Stressing the Importance of Balance: A Beginners Guide to Stress Management, Finding Balance, and Reaching Your Potential

By Bennie S. Covington and Krystal Covington

After 9/11 many americans began to stress about security, stability,and their future. Just as many were beginning to put things back together, the greatest economic recession in recent history hit. With so many changes occuring over the last decade, millions of Americans have struggled to keep up. The level of stress has risen to levels that have become threatening to us physically and emotionally. Recently the American Psychological Association CEO, Norman B. Anderson concluded that, "Stress could easily become our next public crisis."

How do we avoid this from happening?

Stressing the Importance of Balance will help you get started! When most people talk about stress or stress management, they focus on stress management techniques such as deep breathing or yoga. While those techniques are essential to coping with stress, they don't reduce stress at its core. Stressing the Importance of Balance teaches you to grab control of your life, set a course that works for you, and reduce stress so that obstacles are removed. In this beginners guide to reaching your potential, you will be introduced to simple and effective ways to live the life you deserve. From learning how to find your element, to understanding how the stress response affects you everyday. Stressing the Importance of balance gives you the tools to become the best you! In this book you will find simple information and expert advice that will help you in the areas of health, finances, time management, finding balance, and anxiety.

Stressing the Importance of balance is a great tool for anyone dealing with stress, lacking balance, or looking to improve their overall quality of life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 23, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456722517

Bennie S. Covington

Bennie S. Covington is a certified Stress Management Strategist, trainer, consultant, public speaker, and former award winning radio personality. He is the founder of ROPE Training, Inc, an organization that helps individuals and organizations to reach their potential through effective lifestyle management and finding a healthy balance. ROPE Training also helps corporation and businesses to better compete in the global marketplace by helping leaders and managers the avoid workplace burn out associated with the stressful demands of the 21st century marketplace. He lives in Detroit, Michigan. To learn more about Bennie S. Covington or Rope Training, Inc visit www.ropetoday.com

Book preview

Table of Contents

Preface

Section I

Introduction

Passion + Talent = Your Element

Knowing When It’s Time to Make a Change in Your Life

Freeing Ourselves from the Distractions of Stress

Stressed Out? You’re Not Alone

Don’t Get Too Comfortable with Extremes

Core Areas of Balance

There Is More to Money Than Spending It

There Is Still Enough Time

What Your Body Wants from You

Some Battles Are Not Yours

Section II

Eight Steps to Regaining Control Over Your Finances and Time

Eight Steps to Regaining Your Health

Section III

The Science Behind Potential

The Unselfish Act of Selfishness

Learning to Love Who You See in the Mirror

Sometimes We All Need a Little Help

You’re Getting Close

The Big Picture

Section IV

Additional Resources

Stress Tips

Workplace Stress Advice

Terms

Index

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Preface

I wonder if we have forgotten about the little things. Instead of drinking water, we now have trendy coffee drinks. Instead of enjoying the beautiful outdoors, we prefer air conditioned rooms and high definition televisions. Our kids now play with each other, not in person, but over the internet on headsets.

I am not knocking modern technology or suggesting that I don’t buy trendy drinks. Admittedly, I love Starbucks and I have an Xbox 360 in my living room. However, I wonder if these things are distracting us. We see so many people drowning in debt, dealing with health issues due to obesity, and hating their body image. I sometimes feel sorry for us as a society because we have everything in the world, clean water, beautiful homes, world class entertainment, democracy, freedom, iPods, iPads, etc. I just don’t get the sense that we are truly happy.

How can a society with everything have so many people who seem unhappy? Maybe all of the things we own or have access too are not what really make us happy in the first place. Perhaps the fancy homes, entertainment, and technology are not bringing us closer to our happiness, but blocking us from it.

Again, I am not suggesting that our stuff is bad, I am just wondering if there is a consequence to having so much. What if some of us are so busy trying to gain, maintain, and secure our stuff that we neglect ourselves?

Maybe purchasing the trendiest cell phone has become more important than actually talking to someone with it or buying new clothes has somehow become more important than wearing them. Perhaps splurging on ourselves has become more important than loving ourselves.

I believe that in order to reach your potential, you need to know what your strengths and weakness are. Only then can you can find that place where your passions sync up with your talents.

Before you can begin that journey, you need to know who you are. I believe that we have too many distractions blocking us from finding ourselves.

This book is designed to walk you through the steps that are required to regain control over your life and rid yourself of the distractions. Often times we assume that change requires a huge shift in our lives. Sometimes it is this assumption that makes changing so difficult. I am disputing that assumption and providing you with small steps, basic concepts, and the big picture so that you can get started today.

Section I

Understanding What is in Your Way

Understanding is curing ignorance and curing ignorance is abolishing fear.

-Matt Marty

Introduction

At times, it is difficult to keep a proper balance in our lives. But, over time, an improper balance will lead to problems.

-Catherine Pulsifer

It takes a lot to write a book. Perhaps we have all said to ourselves Hey, I am going to write a book someday, but we never get to it. This is a proud moment for me because I finally did it and the journey that I traveled to get to this point has been the single best thing to ever happen to me.

I wrote this book because I realized that people have lost their way. I talk with so many people who are feeling empty inside. These same people are giving everything that they have in order to find that one thing that makes them happy, only to never find it. I understand where they are coming from. I too once thought that there was something outside of me that would complete me. I would scour the internet late at night looking for the answers to my life. Sometimes I felt as if I was going to go blind from looking at the computer screen for hours, and I seemed to come up empty every time.

I would spend countless hours praying, asking God for a miracle to help me find myself and to place me where I’m supposed to be. That prayer was always evolving.

When I first starting praying, I would tell God what I wanted, Ahem, dear Lord please help me to get that ‘dream job,’ or Lord help me to acquire enough money so that I can get out of debt.

After years of nothing happening, my prayers became more practical, Lord please allow someone to recognize my potential, or Dear Lord let someone give me an opportunity to reach my potential.

After waiting a while for my life to change by the grace of some established individual who could recognize my talents and appoint me as their next apprentice, I began to doubt that I could ever become greater than I was at that very moment. I started to lose confidence in myself. I was not able to elevate myself to the level I envisioned in my mind and felt in my heart.

Meanwhile, I felt as though the people around me were soaring to new heights. I had friends who were driving new cars, receiving promotions, living in beautiful homes, and progressing at a much faster pace. I was beginning to think that it would never happen to me.

Looking back, I have an idea of what God may have been trying to say. It would probably sound something like this:

Bennie, you are right! There is a greater purpose for you, but it’s not the job title, not the money, and certainly not what your friends are doing. Those things will become the fruits of your purpose, you must first find yourself.

I began praying for help. I had tried so many different things. None of them had worked. I just wanted to be where I belonged. I was truly feeling misplaced. I had a burning desire to do something special; something that I was uniquely designed for.

It wasn’t until I started working for a nonprofit company that I began to understand the journey of reaching my potential. At this nonprofit company, our goal was to help people get out of debt while teaching them vital skills about finances. We would supply support and resources for them.

Many of the clients would call us in distress. I remember speaking with a woman who had hit a level so low, that I wasn’t certain if she was going to hurt herself. Working in a high volume call center environment, everyone starts to sound the same, but when this woman called I could immediately tell that she needed help.

"Thank