The majority of people experience unanticipated setbacks, which can cause a great deal of stress and prevent them from moving forward in life. Our attitudes, beliefs and knowledge can make a big difference to how we deal with these setbacks.
What may cause one person significant stress may even result in death for another. The amount of stress we feel when confronted with challenges, traumatic events, old age, and the prospect of death is influenced by our beliefs and knowledge. One way to lessen the stress of problems like debt is to focus on and celebrate the solution to a problem. Make it a goal to celebrate being debt-free, and then take steps to make it a reality. A friend I spoke with recently seemed to be knowledgeable about bullet wounds. I don’t how much evidence he has for his views but they seem to make sense.
People are conditioned to believe that if they get hit by a bullet they will die. They ponder the following: “I’ve been shot; I will die.”
Films show us people dropping dead from a single bullet wound and our subconscious takes all this in and starts believing a bullet means death.
When we are hit by a bullet we think death is on its way and we die.
A policeman in the USA shot himself in the foot and died. On the other hand, a criminal was still retaliating against the police with more than twenty rounds of ammunition. No one had told him that you died from a single bullet wound. Either that, or he was on drugs and did not know what was going on.
People who do understand bullet wounds are less likely to die because they know that not all bullet wounds are fatal. Their extra knowledge can save their lives.
In Africa, the locals can survive horrendous crocodile bites. They have not been told that such bites will kill them. When they feel better, they just sew up their mutilated flesh and go back to fishing. We in the West are not so tough although we used to be. Must of us are conditioned to believe we will get weak and feeble as we age but there exist individuals who are far stronger than those who are twenty years younger than them.
They have continued to exercise and look for ways to remain strong and even become stronger because they have refused to accept their weakness. These men and women give us all hope. We can manage the huge stress of ageing and of death through managing and changing or at least altering our own beliefs.
Increased knowledge can also relieve stress although, occasionally, lack of knowledge about what we can’t survive or achieve may be our best friend!
Increased knowledge about how our minds work will teach us not to dwell on the negative aspects of our lives. We should take note of our problems but not brood over them. Instead, we ought to think about solutions and even try to imagine how we would feel if the issue were resolved. In other words, we should not pretend our problems do not exist. They are usually only too real. However, we should not waste precious time or energy worrying about them. Instead,let’s take action now to solve them and keep affirming and visualizing a happy outcome.
Here I will begin with something that happened many many years ago. It was when I attended my college in 1994 in Princeton. When I saw him for the first time in the Class Room, I was a bit surprised. How could this sort of a human being who is typical of his Eastern reigns, be our Stress Management Professor? His stiff face seemed incapable of generating any smile! Lines appeared on his forehead, even before he was making efforts to start his career in our College with his first lecture on Stress Management. I was anticipating his debut performance with a little bit of anxiety. I thought he would start with a big platitude on the subject of stress and how to manage it and all that! By quoting definitions and mentioning the names of famous psychologists. He didnt do that. It was very interesting how he propagated the subject of stress management for 21 century youth. I am reproducing his one-shot lecture on stress management. It helped me and it might help you as well. First off, I will give you example of my grandma- how she manages the stress! Curry for the night is her morning worry, and look at how well she handles stress and how to manage it. She manages stress in her typical style, every day! You go by her words, think that she is stressed! But how crafty she is, in the domestic front! Stress management is a technique. It is winning over any tough situation, with the charm of your personality and deft handling of the situation. It's about overcoming obstacles. Convert defeat into a victory! Causes of stress may be many; for its management, no hard and fast rules can be prescribed. You must manage the stress in accordance with the circumstances and constraints of the time. The reasons for stress may be: 1. Danger 2. Threat 3. Bad or good news 4. Illness 5. Perceptible changes in ones identification with the self 6. Any additional powerful internal or external stimuli How to manage the stress? Before you think about managing the stress, you need to understand the bottom line of your stress. Its primary cause! Its real cause! Only then you can think about the management of stress. For public consumption, you can project any cause, but you know what is really wrong with you. There are several ancillary tools to assist you in stress management. These hints can help you in stress management: 1. Organize yourself in a methodical manner. 2. Establish your self-assurance and demonstrate your resolve to resolve conflicts. 3. Be upbeat in your approach. 4. Auto-suggestion- Talk to yourself. 5. Do pranayama (breathing exercises) and meditation. 6. Do light exercises regularly. 7. Don't overdo it. 8. Keep a diet control. It matters what you eat and how you eat it! In the end, your strong willpower is what matters when it comes to stress management. Grow your will to get through the stress and outgrow it!
30 Quick and Easy Ways to Reduce Stress Stress affects the whole person – body, mind, feelings, and behavior, and just as symptoms can take many forms, so there are many simple actions that you can take to relieve these symptoms. Take Action on Stress. Ask yourself Am I stressed, or am I in denial? Simply making a conscious decision to act upon your situation will bring to you, such a sense of relief that this unpleasant situation is going to change, that you will immediately start to feel some benefit. Chunk Down. Chunking down helps you to define what the problems actually are. It helps you to divide the problems causing you stress into smaller and therefore more manageable parts. You can then look for solutions, options and ways forward. A useful strategy for solving problems is this one. Speak to Someone. A problem shared is a problem halved, its good to talk. Talking it over with a friend or someone who is willing to listen, who wont judge or offer advice, can often help to de-clutter the mind and clarify your perspective and help you to take appropriate action to relieve stress. Write it down Let it out. Find a way to express your true thoughts and feelings on paper by writing a letter to yourself or to someone else without posting it. You can then destroy it if you wish, its a form of release, which you can then follow up with a plan to resolve your issues. Ask for Professional Help. Find a hypnotherapist or a DVD to help you refocus on relaxation and stress reduction. Stop Procrastinating. Procrastination is itself a cause of stress, Eliminate procrastination from your life. Things shouldn't be put off until tomorrow. Do them right now. Create a DO IT NOW mentality. Dont be afraid to say NO. Change the Dynamic of your situation. You will be able to say what you want to say and act how you want to if you can learn to be more assertive. Imagine how much less stressed this will make you feel. Give yourself choices. Change the stress factors that you can and strengthen your ability to cope with ones that you cannot change. Be imaginative, seek compromises, reframe issues, and seek out win-win solutions. Take a break from the circumstance. Create some distance between yourself and the stressor. Walk away and find a quiet place even if thats sitting in your car or a bathroom. Take a couple of deeper breaths and imagine yourself far, far away from it. See the stressor for what it really is. See it small and manageable compared to the bigger picture and see how much calmer you feel. Manage your Time – Be Organized. You can plan and organize your life with time management to give yourself more space and opportunities. It involves planning, delegating, setting an agenda and not wasting any time doing unnecessary things or worrying about things over which you have no control. Start the day with confidence. Prepare for the coming day, the night before. Then youre not rushed in the morning and off to a bad start straight away. Dont rely on your memory (its the first thing to go when youre stressed). Write down appointments, to-do lists, directions and shopping lists. Make sense of the chaos. Dont be late. Give yourself more time to do things so that you are not pressured. Get up a little earlier, leave a little earlier for appointments. Focus. Focus on the task at hand and ignore everything else; do one thing at a time and do it well. Take a moment. Allow yourself some personal time, everyday, a private moment for peace, quiet and contemplation. Have a positive outlook on the world. Expect positive outcomes and polite behavior from others. You may find thats exactly what happens! Learn to tolerate others. Remember that most people are doing the best that they can. Find it within yourself to be tolerant and understanding. People make mistakes. Accept the fact that our world is not perfect. Take Regular Exercise. Exercise combats many of the physical and emotional symptoms of stress and can make you feel better about yourself. Feeling healthy can bring about improvements in self-esteem and self-image and increase confidence. When our confidence and esteem are lifted our perception of ourselves changes completely and becomes much more positive. Make fitness enjoyable. Dont ignore the mental and emotional aspect of regular exercise. Giving yourself time out to do something fun simply makes you feel good, so if youre feeling stressed and unsure about whether to exercise or not, simply remind yourself of how you are going to feel afterwards. Get Outside and Walk it off, Breathe in some Fresh Air. If you work in an office with air conditioning, get outside and clear your head. Walk about and Fill your lungs with Air. Try some Deep Breathing Techniques, which re-energizes and invigorates your mind and body. In addition to releasing hormones that have an effect on your mood, this straightforward exercise also helps the body get rid of physical stress. Treat yourself Have something to look forward to. Get away from it all, even if its just for one day. Better still, have regular weekend breaks and dont ever take work with you. Make sure that you book a proper holiday each year to recharge your batteries, it doesnt matter where, just do it. Learn to use your bodys Relaxation Response. Imagine having relief on tap – something you could experience whenever you need it, something that would remove all the stress from your body and return the sparkle to your mind. You can use hypnosis to trigger this wonderful natural effect, which will release hormones and neurotransmitters that flood your body and mind with pure, cleansing relaxation. You owe it to yourself to feel the relief you can have instantly, so learn this technique. Make Relaxation part of your daily routine. You can unwind and relax with the following activities. – Guided relaxation and visualization techniques: obtain a CD or DVD – Meditation: Brings an abundance of calm into your life – Progressive Muscle Relaxation: deeply, physically relaxing – Aromatherapy and massage: Give yourself a break! – Yoga; a mixture of meditation and gentle movement and stretching – Shiatsu; a deeply calming and balancing of the energy. Other methods and therapies include; Floatation tanks, Reiki, Indian head massage, Thai Chi and Reflexology. Do your research and try a few things and find the treatment most suitable for you. Eat right: Food is more than just fuel. Take the time to eat well and enjoy your meals when you do. Schedule time for both. Dont just shovel the food in and dash off for the next meeting, give your digestive system a fighting chance by eating slowly and resting after your meal. (Keep in mind that peptic ulcers are not fun.) Eat Healthy. Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet to maintain your health. Eat breakfast to kick-start your day. Make new good eating habits if you have to. Ensure that your lifestyle changes to suit your real needs. Poor nutrition will further weaken your resistance to illness and allow other symptoms of stress to develop. Stop drinking tea and coffee because the caffeine won't help you relax. Take a hot bath. Have a good soak in the evening to relieve the tension in your body before going to bed Ensure that you get enough sleep. This is crucial. You'll feel more energized and refreshed when you wake up and be better able to function throughout the day. Enjoy the moments. Find something that makes you smile or laugh out loud. Because it's hard to be stressed and anxious when you're having fun, laughter is the answer to stress. Always remember to have fun. Every day, take time to do something that you enjoy. Learn to live one day at a time and take each day as you find it. Life only comes round once, it’s quite short and you have to appreciate what’s good in it.
Stress relief basic tips. In order to fight stress and decrease stress level in your life you must first identify it and make sure you know your plan to overcome stress, including short terms targets and long term goals. According to the fight or flight theory, when a person is under a lot of stress, they have two options for dealing with the issue: first, they can distance themselves from the situation, which will satisfy their immediate need for stress relief (though it won't necessarily solve the issue because people need to return to some places), and second, they can deal with the issues, solve or eliminate them, and simply fight off the stress. These are the two options you have when dealing with increasing stress, in many cases it is recommended to stay and fight, and in others you can simply cut yourself away from the stressful situation. One example is a failing marriage, day after day of fights and arguments, insults and acquisitions, inevitably creates an ongoing stressful life, while most people will feel the need to flight from the situation right away most choose to stay and fight, only after all attempts to solve the problems and reach a better relationship fail they will choose to end the marriage. On some cases, however, people forget that they have the option of distancing themselves from the situation, and are determined to solve a potentially unsolvable problem, sometimes leading to years and years of constant stress and inability to advance. Try and be as honest as you can with yourself while reading this next few lines, almost everyone suffers from stress at some points in their lives, and you are no exception, it is only when this symptoms are continues and prolonged that you should start to move into solving them. Stress has real, clear physical symptoms, some people think that a mental, mind problem will express itself exclusively in the mind, it is not so. There are many real physical symptoms that accompany increased stress, if you think about it for a minute, you will understand that it is very easy to spot a stress person when you see one. Oversleeping, inability to sleep, or sleep deprivation are all possible signs of stress that can interfere with sleep. Back or neck pain and stiffness are also indications of stress, as well as back pain. Headaches have been found to be related to stress, to the point you can hear someone saying that he has a stress headache, try and think of the kind of headaches you get and when you get them, some of them may be related to stress. The digestion system also suffers the effects of stress, including heartburn and gas, stomach pain and cramps, constipation and diarrhea. Hair loss has also been found to be related to increased stress. Skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema have a tendency to significantly worsen under stress, which may cause or exacerbate them in some cases. Everyone reacts differently to stress, some people get into a semi depressive mood and stop eating and loss weight, others get into a bulimic state and eat their stress away thus gaining weight. Stress is also a main reason for chronic fatigue. All of the manifestations of heart pain, high blood pressure, palpitations (heart beats fast or irregularly), chest pain, pressure on the chest, inability to breathe, sweaty palms, cold or hot waves, and heart disease are strongly linked to stress as the primary cause of heart attacks and disease. On the emotional side, stress has even clearer symptoms. It is surprising to find out that a lot of people ignore these emotional warning signals, or get used to them without questioning the reasons behind them. If you feel that you are experiencing a few of these symptoms, you might suffer increasing stress. On the other hand a lot of these emotional symptoms are stress related and sometime not directly linked to stress. It is not difficult to identify signs of emotional stress, an increased sense of nervousness or anxiety, symptoms of depression (moods swings, anti social feelings), an edgy feeling, anger and frustration, lack of concentration and memory problems and a tendency to over react to situations. All of these things are signs of stress; there may be more, but we think we've covered most of them. If you notice that you have a lot of stress symptoms after reading this list, the first thing you should do is try to figure out where your stress is coming from.
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