by Char Brar

Created on: April 16, 2009   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

Did you know that you can control stressful situations simply by controlling your own attitudes towards them? How you react to a stimulus is entirely your own choice- you can make the choice to get stressed or not. Allowing you to be in charge instead of making yourself a victim of or in a situation is the first step towards freedom from stress. When you understand that you are in control, your mind and body deal more efficiently with stress. Your mind is able to come up with solutions and your body somehow finds new energy needed to deal with any kind of stress. There are several ways to reduce stress, but we will discuss five easy ways that you can incorporate in your life to help you.

1) Take time out. Whenever things are starting to get too stressful, take time out. If you are in a meeting, excuse yourself politely. (Thus you will not have to apologize for your behavior - when you do decide to go back to situation -avoid adding stress). Take a step back and reflect. Think it through- do not forget to look at it from another person's perspective. Then come up with solutions on your own, better still get help from the team or people involved. Try to understand before being understood- as per Steven Covey's 7 Habits.

2) Deep breathe and meditate. It helps to clear the mind of clutter, and helps to break the vicious cycle of negative thinking. Deep breathing will also dissolve the anger, and help you to focus on the now. Negative thoughts have a bad habit of spinning out of hand. Nipping them in the bud helps to curtail the vicious cycle, and gives opportunity to start a new mind set. If this does not help, try to go for a walk or watch something nice and pleasant, or listen to your favorite happy music, or read your favorite passage. Massaging your feet and neck with your favorite lotion will also help with stress relief..

3) Attitude: develop an attitude of "this too shall pass". If good things don't last, bad things will not either. Nothing lasts forever. Take a deep breath and think what you can do to change the situation to relieve the stress- and if there is absolutely nothing that you can do then leave it alone. Sometimes it is best to leave things just the way they are. Serenity prayer comes in very handy at times such as these: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference".

4) Exercise: According to the American Council on Exercise, exercise is one of the most effective methods of stress. Running and jogging can decrease "cortisol" release while increasing "endorphins" levels in your body. Endorphins are your body's intrinsic feel-good' chemicals, and give your mood a natural boost, By itself, the physical activity will divert your mind off of your stressors get you into a" Zen-like state". Aslo Yoga excercises about 3 days a week or daily- is a great way to unwind and de-stress. Daily exercise and healthy diet will raise your body's immunity and make your mind and body strong.

5) Laughter is one of my favorite stress relievers. It distracts you away from stressful emotion such as anger and guilt, and reduces the stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline and dopamine levels in your body. Also the light hearted perspective may help you to view the situation more as a "challenge" than a threat" thereby making it less threatening and more positive. Laughter makes every one feel more relaxed, hence it may get easier to talk to people and get desired results with quick resolutions..

Our response to stressful events can be altered by our attitude. By incorporating the above simple principles into our daily routine we can reduce stress in our lives by changing it from a threat into a challenge.

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