New Year New You

The New Year is a time when people reflect on the year gone by, but more importantly it is a time when many people make promises to themselves to live their lives in a more effective manner. The most common New Years Resolutions revolve around being healthier, improving financial situation and/or strengthening family, work and social relationships. Surveys indicate that the majority of people who make new years resolutions are confident that they are going to be able to keep them. However further research indicates that less than 20% of these people actually achieve their goal. The following are some tips you can use that greatly enhance your ability to accomplish whatever you set out to do.

• State your goal in behavioral terms (Instead of saying “I want to be healthier”, define what behaviors you plan to utilize to achieve this goal).

• Make sure that your goal is measurable

• Set goals that are realistic

• Focus on behaviors that you personally control.

• Make sure that the goal you set is for you, not somebody else.

• Tell others about your goals and utilize family and friends as support.

• Write your goals on a piece of paper where you can see it often.

• Monitor your progress. Reward yourself for any move in a positive direction.

Be open to trying new behaviors if some you are already using are not working.

• Focus on “progress not perfection”

Setting goals and achieving them, especially when they entail making lifestyle changes, is often frustrating. Seeking the guidance and coaching of a professional can often increase your chances of success by helping you identify and define goals more effectively and providing support and encouragement in helping you to stay on task. To discuss in more detail how you can make effective changes in your professional and personal life call counselors at PTC ( 954-741-1099).

Have a safe and happy New Year!!

Summer Health & Wellness

Summertime usually conjures up images like relaxing at the beach, fun in the park, picnics, barbeques, and family vacations. Because of this, summer is a great time to think about taking more control of your health. Taking care of your body is a key element in making sure you are able to maximize peak performance in both your personal and professional lives.

The American heart Association identifies three major areas of health that most people need to be aware of. These areas are cholesterol levels, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Small, inexpensive lifestyle changes often pay big dividends in allowing one to effectively manage these major health concerns.

General tips for improving your general health include:
Getting active: walking more and stretching are probably the easiest and most convenient was to increase your activity level.
Eating better: reduce salt and sugar intake, practice portion control, eat more fish, increase fruits and vegetables, avoid foods high in saturated fat and eat more whole grains.
Losing weight
Quitting smoking
Limiting alcohol intake
Practicing effective stress management.

A counselor can provide you with effective coaching in helping you begin to make healthy lifestyle changes and managing stress more effectively. You can reach counselors at Lisa Friedman LCSW, INC at 954-741-1099.

Effective Stress Management

One of the primary keys to establishing and maintaining good health is effective stress management. Stress is a constant and integral part of life. However, poorly managed stress can lead to negative physical, emotional and/or psychological consequences.

Physically, unrelieved can have a severe impact on your immune system. Other physical ailments that are commonly associated with being “stressed out” include but are not limited to:
· stomach and digestive difficulties
· high blood pressure and other cardio vascular problems
· insomnia
· muscle/body aches

Difficulties managing stress is also associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. These symptoms significantly diminish one’s ability to thrive either personally or professionally.

The good news is that effectively managing stress is not difficult to do. The key is to make a conscience effort each day to engage in activities that promote healthy living. Here are some tips for creating a healthy lifestyle:
· Establish and utilize a good support system
· Exercise on a regular basis (Find time every day to move more & stretch)
· Increase you intake of fruit and vegetables
· Decrease your consumption of foods containing high levels of fat, sugar and caffeine.
· Increase your daily intake of water
· Take time to journal your thoughts and feelings
· Avoid becoming overwhelmed by improving your assertiveness skills especially in regards to asking for help and learning how to respectfully say “No”.
· Improve your communication and other relationship building skills.
· Look for reasons to laugh and smile.

Effective stress management and healthy living is really about taking the time to take care of yourself. Avoid adding to your stress by working too hard to be healthy. Small behavior changes on a daily basis will lead to big benefits over time. If you need additional help with managing your stress call Professional Toolbox Consultants at (954) 741-1099.

Growing and Changing this New Year

As an old year ends and a new year rolls in, this is a time when many people make New Year’s resolutions. Many people do not realize how important this age old tradition is in establishing and maintaining sound emotional well being. One important trait that all healthy living things share in common is that they continue to grow. Another word for growth is change. When we fail to take the opportunity to grow in either our personal or professional lives we are susceptible to feeling all kinds of emotional distress least of which is state of boredom or stagnation. So, use the New Year as a catalyst to identify an area of your life you would like to improve upon and put into action a plan to make growth promoting changes.

Here are some tips to help make your healthy intentions come to fruition:
**Make sure your goal is behavioral in nature.
**Be specific (how, when, where, how much, how often, etc.)
**Small change is better than no change
**Make sure that your goal is beneficial for you
**Remember that change is often difficult and uncomfortable.
**Have realistic expectations and be patient with yourself.
**Write your goal down.**Share your goal with family and friends
**Monitor your progress.
**Strive for progress not perfection.

Have a safe New Years from the counselors at PTC !!!!

Preparing for the Holidays

The Holiday season is rapidly approaching. Though, traditionally a time of joy and celebration, the holidays can also be a time of increased stress. All of us have limited resources especially in terms of time, money and our ability to manage emotional stress. Preparing for the holidays often means stretching these resources even when many feel that their resources are already being stretched to capacity. However, with a little planning and effort all of us can experience some holiday enjoyment without causing financial and/or emotional bankruptcy.

Here are some tips that you can use to help make holiday time less stressful.

Set Healthy Expectations:
* Do not expect perfection of yourself or others.
* Simplify family traditions that may be too expensive, time consuming or non conducive to your already hectic lifestyle.
* Avoid feeling compelled to attend every holiday event.
* Prioritize what is truly important in making the holidays special for you and your family.

Be fiscally responsible:
* Before you go shopping, decide how much you can afford to spend on gifts or other holiday expenses.
* Stick to your budget.
* Use cash as often as possible. Using credit cards often leads to spending more than you can afford and usually makes what you are buying more expensive due to interest and finance charges.
* Explore ways to express holiday cheer that do not cost lots of money.
* Look for ways to share expenses especially in regards to gift giving and event planning.
* Remember that you truly can not buy happiness, love or acceptance.

Alleviate family strain:
* Set Differences aside.
* Avoid using holiday gatherings as a time to resolve old and recent grievances.
* Accept family members for who they are, not who you wish them to be.
* Understand that not everyone experiences the holidays the same way. Be supportive to those who appear to be struggling.
* Remember that the only happiness you can truly control is your own.

The most important thing to remember is to be kind to yourself. Pace yourself, eat well get enough rest and let the true spirit of the holidays, Peace & Love guide you.

If you or someone is needing support during the holidays call PTC (954) 741-1099.

Positive Thinking

OPTIMISM
“Man is disturbed not by things, but the views he takes of them”. This piece of ancient Greek wisdom is important to keep in mind during today’s trying times. Personal and global events may have significant impact our emotional state, however, the intensity and duration of this impact is greatly determined by the way we think about a particular event. Recent research has concluded that individuals who adopt an “optimistic” way of viewing the world and related events are happier and more successful than their “pessimistic” counterparts. Pessimists see primarily the negative or worst aspects of things and expect only bad or unpleasant things to happen. Pessimists tend to be problem focused. This often creates self fulfilling prophecies which produces the outcome they fear or worse. The optimist on the other hand is the person who expects the best possible outcome or looks for the most hopeful aspects of a situation. Optimists tend to be far better problem solvers because they tend to look for solutions and opportunities for success.Optimism should not be confused w/ being a “Polly Anna” or living in a state of denial during difficult times. Rather, it is the skill of altering thoughts that block happiness and sabotage an individual’s ability to cope with and move beyond difficult times with grace and dignity. Even in the most difficult of times there are individuals who achieve success. Having a personal outlook that promotes growth and well being enhances yo ur chances of personal and professional fulfillment in any time.

Written by: Jeffrey Jabick, LMHC (PTC)
Resource: Book- Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman, Ph.D.

Create Work/Life Balance

Establishing an effective work/life balance is one of the most important keys to having a healthy and productive life. An inability to establish and maintain a healthy balance can lead to significant emotional and physical distress. One of the biggest barriers to creating this balance is that most people don’t know how to make the transition from work to home. However, with a little effort, planning and practice, this transition can become smooth and seamless. The following are some tips you can try to facilitate this transition:

*Improve time management and assertiveness skills

*Enhance relationships w/ co-workers and managers to improve teamwork. This will allow you to be more effective and efficient while at work.

*If possible, devote the final minutes of your day to less pressured tasks.

*Empty your mind of unfinished business by “putting pen to paper”. Then place what you have written in one of two places; a folder labeled “For Tomorrow” or the trash can.

*Embrace the commute home. Use the alone time to de-stress.

*When at home focus your attention on family and issues you enjoy.

*Pre-arrange w/ your family some “me time”.

Healthy work/life balance is not easy and requires practice. We at PTC have counselors that can provide you with further coaching and counseling to help manage the demands of work and home more effectively.