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Creating The Perfect Work Day Where Stress Is Virtually Impossible

Written by: Dr. Paul Lanthois

Article Overview: You can't get rid of stress and it's impossible to have a PERFECT work day... or is it? Having a perfect work day where stress virtually impossible and sounds like idealistic, Pollyanna rhetoric I know. But how would your work day go if you believed that EVERYTHING that happened was perfect?...

Creating The Perfect Work Day Where Stress Is Virtually Impossible

"Now that would have to have been the most perfect day," I said cheerfully to myself as I was pedalling home on my bike. I don't know if you have another voice inside your head but the voice inside of my head startled me that much that I nearly fell of my bike. "Did you say PERFECT when yesterday you said that you were going to create a perfect day?" squealed my inner voice in delight.

"Yeah I suppose I did say perfect, "I acknowledged with a grin of self satisfaction while not even being slightly self conscious of having a conversation with myself.

"And you created it," cheered my alter ego who seems to represent the more exuberant side of me. I began laughing as I spent the rest of my journey home fully engaged in a conversation with my other half recalling the process I went through on the previous day to create this perfect day.

"But it's impossible to have a perfect day," shouted out my resident sceptic, Barry as I was sharing this story at one of my Decimating Stress Workshops. Others at the workshop were quick to nod their heads in agreement.

"It depends upon your rules for perfection," I stated with a cheeky smirk on my face.

A confused hush came over the group. I think that they were more confused about why I was so seemingly happy that the entire group was disputing my claim.

"To make a perfect day, I knew that if i made my rules for perfection based upon what you think perfection is, it would be impossible for me to have a perfect day. The key to a perfect day was for me to make my rules for perfection easier to achieve. I changed my own meaning of perfection. I consciously decided that whatever happens is perfect. I consciously decided that I am perfect." I deliberately paused to wait for a reaction but nothing happened.

"I consciously decided that everyone is perfect," I continued.

Another more senior lady in the crowd could no longer resist keeping quiet. "But no-one can be perfect," she replied. I grinned in recognition of how programmed we had all become because these exact same statements and beliefs had challenged me previously.

"But according to my new rules everyone is perfect," I insisted.

"But isn't that just lowering your standards," she retorted.

"No, it is making it easier for me to feel happy. Do you feel good that you have set things up so you never ever feel perfect?"

A blank look of resignation came over the lady's face.

So many of us think that we don't deserve to be happy. Instead we feel that we must slay a dragon or fulfil a long list of particular things that must happen for us to give ourselves permission to be happy. We even create our rules such that our happiness depends upon the actions of others. How many times do we blame others for our unhappiness because they didn't read your mind and do what you liked?

How would your day at work go if you decided that whatever happens is perfect? As a matter of fact as I was in the middle of writing this article my computer crashed. Some people could choose to get angry and frustrated by this? But that doesn't change the fact that it happened.

Having a belief that everything that happens is perfect I chose to interpret this event in a way that made me feel good. I chose to interpret it as an opportunity to practice what I preach and it also gave me additional writing material.

There are many things that occur at work and at home that you simply can't control. You can't control the mood of your boss or that of your work colleagues. You can't control world events either. What you can control is how you interpret these circumstances and events.

But Barry echoed a belief that I used to share, "But you can't be happy all the time."

"Barry, do you conceive that it's possible for someone to be sad all the time?" I asked.

"Yeah for sure," he replied. "I know quite a few people like that."

"I find it interesting that you can appreciate the possibility of someone always being sad but you have trouble accepting the possibility that someone can always be happy."

"But don't you need to feel down in order to be able to appreciate the good times?" Barry clarified.

"That is one benefit of feeling bad but I believe that it is not necessary to feel bad to appreciate when you feel good. It is a bit like at a buffet lunch where there are foods that you like and ones that you dislike. You can appreciate your favourite foods without having to feel traumatized over the presence of other food there. "

To me the key to your enjoyment of your work and other areas of your life is appreciation. I believe that the more that you appreciate the things that you like in life the less pain that you need to go through to remind you of this appreciation. This is the advantage of taking on the belief that everyone and everything is perfect. It causes you to look for the perfection in each situation. This is my true definition of appreciation.

Once you go about your work day with appreciation you will find that your enjoyment of work increases and conflict and disharmony may decrease drastically. You may even create your perfect day at work.

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Article Tags: alter ego, crowd, hush, inner voice, journey home, self satisfaction, smirk, stress workshops, this perfect day



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