2. CENTERED Wellbeing Steps to a healthier you

3. Well-being Biggest effect on your wellbeing Stress Can we think about Wellbeing without thinking about Stress?

4. Objectives Relationship between stress and well-being Research updates on stress Practice based results Personal takeaways

5. Introduction  If you had to sum up how you feel about stress, which statement would be most accurate?  Stress is harmful and ought to be avoided, or managed  Stress is helpful – embrace it

6. Mindset 1: Stress is harmful  Depletes my health and vitality  Debilitates my performance and productivity  Inhibits my learning and growth  Effects of stress are negative What is your stress mindset? Mindset 2: Stress is Enhancing  Enhances my performance and productivity  Improves my health and vitality  Facilitates my learning and growth  Effects of stress are positive and should be utilized

7. The Effect you Expect is the Effect you get  Thinking away the pounds  Believe yourself healthy

8. The Effect you Expect is the Effect you get

9. How to Change your Stress Mindset Stress is good for you… Open label placebo trials Vs. Trick/ Deception When people are told about a mindset and they are encouraged to remember the mindset in everyday life, it does not decrease their effectiveness.

10. Second stress mindset intervention study UBS: HR intervention and experimentation story

11. Cultivating a new mindset  3 step process for practicing a new mindset: First acknowledge stress when you experience it Notice the stress, how it affects your body Welcome stress; recognize that it is a response to something you care about Can you connect to the positive motivation behind the stress? What is at stake here and why does it matter to you? What can you DO right now that reflects your goals and values?

12. Most Effective Mindset Interventions  Three parts: ① Learning a new point of view ② Doing an exercise that encourages you to adopt and apply the mindset ③ Providing an opportunity to share the idea with others

13. What is your Stress Mindset?  What do you say out loud or think to yourself? Your stress mindset will also influence how you react to other people’s stress Do the words motivate self-care or do they just make you worry about health? When others talk about stress from a certain mindset, how does it make you feel about your own stress?

14. Rethink Stress: Rethink your Stress Response  How the stress response helps you  Rise to the Challenge (motivation, attention, energy)  Connect with others (pro-social, social connection, increases courage)  Learn and Grow (restores nervous balance, helps brain to learning and grow

15. Choose your Own Stress Response  When you feel your body responding to stress, ask yourself which part of the response you need most. Do you need to fight, escape, connect, find meaning or grow? Even if your stress response is pushing you in one direction, focusing on how you want to respond can shift your biology to support you

16. Indices of Wellbeing Happiness, life expectancy, national happiness

17. Stress Paradox High levels of stress are associated with both distress and wellbeing Happy lives are not stress free, nor does a stress free life guarantee happiness Higher levels of stress go along with what we want: love, health, satisfaction with our lives.

18. A meaningful life is a stressful life

19. Is your Life meaningful?  What are predictors of meaningful life?  Stress may even contribute to well-being  Rethink Stress: What brings meaning to your life? Take a few moments to list your most meaningful roles, relationships and activities or goals. In what parts of your life are your most likely to experience joy, love, laughter, learning or a sense of purpose?

20. Rethink Stress: What is the cost of avoiding stress?  Missed opportunities : What events, experiences, activities, roles or other opportunities have you turned down or cut out of your life because you thought they were too stressful?  Avoidant coping : What “escapes” do you turn to to avoid or get rid of, or numb thoughts and feelings related to stress in life  Limiting your future : Is thee anything that could enhance your life

21. Engage  Imagine that you work for an organization with hundreds of employees and you are about to give a presentation to the entire group. The CEO and board members are in the audience. You have been anxious about this talk all week and now your heart is pounding. Your mouth feels dry.  What is the best thing to do at this moment? Try to calm down OR Try to feel excited

22. Amped up or Falling Apart?  When it comes to performing under pressure, being stressed is better than being relaxed  Transform stress: turn nerves into excitement Transforming cycle of anxiety and avoidance

23. Transform Stress: Turn a Threat into a Challenge  What did you do that helped you get through it?  Did you seek out information, advice or any kind of support?  What did this experience teach you about how to deal with adversity?  Has this experience made you stronger?  Which of these strengths can you draw from?  Are there coping skills you may want to develop? How would you begin to use this situation as an opportunity to grow?

24. Transform Stress: Choose to find an upside to adversity Choose an ongoing situation in your life or a recent stressful experience. What, if any benefits have you experienced from stress? List of commonly reported positive changes experienced in response to hardship, loss or trauma: o A sense of personal strength o Increased appreciation for life o Spiritual growth o Enhanced social connections and relationships o Identifying new possibilities and directions

25. Final Reflections  Stress is most likely harmful when three things are true: You feel inadequate to it It isolates you from others and It feels utterly meaningless and against your will You could ask yourself right now: “How would I want to grow from stress?” If there is one thing I learned,. Any moment can be a turning point in how you experience stress, if you choose to make it one.

26. My Story

27. The art of stress free productivity is...  A myth  A martial art  Not true

28. CENTERED Wellbeing To a stressful and more happier you