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 Until you find that proverbial genie in a bottle, you feel you may never manage to successfully get rid of stress in your life.  You feel you’re constantly doing a circus act with all the responsibilities you’re juggling in the air.  Although it may be impossible to totally eliminate stress from your system (because in tiny doses, they can be healthy too!), there are easy ways to better manage stress.

Express yourself.  That old Madonna song does hold a lot of truth to it.  Instead of bottling up your emotions, it helps a great deal to talk about them.  Keeping your feelings trapped will only make resentment build, and that could worsen things for you.  If someone is troubling you, try to communicate with that person in a respectful manner.  It’ll take a huge load off your chest.

Say “No” sometimes.  You can never underestimate the power of this magic word.  If you start saying “no”, you are cutting down the unnecessary stressors in your life.    Taking on more responsibilities at work, for instance, will only push you over the edge of sanity.  Know your limits and abide by them.  Realize that you are no superhero.

Put things in perspective.  Always try to look at the big picture.  When you find yourself struggling with a problem or a stressful situation, think of how it figures in time.  Will it still matter a month or a year from now?  Is it even worth thinking about?  If it’s not something significant, then divert your energies elsewhere.

There is no cookie-cutter formula for managing stress.  Find what technique suits you like a pair of gloves to a tailored sportsman, and you will soon feel more in control of things.

What we tend to overlook is the fact that men also have their own expectations of us.  Yes, the world does not only revolve around us!  What exactly do men want from us women, then?

Understanding.  Probably more than a shiny red Ferrari, the man in your life would like you to give him your understanding.   If he’s too busy to answer a text from you, understand that he may be buried deep in work.   You should always try to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Trust.  This goes hand in hand with understanding.  Give your man your trust, and he’ll love you forever.  It’s important for a man to know that you have faith in him, that he won’t do anything to hurt you.  The more you nag him about something, the more you’ll push him away.  Jealousy builds walls and breaks up otherwise lasting relationships.

Don’t wait for an important occasion to give your man the gifts of understanding and trust.  Work at it everyday, and soon they will come out of you naturally.

Stay intimate.  Sure you both lead busy lives and have putting food on the table as a top priority, but you must never forget  those little displays of intimacy.  As you’re busy taking the turkey out of the oven, you can give him a quick peck on the cheek, or even just a firm hand-squeeze.  Any tiny loving gesture will speak volumes.

Take care of him.  Men are suckers for this.  They won’t admit it, but they do like being taken care of.  Even the macho man falls for a little babying here and there.  Fix him his favorite breakfast or give him a back rub when he comes home from work after a tiring day.

Text him.  Never underestimate the power of technology.  Sure, he’s up to his neck in work, but if he receives a brief but loving text from you, he’s sure to feel energized.  Don’t fret if he doesn’t reply.  Just take consolation in the fact that he did read your message and is definitely feeling better because of it.

Take care of yourself.  We moms tend to put ourselves at the bottom of our priorities list, but we must realize that in order to be able to do anything for our families, we should first look out for ourselves.  Basically, nobody else will, since our families depend highly on us.  Imagine how your kids would cope if you were bed-ridden?  Work out to keep fit, eat right, indulge in your hobbies once in a while.  Being healthy physically, emotionally and mentally makes you a better mom.

Do something repetitive.  If you get stressed out over a particular situation, try to step back a bit and do a repetitive task, such as knitting or gardening.  Doing something with a pattern gives you the sense that things are in order, and that helps relieve anxiety.

Keep in mind that being a mom is one of the greatest rewards in life.  In order to keep going, just try to maintain optimism, believing that most things in life aren’t finite, and that with enough courage, you can help see your kids and yourself through most of life’s misfortunes.

We all know that motherhood is a full-time job which doesn’t afford one the luxury of days off.   Even when the kids are away, a mother still thinks about them.  It’s important for a mom such as me to indulge in little pleasures.

I, for one, have just recently taken a fondness to playing online bingo.  I temporarily seek respite from my motherly duties when I play diva bingo online.  Who can possibly not like online bingo?  It’s fun, easy to play, and virtually free.  I’ve chanced upon this free gala bingo site and have yet to be disappointed.

What I like about playing online bingo is that I can play with someone from miles away in real time.  On days when I’m all alone at home, waiting for the washing machine bell to go off, I manage to sneak in a bingo game with a friend from the Middle East who’s probably just as bored as I am!

Motherhood does have its perks, but it also has some downtime.  When loneliness strikes, and I can’t find anybody to grab and sit down to listen to my endless rants, I simply indulge in a game of online bingo.

I see myself doing this even when I’m old and gray.  Whether online or offline, I will keep playing the game.  Can you imagine me in granny pants, sashaying my way into a bingo hall?

For us busy moms, the work doesn’t stop with the days or nights after Christmas.  In fact, this is when the real work begins.  Post-holiday cleanup can just be as stressful as preparing for the yuletide season.  Just thinking about the tall tower of dirty dishes waiting at the kitchen sink puts a damper on your goals at applying that eyelash growth product on your lashes.

Once again, we moms put ourselves at the bottom of the list.  Everything else comes first: household chores, picking up your hubby’s socks, mending that hole on your son’s favorite jersey.

At the end of the day, all that matters is that everyone in the family is happy and healthy.  It’s occasions like Christmas when we realize how much we should be thankful for.

Hope your Christmas was merry.  I’m sure mine was!

Since most, if not all, of the photos we take nowadays are with a digital camera, it becomes more convenient then to save them electronically. You have the option to burn them to a CD and do some CD replication, if you want to hand these out to friends or relatives.

If you want to share those photos with family overseas, you can simply upload them to any free online photo album. There’s shutterfly.com and kodakgallery.com, to name a few. Anyone- with your consent- will be able to access those memories from anywhere in the world.

With your digital photos, you can even create digital scrapbooks and likewise share them online. There are a lot of digiscrapping resources on the internet. It’s pretty easy to learn and addictive too.

Memories are meant to be saved and shared. With the many options at your disposal, choose the one which you are most comfortable with, and your memories will certainly last a lifetime.

This is where the value of gratitude comes into the picture.  Whenever I do something big or small for any member of my family, I can almost feel my heart do cartwheels when they say a simple “thank you” to me.  Any form of gratitude elates my spirit and only motivates me to do more things for them.

This post may be a little too early for Thanksgiving, but there’s never a set date to show our thanks to the people we hold most dear to our hearts.  Whenever the opportunity presents itself, say thanks to whoever has gone the extra mile- or inch- for you.  A grateful heart makes for a happy family.

It’s been ages since we last saw one another, as we each have our own daily troubles to keep us preoccupied.  W e hardly have the time to catch up on each others’ lives.  The days of endless chatter on the phone and long stretches of hours together over coffee are long gone.  A gazillion other responsibilities have taken over the simple joy of girlfriends convening to talk about hunky men and figure-flattering jeans.

It’s always important to touch base with who you are- apart from your husband, kids and the seemingly insurmountable household chores.  As much as you can, try to carve out some time for yourself.  If you can’t physically be together with your girlfriends, try to at least call them up or send them a text message.  Don’t even think about posting on their Facebook wall, as nothing can be more impersonal.  It is pretty easy to be insincere online, believe me.  If your schedules allow you to, mark off a day to meet up at a nearby restaurant, even for just a couple of hours.

Friends are there for a reason.  They help remind us who we are- that we can still be sexy and fashionable despite our mommy duties.  Value them, as they are truly indispensable in this ever-changing world.

Almost all of us worry several times a day.  Whether it’s about the fact that you’re knee-deep in debt, or you’re worried about your present romantic relationship, we all have our troubles.  A certain amount of worry may be inevitable, but if it constantly permeates our entire being, then that’s a red flag.

Some causes of our worry may have palpable solutions.  If it’s money you worry about, you can come up with ways to cut down on expenses, for instance.   Some worries, however, are borne out of fear of the unknown… fear of the uncertainty of the future.  There are just some things which we have no control over.

What makes worry detrimental to our mental and physical health is it zaps the energy out of us.  It wastes our time thinking about what has yet to transpire.  Instead of acting on the present, we expend all our energy thinking and thinking about what is to happen.

A better alternative would be to simply accept the things which we cannot change and just let God be in control- because He is.  Whatever it is that’s troubling you, it too shall pass.