathize with things.

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How to Relieve Stress

Chris — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:07:38 +0000

How to Relieve Stress is a post from Chris Pirillo

This is Justin’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

The world is a chaotic and fast-paced environment. Finding time to get everything done on time with the least amount of problems can be troublesome and/or traumatic. Oftentimes, stress can continually build on your shoulders without you even knowing it. Once you slow down, you find that you’re overly stressed and struggling with anxiety. Have you taken the time to find ways to alleviate your stress, even if it’s the most minimal amount of stress? I have put together a few suggestions on how to help reduce or eliminate stress completely. Please feel free to try any of these examples out, but also leave me your suggestions and experiences in a comment. Your input may help another person deal with the stress they have been dealt!

Personally, I find music to be one of life’s greatest assets. Music inspires, educates, entertains and provides a medium for advice and relief. Engaging in the activity of listening to or creating music is a prime example of alleviating stress. It may seem simple and non-effective in the confines of your stress-induced bubble, but music has a tendency to sooth the soul; nourish your well-being. Stimulating your pleasures not only helps mitigate or eliminate stress, but also counts as indulging in leisure activity. What an absolutely wonderful way to enjoy your time, as well as entertain and ease your soul.

Another effective and self-indulging activity you can participate in is conversation. Be it with a neighbor, a stranger, a friend or family member, conversation helps console your woes and helps you forget what was stressing you out. Talking about what stresses/aggravates you is a good way to understand yourself better, soften your anxiety and build a healthy relationship with another person. Get to know another person whilst clearing your mind of what was bothering you in the first place. Once the conversation is over and you have let out the stress and aggravation, you have a much clearer conscience and can essentially get back to what you were doing in a much more focused manner.

Exercise is a popular and very effective way to abate stress. Simple exercises, medium-intensity exercises and/or vigorous exercise activities are tremendous ways to mitigate or alleviate stress. A walk in the park, a jog around the block, a hike in the nearest forest, a bicycle ride through town, a game of tennis and more are all ways that help reduce stress and enhance overall health. Whether you’re stretching, practicing strength training or joining others in a group exercise activity, the benefits you will receive from daily exercise are innumerable.

Relaxation techniques are a fantastic way to reduce stress, but also offer other benefits that will help you manage the challenges you face in your day-to-day life. Increased energy, focus development, lowered blood pressure, reduced muscle tension, increase in blood effeciency and more are added benefits of relaxation techniques. One of the main types of relaxation techniques is controlled breathing. Controlled breathing slows down your heart rate and helps steady the flow of blood and oxygen throughout your body. Controlled breathing is very effective at clearing your mind of unwanted thoughts and soothing your conscience of unwelcome stress. With so many things to do every day, controlled breathing can be used while you go about your baily business or practiced as a stand alone exercise. Another main relaxation technique is the use of visualization. Visualization offers you a slight advantage over controlled breathing, as it can be used in conjunction with controlled breathing to add a multiple dimension to your relaxation. Imagine yourself relaxing on the white sands of a beautiful beach, listening to the calm, soothing sounds of the water. Visualize yourself lying down on an extremely comfortable mattress which provides your body a warm, pacifying state of being. Revisit the quiet, serene locations of your desire and focus all aspects of your conscience to that particular thought. These visualizations will greatly help provide a setting for your mind to relax, your stress to dissipate and your personal well-being to flourish. Other types of relaxation techniques include meditation, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, massage therapy and more. Regular practice of any of these techniques will give you the added benefit of stress management and allow you to face your day-to-day challenges with greater ease.

Finding your own way to alleviate stress is an important step in bettering your state of mind. Whether you are the type of person that finds satisfaction in working hard, exercising lightly, exercising vigorously, entertaining yourself, helping others or finding a medium for peace and serenity, your own process for stress relief is the best procedure. Everyone has different things that stimulate their interest and everyone has different things that agitate them. Understanding what causes stress for you and knowing how to alleviate that stress can help smooth the ride throughout your life journey. Always remember to indulge in the things you enjoy while following basic, responsible foundations that keep you organized and focused. I will leave you with a quote that has helped shape many of the decisions I have made: “The meaning of life is to give life meaning.” I am unsure of the origin of this quote, but I have heard many people speak variations of that statement. Living a life full of stress does not allow much time to satisfy your soul. Alleviate the stress! Live a fuller life!

How do you Relieve Stress During Tax Season?

Chris — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 02:00:55 +0000

How do you Relieve Stress During Tax Season? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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What do you do when you’re stressed out? More importantly, what do you do when you know you have to do something that will stress you out. Here are my recommendations for dealing with stress in these situations… such as doing your taxes!

Wear comfortable clothes. If you are most comfortable in jeans and a sweatshirt… or even your pajamas… wear them! If you are uncomfortable, it will make it much more difficult to focus on the task(s) at hand.
Surround yourself with favorite snacks. These will be like mini motivations. You can reward yourself with comfort foods after completing certain amounts of the work.
Tag-team if you can. Find a partner, so you don’t have to go it alone. It’s so much easier with someone else, than it is doing it alone. You can divvy up the work, and make it go much faster.
Take a break! I know that sounds like a given, but look at it this way: You get so wrapped up and focused, you forget to take a break. You think you’ll never get done if you take a break. You worry you’ll lose your “place” or motivation and not get it back. Take short breaks, do something relaxing.
Make a resolution. Track your data throughout the year. Most people scramble to gather all their information at the last minute when doing their taxes. Devise a system to keep track of everything through the year you may need come tax time. There are websites and software that can help you with this.

Whatever you do, try and reduce your stress levels to a minimum… whether it’s tax time or any other task. The more relaxed you are, the faster and easier the work will be completed.

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Tips for Helping to Reduce Stress and Panic Attacks

Chris — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:40:30 +0000

Tips for Helping to Reduce Stress and Panic Attacks is a post from Chris Pirillo

Panic attacks and anxieties are the result of tensions, stress, and the fear of losing something. The Healthcare Industry’s hottest selling property is the anti-depressants and anti-stress drugs due to inabilities to cope with stress and fear. Almost every disease imaginable could be a relation to the condition of your mind. Various books written by ancient Indian and Chinese doctors have shown that the root cause of all diseases is stress, yet many fail to tell you that fear is the root of most stress. The books often state that simple living and following a good diet can keep most of the diseases at bay or at least prevent a flare-up.

Thus, it is extremely important to eliminate or at least bring down the stress from our everyday lives to a minimum possible level. It is possible to reduce stress from our lives by adhering to a proper exercise stress free and dietary regimes. You may wonder now what it takes to get through stress and start living a healthier life. First, it requires a strong will power and determination and/or stamina to change and lead a better lifestyle. Smoking, booze, late night parties, lack of physical exercise and high-fat diet are all responsible for increasing stress in our daily lives. In order to find a cure you can either run away from the hazardous chemicals or strike a perfect balance between them. Quit smoking, drink less, avoid late night parties, avoid loud music, and follow a proper exercise and dietary regime.

The major causes of stress are the atmosphere around you, the changes in your body and your thought process. Thus, it is equally important to change the way you think to deal with stress more effectively. It is virtually impossible to eliminate stress from our everyday lives but it is up to us whether we want to befriend stress and turn it into an advantage, or make it our worst enemy, inviting greater damage.

Check out the below mentioned points to eliminate stress-causing agents from your daily lives:

Financial Condition How are you faring financially? Most of the people today are stressed out because their needs are not satisfactorily met by their income. Some of them take loans in order to satisfy their needs but seldom do they foresee the repercussions of their actions. These people can shortly satisfy themselves by buying the item they desired from the loan but when it comes to returning the money, they hardly find themselves in a position to return that borrowed money. The result of all this – more stress. You must carefully plan your spending. Make budget every month allocating the money properly between what is needed and what is desired. It may look like a small thing but I promise you that it’ll go a long way in helping you reduce those panic attacks and anxiety related disorders from your everyday lives.
Health Condition Keep a check on your health at all times. Never let yourself get overweight or underweight. Exercise or at least walk for 10-15 minutes daily to maintain a proper blood flow in your body. Exercise greatly increases your stamina, blood flow to mind and can be extremely helpful in reducing those Panic attacks, and anxiety related disorders from your life.
Your Social Life One must maintain a healthy social life. After all a human beings are social animals but that does not mean that you have to be overly social. Maintain a perfect balance in your social life and the time you devote to yourself. Do not do drugs. They may look hip and it may seem to increase your stature amongst your friends but believe me they don‘t do anything of that sort. The only effect that they have is that they make your body hollow from inside. Do you know that an average cigarette contains a few hundred different chemicals? Moreover, some a few thousand would you want to take that inside you after knowing this?

Following these points will help you all go a long way in reducing the unwanted anxiety related disorders and panic attacks.

Busy Week in SF

Chris — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 08:25:54 +0000

Busy Week in SF is a post from Chris Pirillo

My goodness, where does the time go? I’ve been sucked into this “live” Web vortex, and I don’t see myself emerging from it anytime soon. I’m getting done everything I need to get done, but it’s happening differently now. I’m thinking about things differently now.

This Wednesday, I’m headed to San Francisco for the tail end (long tail?) of Web 2.0 Expo – and staying downtown for the Podcast Hotel on Friday and Saturday. I’ll be there for half the week, largely disconnected (unless you count Cingular’s EDGE network – which is slightly less painful than dial-up).

I could likely record a couple dozen interviews in audio and video format on-site, so consider this a call for participation. It’s going to be a busy week, and I’ve got a million things to do. Can’t wait to get started.

TENSION BREAKER!

Chris — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 07:17:19 +0000

TENSION BREAKER! is a post from Chris Pirillo

Had to be done.

Then again…?

Nah, it definitely had to be done.

Well, I’m not sure…?

Nah, I’m sure we need a tension breaker tonight.

Why are you talking to yourself?

Am I hearing voices again?

Home Ownership, Marriage, et cetera

Chris — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 23:42:57 +0000

Home Ownership, Marriage, et cetera is a post from Chris Pirillo

There’s nothing wrong with being busy, is there? Nothing will kill a blogger’s blogging schedule quicker than moving into a new home and getting married. Seriously.

I wanted to whittle my inbox down to ZERO this weekend, but wound up taking care of personal tasks instead: hitting Home Depot for primer and paint, running to Target for dog food and Kleenex, driving to E.E. Robbins for a new wedding band (since the tungsten didn’t work out, which I hope to blog about soon), etc.

Then, at home, the adventures continued: hanging a few random pictures and masks on the walls, washing the dishes that had been piling up on the countertop for darn near seven days, preparing for another disappointing visit from Office Depot (seriously, they’re at the top of my shit list), scribbling down names and numbers to coordinate with and/or contact throughout the week, etc.

When most people type “etc.,” they don’t really mean it. My “etc.” is really a list of a thousand more ceteras. Which reminds me: I have to sell that old Peter Cetera cassette tape on eBay when I get the chance.

How the deuce do people find time to blog these days!? Seems to me an imbalance between the amount of people who are producing (more) and the amount of people consuming (less). I can’t even remember the last time I hit my newsreader. I’ve been too damn busy with my own life to get caught up with everybody else’s.

Worse yet, I’ve now bored YOU to tears with the laundry list of items that I’ve had to deal with in recent days – WHICH REMINDS ME TO FINISH THE DAMN LAUNDRY.

[I actually wrote this on Sunday night. Didn't get posted until now. Go figure.]

Busy Bees and Barrs

Chris — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 22:10:16 +0000

Busy Bees and Barrs is a post from Chris Pirillo

My life is completely consumed with everything outside of the technology memeosphere. The inbox is certainly sitting happily below 50 messages, but I feel irreversibly out of the loop. I never thought I’d ever say this: it’s time for a vacation.

Christmas shopping has been a bust, items are still scattered about the forewinds of our new home, and the honeymoon will be starting in a few days. I need a mental reset, to regain clarity and re-energize my body, mind, and spirit.

I’ve been flying around the house, taking care of smaller tasks that whittle away at the ebbing and flowing collections of clutter. Most boxes have been emptied at this point, but we’re still “missing” a handful of key posessions. Last night, Jake came over to help me reconnect the media center – only to discover that our speaker cables had gone walkabout. I believe he’s headed back tonight, if only to sample Ponzi’s Mexican-themed dinner.

Her office furniture arrived (unassembled) yesterday; it was almost the straw that broke my back. I don’t mind putting things together, but I was simply not looking forward to setting up her new desks and bookshelves. Jeff Barr emailed me and asked if he could be of any assistance – simultaneously volunteering his sons (Stephen, Andy) for labor. His timing was impeccable. Males of the Barr family came to the new gnomestead with tools in hand, and by mid-afternoon had pieced together Ponzi’s home office. I’m so very thankful for their assistance.

In a bit, I believe that Brandon is scooting by to help me upgrade the Quad FX system (with a new set of heatinks). We’ll see how that goes. And tomorrow is another day.

Will it ever end?

Chris — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 08:40:30 +0000

Will it ever end? is a post from Chris Pirillo

It started with the almost move, then it was the almost-almost move, then it was finding a house, preparing to do the new move, setting up the honeymoon, closing on the house, moving across town, getting married later that week (and entertaining family), setting up new / old services, beginning the unpacking process, getting hit with a power outtage, and Christmas is in less than a week and I haven’t received (or even had a chance to dent) Ponzi’s list yet.

When… will… this… madness… end?!

I don’t know what my mental or physical limits are, but I’m pretty sure I’ve been pushed beyond them in recent weeks. Worse yet, I just discovered I missed out on a 40% off sale at Office Depot (where I ordered office furniture today). I’m sure my biorhythm has been spiking and dipping every other hour over the past couple of months.

I’m So Worried

Chris — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 03:45:06 +0000

I’m So Worried is a post from Chris Pirillo

Busy week. Going crazy. Can’t say why yet. Writing sentence fragments. Ignoring style. Washing clothes. Running errands. Not drinking Peet’s coffee because Ponzi took off in my car and didn’t leave her alarm fob behind even though it probably doesn’t work anyway I really don’t care to wake up the neighborhood if it’s still set properly. Wow. That was a long sentence fragment. That was not a sentence fragment. Neither was that. Must do a million things before this weekend. Still not sure how I’m going to survive. Must get measured for tuxedo. Must decide where going on honeymoon. Must talk less like caveman. Worried about piles of paper multiplying. Worried about making the right decisions. Worried about making the wrong decisions. Worried about the baggage retreival system they’ve got at Heathrow. Worried that many people simply don’t understand my obscure Monty Python references. Have great news to share. Can’t share great news yet. Going crazy. Buzy week.

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

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Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

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