“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk our own path.” — Buddhaint Teresa of Calcutta
The other day, I had a conversation with a friend of mine that gave me goosebumps.
She is someone who, by all accounts, is super successful. On the outside, she looks like she has everything going in her favor, but on the inside, she has been struggling to add some order, simplicity and sanity into her life.
When you have a lot going on—when your life is charging full-speed ahead—it’s often hard to step back and figure out what you can drop, if anything. It’s tough to even think about dropping something when everything appears so great to everyone else on the outside.
My friend told me that she knew in her heart that she wanted to make a change to her life, but that she she was nervous about speaking up and actually going after it. For her, this involved having a conversation with her boss about shifting how she worked.
In a very broad spectrum, if we decide to give a definition of stress, we can say
WHAT STRESS IS OUR STYLE
Stress is the body's response to changes in the environment, which is affecting our lives. In each individuals life, there is constant bevy of changes happening. Adjusting and adapting to these changes is inevitable. But this effort of adapting to changes definitely leaves us with a legacy of stress to deal with.
We can broadly define the reasons, as to why stress overtakes our lives, but we need to also understand, that stress us a normal part of everyday life for most people. We need to also understand it's causes and challenges, and then look for our personal way of dealing with it.
This is really a basic human tendency, I mean obsessing over a particular thought, but as it begins to overwhelm us, it turns into stress.
SENSE OF POWER
On the negative side of rumination, we understand the power struggle of the human mind. It is basically a constant repetition of negative thinking patterns which take over. When you are experiencing the feeling of a situation, which you perhaps experienced a day earlier, maybe someone said something to hurt you, and you continue to carry that hurt in your mind constantly, you keep repeating that thought within you and actually magnify that whole situation and that hurtful feeling so much, that it simply overtakes your whole life. You then start rollicking in stress.
Heart racing; sweaty palms; shortness of breath and a knot in your stomach the size of a grapefruit. If you’ve experienced these sensations in your body, you’re most likely one of the millions who have been affected by anxiety disorder.
In our fast-paced society, anxiety affects a staggering number of adults. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 40 million adults in the United States are affected by anxiety alone. Approximately 65% of North Americans take prescription medication daily to help offset the disorder and of those, a reported 43% take mood altering prescriptions regularly.
Have you ever felt so overwhelmed and stressed out?
Perhaps you were juggling so many things, handling so many responsibilities, facing an important deadline, or needing to make some important decisions.
Once you get caught up in the spiral of overthinking, it can be difficult to get out of it. You end up feeling overwhelmed from all the directions your mind is pulling you.
If you listen to those voices, they can be crippling and will rob you of your power, freedom and dreams.
You are not the voices in your head.
You are not your thoughts.
Just because your mind tells you something doesn’t mean it’s true.
To be free you must learn to develop a relationship with your mind. By recognizing … You are NOT your mind!!
It is only when the awareness strikes you, that, you are neglecting a certain part of your innerself, which is leading you towards stress, you pick up on your stance, and start focusing on it, and then start working towards alleviating it.
SELF CARE
This in itself is about creating a plan, which you need to customize, to your own requirements, as each one's emotional requirements are different according to his own inherent needs. A self care plan for a student would obviously be different from that for a retired person.
Assessing and reassessing certain areas in life is very essential.
We can actually notice that many people are suffering from something we may call, a Social Anxiety Disorder, commonly termed as SAD. People suffering from this remain stressed, most of the time. Their muscles constantly remain in tension almost always. There is a certain technique mainly used to get rid of this state called Progressive Muscle Relaxation or in short form PMR. This is one of the best techniques for anxiety reduction. It was first introduced by the American Physician Edmond Jacobson in the 1930's. It involves tension and relaxation in the body's major muscle groups.
For most of us, stressing becomes a way of life, and we step into a comfort zone with it. We may begin to feel sometimes, that we are not able to control the circumstances for the moment. But we can control our response to it.
There of course, cannot be one style or strategy for all people. For each one of us, relief from stress comes in our own unique way. Whatever strategy works for one may not be ideally suited for the other. So it is important that we have, a number of stress management tools at hand. Each one of us can decide, which is the tool, best suited to us.
Today I feel like suggesting, some very basic and simple strategies, which can be worked from home, as it is, only in the privacy of our own homes are we far more relaxed than anywhere else, it is our natural comfort zone. So everything we do in our comfort zone works better and faster on us.
Physical activity has always been given a lot of importance in health related issues, so we can even be justified in saying that, stress is the direct result of how actively we have maintained our physical health.
I did discuss earlier, how stressful experiences, contribute in a big way to weight change, and I do believe seriously that the control button to these changes, is so very much within us.
IMPORTANCE OF EXERCISE
We mostly on the normal scale, evaluate mental health issues, like stress specially, with psychological factors, and people land up with psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists for stress relief.
EXERCISE CAN ALLEVIATE DEPRESSION
EMOTIONAL ISSUES ARISING
MOOD SWINGS
CHANGES IN THOUGHT PATTERNS
NATURAL BOOST TO IMMUNE SYSTEM
PROMOTES CONFIDENCE
SOURCE OF SOCIAL SUPPORT
OVERALL HEALTH BENEFITS
Be stress free and feel joyful.
One of the favorite lines of women in a party is " Oh I really think that you have lost weight " This is almost a cliche. Yet we need to realize that, we actually hold the control button to this story of weight loss.
As normal balanced human beings, we need to organize ourselves in such a way, that stress really doesn't enter our lives. We need to figure what it is that keeps us empowered when we are facing a lot, and what we need to do to keep us in that constantly aligned state, which facilitates the relaxation mode.
We have to first delve into our level of awareness, this is what holds the key to what we need to do to keep us calm, happy and also find us the means to what keeps us centered, the ongoing techniques and formulas we need, to maintain the balance.
April is National Stress Awareness Month – a "holiday" of sorts that invites us all to take the opportunity to acknowledge and address the stress in our lives. We all face stress from time to time, and some of us truly struggle with it. In fact, a recent study reveals that approximately 57 percent of people experience paralyzing stress, and 47 percent say their response to stress is to "take it out on themselves." Ouch.
One of the most effective ways we can reduce our experience of stress is through the practice of mindfulness. Mindfulness can be applied in many areas of life, and it offers us the chance to tap into our inner peacefulness in spite of whatever outside stressors we may encounter. Here are some mindful ways to take the sting out of stress this month, and anytime. Try them for yourself and see how much better you feel.
Furthermore the environment around seems to enhance it. Everything around us seems to carry this unseen tension of what the future will bring along. There is a level of restlessness in everybody's mannerism. The body language of all people seems to limit this restlessness. Catching the signals and quelling the restlessness is imperative for the well-being of all.
Since exams are a constant in a student's life, their stress is continuous. I just feel the need to talk about how we need to handle this level of stress, which encompasses and impacts participation in classes, performance of tests on the general well being in a students life.
It could also be any other situation which you feel cannot changed with immediate effect. You know if you allow the situation to overwhelm you, it will take you into a level of chronic stress, which is the cause of various health issues.
When someone walks into my office and says"I'm stressed" I just know that there is not enough self care happening.
Of course we cannot be always controlling our circumstances, but definitely we can control how well we are reacting to them, dealing with them and keeping control of our lives.
Connecting to one's inner peace, inner level of calm and strength is what is truly required of us, in order to remain stress free. Allowing the flow from within and connecting ones soul and spirit to the body is so essential. Being tired from your routine , eating poorly and feeling generally fatigued makes you vulnerable and more reactive to stress.
Resilience to stress only comes when you use the resources around you to keep your calm, and be less reactive to maintain the balance.
Taking good care of your body, mind and soul, is what is required and is essential. Living your life in a state of balance, is an art you need to master. This comes only when you continuously decide to take control of life, and move forward in a disciplined manner.
Getting your body in order is very important and keeping your mind and soul in a perfect connect is what we desire.
I am going to suggest a few ways to reach a level of self care.
Simply having a clear plan for stress relief can help you feel empowered, shed your stress and feel more relaxed.
We normally in our day to day lives, don't actually notice the stress building up, it is only when we begin to get overwhelmed by stress does it start showing up in different ways, like a low immune system or irritability. Most of the lifestyle diseases are attributed to stress. It can also be held responsible for the minor irritants in life.
Fortunately for us we just need to realize that very small changes in lifestyle and attitude, can make a huge difference in how we approach and face the differences in our lives.
We need to have a mixture of long term and short term stress relievers, in order to reach a level of ongoing stress relief, so that stress never really overwhelms us.
"I am successful", is a statement that many of us like to give, because we so strongly identify with our worldly success.
A successful career, a loving family, popularity among friends, a strong social network. Is there anything more one could ask for. And yet you feel something is missing in your life. That essential spark, that feeling of "The lightness of Being"
Why is it that some kind of stress us constantly nagging at you. What could be that nagging element. Is anything missing in life, is a question many of us are asking of ourselves. The answer is "Yes" it is the feeling of having a sense of purpose, that is actually missing.
All of us, deep within ourselves, feel that need to be needed. The feeling of having a meaning to our lives is essential. A distinct sense of purpose, that you are valued because you are worth it.
This sense of purpose would essentially be the reason that gives a meaning to our existence on the planet.
The eternal question, why do we need a purpose.
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