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October 23, 2019March 27, 2018

Seven Ways to Reduce Stress in Your Home

Does this picture describe your happy home?

The baby’s crying while you hurriedly put the fast food on the table, the dog is throwing up on the floor, the hubby’s got the TV on full-blast, and your teenager just angrily slammed the door on his way out.

Unfortunately, it’s a typical scene for many of us.

However, the good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way.

There are, in fact, things you can do to ease this stress and create a more harmonious environment so that you and your family can look forward to coming home!

Although some degree of stress is inherent as you deal with the varying phases of your family members, if you strive to uphold a core set of values and go with the flow, you can maintain a happy and healthy home.

Here are some specific ways you can reduce the stress at home:

1. Get organized. Life can quickly become chaotic when you don’t maintain organization.

An organized home runs smoothly, while an unorganized home leads to stress and lost time.

A good tip is to start small with your organization efforts.

Start with one room or even a portion of a room.

The idea is to think of it as a series of small projects instead of one overwhelmingly huge one.

2. Communicate. Your family will certainly benefit from actively working on communication skills.

When you fail to communicate effectively, you may not get what you want and can even cause upsetting misunderstandings.

Working on communication will allow all family members to feel loved and appreciated and help the household run efficiently.

3. Eat dinner together. Everyone in your family likely has a busy life of their own.

It’s easy to suddenly realize that you have no idea what’s going on with your spouse or child.

When you make it a point to eat dinner together every night, you make time to connect with your family.

You’ll learn how to work as one even with busy lifestyles.

4. Have fun together. It’s important to schedule time to have fun together as a family, even if these times can’t be as often as you’d like.

Schedule family nights in advance and allow each family member a chance to pick that evening’s activity.

5. Show unconditional love. Be sure to practice the art of unconditional love with your family.

This leads to secure attachments and will ultimately keep everyone in your family happy and stress-free.

Children and parents alike need to know that, when they make mistakes, they have a loving family that will back them up and forgive them.

6. Give support. Go out of your way for your family members.

It might not be an ideal Friday night to go to your daughter’s art show, but just think of how they’ll feel when they see that they have your love and support.

Actively express your support by really being there for your family – no matter what.

Just thinking about how much you love them is not enough!

7. Family rules. Having a set of family rules will help with organization and allow everyone to know what’s expected of them.

Schedule a family meeting to establish the house rules.

Make sure everyone has a chance to participate and share his or her concerns.

You’ll likely find a compromise that allows everyone to be happy.

A happy and stress free home is one built on love.

Don’t be too hard on yourself and others, and you’ll have the basis for creating an excellent home life.

What are the major causes of stress in your family?

What is your favorite bonding time with the family to reduce stress?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

Also, as your gift for taking this to heart – and this is profoundly important… to us ALL – go to UnitingPlanetEarth.com/ignition/ and do the Uniting Planet Earth 7-Day Quick-Start Ignition Program… and Allow it to Transform Your Life.

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October 13, 2018February 15, 2018

How to Handle Household Arguments Effectively

Inevitably, if there’s more than one person living in your house, at some point in time there will be arguments.

The trick is to learn how to handle household arguments effectively while maintaining loving relationships.

Amazingly, many people treat complete strangers better than they treat their own spouse or children.

As important as it is to treat others well, it’s more important to treat those you love even better.

How to Avoid Arguments

The best way to handle arguments at home is to avoid them in the first place.

How do you do this?

Avoid miscommunication.

Repeat what the other person is saying so there’s no doubt about their intended meaning.

Resolve not to fight over misunderstandings.

Here are some communication tips that can help your family avoid arguments:

1. Be gentle. Try to control the tone of your voice, the look on your face, and your body language when you’re talking with family members.

If you speak with a gentle tone, arguments are less likely to start.

2. Trust. Develop a solid relationship with your spouse and children by keeping lines of communication open, building trust between all family members, and giving each other the benefit of the doubt.

3. Respect privacy. Keep your disagreements strictly between the parties involved rather than discussing them in the open.

This also means that you must avoid arguing in front of your children.

How to Handle Arguments

If an argument does occur, here are some ideas to handle it effectively:

1. Time out! Stop the argument if it becomes a shouting match with one insult after another.

Ask for five minutes to think about what’s already been said.

This will give both parties a chance to calm down and regain their composure.

2. Be willing to accept that you may be wrong. During the course of the time out, did you realize you were in the wrong?

Listen to the other person’s side of the story before you assert your own innocence.

You may have said or done something unknowingly that hurt the other person.

3. Apologize. Be sure to express remorse over your part in the problem and try not to do it again. Ask the other person to forgive you.

4. Is someone hurting? Realize that the other person may be hurt in some way, but it may be expressed through anger, tears, or insults.

By arguing, they may actually be reaching out for help or support.

5. Hormones and illness. Consider how the other person’s gender may be playing a role in the argument.

Perhaps a woman’s monthly cycle is causing her to be overly emotional.

Maybe one person has been ill and is really striking out at others just because they feel bad.

6. Above all, love! Remember that no matter what the argument is about, you love the other person.

Your goal should be to come to a solution where both parties win.

7. Forgive. Once the situation has been resolved, forgive one another and forget about the whole thing.

Determine not to bring the situation up again. It’s over; let it go.

When Your Children Argue

There are many things you can do to promote harmony between your children and reduce their conflicts.

Try these ideas to keep the peace:

1. Avoid comparing your children. They’re individuals and should be treated that way.

Be sure to let your children know how special they are.

2. Establish rules and household responsibilities. This will let them know what’s expected of them.

Include rules about how they should treat one another. Let them know that hitting and name-calling are off limits in your home.

Decide as a family what the consequences will be if they break the rules.

3. Give each child your attention. Many disagreements between children are based upon trying to get their parent’s attention.

If you reinforce to each child that they’re special and that you love them, they’ll have less reason for arguing and more reason to dwell in the family’s love.

In the long run, each person in the family makes the decision to argue or not.

If you decide that you won’t be dragged into an argument, the argument will often end of its own accord.

These are not the only ways to effectively handle household arguments, but they may be enough to make the arguments less frequent so your family feels more secure, loved, and peaceful.

How often are there arguments in your home?

How do you deal with it?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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October 5, 2018February 1, 2018

How to Delegate Tasks Effectively at Work and Home

Do you ever feel frustrated by too much work?

Does everyone else involved seem totally unaware of the urgency?

Imagine how different your life would be if only you could gain more cooperation in the workplace or at home!

Learning to delegate tasks effectively to employees, children, or teammates can reduce stress while accomplishing much more in less time.

Whether it’s your home or business you want to improve, a few changes can make all the difference in the world!

For example, when you visit a well-run classroom, you’ll find a teacher who has planned ahead for the day, assigned specific tasks to different children based on strengths, and requests help from the students.

The teacher doesn’t try to do everything.

Rather, the students are given assignments to be office helper, chalkboard washer, group leader, and more.

This works best when the tasks are spelled out on a chart with names assigned to the job, but simply requesting help is also effective.

You can use these same methods in your environment to recruit some much needed help and cooperation.

People intrinsically want to feel useful, so when delegating tasks, use these ideas:

Plan ahead. You can’t overestimate the power of planning.

When you know exactly what you want to accomplish, you can express it clearly to your children or employees.

With an end result in view, everyone stays on track.

Make a master list of tasks you’d like accomplished, including the different steps needed to complete each task.

Assign these steps to different people so each person in the office or family is working together to achieve a goal, and nobody is overburdened.

Match tasks to strengths.

Finding the person whose strength matches each need will not only result in the best product, but also more satisfaction in those doing the tasks.

Figure out who the writers, organizers, computer geeks, and artistic people are within your group and let their gifts complement their assignments.

The same holds true in your family when delegating tasks.

Match chores to the child based on age, physical capabilities, and preferences.

For example, if you have one child who likes a particular chore, let that chore become your child’s regular job.

Make tasks clear. Take the time to explain each person’s task and the steps needed to finish it.

Posting the steps on a dry erase board or chart is an effective visible reminder.

If your subordinates or children have clear expectations, you can simply tell them to complete their assigned job.

Some children are visual learners.

They learn by watching rather than listening to directions.

Show your children how to do a task correctly and they’ll learn quickly.

Make Deadlines Reasonable.

When you need something done quickly, especially in an office environment, people will naturally become stressed out trying to do the job correctly and quickly.

This will inevitably lead to mistakes being made and you’ll need extra time – and possibly extra money – to fix those mistakes.

Let your clients know how long is required to complete the job, and only commit to reasonable time frames.

If necessary, hire extra people to help rather than overloading your current workers.

You can keep your home and business running smoothly without frustration or stress.

With clear expectations and people functioning in their best capacities, peace and efficiency can be yours!

Start getting the results you want today by implementing these tips into your every day routines.

How does your family help with the chores at home?

How can you develop a better relationship with your family because of delegating?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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September 9, 2018January 31, 2018

I make my home a heaven of peace and harmony.

May 24, 2018January 7, 2018

A smile is a light in the window of the soul indicating that the heart is at home. – Unknown

March 3, 2018January 5, 2018

Healthy Alternatives for Harmful Chemicals in Your Home

Harmful chemicals have become commonplace in many homes.

Most people don’t even think twice about the toxins that are included in our cleaners. Do you?

Disorders such as ADD, ADHD, autism, cancer, and auto-immune diseases are on the rise.

Many scientists believe that the harmful chemicals in our own homes are playing a vital role.

What can you do about it to protect yourself and your family?

Well, you can use healthy alternatives to these harsh, abrasive, and toxic fume-ridden cleaners!

Consider using these natural alternatives:

Vinegar has many uses. It can be used for cleaning many surfaces as well as softening clothes.

Vinegar is effective for:

Coffee and tea stains
Carpet stains
Cleaning drains

Hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is another natural agent that can help you with the laundry.

It can be used in the place of bleach and can even get rid of blood stains.

Hydrogen peroxide can also help in the bathroom; use it for bathroom mold in a spray bottle in combination with two parts water.

Tea tree oil. Tea tree oil can be used on tough mold and mildew stains instead of harsh bathroom cleaners.

The oil should be mixed with water and sprayed onto the offending area.

Don’t rinse. The area may have a strong smell that will eventually fade.

Baking Soda. Baking soda has many household benefits.

You can even use it in the place of drain cleaner: pour a cup of baking soda down the drain followed by boiling water.

Tough clogs can be followed by vinegar. Baking soda can also be used for:

Cleaning burnt on spots at the bottom of pots and pans
Dissolving grease on kitchen areas
Getting rid of offending odors and stains from clothing and carpeting

Lemon Juice. Lemon juice is a completely non-toxic alternative to many cleaning agents.

It can be used to clean and freshen up pots and pans as well as aluminum and porcelain surfaces.

Borax, or sodium borate, can also clean, deodorize and disinfect.

It can even be used to clean wallpaper.

It’s a great way to use a natural ingredient to clean painted surfaces as well.

Washing Soda. Like some of the other alternatives, washing soda has many cleaning abilities.

It can be used to soften water, clean walls, or even remove stains and grease.

It’s important to use caution when using washing soda because it has been known to irritate mucous membranes.

Of course most of the cleaning supplies you use contain soap to some degree.

However, soap is usually packaged with other ingredients, some of them being harmful chemicals.

Soap in its natural and pure form can make an excellent cleaning agent alone.

Other Household Changes

There are some other changes you can consider making to your home in addition to getting rid of harmful cleaners.

Instead of using air fresheners and other scents to mask odors, you can make it a point to get more fresh air into your home by opening windows.

Also, consider a no shoes indoors policy so that family members aren’t dragging in dirt.

It’s always a good idea to stay on top of a cleaning schedule.

When everything is fresh and clean on a regular basis, you won’t have to worry about using harsh chemicals to cut through layers of grime!

Which among the things listed above have you tried using?

How can this help make caring for your home easier?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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