Coping with Stress

Stress can act both good and bad for you.  When you get right amount stress, you may perform at your muximum potentioal.  However, when you get too much stress, you may under perform.  That is a part of hour body's mechanism to protect ourselves.

In 1967, Homes and Rahe developed a questionnaire called the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) for identifying major stressful life events.  43 life events are scaled depending on the impact of stress in the scale.  Top of the list is Death of Spouse or Significant Other (100 points), followed by Divoce (73) and Marital Separation (66).  Even "good" events such as Marrage (50), Vacation (13) and Christmas (12) can cause you some stress.

If you want to assess your current stress condition, check on SRRS list and add up the scores for each event expereinced over a 12 month period.  If you have less than 150, you have little chance of suffering from stress.  On the other end, if you have more than 300, you are likely to developing stress related illness.

Earlier this week, I felt sick and had to go to see a doctor.  When I look back my recent life, I exterienced Business Reajustment, Change in Health of Family Member and Change in Residence, which themselves already accumleted more than 100 points in SRRS.  I guess my body is sending a warning sign that I would surpass my stress limit if I continue to force myself in this pace.

So, keep your maximum performance in the long run, I think, it is extreamly important to make long time action plan by using such as dialy style calender and spread out "big events" that cause you a lot of stress.

 

23-10-2011 Serendipity?

The natural ability to make intersting or valuable discoveries by accident is called SERENDIPITY.

The institute I work hosted a conference last week, and I was assigned to escourt a guest from Canada.  In the morning he leaves Japan, we had a morning coffee at a lovely bakery at the train station.  The topic went on about how long does it take from the city centre to the airport in Tokyo.  It takes one and half hours and it's is unusually long comparing to most of the cities in other countries.

Then the guest from Canada rememberd his experience several years ago.  He was also in Japan and was about to return to Canada.  He was trvelling from Nagano to Narita airport by bullet train.  It was in a rainyseason and was poring rain.  All of a sudden, the train stoped due to the rain.  The passengers were asked to evacuate from the train.  He didn't undestand Japanese, and all he could do was just follow the others.  He wasn't sure where he was and asked whoever he met how he could go to the airport.  Finally he could catch a train to the airport but it was a local train.  Stopping at many stations on the way, it took hours to take him to the airport.  The flight he was to take to Vancouver was alrady gone by then, but anyway he went to the check-in and asked if there was a flight.  Then the clark replied , " Actually, there is a flight to Cargary in two hours, sir."  Cargary was the city he lived.  So eventually he could retuen his home earlier than he originally planned.

A lesson we could learn his story, if you never give up and look for an opportunity, sometimes a good solution appiers from nowhere.  I think these kind of attitude is applied to any situation in life.

Jun

21-8-2011

Starting from this coming Wednesday, I'm going to visit five countries in Europe in a week trip.  As European countries are topographically located close each other, and with the Schengen Agreement, it is relatively easy to travel different countries within the regeon.  You could say, it's a hasty schedule, but I'll try to spend as much as possible to meet people in each country and spend time with them.

Jun

18-8-2011 Detailed Planning & Flexibility

When I want to achieve a lot of things but time is limmited, I do a detailed planning - monthly, daily, even hourly.  Listing up what I have to do and make priority.  You may think it's overwealming to follow the things continuously, however actually it is not.  You don't necessarily finish all the things you asked yourself to do.  Take it easier.  You just making A PLAN to use your precious time.  It may sound ironic, but the more you do your time management, the more you can be flexible.  I think eventually this will be a better way to spend your time most effectively.

I'm going to visit several countries in a limited time next week.  I wish I could leverage this time management skill and achieve a lot of things.

Jun

31-7-2011 SERVAS

"Servas is an international, non-governmental, multicultural peace association run by volunteers in over 100 countries. Founded in 1949 by Bob Luitweiler as a peace movement, Servas International is a non-profit organization working to build understanding, tolerance and world peace."  SERVAS Website

I like meeting people, especially when I travel.  Meeting new people in new place is fun and often eye-opening.  I am interested in larning different culture / way of thinking thorough people I meet.

When I travel abroad I use SERVAS, which provides oppotunities of exchanging information and friendship by hosting travellors.  It's a wonderful scheme to allow us, members to help each other, even we haven't met each other before.

I am now planning to visit several countries in Europe in late August, and am looking for meeting new people.

Jun

26-7-2011 Travel Planning

People go travelling sometimes.  Everybody has different reason to travel.  Some of them travel for business, while others travel for vacation.  Whatever the reason, travel gives us chances to refrect our perspective on our daily life.  We usually have daily chores, in house and at work.  We do those routines almost automatically without thinking.  Getting out of this, travel let us re-evaluate our lifestyle.

In addition to that, travel gives us chances to meet new people.  These are great opportunities to learn different perspectives about our world.  Each person has different values.  By observing and talking to them we can broaden our way of thinking.  Furthermore, it's fun to talk to people you can along with, and those frendship may become your asset for your future.

Also, sometimes people need to forget things they don't like but is happening in their life.  Travel could give healing for these people.

At the company I am currently working, we are entitled five-day summer vacation.  This year, I decided to fully utilise this privilege and go travelling.  It's fun to make a travel plan, imagining to sit in a cafe in a city I have never been to, and making new friends.

I'll update things in this diary.

Jun

20-6-2011

I just finished reading the book of Lydia Lassila, the women's aerial chanpion of Vancouver.  I am especially interested in the part she was explaining about her work with a mental trainer.

"When I first started working with him was to imagine my future self.  The parson I wanted to be.  The person that had already won an Olympic gold medal nad he would get me to ask her for advice and basically have a conversation with her.  I thought it was wierd at first, and my future self seemed very distant and far away, but I persisted.  Periodically, I'd 'cheched in' with my future self and ask her if I was on track, and as time drew nearer to the Olympics, I felt like I was becoming her... the future self I wanted to be."  (Lydia Lassila Jump, p. 177)

未来の理想の自分をイメージし、その人物と対話をしながら次第にその人物に近づいていく。

スポーツでも、仕事でも、何でもいい。自分のやるべきことで、どこまでやれるか試してみたい。ぎりぎりの環境でどこまでできるか試してみたい。

金メダルを取ったことに感動するのではなく、金メダルを取るために彼女がどのように日々を過ごしたに心を打たれる。

Thank you Lydia and good luck on your further journey to Sochi 2014.

Jun

18-6-2011

Today, I participated a workshop to learn about the Cognitive Behabior Therapy (CBT).  CBT is a counselling theory focused on thinking of individuals.  Everyone has unique perception.  Sometimes it makes you happy or sad.  In CBT, by logically correct perception, clients can change their unwanted feelings.

「苦しくなってからの練習でこそ成長する。伸びるところまで来たんだ、今がチャンスだ、と思うと苦しさがうれしさに変わる」

「つらい練習をどうやり抜いたのか」という質問に対して、シドニーオリンピック女子マラソンで優勝した高橋尚子さんが講演会でこのように答えたそうです（2011年5月17日，朝日新聞）。つらい練習をした時に、「苦しいな、もうやめたい」と思うのも、「よし、今自分は成長しているんだ」と思うのも、自分自身。物事をどのどのように解釈できるかで、見える世界がまったく変わってきます。高橋さんのように何事に対しても、常に前向きに考えられるようになれたらいいですね。

こんな願いをかなえてくれそうなのが、カウンセリング理論のひとつ、認知行動療法（CBT）です。今日は、このCBTの講習会に参加しました。CBTでは、何かの「出来事」に対し、どう「考え」、どう「感じた」かを論理的に認識できるようにトレーニングします。嬉しい、楽しい、悲しい、辛いなど、私たちは何かが起こるといろいろなことを感じます。ですが、この感じ方は、人によって千差万別。同じことを体験しても、楽しいと感じる人もいれば、つまらないと感じる人もいます。物事の解釈の仕方がひとによって違うからです。

トレーニングを積むことで自分の感情に敏感になり、その感情を引き起こした考え方を修正できるようになれば、嫌な気分になってしまうような状況でも、楽しく過ごすことだってできるようになります。ピンチをチャンスに。こんな風に自分をコントロールできるようにするのがCBT。感情にとらわれてしまうことの多い私にとっては、極めて実用的で、興味深い考え方です。

Jun

24-4-2011

I took an English test in Yokohama yesterday.  I haven't taken an English test for years.  It was hard to consentlate on for four hours.  With little preparation, good score won't be expected but it raised my motivation to improve my English.

After that I had dinner at Trattoria Arino with my frend.  It was stormy outside but we had a quiet evening with good food.

On train, I read Tina Seelig's "What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20" again after couple of months.  This is such an inspirational book.  I the paragraph at the beggining of chapter six;

"How many people have told you that the key to success is to follow your passion?  I'd bet it's a lot.  Giving thet advice to someone who's struggling to figure out what to do with his or her life is easy.  However, that advice is actually simplistic and misleading.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of passions and think it's increadibly important to know what drives you.  But it certainly isn't enough."

Jun

8-4-2011

The beginning of a spring season is brought by sakura blossoms.  Sakura is the Japanese national flower and we have been appreciated its beauty.  It also reminds us the meaning of life.  Sakura flowers lasts only for few days.  It's so short, so as our life.  Sometimes we think things remains same tomorrow and next year.  But it's not always true.  The 11 March earthquake in the north eastern Japan changed life of many people.  We have to do the things we suppose to do while we can.

Jun