Reduce

Reduce, as a line of defense against stress, is based on finding your optimal level of stimulating activities and demands (what some people incorrectly call stress). When you do this you will start turning your stressors into challenges that energize you and add passion and purpose to your life. Stimulating activities are things that you enjoy and consider fun. Demands are things you must do such as clean the house, get your oil changed etc. They are not necessarily stressors, just demands on your time. Sometimes it isn't what you do that causes stress, it is how much you take on that is the culprit. When you take on more than you can handle your brain tells your body, "I can't cope with this." As soon as this happens your brain initiates the stress response. The interesting thing about this phenomenon is that even stimulating, fun activities can become stressors when you try to engage in too many of them at the same time. I've found this to be one of the hardest stress lessons to teach. People seem to think that just because activities are fun they can't get overloaded and they take on more than they can handle. In my other books I've discussed the relationship between your illogical thinking and stress. In this book I am going to shift the focus to your behavior, how you actually live your life. Obviously, the way you live your life is influenced by your thinking-you can't separate the two-but in this book I'll focus mainly on ways to change your behavior, how you act. Reduce begins with examining the choices you make regarding your behavior and how you spend the 24 hours you have each day. The goal of Reduce is to find your optimal level of stimulation, that point where you get the most out of what you choose to do without becoming overloaded and therefore stressed.