Are you a Realistic Optimist?

Are you a Realistic Optimist?

A realistic optimist firmly believes that things will change generally for the better. They also believe they have control of their lives.

Realistic optimism is about the ability to maintain a positive outlook without denying reality, actively appreciating the positive aspects of a situation without ignoring the negative aspect.

(Reivich, 2003)

Realistic optimists don’t live in a ‘Pollyanna’ world they have a healthy balanced approach towards life.

Are you a realistic optimist? Share your experience!

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Reducing Stress

Reducing Stress

Here are some tips for reducing stress

Be prepared

Prepare as much in advance. This can be cooking, cleaning, shopping or decorating will ease the load

Perspective

Keep things in perspective

 When something causes you stress,

ask yourself ‘Does this really matter?’

Minimise stressful situations when possible,

if you don’t like to have too many people in your home during this time, limit the number who can come.

Say No

Don’t be afraid to no. You are in control of what is happening in your life.

Take a Break

Even if its 10 minutes for a coffee, taking time out for you will make you feel refreshed

Breath deeply

Practice breathing deeply.

Exercise

relieves stress, gets rid of negative feelings and improves your fitness.

What tips have you got for reducing stress? Tell me about a time you were under stress and how you dealt with it.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Relationships

Connecting with others creates great growth both emotionally and spiritually. People who have strong relationships with others, whether it be family, friends, colleagues, groups, etc tend to live longer, happier and healthier lives. Each relationship brings something different in to our lives, the more open you are to develop these links, the more you enhance them and hence it will increase your level of happiness.

Who matters most to you? Do you take your relationships for granted or do you try to enhance them, so both of you get the most out of it?

You are not alone

You are not alone when adopting internationally, here are some statistics:

Over the last decade, U.S. families have adopted on average approximately 20,000 children from foreign nations each year.
Source
http://adoption.state.gov/adoption_process/what.php

How important is International Adoption to you?

The stats for the UK are mentioned in the previous post