There are many ways to deal with stress. The principles and techniques on this page show you how to reduce and eliminate the 'head trash' that promotes long-term health damaging stress.
In this section, we'll look at doing inner work rather than using actual techniques or remedies to address stress head on.
Over time, a natural by-product of these mental shifts and practices is a greater sense of inner calm and resilience.
They encourage a change of mental and physical habits, attitudes and beliefs.
If you are serious about reducing your stress triggers, this is where you need to work. Better health and greater peace will be your rewards.
I'll be the first to admit that knowing the ways to deal with stress, and actually doing it are two different things! And sometimes this inner work has a ripple effect of creating some additional short-term stress.
Making shifts in yourself and choices that threaten the "status quo" can upset other people. This is the time to use use ways to manage stress in the moment. Otherwise, you may get "derailed" and fall back into old patterns.
Seven Principle Ways to Deal with Stress
When most people think about ways to deal with stress they think of stress reduction techniques and ways of coping with stress and anxious feelings. And they are certainly correct.
These principles help us go deeper as we examine the roots behind our stress triggers so we have the opportunity to experience a relaxed mind more often.
The first and often most important step in any healing process is awareness.
Take a few days to notice your usual ways of coping with stress. Notice what happens in your mind and body when feeling stressed. You may want to jot your notes into a journal.
Familiarize yourself with the relationship between stress and health. Much that happens in our bodies is not consciously noticeable. Reading about the damaging effects of stress serves as a great motivation for implementing ways to deal with stress.
It's not a situation that is stressful, but our perception of it.
Our perceptions of an event, and feeling like we have little or no control over what's happening in our lives, trigger the stress response.
When you embrace the mentality of "victimhood", you blame and complain. The truth is that, even though things dohappen that can't be controlled, we are ultimately responsible for our own thoughts and actions. When we change our perceptions and beliefs, our responses and actions naturally change.
When you raise your threshold of acceptance towards yourself and others, you will naturally handle stressful episodes with greater ease. The Work, by Byron Katie, illustrates this principle beautifully.
Realize that you do have choices.
Everything you do and think is a choice. To let repetitive negative thoughts that haunt you continue mercilessly is a choice. Getting up for work in the morning is a choice. Eating junk food is a choice. So is saying "yes" to another project.
Become conscious of your unconscious choices and accept responsibility for all of them. This mindset helps you realize that you are in control, even when it feels like you aren't. You are then free to make changes or continue on the same path.
Regardless, you now approach your life from a place of empowerment, not entrapment. This is one of the best ways to deal with stress provoking situations that would normally send you into a tailspin.
Become more attuned to your true desires and rhythms.
Listen to what your heart, mind and body are telling you. Do you really need to work another hour when your body is screaming for rest? Do you have to finish that needlepoint even thoughyou spent money on it, but have long since lost interest in it?
We have a great capacity to work long and hard when we are engaged in activities that inspire us. Tune into what you love and make time for them often. Feel the difference between being in this flow compared to giving yourself to too many "obligations" that drain you and cause stress.
Aim for more of those flowing moments and allow for them to evolve and change as you do. You're worth it.
Live in the present moment.
Many people get all stressed out fearing what may happen in the future or regretting what happened in the past. The truth is,there is only the present moment. The past and present only exist in our imagination. Worse yet, this mental habit activates the stress response for situations that may never occur and waste more energy on already draining past events.
When you project yourselves into the past and future you sacrifice the energy and attention you could be using to live a happier more fulfilled life right now. Let them go.
Let go of your emotional baggage.
Getting rid of old traumas, attitudes, thoughts and beliefs that no longer serve you is one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself. Remember that the bodymind responds the same whether an event is real or imagined.
When you relive old traumas over and over, you create a state of chronic stress that could have long term health consequences.
You may be pleasantly surprised at how quickly energy psychology techniques can negate the emotional charge of negative programming bad memories. I've seen clients release traumatic memories that were still bothering them for fifty years in one session! You don't necessarily forget, but the emotional charge is alleviated. It's one of my favorite ways to deal with stress from the past.
Take care of yourself.
Research shows that people who exercise regularly and get enough sleep are less prone to getting stressed. When you feel good, and feel good about yourself, you are more resilient. Healthier people are less likely to suffer severe effects of stress.
This is also true of being adequately nourished. People who arelacking in certain vitamins and minerals can feel internal tension and are then more easily triggered by outside forces.
Practicing habits of healthy living such as substituting natural cleaning products for chemical ones, naturally lowers your body's stress load with no extra work.
Live a clutter-free life
Get rid of stuff you don't need and organize the things you do need. When people live and work in cluttered, messy spaces their stress levels go up. There's an old Feng Shui practice that encourages you to get rid of 27 unneeded items a day. Uncluttered open spaces feel better and open the space for new energy to come in.
Emotional baggage and unnecessary busy-ness that truly doesn't serve your higher purposes create stressful clutter in your life in addition to material stuff.
As you can see, implementing these principle ways to deal with stress is an on-going process. They require consistency and diligence, especially in the beginning until they become more automatic. Over time you'll notice that you truly are not bothered by the same things. When you are, you are generally bothered less and rebound quicker.
Even small changes in the above areas can reap big rewards, notonly as a form of natural stress relief, but in all areas of your life.
The benefits of practicing the ways to deal with stress can be profound and positively life-changing.
You can certainly do much of this work on your own. Most of us, though, get stuck from time to time and benefit from working with a coach, healer or health provider.
Reminder: If you are under medical care, or have mental concerns that may require professional assistance, please consult with your health care provider before using the remedies and techniques presented on this site.
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