The Serenity Prayer is familiar to many people, but most people have never given it a second look as a guide for managing their lives. The wisdom and guidance in this simple prayer are profound, with extremely positive health implications for our mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being. Consider then the following:
Prayer is direct communication with the Creator of the Universe. It can be a way of saying, “Please God! Help me manage the stress in my life!”
The truth is that everyone has stress. It is not optional. It is a condition of the living, so if you find yourself having some stress, count your blessings. It is proper that we go to The Source of All things to ask for help in dealing with the challenges and possibilities that come our way.
The Serenity Prayer is familiar to many people, but most people have never given it a second look as a guide for managing their lives. The wisdom and guidance in this simple prayer are profound, with extremely positive health implications for our mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being.
Prayer is an extremely powerful way of addressing the stress in our lives. And the Serenity Prayer is extremely on-target with its emphasis on the various kinds of stress, or problems that come to each of us.
· Physical-focused Coping
· Emotion/Spirit-focused Coping
Problem-Focused Coping
Problem-focused coping is a wonderful coping skill. It assumes that there is some problem or challenge to be overcome and that a reasonable amount of planning will help you do so. Eventually you will come up with action strategies to guide yourself through a variety of steps that will solve or handle the problem. This follows the request for, “The courage to change the things I can.” Some of the methods for changing things include Planning, Taking Action, Seeking assistance, advice, or information, Suppressing competing activities, and Waiting for an appropriate opportunity or time to act. Problem-focused coping is by its very nature, action oriented. Let’s do something! Action is a good thing!
Next time we will look at Physical-focused Coping.
Remember to be good to you!
Copyright © 2013 by Gary L. Flegal, Ph.D.
•Dr. Gary Flegal is a Behavioral Medicine and Health Specialist with a doctorate in “Health Education and Human Performance” from Michigan State University. He is an exciting and accomplished presenter and keynote speaker, presenting seminars for groups and companies on location and at conventions. His advanced training in stress management came to him while working in affiliation with the original Mind/Body Medical Institute at Harvard under the direction of Herbert Benson, M.D. and his staff. In addition to corporate presentations, Dr. Flegal keeps a busy schedule working with individual clients for a variety of stress-related issues, including anger management, quitting smoking, learning to relax and manage stress, and learning self-hypnosis.
Dr. Flegal’s other passion is magic. He has been a professional magician for over 30 years and continues practicing his art at every opportunity. These two passions work together beautifully as he illustrates stress management concepts with fun, visual, and “magical” demonstrations in his stress management workshops and seminars. It also allows him to share stress management with his magic audiences wherever he goes because “Laughter is the Best Medicine!” Gary is a Reiki Master and a Certified Consulting Hypnotist, certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists.
Dr. Flegal’s specialties include stress management, anger management, positive behavior change, insomnia, smoking cessation, and exercise physiology. For individual appointments, speaking engagements, or more information, contact Gary at Professional Stress Management Services in Nashville, Tennessee, at (615)812-7280 or through his Web site: www.GaryFlegal.com.
Gary L. Flegal, Ph.D. 
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