Stress

Just the word itself can make a person cringe.

A dictionary definition:  a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.

Stress is unhealthy.  Stress can quickly turn to anxiety and/or depression.  Stress zaps precious moments away from life itself.  Stress clouds judgement and makes a minor detail turn into a major disaster.

Ways to eliminate stress:

1. Develop a daily meditative practice.  
In some cultures, meditation or prayer is done many times a day. Take two deep breaths.   Concentrate only on the breath going in and going out.  When thoughts start to wander, go back to concentrating on the breath.  Add yoga as a meditative practice in addition to still meditation.

2. Exercise. 
A brisk walk around the neighborhood for about 20 or 30 minutes does wonders. Don't listen to music, don't talk on the phone or text (for one, to maintain awareness of surroundings of four-legged and two-legged creatures depending on the area), and don't use the time to worry about anything that worrying is not going to change - which would be anything.  Use the time to enjoy the fresh air and the nature surround sounds.  Bicycle riding, skating, going to the gym, all the same.  The key is exercise.

3. Develop a daily gratitude check.
Think about only the good things in life.  If breathing, check that off as number one.  If walking, check that off as number two.  If walking around unsupervised and unchained, check that off as number three.  If wearing clothes and shoes, make that number four.  If food was eaten and water was available, make that number five.  And so on.  Eventually, the grateful list will grow beyond the electricity still on and a bill being paid to the little things like having a matching hat and scarf set to as big as just missing a hold-up at the favorite gas station.  Instead of concentrating on what's wrong or could go wrong, the mindset is changed to focus on what's good - with easy continual practice.  More good comes when the focus is on the good.  It's all about the window where a person sees the world.  If the window is dirty, then the world doesn't look pretty.  Make a gratitude check as frequent as inhaling.

4. Squash the Stressing
Look at whatever is causing the stress as an opportunity for growth and a stepping stone to bigger and better things.  Stressors can make or break.  Come out unbroken.

5. Be In The Moment
There is nothing that can be done about yesterday and tomorrow will operate in the way that it wants without permission, manipulation or authority from any person.  Stay in the moment.  The biggest stressors in life are grieving about what happened and trying to do something to make an outcome happen a certain way in the future or a different way in the past.


Interesting Reading*:

Indiana University: What Stress Does to the Body
http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/hints/stress1.htm


Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:  Managing Stress
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/handlingstress/index.html


New York Times - Health Guide: Stress and Anxiety
http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/stress-and-anxiety/overview.html


Web MD - Health and Balance:  Blissing Out:  10 Relaxation Techniques to Reduce Stress On-the-Spot
http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/blissing-out-10-relaxation-techniques-reduce-stress-spot


*Above links are not recommended as professional substitutes.  Just provided as sources for other ideas to deal with stress and anxiety.  If need be, seek financial, medical, legal, relationship related, family matter related or psychological advice from someone certified or licensed in that particular profession.