When we are faced with overwhelming tasks or stressful situations

– it is important to remember that no matter what, we all are capable of doing what’s needed.

Yes, we do have the strength. With no exceptions, all of us can perform well under stress, and be at our best at any point. We are the heroes. It is our human nature.

As a human race, we have proven that over and over again in various circumstances. We can always find the strength within, look the impossible in the face, and say: I don’t take “no” for an answer.

We have not been defeated. We survived. And we have an ongoing opportunity to prove how strong, wise, and trustworthy we are. Yes, we can trust ourselves if only for this one thing: we are survivors, and we don’t easily back off when we are fighting for what is important or dear to us.

If for whatever reason, we have forgotten about that, we can simply flashback to our past success and remember that since we did it before, we can do it again. All of us can recall such situations, whether in our private life or at work when we were faced with the impossible and we made it possible. This is our true nature.

Let’s have a quick look at that:

As a human species, we are greatly disadvantaged compared to other animals. We don’t have fur to help us survive in the cold, our fangs can’t defend us, we can’t see or hear as well as other animals, can’t run fast enough, our offspring are helpless for years, etc. If we look back at all the climate changes and disasters on our planet, we need to wonder – how on Earth have we ever survived?

The first thing that comes to mind is that we knew how to organize teams and support each other, for the greater good of us all. But we also need to remember that any team, no matter how small or how large – consists of individuals. And as individuals, we humans are awesome.

We are capable of the most beautiful things, and we are capable of becoming heroes in the blink of an eye.

Some simple steps to overcome stress and be at our best – whenever that’s what we need:

Often what overwhelms us in situations that require lots of effort, skills or strategizing is that we tend to think about the outcome, fearing that it won’t be the way we want it.

And this is the major cause of how we shoot ourselves in the foot. If you are concentrating on the outcome, due to your negative subconscious programming – your thoughts often trigger your subconscious fears: fear of change, fear of failure, fear of inadequacy, fear of being judged, fear of rejection, loss of freedom, fear of success, fear of getting hurt, etc. In other words: all the fears you stored in your subconscious kick in when you are hoping for a certain outcome.

What’s the remedy for that?

• Forget the outcome. It will be what it will be. You are living your life. You can design it in any way you want – BUT there is always some room for surprises or for improvements made by the process of life itself.

• Instead, concentrate on the task at hand and see it simply as a challenge: challenge yourself to have fun with the task and do the best you can do – because that is the natural thing. Being the best you can be, and doing the best you can do – in any given situation, is the natural thing to do for the human species. Fearing what may or may not be – is not natural to us.

Such fears have been imprinted in our subconscious. We were never born with them. We were born with our innate joy of life and until our subconscious was reprogrammed by our caregivers or our society, belief system, or the spirit of the times we were born in – we had no reason to speculate about such fears.

• Slow down and find a way to de-stress, if there is time for that before you step forward.

Yes, it may be difficult it is to deal with our rushing thoughts. Yet it can be done. Listen to music for a while, smell the flowers, look at a peaceful landscape – whatever pleasantly engages your senses, and helps you to de-stress. Breathing deeply is another good technique. Or – if there is no time to slow down, use a very simple technique: when a stressful or negative thought comes to mind – shout at it in your mind: STOP! Or put elastic on your wrist and snap it instead. Your brain will quickly learn to associate unwanted thoughts with pain and will avoid them at all costs. It works like magic.

• Build your self-esteem.

You can do it by repeating useful affirmations and reprogramming your subconscious for positive beliefs about yourself.

Remember that all success in life starts with accepting our own worth and letting ourselves have the life we want. We need to let ourselves have it, not dream and wish about it.

As long as we keep dreaming about something, there is a gap between ourselves and our dreams. We need to see what we want as part of our existence. That’s why it is so important to reprogram our subconscious and start believing that we deserve the best in the world. Because we do.

All of us deserve what’s best in the world, and we need to learn how to claim it for ourselves.

• Think of your tasks as if you were playing a game. Make it fun for yourself. Be creative, reach for your childhood memories: remember how you played? How inventive, passionate, and joyous you could be? Try to evoke in yourself that lust for life. Think of your task as if it were an adventure, not a task. Whatever that task may be. There are no limits or rules when it comes to your perception. You decide how you see things. Decide what’s best for you in any given situation. Enjoying your life is the key. We don’t need to change circumstances to feel happier. But we need to change our perception of the circumstances. And that is how it works.

Don’t think about things that you have no control over.

• Don’t think about what may happen or not because of them. It isn’t important how many people apply for the job you want, or if it’s going to rain. These are things you can’t change. What you have control over is your attitude, your performance, your faith in yourself, and how much effort you want to put into whatever it is you’re attempting.

• Be confident about who you are and don’t dwell on what is not who you are. You hold your entire world within you. The world outside only mirrors that world. You create it with your thoughts, whether you are aware of it or not. Stop complaining about what you don’t want, because that way you are creating what you don’t want.

What we focus on – grows.

Just as the plant we water, grows and blooms. Stop watering the plant you don’t want to grow.

When you follow these steps, there are no mistakes.

• Learn to enjoy what you are experiencing. According to scientists and psychologists – happy people are healthier, both physically and emotionally, live longer, and have much more fulfilling lives than the grumpy, complaining, and therefore unhappy, among us. They are eager to challenge themselves and think outside the box. And so – they accomplish much more.

The joy of life makes us thirsty for life.

Live your life with joy and life will bring you joy. Make joy the blueprint for your life.

And yes, it is possible under any circumstances.

You have probably noticed that there are people in the world whose happy state seems to be defying any logic, any reasoning we’ve been used to. Those people remain happy no matter what the circumstances. Some of them are poor, uneducated, and even illiterate. Some of them lead regular lives, have regular jobs, and deal with similar problems as the rest of our society. Some are richer, perhaps famous, some are truly well off. Some of them may be chronically ill or starving as we speak, somewhere in impoverished countries.

No matter what their background, and no matter what their circumstances, those people have one thing in common: happiness. It seems to be their natural state of being. We often think of such people as the lucky ones. We tend to say that they were “just born that way.”

The good news is that you too were born that way.

However, it is important to wake up to life. Being born to it is only the beginning.

• Whether you reach for the stars, apply for a new job, or climb a mountain, a good thing to ask yourself is: “What is the worst-case scenario?” Once you answer that question you will know that there isn’t any worst-case scenario that could scare you away. We don’t tend to reach for things that are not in our reach. We usually attempt things that are in alignment with our talents, skills, knowledge, or expertise – unless, of course, we are delusional about who we are. But that is another topic entirely, isn’t it?

So once you have played in your head the worst-case scenario, throw it out of your Mind instantly and focus on…the task at hand. Right here, right now, in the present. Focus on what you are doing, and stay with it.

The simple rule is: to stay in the present and enjoy the challenge.

No matter what is happening, it’s simply an experience that you have decided to have. And, again, the more fun you have with it, the more fun you get from it. As simple as that.

• Remind yourself that this is just another opportunity.

If this one doesn’t work, there always will be more. Life is a stream of opportunities. Each of them is just an experience through which we learn who we are and let ourselves become who we want to become. There is not just one opportunity of a lifetime. Every opportunity can be such an opportunity for you. And if you miss out on some, you will find more of them at every corner – IF you know how to look for them. We talked before about how to recognize a truly good opportunity for us, and you can find the topics that interest you on my blog.

• Open your heart. Look inside to find out what you truly want and need to bring to the world. Then go for it.

You are the opportunity of your lifetime. The only that counts for real. Everything else can be repeated, duplicated, or dismissed. Not you. You are unique, and your life journey is unique. Don’t look outside to find your strength. Because you can find it only inside. And once you find it, nothing is impossible for you.

REMEMBER ALSO: OUR SUBCONSCIOUS rules 90% of our thinking and behavior. It is responsible for our habits, emotions, automatic reactions, defensive mechanisms etc., which may keep you stuck in unwanted situations in life. You can reprogram your subconscious and get rid of the negative patterns stopping you from Living The Life You Want.

NOTE: The above article is an excerpt from one of the weekly radio shows “The Life You Want is Yours – with Johanna Kern”, aired every Sunday on British Islanders Radio, from January to March 2016.

Listen to the whole show in the archives (January 31, 2016):

Useful Affirmation:

“I am capable of changing the cycle of my thinking with ease. I can consciously emphasize my happiness and diminish my worries. I keep deepening my knowledge of myself. I can feel my inner Power rise and grow in strength. I know that I can do, feel and achieve more wonderful things than I can ever imagine!” – From the award-winning book “365 (+1) Affirmations to Supercharge Your Life” by Johanna Kern.

And before all:

Relax. All is good. All is just the way it is supposed to be.