"STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN.”
A SENSIBLE APPROACH TO LASTING RELIEF FROM STRESS

“I just can’t stop thinking about it!”
“I know it’s stupid, but I worry anyway.”
“Every time I think of money, I get angry.”
    I just can't let go until the doctor says it's cleared up.

With a lot of determination, you can learn to stop stress before it gets to you.
The key is to rapidly break down big distressing thoughts into three steps:
The three steps are remembered as “Stop,” “Look” and “Listen.”

1. STOP: Learning to “stop” a stressful thought may sound difficult. The key is to DETECT how a thought disturbs your body, and to detect the
disturbance QUICKLY, within about 5 seconds.

2. LOOK: WHERE is the tension?

Once you learn to stop a thought, you must follow with a “look” inside: Where in.your body do you sense arousal? Do you feel it in your chest, jaw, forearms, stomach, etc? Thought-arousal detection [“looking”] is greatly simplified by the use of BIOFEEDBACK. Biofeedback uses sensitive instruments where you can examine the changes in your body that occur at the EARLIEST signs of arousal from a thought.

3. LISTEN: Do I need this much tension NOW?

Listen to your own subtle unconscious arousal responses thoughts [l can't take it anymore!] while interacting with your distressing thoughts.

4. MAKE A DECISION: Do I need to ACT on this thought NOW?

This “step” comes naturally once you learn to control your arousal. Most persons rapidly learn to may take note of immediate and obvious physiological changes which accompany distressing issues, images; experiences, recollections, ideas, people, and situations. It is equally important that IRRELEVANT or UNIMPORTANT thoughts are easily put aside, thus speeding up training by focussing only on relevant issues.

That’s it. Just be sure to practice this all the time. For example - right now where do you sense unnecessary tension in your body? Did you anticipate it being difficult to remember Stop, Look and Listen? Practice it NOW and while combing your hair, driving, at lunch, on the phone, and in bed.
The payoff is wonderful. Soon you will get a real sense of personal control over thoughts which used to really bother you.

Sound familiar?