Take the Jangle Out of the Jingle This Season With Stress Reducing Strategies From Coach Millie Grenough

    STAMFORD, CT, December 10, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Do the holidays have you jangled? Already tired thinking about all the things you have to do and how tight your finances are? Are you overwhelmed by all the people you have to make happy?

According to coach and author and clinical instructor Millie Grenough, you are not alone. She points out that anxiety, family feuds, and depression often escalate during the holiday season. And these days are especially difficult for people in military service and for their families.

Alicia is one such person. She attended a recent workshop on OASIS: 60-second Strategies to Reduce Your Stress During the Holidays that Grenough presented at a Veterans Hospital. Alicia's husband is a veteran who suffered wounds in Vietnam, and one of her sons is now in Afghanistan. Alicia told the group, "My whole family is under a lot of stress now. Money is scarce, my husband is in the hospital and can't work, my daughter-in-law is frantic because she is afraid her husband might not make it back in one piece. I really need help."

The possibility of telling her brain to switch from the "stress channel" to the "calm channel" appealed to Alicia. When Grenough told her that she could change her brain in only 60 seconds, she jumped right in to the activities.

Here's what Millie taught Alicia to do. It can work for you, too.

Step 1: Give your body a break
Right now take 60 seconds. Stand up and stretch, shake out all those to-do items, all your sadness and worries. Wiggle your toes, dance, run across the room. Reach up to the ceiling and shout "Peace!" Bend down to the floor and say "Joy!" Come back up and reach your arms way out to one side and yell "Health!" Now, really stretch those arms to the other side and shout so they hear you in California, "Celebrate!" 60 seconds is up. Now you are ready for your second OASIS.

Step 2: Give your mind a break
Right now get pen and paper. Write down your answer to this question. Don't edit. Just write.
What is your fondest memory about the holidays when you were a kid? (How old were you? Exactly where were you? Who else was there? What made it special for you?)

Take just 60 seconds to put down the smells, colors, the feelings, your memories.

Step 3: Change your brain
Move from the "I-have-to" stress channel to the "I-will-feel-good pleasure channel. Right now, brainstorm for 60 seconds and write down your responses to this question:
For $5 or less, what can you give to:
1) someone you know
2) someone you don't know
3) yourself?!

Step 4: Enjoy the big picture
Sit back and relax. Breathe in your "feel-good" channel. Congratulate yourself for switching from overwhelm to oasis.

When Alicia finished the activities, her face was clearly brighter and her whole body exuded more energy. She was eager to tell the group about her fondest memory: "I was making cookies with my grandmother in her tiny kitchen. I can still remember how good they smelled. I had forgotten how much those simple little things mean. When I think about how many folks in Afghanistan, and even in my own neighborhood, don't have a safe house to live in or an oven to make cookies in, I remember the big picture. All the rest is just stuff."

Then Alicia said, "You know what I chose to do on my pleasure channel? I decided to bake cookies with my granddaughter Rosa. We'll send some to her Dad and we'll bring some to the vets at the hospital. When we get back home, we'll take turns giving each other a manicure, I think with bright red polish. That will be fun!"

In three minutes, Alicia got rid of the jangle with the help of the 60 second OASIS in the Overwhelm strategies. She told her brain, "Let's get off this stress channel and go to something that is more useful. Let's go to the gratitude channel - let's be happy we are together and that we can make cookies for the people we love." Then she took another minute to bathe in the feel-good channel.

Millie Grenough continues, "The latest neuroscience research affirms that we really do have the power to change our own brains. If Alicia had stayed on the stress channel, she would have strengthened the stress wiring in her brain and caused harm to her body - to say nothing of what it did to the mood of the people around her. What were the tangible results when she left the "jangle" channel and switched to the gratitude channel? She herself is happier, she has more energy and focus to do what she needs - and wants - to do. And you can bet that her granddaughter and all the other members of her family will be glad she made the switch."

Treat yourself to a holiday OASIS. Change your channel now. More information and techniques can be found in Millie Grenough's book OASIS In The Overwhelm available at www.milliegrenough.com or www.amazon.com.

MILLIE GRENOUGH, coach, author, speaker, clinical instructor, social work of psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine is the author of OASIS in the Overwhelm: 60-second strategies for balance in a busy world and OASIS in the Overwhelm 28 Day Guide: Rewire Your Brain from Chaos to Calm and OASIS en la Adversidad.

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