An Excercise in Relaxation and Control-Don't Allow Stress to Run Your Life

Image by bossbob50 - via Flickr

Take a time out! When life overwhelms, and upsets your balance, find a place to relax for a few moments. No, it doesn't have to be the Hilton or even a view of the sun setting on a gorgeous beach. For this exercise, one must tap into those creative images locked away in your mind. Yes, they are there, trust me! Maybe you can use your car, a quiet place in your otherwise chaotic house or find a secluded park in your neighborhood. Get into a relaxed position and begin an awareness exercise, feeling your toes, feet, calves, knees...all the way up to your shoulders, arms, fingers--pay special attention to places that you tend to hold stress, for me I tense up my feet and my neck. If you are unable to relax these parts of your body then tense them up as tightly as you can then slowly relax. Keep this up until you feel completely relaxed. With your eyes closed, envision colors, blues-all shades and tones, greens--all shades of green. Keep your eyes closed and just allow colors and images to freely enter your mind. This complete exercise should take about 30 minutes and you should slowly begin to return to reality with a more composed frame of mind. Takes some practice but I promise you that it can work to rejuvenate you! Another thing that you can do is to write down some of the imagery that you see during your down time. Sometimes very vivid colorful pictures are present and other times, it tends to be darker black & white shapes. It is interesting to try and make sense of it later. Like a dream, the important thing is how you interpret these thoughts and images because that are originating from a semi-conscious state, and they are significant to you for some reason.
I recommend that you practice doing this each day, whether it is after work, before bed, in the morning. It allows a more intimate relationship to develop with ourselves which gives us more control over our emotions. Instead of reacting negatively to certain stressful moments, try to get ahead of them, so you are prepared and have the ability to view as a part of life--it too will pass.

Less Stress - Free At Long Last

We all know that there is more to happiness than reducing the stress in life, it no doubt helps! While I don't think that I know anyone without chaos in their household, it does seem that some people handle the chaotic times better than others. I always marvel at their relaxed approach to balancing a hectic life without breaking a sweat. Do they just have a low-key relaxed personality? Do they meditate? Take valiums? Drink? What is their secret? They must of inherited a calm, cool gene, that's it, my parents are at fault of course.

Perhaps some of the above hold true, because generally speaking, in life, there are usually more than one contributing factors to any state of mind - including happiness! I truly don't believe that removing all the stress in life would necessarily create happiness, boredom maybe, but stress can also act as a great motivator. Like most emotions, a certain amount of stress is vital to the supreme balance of things. How do we know how relaxed or calm feels if we have never encountered stress?

The key seems to be found in the way we view our universe. I know this sounds cliche but the old adage about the glass being half full or half empty seems to ring true here, confirming that if a positive attitude can somehow overshadow its negative counterpart then you may have a less stress moment on the way.
It really is all a state of mind! Some people seem to have the ability to take control of life: as masters of their fate, rather than the victims of circumstance.

Don't misunderstand my message - I am Nancy Negativity from way back...Poor me, Why me...and I really did spend hours trying to figure out why God chose me to experience such unpleasantries.
Gradually, I started to take more responsibility for my misfortunes, writing a journal each day helped me to discover how completely pessimistic I was. Sometimes you become so caught up in your own cycle of defeat that you don't even realize how you are sabotaging your life...as the years fly by. Then I had to slowly force myself to look at my actions through a more positive lense. And I do mean force! They say 21 days to break a habit but I think it takes a lifetime of effort to refocus your attitude and learn to believe in yourself.
When you view the stressors of your life as a challenge rather than a threat, you tend to come up with more effective solutions and feel more exhilarated (rather than drained) as you tackle these circumstances.