The word 'stress'
originates from the French word 'estrece' meaning 'narrowness' and is used to
depict a limiting or constriction of your power and abilities. You have the
feeling of being emotionally and mentally stressed out when you think you have
too much to handle.
Anything viewed
negatively has the potential of causing stress in your life regardless of what
the thing may be. However, what makes one person stress-full may be quite an ordinary
event for another. The secret to
releasing stress is to realize that stress therefore is created not by the
event or circumstance itself but by the way we respond to what happens to us in
any moment of our life. We are the creators of stress and it we alone can provide
the solution to it.
In essence, stress
is the result of the way you think. And if you develop the ability to change
the way you think, you will have in your hands the power to eradicate the
stress that you feel.
Here are 3 easy ways to manage the inner
stress you may encounter ;
1. Act, then Detach
Trying to control
every moment and outcome of your life causes more stress and disharmony than
any other process.
Take the action the
present moment requires, and once the action is done, stop clinging to the
results. After your best is done, step back and wait for the results to arrive,
then respond to them.
It’s the constant
clinging and worry about the results that is the primary creator of stress.
Do your best, then Let-go,
and become stress-free.
2. Meditate
You always have two
choices in every situation – either curse the darkness, or light a candle. Meditation helps you to train your mind to choose
the more positive attitude, always, regardless of the situation.
Negative thinking
produces stress and thinking positively releases it. Remember that stress
arises out of the way you think, and since meditation is the skill of training
your mind, meditation is also one of the most effective antidotes to stress.
Find a good
teacher, and learn to meditate. And whatever the situation, keep your mind
focused on the positive outcome you want to achieve, rather than the negative
outcome you want to avoid!
3. Chunk it down!
Do things one at a time. Don’t be too concerned about how much there is to do,
or how overwhelming some of the tasks seem. Just get one thing done at a time, again and again. Keep your mind focused on the one action you
can take now, and do what’s in your power. One step at a time you can climb the
highest mountain, and one step at a time you can accomplish the greatest task.
The journey of a
thousand miles begins with a single step. So chunk it down and you will
accomplish more with greater ease.
SoulCentre
is Asia’s Premier Centre for Meditation, Mindfulness & Stress-Management.
For
details of our training programs, connect to www.soulcentre.org
