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'IN EQUILIBRIUM'                                   
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CONTENTS
            THE REGULARS                   FEATURES                                                        
            Stress Tip of the Month        "Is Your Memory Crashing?"
            Quote of the Month               Types of Distorted Thinking
            Monthly Book Review                          
THE REGULARS
STRESS TIP OF THE MONTH
   
VISUALISE AND MAKE IT EASIER ON YOURSELF!       
 
Use your imagination and take a few moments to picture yourself managing what you feel is a stressful situation more successfully.  Whether it's a presentation, a confrontation, or an interview, many people find that visual rehearsals boost self-confidence and enable them to take a more positive approach to a difficult task.  Why not think of something you could visualise and commit to visualising it before the end of today?
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
 
Limited Self-concept

Those who believe they can and those who believe they can’ t are both right.  - Henry Ford

BOOK REVIEW
 
Dr David Mason Brown reviews "Body for Life" Bill Phillips 
 
This is the fitness book that was number one in the New York Times Book List.   Follow the course in this book and in twelve weeks you can move even from severe stress and extreme physical unfitness to total Mental and Physical Fitness.

This book deals with the whole person.  It starts with how others using the course have changed their lives. It describes how to overcome any limiting belief that has prevented you becoming really fit up to now, how to motivate yourself and cross the abyss from unfitness to fitness.  You focus on your vision for the future, transform your patterns of action and start crossing that abyss.

Part III is called 'Separating Myth from Fact'.  It deals effectively with many of the limiting misconceptions that people have about getting fit.  Part IV gives the 'Details of the Training for Life Programme'.  Part V deals with the 'Nutrition for Energy, Stamina, and Fitness'.  Part VI deals with the 'Skills of Staying on Course' so that you can complete the programme.

There is a superb series of appendices: Appendix C is the comprehensively illustrated and described exercise guide.  You will know exactly how to make best use of the equipment in your sports centre or home gym.  Appendix D gives all the progress charts on eating, training, and aerobics.  Appendix E gives a series of amazing real life success stories from those who have completed the course.

This book is a complete programme.  It really is about your Quality of Life by giving you the stamina to achieve your life goals.  Use it and your life can change.  I am sixty now.  In my day it was the Canadian Air Crew Exercises.  I wish I had had this book then, but it is never too late.  Go for it!
 
In the next copy of "In Equilibrium" I will review 'Understanding Hypnosis' by Dr Brian Roet.  It  is a practical guide to the health-giving benefits of hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis.
FEATURES

Is Your Memory Crashing?

Doctors are blaming our ever increasing reliance on technology for a decline in memory capacity in people in their twenties and thirties.  Computer technology such as personal organisers and automatic car navigation systems (how many of us have one of these?) are being blamed by doctors for the increasing incidence of severe memory loss.  [Of course, one potential cause of memory dysfunction is stress!]

Research in Japan (where else) involving 150 people aged 20 – 35 has shown that more than one in ten are suffering severe problems with their memory.  One 28-year-old high-flying salesman has had to give up his job when he found he was forgetting where he was going, who he was going to see and when he got there what he was trying to sell !

This certainly gives me cause for concern as I have been relying on my organiser’s alarm to remind me to do all sorts of things, from remembering to phone clients back to my wedding anniversary.  I have also been encouraging others to use the same system.

We all may be becoming more efficient, but at what price?

Alastair Taylor.

TYPES OF DISTORTED THINKING

Becoming aware of when you use types of distorted thinking is the first step:

Are you thinking in all or nothing terms? Ignoring the middle ground?

Are you thinking of your own faults and only seeing the positive aspects of other people, without seeing each individual as a mixture of positive and negative attributes?

e.g. She is always so organised.... I am hopeless at planning my time!

Are you catastrophizing, overestimating the chances of disaster?

Are you thinking the worst, before it has happened?

e.g. We've got this new program at work.  It's going to make things so much more difficult.  Tomorrow will be an absolute nightmare at work.  I feel like not bothering!

Are you personalising, blaming yourself for something which is not your fault?

Are you trying to look at situations you find yourself in? If someone else knew the situation would they see it as your fault?  If a friend was describing a similar situation would you think they were to blame?

e.g. When I asked Sue how she was, she looked like she was going to start crying and ran out of the room.  I wonder what I have done to upset her.  Maybe I didn't look genuinely interested.  Have I said something wrong in the last few days?

Are you focusing on the negative?

Are you looking on the dark side, ignoring your strengths?

e.g. I am so bad at communicating, I just open my mouth before my brain is in gear.  You would think by now I would have learned... I am so stupid.... I should just keep my mouth shut!

Are you jumping to conclusions?

Are you predicting the future?

e.g. My boss has called me in for a meeting.  I must be in trouble.  What have I done wrong?  It must be about that calculation I got wrong...I hope I don't get the sack!

Are you living by fixed rules?

Are you fretting about how things ought to be, and overusing the words 'should', 'ought', and 'must'?

e.g. I must get on with everyone in my team... I should be able to do this without a problem!...I ought to go and see my parents every week...

I must spend more time at work...

In the next newsletter we will look at ways to challenge these thoughts.
Go to the Open Courses page on our web site for information on upcoming courses in Edinburgh and Glasgow. 
 
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