Building Observation Skills for a Better Tomorrow

By building observational skills, you can detect problems easier. Building observation skills will promote self-awareness. In fact, when you build observation skills, it promotes a healthier you. Remember - your body is your temple, which you will want to observe.

Write down any symptoms you observed about yourself. Notice any weight loss, sores, ulcers, skin blemishes, itching, aches, bleeding or persistent headaches. Notice vomiting that continues or nausea, fainting spells, difficulty swallowing, double vision or other symptoms.

If you notice any constant medical-based symptoms that persist, seek medical help immediately. Even if you do not think the problem is serious, consult with your doctor. In order to conquer insomnia or other problems, the body needs to feel healthy.

Decisions we make affect us directly. If we make bad decisions, chances are the consequences we reap will affect us later. Your choices may not seem risky at the time, but later down the road you will experience problems, including low self-esteem, lack of confidence, lack of self respect, etc. What we do affect us mentally and physically whether it is now or later down the road.

Observing the decisions you make factors into your wellness plan.

Many people fear getting diseases. Diseases like AIDS worry them constantly. They fear that STDs such as AIDS may develop if they kiss someone, touch, hug or eat food around someone coughing with AIDS or from toilet seats, hot tubs, swimming pools AIDS patients may use, etc. The fact is that AIDS only develops directly from sexual contact with someone that has AIDS. Learning the truth about STDs can help you make better choices, and also help you to minimize any fears that directly cause you to lose sleep. To learn more, go to http://www.cdc.gov/.

In order to live healthily, we have to make good decisions for ourselves. Smoking is another activity that causes stress, contrary to the notion that it relieves stress. If you smoke, it builds up undue stress. So take action now to conquer your smoking addiction.

Drinking excessively or using illegal drugs will cause stress. If you drink excessively or use illegal street drugs, your insomnia will persist until you get alcohol or drug treatment. The focus here is to weed out any possible causes, and to help you observe your own behaviors and decisions to see if it leads up to your insomnia.

Our decisions factor into how high our stress level becomes. Making good decisions for yourself is part of your stress management solution. Observing what you do and your body talk can also enforce stress management.

By developing observation skills and making good decisions you can reduce stress. Here are a few examples - but there are many more ways:

It sounds crazy, but protecting yourself from potential accidents can help you manage your stress levels. When we take action to avoid accidents, it promotes healthy living and good decision-making, and expands our observation skills.

Our bio-clock

Our built-in bio-clock helps us to create a habit. When you program your mind to do something, it proceeds to carry out those instructions. Therefore, in the next practice we will ask you to perform an exercise to learn how to program your bio-clock.

Practice

Program the mind - Sometimes when we prepare to rest at night, we might think, "I should have been in bed sooner." Before you go to bed at night, you can wake up feeling refreshed if you program your mind. Program your mind from now on by setting a time you agree to go to bed and a time you agree to wake up. Instead of saying what should have happened, state, "I plan to get up at 8am in the morning" or whatever time you program your mind to get up. Next, perform the following practice: write out your results from these practices daily and observe what progress you have made from your practices.

Practice

When you lie down to rest at night, practice relaxing. Imagine yourself sinking deeply into the bed. Softly state what time you will wake up in the morning. State softly, "I will wake up feeling relaxed, calm, and rested." Repeat the process often for the best results.

Now, relax all parts of your body. Start at your feet, and work your way up your body. Continue the process until you are thoroughly relaxed and ready to fall asleep.

You can set your alarm to get up five minutes later than usual. Practice the step above daily. In time, you won't need an alarm clock; instead, you will be able to get out of bed on time.

Setting up a healthy diet plan is essential for promoting good health and sleep. If you have a poor diet, the chances are that your body is feeling overwhelmed. Set up a consistent diet and stick with it.

Diet

Practice

Set up a diet plan, write it out, and adhere to it daily. Add a variety of foods into your diet, e.g. fruits, vegetables, whole grains, breads, cheese, milk, cereals, meats, yogurts, fish, eggs, poultry, etc. Remember - you don't eat it all at once, but ensure that you have these daily foods added to your regular diet plan.

Maintain your weight - overweight people are more prone to heart disease, strokes, or other disease. To lose weight, eat less fat and sweets. Eat smaller portions and avoid overeating. Eat your food slowly to give it time to digest. Also, drink two glasses of water before your meal.

Choose diets low in saturated fats. Food like lean meats, poultry, fish, dried beans; eggs, etc., make healthy dishes. Add plenty of grains, fruits and vegetables to your diet when possible. Eat sugary foods in moderation.

Use less sodium or salt. Drink alcohol in moderation.

Summary

In this article, we prompted you to build your observation skills. We offered support tips on how to avoid accidents, and briefly introduced some things to minimize your stress. We helped you prepare a healthy diet to promote self-awareness skills. Now it is time to learn how to cope when things overwhelm you.

Help is available online - use the links below to learn more or to take a test.