 |
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
June 8th, 2012
03:19 PM ET
Spend money mindfully to stress lessEditor's note: CNN contributor Amanda Enayati ponders the theme of seeking serenity: the quest for well-being and life balance in stressful times.
In poll after poll, Americans say that the state of their finances is one of the biggest sources of their stress. “People are spending money they do not have to buy things they may not need,” observed Tony Wagner, Innovation Education Fellow at Harvard’s Technology & Entrepreneurship Center and author of “Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World,” during our recent interview. While researching his book, Wagner discovered that more than 70% of our economy is based on consumer spending. Increasingly, over the last 20 or so years, that consumer spending has been fueled by debt. The savings rate in 2007, immediately before the economic collapse we are still slogging through, was negative 2%. That kind of spending is unsustainable, said Wagner, “economically, environmentally and spiritually.” 
May 11th, 2012
02:00 PM ET
Traffic, toddlers and technology: Your stress dilemmas solvedEditor's note: CNN contributor Amanda Enayati ponders the theme of seeking serenity: the quest for well-being and life balance in stressful times.
If you do not care for yourself, you will not be able to care for others. Figure out what’s truly important and do not look for perfection. Do your best to remain in the present moment, free of the shackles of the past and fear for what the future holds. All of these are far easier said (and written), of course. It is the execution that's most difficult. The first step is awareness. With that in mind - here are some more of your stress questions answered: 
May 4th, 2012
08:06 AM ET
Your questions about stress answered!Editor's note: CNN contributor Amanda Enayati ponders the theme of seeking serenity: the quest for well-being and life balance in stressful times.
Due to the number of submissions, we had to combine some questions and divide our lightning round into two parts. Make sure to check back next week for part two, along with a synthesis of our experts’ advice. Our panel of experts includes:
I love my kids but... I adore my four little (but lively) children, but they stress me out. How can I better handle the stress of raising children, along with everything else that I have to do? FULL POST 
March 8th, 2012
07:50 AM ET
What to do when you're 'malemployed'Editor's note: CNN contributor Amanda Enayati ponders the theme of seeking serenity: the quest for well-being and life balance in stressful times.
So wrote JJ Jeffers, one of a few hundred commenters on last week’s story, “Is your boss ruining your weekend?” “My new boss makes me work every weekend,” wrote commenter kit8. “Hence, I don’t feel stress about going to work on Monday as I am always at work.” It’s the plight of the malemployed, defined by Urban Dictionary as “when what you do for a living makes you want to kill yourself.” 
February 26th, 2012
08:00 AM ET
Is your boss ruining your weekend?Editor's note: CNN contributor Amanda Enayati ponders the theme of seeking serenity: the quest for well-being and life balance in stressful times.
“By early afternoon I felt sick with stress and was walking around snapping at everyone. It was my husband who finally figured out that I was dreading going back to work Monday morning. The anticipation was ruining my Sundays." Juliet had loved her job until the company where she worked was bought out. The culture of the organization originally built and run by a handful of idealistic scientists shifted overnight. “The scientists were out, and the incoming CEO and leadership team were these marketing types who set an entirely different tone. The new executives were like these funnels of stress, spreading anxiety throughout the organization.”  Children can develop coping skills by handling some stress. Experts advocate maintaining kids' routines during stressful times.
February 16th, 2012
09:43 AM ET
How to stop your kids from stressingEditor's note: CNN contributor Amanda Enayati ponders the theme of seeking serenity: the quest for well-being and life balance in stressful times.
Not necessarily from catastrophic burdens such as death, abuse or abandonment (though far too many children are dealing with those as well), but from the slow boil of everyday anxieties – a swell of unrelenting childhood stress that, in the long term, may bury our kids good and well in a tsunami of serious health problems. More, faster, better High on the list of stressors is the pressure many parents place on their kids: the mentality that the earlier a child does something – walks, talks, reads chapter books, excels in advanced robotics for kindergartners – the better. 
January 18th, 2012
02:29 PM ET
In denial: Why we’re still stressedEditor's note: CNN contributor Amanda Enayati ponders the theme of seeking serenity: the quest for well-being and life balance in stressful times.
The results were not particularly shocking. Large numbers of Americans are stressed out. Many, extremely so. And far too many are failing to take adequate action to alleviate the stress in their lives. All of which led my editors to wonder: If we recognize the negative health implications of high stress levels - heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and depression, among others - then why are so many of us doing such a poor job at managing it? 
January 11th, 2012
11:01 AM ET
How to deal with mean peopleEditor's note: CNN contributor Amanda Enayati ponders the theme of seeking serenity: the quest for well-being and life balance in stressful times.
“Hey! This is a crosswalk!” I yelled through the passing car’s open window. “I don’t care!” The driver shot back. Mean people, like vermin, have been around forever. But for some reason - maybe it’s the economic trials of these past few years - there seem to be more of them than there used to be. And I’m not the only one who thinks so: A 2010 National Civility Survey found that two out of three Americans believe civility is a major issue, and three in four believe the negative tenor in our country has grown worse over the past few years. 
December 7th, 2011
09:51 AM ET
Stress we face as children stays with usEditor's note: CNN contributor Amanda Enayati ponders the theme of seeking serenity: the quest for well-being and life balance in stressful times.
But that’s exactly what Dr. Rajita Sinha, director of the Yale Stress Center, explained a few weeks ago, when we spoke by phone about her research on stress, anxiety and addiction. “The stress and motivational systems in the brain are really susceptible to learning and adaptation,” said Sinha. “As children we begin to adapt to our environment and learn things from it. If a child has a pervasive sense of adversity in his or her childhood for whatever reason, the brain responds to that kind of hardship by becoming more sensitized to stress. It gets hard-wired to react much more strongly than someone else who didn’t experience a lot of turmoil. So, to some extent, you will always have an elevated level of stress.” “Fascinating.” I replied calmly, when what I was really thinking was: “That is so bloody unfair!”  Amanda Enayati poses with her older brother in a photograph from their childhood.
November 23rd, 2011
07:01 AM ET
A cancer survivor's thanksEditor's note: CNN contributor Amanda Enayati ponders the theme of seeking serenity: the quest for well-being and life balance in stressful times.
When the surgeons performed the mastectomy in 2007, they put in an expander - like a placeholder - to stretch out the skin in preparation for an implant. Back then the plastic surgeon said I had to wait something like three to six months for my skin and body to recover from chemo and radiation before I could have the reconstruction. I was dying to get back to “normal” and so I used every Jedi mind trick I knew to convince the surgeon to operate faster. I even resorted to my old Iranian negotiation tactic of asking the same question over and over again using slightly different words until the person just breaks down from mental exhaustion. Alas, the Stanford surgeon was an ex-New Yorker. He prevailed. |
  About this blog
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love. Recent Comments
 |
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertise with us | About us | Help | Advertising Practices
Would you consider embarking upon a mindful spending challenge?
