Play your strengths over and over again.

We don’t listen to music we don’t like so why repeat things we don’t like about ourselves or others see as negatives.

Know how to stop mistaking weaknesses for strengths and play your greatest hits.

Four-time Grand Slam Tennis champion Naomi Osaka is taking a lot of heat personally and professionally because she is dealing with mental health problems.

She withdrew from the French Open in May and has been lying low ever since.

She was fired for not fulfilling her media commitments by Roland Garros, merchandise dealer.

Mental health is a serious issue today and everyone is entitled to privacy and empathy.

Personal symptoms are private – not to be shared without permission

Mental breaks should be welcomed not criticized or punished 

It doesn’t matter who believes you – what matters is that YOU believe YOU.

Today, postpone even thinking about anything new that worries you.

Tuck it away for 24 hours.

In fact, pick an exact time on Tuesday when you will deal with it.

Problems don’t solve themselves – at least it’s rare and every day all of us are hit with many opportunities to worry about something additional.

By postponing worry until a set time – say 24 hours later – it is step one in reducing anxiety because anxiety worsens as we add additional worries in our daily lives.

After that, we come to realize that we have some control over our anxiety.

We may never be able to change some things but we will always be able to change the way we look at them.

No is the magic word for bullies

No, I won’t do it

No, I’m not interested

No, I won’t hear of it

No, if you don’t stop, I’ll push back

And no, I’m not afraid

When faced with “no” bullies look elsewhere.

Anxiety is worry about worry.

Once we hit anxiety overload, we panic.

When we panic, we run.

Here’s how I faced down anxiety that bordered on panic.

I have a violent reaction to MSG.

I unknowingly ingested it in salad dressing on a flight to a radio convention.

Within minutes my face was red, my heart was palpitating out of control and I was very aware that I was stuck in a tube called an airplane with no ability to get any help.

I knew many people on that flight from Philly to Las Vegas making my anxiety worse.

Do you know what worked for me?

I repeated to myself “I can handle this” over and over.

Almost immediately although the symptoms were still going strong, I felt less anxious and then the symptoms eventually let up.

Reminding yourself that you can handle anxiety is when the help arrives.

In pre-historic days surviving was the main goal.

Over time a negativity bias creeped into humans where we focus on negatives in order to go after the positives.

Our brains wander.

We forget about the good things in life.

That leaves us walking around with what Mayo Clinic Dr. Amit Sood calls “a fatigued brain”.

Rest the brain – multitasking exists but it is not good for us emotionally.

Stress is not related to any weakness in the body, it’s due to how the brain works. 

Out of the 100 events that are affecting us every day, 4 are bad and 96 are good – focus on the good.

It’s normal to have butterflies in the stomach when facing challenges like public speaking or taking the lead on a project.

Get butterflies to fly in formation.

You are in control of them not the other way around 

Butterflies are a good thing – they remind you that you care and that you are committed to doing a good job

It’s a waste of time to try to relive the past.

Invest the emotional power that is being wasted on yesterday on that which can make you happier today

The past is a file, the future is a blueprint – the only thing that matters is the present

The happiest person I know has the ability to put the past in a mental file with few regrets.  She looks at the present with eager anticipation.

She is 96 years young.

Letting go is how you gain control over life’s ups and downs

Don’t try to win anyone to your way of thinking – it doesn’t work.

Look for areas of disagreement and actually go there

Show them your heart – facts rarely win people over until the heart is touched

The prize goes to the best listener – not the best or fastest talker

When people feel they are being heard, you’ve done more than anything you can say.

Black musician Daryl Davis hangs out with Ku Klux Klan members and neo-Nazi’s – they’ve given him their robes and hoods and Davis has persuaded many of them to give up the Klan as documented in a recent Nicholas Kristof article here.

The more you make people like you the more you won’t like yourself.

Some are gifted at being ingratiating.

Some avoid disagreements and confrontations.

Some use power or money to gain approval of others.

When you worry more about liking who you truly are, the more people are attracted to you.