Let go of stress!

Ask Avinash Ananda

This is a series of questions and answers where the questions are asked by participants of Avinash Ananda's "live" seminars and workshops, and the answers are transcribed from Avinash's responses.

Question from Christie:

"Avi, I get stressed sometimes... How can I let go of stress?"

Avinash Ananda Answers:

Great question!

Wouldn't it be great if you knew how to get rid of stress??

Stress if not handled and eliminated can cause many problems in all areas,?in your work, in your relationships?and more importantly also in your health. Stress is defined as a physiological response to a psychological disturbance. Physiology means we are talking about the body. Psychology means we are talking about the mind. This means that if we worry about something we will feel the stress in our mind and in our body! Interestingly if you look at the word distress, it has stress in it! and distress means some worry or disturbance in the mind. So stress comes from worrying!?

And if you look at the word disease, it can be broken up into two parts 'dis' and 'ease'.

This means that when our mind is not at ease, free from worries, then our body can also get a disease. If we keep our mind at ease, if we are happy, then we can build our immune system and can fight off even disease!??

While we are talking about words, let me share with you a fun fact that I discovered about the word "stressed"! See, if you look at the spelling of STRESSED and you turn the letters backward, it spells DESSERTS! And who doesn't love desserts?! It makes us all happy! So our goal is to understand how to make our life happy as if we are having desserts and not to live our life being stressed!?

So then the way to stop stress is to stop worrying. We have to understand first what makes someone worry. People are stressed about something bad that happened in the past or they are stressed by something bad that they think may happen in the future.??

There is one?powerful way to handle stress in the mind. The way is to realize that the past has already happened, so there is nothing you can do to change it.. and the future is not yet happened, so there is no point worrying about it.?The only thing we really have is the present moment. You must focus on the present moment. And in the present moment, you must make some logical decisions that will make you feel more in control of the future. To make the future better.?

Let me share with you a story...

There were two young Buddhist monks. One was a senior monk and the other was a junior. They were traveling from the town back towards their monastery one evening. On the way through the forest, they met a young lady who was trying to cross a stream that had some slippery rocks in it. She wanted to get to the other side but was afraid of slipping and falling so she asked these monks if they could help her. The senior monk,?immediately picked up the woman and carried her across the stream of flowing water, and put her down safely on the other side. She said, "Thank you" to him and both the monks continued on their journey towards their monastery in silence. One hour passed by and they finally reached the outside of their monastery.??

The junior monk looked worried throughout the journey. When they reached, just outside the monastery, he said to the senior monk, " Big brother, I am worried about something. I have a question for you." The senior monk said, " Ask me your question" The junior monk said, " You know, we are Buddhist monks" He replied, " Yes, of course, I know" The junior monk continued, " You know then that we are not supposed to touch any woman. But you carried her across that stream and left her on the other side! How could you do that?! What will our master say?!"??

The senior monk replied calmly with a smile, " Do you know that as monks it is also our duty to help anyone in need? I helped her. Our master will understand that. I carried her across the stream and I put her down on the other side. But you have been carrying her in your mind for the past one hour all the way to the monastery!"?

What has happened has happened. The past is over. No point in carrying it in your mind. Let it go! Drop it! No point worrying about it.?Now focus on the present moment. What do you want to do next to make the future better? That should be your focus.?

Many times we keep replaying in our mind the bad things that have happened in the past. We need to drop it! Let it go! And we should focus on the present moment to decide our next action steps for a happy future.?

Let me share with you an example. Supposed you are worried that you didn't do well in your interview, will worrying about it help you? No, it won't! So why worry?! If you did badly, learn something from it and decide to prepare well for next time. If you are worried or stressed about your next interview, again worry will not help .. it will only waste energy. Why not put that energy into making a decision to prepare better with happiness because then you will automatically do your next interview better! Focus on what you should do next, instead of worrying about what may go wrong.?

However, you may ask me, like one of the students did, " Avi, how do I make myself relax and how do I control my mind to be in the present moment?"??

I told him, as I tell you, there is a two-word answer, "Breathe deep!" Deep breathing will change the way you feel both in your mind and body.?See, try this... when you breathe in deep, you will feel the energy! You will feel powerful! And when you breathe out deep you will feel relaxation! You will feel calm!??

So whenever you feel stressed, pause... breathe in deep and tell yourself, " I am powerful!" and then breathe out deep, and tell yourself, "I am relaxed!" When you breathe in deep, feel the energy and power entering your body through your breath. When you breathe out deep, feel the relaxation happening throughout your body and mind as your breath leaves your body. Try it! It works! Let's do it together. Breathe in, " I am powerful!" Breathe out, " I am relaxed!" Do this 5 times and you will notice your body and your mind becoming relaxed yet ready to handle any thing in life! Do this whenever you are stressed and Stress will disappear and you will be filled with Super Positive Energy!??

Train your own mind on how to be happy, not worried and stressed! Train your mind by letting go of the past, focusing on the present with deep breathing, and then make the right logical decisions on what to do next to make your future happy.?

Learn to relax and make happiness a habit!