Tweet

Managing Stress

Guest post by: Cheryl Hitchcock

Article Overview: Meditation, or stilling of the mind, significantly reduces stress and the detrimental effects on your mind and body and keep you in the present moment and free from anxiety. It is proven scientifically that even small amounts of meditation daily can cut down on the negative effects of stress. Quieting your mind will eliminate the thoughts and emotions that cause stress and increase your sense of peace.

Managing Stress

Stress is something that comes with everyday life, and there are ways to manage stress so that it doesn't consume you. I am going to share with you some tips that can help you cope with stress and gain back your control. Stress comes from the mind. It's based on our own perceptions and beliefs and filtered through fear, and when left out of control can cause significant mental and/or physical illness, so you need to look at ways of managing it.

Meditation, or stilling of the mind, significantly reduces stress and the detrimental effects on your mind and body and keep you in the present moment and free from anxiety. It is proven scientifically that even small amounts of meditation daily can cut down on the negative effects of stress. Quieting your mind will eliminate the thoughts and emotions that cause stress and increase your sense of peace.

• Take 3 deep breaths in through the nose, hold the breath for a few seconds, and then exhale the breath slowly. After that just breathe in and out through the nose and bring your awareness back to your relaxed breathing.

• Sit or lie down comfortably and focus on your breath. Note how your inhalations come in through the nose and into the lungs, then note the exhalations and concentrate on the feeling. Observe whether the breaths are long or short, etc.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation is a great adjunct to meditation. It allows you to focus your mind on your body and keep you in the present moment, as well as increasing your awareness of where you hold your stress.

• Lie down in a comfortable position and with no distractions. Close your eyes.
• Start with your feet and toes and just flex them back and forth stretching and tensing your feet and toes muscles.
• Do this for 15-20 seconds and then relax them. Note any pain that you feel associated with this (you hold stress in the places where pain exists)
• Do this twice for each part of your body in isolation from the rest of the parts (feet, calves, thighs, buttocks, abdomen, chest, lower back, upper back, shoulders, hands, wrists, forearms, upper arms, neck, jaw, eyes, face, forehead and top of head)
• Tense and relax each area and you will easily be able to feel yourself relax and be aware of which muscle groups you were tensing and be able to release the stress from that place.

When something comes up for you that creates stress (a stressor), ask yourself the following questions:

• Is there anything I can do about it now?
• Can I manage or change the stressor now?

Maybe not, but you can change the way in which you view it. Remember that stress comes from your perceptions, based on your beliefs, and you can change those.

• Do not ‘worry' about the cause of your stress. ‘Worry' is a useless emotion and only increases stress and irrational thoughts, as well as preventing you from finding options or taking action.
• Try to look at the stressor objectively, that is to say, without your personal beliefs, perceptions, and emotions attached.
• Break it down into smaller more manageable parts and set out a plan to deal with each piece.
• Elicit the help of someone you trust, this may aid in brainstorming options that you may not have thought about previously.

You need to take care of your mental health because your mind is what drives everything you do and if it breaks down, every aspect of your life will be affected. Seek out professional help if needed. There is no stressful situation that cannot be managed. It's up to you to take the lead in your life.

Related Articles
  Six Steps To Less Stress
  Help! I'm Stressed and Anxious
  New Year New Intentions New Stress Ten New Opportunities to Manage The Stress of Change According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Stress And Personal Mastery
  Tips To Eliminate Stress Relating To Your New Business
  Managing Stress
  STRESS
  Improving the Quality of Your Life By Andrew Rondeau
  Improving the Quality of Your Life
  Cutting through Stress
  Don’t Worry Be Happy!
  OVERCOMING STRESS
  Keep the little things little
  STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF STRESS
  Make more money, have less stress and get more time off! Really?
  Stress in America - What’s Causing Stress in America?
  Stressed Out America - Resilience in Tough Times
  Common Sense Stress Management
  Find out why there isn't any real Definition of Stress!
  Dont Let Stress Run You Out Of Business

Article Tags: anxiety, cause stress, detrimental effects, effects of stress, emotions, managing stress, meditation, mind and body, negative effects of stress, present moment
Referred by: http://www.vbsondemand.com/



Related Forum Posts
Re: HRPreneur - Evan, I am looking for new clients and to see if my business model resonates with Entrepreneurs. Thanks Joey Walters, CHRP, H.R.C.C.C. Managing Director HRPreneur Inc. C. 647-534-4774
Re: Infographic: The 4 Main Stress Factors - I'd like to reference that article in my next blog post as well.. I worked in sales for years and found that days when I was positive, relaxed where days that it was easy to sell. On days that I was stressed I found I would not reach target. Stress is good at times, but it very easily becomes problematic. I do a lot of very physical exercise and work now, to manage it.
Re: Hello from Bangladesh - Hello Kevin, Thank you for replying back to my message. There are many business goals for this year including but not limited to: 1. Managing long term partnership contracts from more clients. 2. Cross-border expansion - open our first overseas office at New York, USA. 3. Progressing smoothly to our road to CMMI certification. 4. Introduce a new service - call center operation. Best Regards Hasnaeen
Re: HRPreneur - Evan, I have a creative company designing my website. I provided all the content. I have developed a presentation I am using when I go see potential clients that has been working well. I have been using my network and LinkedIn to source clients. I have been targeting the industries that I have experience in, however HRPreneur can support any business from a strategic business HR perspective. Joey Walters, CHRP, H.R.C.C.C. Managing Director HRPreneur Inc. C. 647-534-4774
Why should I hire a virtual assistant for SEO purposes? - Do you find it hard to find time for rest because of promoting your business or your website all by yourself? Well, perhaps it is the right time for you to hire the services of an SEO virtual assistant. Virtual assistants for SEO services will help you on the process of improving your rankings within search engine results to achieve an increase in natural traffic. The higher your site in the search engine results page, the more traffic and sales conversions you will obtain. Using the services of virtual assistants (VAs) certainly is the best method to move in order immediate results and in reduced operational charges. This provides a great answer especially for a small business owner whoever company is actually considerably expanding, and the jobs have normally doubled. Here are some of the services that a virtual assistant can do for you: • Traffic Geyser • Main Street Marketing • Data Entry • Web Research • Market Samurai • Managing Facebook • Managing Twitter • SEO • Local Business Listing Robot • Traffic Revolution • Infusionsoft • Senuke • Angela’s Banklink • Linkjuicer • Blogging • SMM • Virtual Assistant • Personal Assistant • Article Writing • Spinning Article • Press release • Email Response Handling • Online Order Processing • Word Processing • Forum/Comment Posting • Social Bookmarking • Video Editor • Internet Marketing • Email Marketing • Link Building • Powerpoint Presentations • Web Development • Other Administrative Support


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

The Strong Leadership Formula

How To Master The Ins and Outs of Google+

Why We MUST Reinvent The Wheel

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.