Stress Management

I think two of the biggest contributors of our daily life problems are stress and how we manage anger. Here I will talk about stress. Modern life is full of it. We get it from everywhere, other people, ourselves, environment, expectations and pressures, media and electronics to name few. It is impossible to avoid it, but stress can be managed when we take charge of it and we make choices that are for our inner peace and health. To relax we need to create down time in our day (preferably many breaks) where we take few minutes to breathe and to gain prospective. I think most people have heard that, the problem is that we do not practice it, because it seems so simple and obvious. This is the secret, all meditation practices are very easy, and they work, but to start we need to notice when we are beginning to feel that tension of stress building up and when we feel overwhelmed. The best way at this time is to disconnect from whatever we are doing if possible and take few minutes for a break. Consciously we can just sit or walk and take few big breaths to focus on breathing the stress out. We can ask ourselves what do we need right now that is attainable to take care of us in the moment, go on a break? Are we thirsty/hungry? Too tired? How is the stressful situation going to affect us in five years from now (how important is it)? When we know, we can address these needs, and when we do not know, it is OK just to accept it and keep asking the answers will come. All the relaxation techniques are great if they work for us and if they benefit our health. All forms of meditations are great too as well as physical exercise. We have to do it to manage stress. Sometimes longer breaks are needed and we want to keep in mind that it is essential for our well being to recharge to take a break from our daily routines and create vacation experiences and breaks. In addition, some life skills are very helpful to decrease stress and they are organization, punctuality, flexibility and a sense of humor. We want to manage stress and not to get to the place where we get burned out, where depression or other health problems take over, where we need medical and mental health attention. Even then the help is there, though the best way is to keep up our stress management for our whole health.