Stress
A mental, emotional or physical strain or tension. Assigning a meaning to a specific event or chain of events or projecting the consequences of an event into the future.
Change what you focus on
The type and quality of questions that you ask yourself have a direct effect on your mood and stress levels. What you choose to focus on will dictate your mood; this is because your unconscious mind is designed to provide answers to the questions that you ask. For example, you have lunch with a friend and afterwards you ask yourself the following "What was the best thing about lunch?" and you'll recall all of the good things. However if you ask "What was the worst thing about lunch?" you will recall all of the bad things. In effect your memories of the event are directed by the quality of the questions you ask. Studies have shown that people with the symptoms of depression are more likely to be asking the wrong type of questions on a regular basis.
Calibrate the changes.
Start by thinking of the object or situation that would have caused you to feel stressed and score it on a scale of one (low, no stress) to ten (high emotion, lots of stress). This will provide you a benchmark so that you know how much it has changed having used one or more of the techniques below.
After using the techniques notice what you feel differently when you think about the previously stressful situation and rescore it on a scale of one to ten. If necessary repeat or interchange these techniques to further reduce your score to a point where the emotions related to the stressful situation are no longer an issue.
Change the meaning of the stress
This technique is good for releasing tension in the body, which is known to reduce stress. With the event or situation that causes the stress in mind use this breathing technique to become more relaxed and balanced.
1. Breathe in for 4 seconds
2. Hold the breath in for 2 seconds
3. Breathe out for 8 seconds
4. Hold the breath out for two seconds
5. Repeat at least 4 times and ideally for 2-4 minutes
6. Notice the difference
Change the future consequences of the stress
One cause of stress is to project the consequences of events into a worrying future. It is the worry of this future event that causes the stress. We have all worried about a future event and when actually happens the event was not really a problem. In these situations we cause ourselves stress for no reason. To prevent this type of stress use this simple technique;
1. Imagine the successful conclusion of the event.
2. Notice how the event would be different - how you would feel, what you see, what you would say, how people would react.
3. Think of what you might need to differently to make that new successful event a reality.
Connect with positive energy
This technique is reconnects you with positive earth energy which helps to put stressful situations into a broader context. Find a natural place, by the sea, a river, in a wood, up a hillside, in a beautiful garden or simply stare at a beautiful image that may be right in front of you. Stand comfortably and imagine that your feet are connected directly to the centre of the earth. Visualize, feel or imagine the warm earth energy flowing up from the centre of the earth, flowing up through you and returning back to its source, taking with it any stressful feeling or emotions.
