Stress Management

Stress can lead us into dysfunctional behavior, although thankfully there are some things we can do to manage it.

First, you can manage stress by breathing and just focusing on your breath. Doing this will clear the mind and let you focus on the moment. Being in the moment is important because if we regret the past and worry about the future, we’re just causing more stress for ourselves. However, when we align our mind and our breath, we get the body and mind back in the moment. Aligning our mind and breath can be as easy as feeling your stomach as you breathe with your hand. The breathing pattern that can be done here is breathing in 4 seconds, holding for 2 seconds, then breathing out in 4 seconds. Another way of being in the moment is noticing 5 things you hear, 4 things you see, 3 things you smell, 2 things you touch, and 1 thing you taste.

Second, you can manage stress by journaling how you feel. Here, you must keep in mind that no feelings are wrong so you have to just let yourself feel it. After this, you think about why you feel that feeling. Then, think about what you want to feel and what you need to do to feel that. One way of monitoring the progress of you doing what you need to do to feel what you want to is by journaling.

Third, you can manage stress by asking the person who has the experience of what you want to do for advice. This allows you to know that you have a way out of any situation you do not want to be in.

Fourth, you can manage stress by strengthening your mind in different ways. You can do this by reading and understanding the stories of great people. From these stories, you can learn a lesson from how they acted. And from their struggle, you can learn how to adapt.

Fifth, you can manage stress by moving around and exercising. Here, it is important to push yourself to do what you have to despite how tough it is so that you gain the benefits in the future.

Six, you can manage stress through laughter. To do this, you can simply consume content that makes you laugh such as funny videos. To make time for this, it is important to schedule this just as much as you schedule your work. You can schedule this by having just one session of laughter or having the sessions spread throughout the day.

Source: Jay Shetty