Stress Reduction Tips For Busy People
Sunday, December 21st, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
It seems that increasingly, people are looking for ways to relieve stress. They’re searching for whatever it is they believe will give them that relief – a relaxation CD, exercise, or even a magic pill! This article is about giving you a different approach to reducing stress.
What they need to understand is that sometimes the answer is to look inside yourself, and that’s not necessarily as scary as you think it might be.
Something I noticed after years of working with people who needed help with stress relief, was that one specific cause stood out among the myriads. It’s what I call ‘The Gap’, that is, the difference between where they thought things should be and where they were.
I’ll try to make this a little clearer by describing a comment made by my girlfriend a few years back:
At the time I was feeling somewhat unhappy with my life and continually seeking more. Until, that is, she drew my attention to what I already had - a very pleasant home in the UK, directly opposite an attractive park, and woods through which I could access the Peak District – and as someone who loves to travel the world, I rate areas of the Peak District among the most beautiful places on this planet.
She added that not only did I have all this but, because of the work I did, I had the freedom to enjoy it, almost whenever I wanted! If the sun was shining, and I didn’t have a client for an hour or two, I could take my wonderful dog for a beautiful and relaxing walk in nature. It was and is, the kind of lifestyle that many people desired, she said.
This made me realize that I’d achieved much of what I wanted from life, I’d already got what I wanted, and this change of thinking immediately removed a whole layer of stress from me.
So now, another example where thinking things should be different created stress.
I used to have a business a few years ago which I felt should have progressed further than it had, made more profit than it did and been easier to run than it was. I’d read numerous stories of people who’d achieved ‘overnight success’ so I felt completely dejected that I couldn’t seem to do the same. (I now realize these are very isolated instances.)
I turned to a good and trusted friend of mine who had expertise in this area, and asked him to review my business. He did so and told me that actually it was rather good and doing better than most at this stage! So my idea of what things should have been like was a false idea I’d constructed that clouded the reality that things were okay.
If you recognize this trait in yourself, you could benefit from considering the following:
a. where you think your work/life/relationships are now (whichever is relevant)
b. where you think they should be
Then if you feel that these things should be different, do a reality check by asking yourself:
a. what is the reality?
b. am I sure that things need to change or is it merely my assumption?
It’s important to gather factual information about your situation and to pay real attention to what you have got so that you can re-assess if necessary, but also acknowledge if you have currently, at least partly, what you want.
Of course, your core values and passions have lead you to the point you’re at now and it’s important to recognize that even though, as a separate issue, you may want to change some of them.
So, the stress gap that I was made aware of years ago is now something I use with many clients. I use ‘mindfulness’ – helping them to pay attention to the here and now and the thoughts that are drifting through their minds. This technique alone is very powerful in enabling them to get back in touch with themselves, their purpose and passions, and to recognize their achievements in life to date.
For more information Stress Reduction Tips
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