To live a well balanced, rewarding life of our dreams by day and sleep restfully at night.
Dealing with difficult people
Published March 4, 2012 | 
Part of daily life with imperfect humans is dealing with difficult people…
In your personal life: spouses, misbehaving children, family members and in laws, noisy neighbors, etc.
At work: gossipy colleagues, micromanaging bosses, complaining customers, etc.
These are just a few examples. Encounters with these people happen to most of us frequently, if not every day.
These events and interactions are stressful. For those of us with people pleasing tendencies they can be the source of great anxiety and loss of sleep.
The thing about life and people is that no matter how hard we try, not everybody is going to like us or behave the way we want them to. We can be the caring and wonderful people that we are and we are still going to have unrational, disgruntled customers or out of control toddlers.
What can we do so that we can have peace restored within us and get our sleep at night?
1. Breathe!
2. Take care of ourselves by eating right and getting exercise if we feel particularly stressed about a person or situation.
3. Remember that we can’t control what other people are going to say and do.
4. Even our best of intentions are going to backfire when it comes to other people.
5. We are not responsible for others’ behavior; only our own.
6. If we have done our best, we can give ourselves permission to let it go.
7. People are going to be unreasonable at times and that is not a personal reflection about us. In fact, it is not about us at all. So… don’t take what others say or do personally!
8. If we are feeling personally attacked we may choose to assert ourselves or walk away. Either choice is a good one depending on the situation.
9. Don’t worry about what others think of us. It is none of our business.
10. Remember that we can’t and won’t please everybody.
11. We can limit interactions and time with people who are consistently negative or abusive. We are free to choose who we spend our time with.
12. We are in charge of the way we react to difficult people and situations.
13. We give others too much power if we let them affect our peace of mind and sleep.
14. You may find it helpful to talk it out with someone you trust
15. Writing things down may be helpful too.
Do your best to let difficult people go. Their words and actions do not have to directly affect you if you don’t let them.
You can be like Teflon and just let things slide off you and not stick.
You have the power, not others!
In Peace,
Debra
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Posted in anxiety, Depression, Family life, Getting a good night sleep, Happiness, insomnia, journal writing, Parenthood, Positive living, Self-empowerment, stress, worry | 
crying toddlers, dealing with difficult people, giving away our power, how we react to others, people pleasing, stress, unhappy customers, writing things down | 
Leave a commentThirteen things that bring me joy. What small pleasures make your daily life pretty darn incredible? A journal writing exercise!
Published October 10, 2011 | 
Little pleasures and small delights make up a grand joy-filled life!
What are your little pleasures that make daily life worth living and put a smile on your face?
This would make a good journal writing exercise.
Write a list of: “Little things that bring me pleasure and joy” in life.
Write down as many things as you can think of. Have fun with it. I guarantee you will be smiling and your heart will be full of joy when you are finished (not a bad way to end the day, eh?)
Let’s see, my list may begin like this:
1. A perfect cup of coffee in the morning, especially that first cup!
2. When my pets and kids and spouse are glad that I am home!
3. Being excited about trying a new recipe (I really get in the mood to cook when the weather starts to cool down a bit)
4. A clean house
5. A book that I just can’t put down!
6. Waking up knowing I had a good night sleep and knowing I am going to have a fantastic day!
7. When I lose a couple of pounds and my clothes are just beginning to feel a little bit loose (a most magnificent feeling!)
8. A certain look and smile on my husband’s face which tells me “life is good!”
9. The sky: a night sky with a moon and stars or a sunset sky, or a sky with interesting clouds…
10. A poem that simply takes my breath away
11. My Bikram yoga class. I feel so incredible when I go and it makes me so appreciate my body and health and life!
12. Walks on the beach
13. My cat Mew, looking at me tenderly and purring.
I truly could go on and on but I want you to write in your journal NOW.
What brings joy to your life? What little pleasures lift your spirit and make your heart want to sing and skip a beat?
Love,
Debra
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