I have to admit that it is impossible to eradicate stress. Actually, stress is sometimes goof for you. It can give you the boost of energy you need to overcome a particular challenge or to achieve a particular goal. Nevertheless, stress can sometimes be painful but if you learn how to manage it you can turn it to your favor.
In order to manage stress successfully you need to involve both your mind and body, as you can imagine. So take a look at this approach, divided in two parts:
Let’s start with the inner (mind) work:
- Start or finish your day meditating*: by incorporating meditation to your morning “ritual” you will start your day in a peaceful, loving manner. Ending your day with meditation will allow you to relax before going to bed.
- Let go: learn to detach yourself from senseless worries. There is a time for action and a time for stillness. Creativity frequently comes in the latter so if you don’t give yourself a break it will be harder to come up with creative solutions to your problems. Worrying non-stop will only make it worse. Allow yourself to move on.
- Trust yourself: accept yourself as you are and trust on your ability to overcome any challenge you might face. Even if you fail, do not blame yourself for what you did or did not. Nobody is perfect and we also learn by making mistakes.
- Leave the past where it belongs: accept that the past is behind you and that you cannot change it anymore. What you did or did not is done. The best thing you can do is learn from the past and focus on the present.
Then, let’s take a look at the external (body) work:
- Practice sport: working out is a proven stress relief method. Try to do yoga, or at least a couple of stretches if you are feeling tense, you will feel much more relaxed and at peace, trust me.
- Try some exercises of sophrology: it consists of easy-to-do exercises that lead to a healthy, relaxed body and a calm and alert mind. If you want to know more about it, consult this website.
- Eat well: eating well will give you all the nutrients you need to feel energized and ready to achieve all the things you have to do. If you want to know more about this, read our article about it. Remember, that nourishing your body properly also means drinking enough water as we already mentioned before.
- Sleep well: like we said on a previous article, sleeping is extremely important. It will give you the energy you need throughout the day and it will help you feel relaxed.
- Take a walk: if you are way too busy to do anything else, at least allow yourself the pleasure of taking a walk. And when you do so, contemplate the world. Observe all those things that you normally do not pay attention to. This will enable you to slow down and your body will take a kind of pause. Taking a walk during your lunch break for instance can be a good idea (and yes, turn off your phone while you are at it).
- Stop procrastinating: postponing things won’t do you good. It will oblige you to speed up or to try to perform several things at the same time. Procrastinating is a precursor of stress.
Stress is not only a state of mind or a feeling, it is a health matter. Being stressed for long periods contributes to the creation of bad habits such as eating junk food or taking medicines in order to feel better. This in turn will bring your more pain and eventually other diseases.
Try to apply these tips and let us know how you feel after.
*Meditation is a state of full awareness and it can be as simple as mindfully breathing, playing the piano, or watching the sky. It implies that your mind is fully concentrated into that particular activity and free from other disturbances. You can even lose track of time, or a sense of self. Mindful breathing is a key element on all forms of deeper meditative practices.
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