|
1) Begin to see things for what they are Many stressed out people think of most things as urgent. Therefore everything is an emergency that needs immediate attention. This tends to make them and the people around them edgy and irritable. Get perspective.
2) Give yourself more time to do things. Trying to cram too much into a few minutes or a couple of hours will often cause unnecessary stress. Try waking up a little earlier, leave more time to travel to work and generally space tasks out if at all possible.
3) Be grateful for what you have. Take some time to think about your good fortune. We all have things we can complain about but it doesn’t serve us well to dwell.
4) Take better care of yourself. This is so basic that you would think we would all do it…but not all of us do. You need to look at the food you eat and whether you get enough exercise. Feeling stressed is not just related to poor eating and exercise habits but they are major contributors. You need to decide that you are important enough to make some changes and follow through.
5) Develop good habits. This refers to many things including: reducing alcohol consumption, quitting smoking, reading good books, spending more time with your loved ones, surrounding yourself with positive people and being a more loving person.
6) Pay attention to your breathing. Stressed out people often breathe in shallow, short breaths. Breathing to relax should be deep into the diaphragm and slow. Breathe in through your nose, deep into your belly, and out through your mouth in slow even breaths. This will help to calm you down and clear your mind. Do this often throughout the day.
7) Spend a few minutes each day being quiet. Too much input throughout the day tends to overwhelm us. Spending even a little time quietly thinking without a lot of outside noise can help you to gain clarity.
8) Stretch a few times a day. Everyone knows how good it feels to stretch. You just need to do it more often. Learn a couple of simple yoga stretches and take the time to do them everywhere you can, including at work.
9) Take some time off. A little time away can refresh and recharge. Take a day trip or spend a weekend away with your spouse or significant other.
10) Challenge stress provoking thoughts. At the beginning of this article I wrote about seeing things for what they are. To do this effectively you need to be able to better understand your thinking. You may have programmed yourself (or have been programmed) to think negative or provocative thoughts that cause you distress. Try identifying them, and then challenge their basis, recognizing that they are often irrational. If you do this consistently over time you can change the way you think.
There are many ways to reduce stress in one’s life. I believe the most important component for doing so however, is a person’s attitude about change. If 2008 was a difficult and stressful year for you make the commitment to change some things in 2009!
|
