Stress Is Part And Parcel Of Life
Stress is part and parcel of life, how you deal with it determines the quality of life.
If you allow it to get the better of you, your wellbeing quotient is sure to plummet.
There are many approaches and practices to combat stress. While some provide temporary relief, there are other practices that can promise you a more equanimous way of being. Not strife-free, but a little less turbulent for sure.
As a founder, entrepreneur, employee stress is sure to it.
Today like every other day is just the beginning, for all of us. We can train our minds to make the very best of the present moment, even when our circumstances are far less than ideal. All it takes is practice practice practice.
How you start your day is vital. It’s the foundation on which the rest of the day is built.
Be mindful of how you speak to yourself when you wake up. What we tell ourselves first thing in the morning is a big part of what we hear for the rest of the day.
Positive morning reminders are one of the simplest and most powerful tools for mental growth. Through the day keep checking in.
Try and incorporate these practices into your daily routine and through the day to keep stress at bay:
1. Meditation: Sit in a comfortable position in a quiet space. Focus in a relaxed nonjudgmental way on one structured aspect of a situation (e.g., breath, mantra). Meditation is a powerful means of transforming the monkey mind and dealing with stress. Meditation practices encourage and develop clarity, positivity, concentration and often a new way of looking at a situation.
When you make a habit of watching the patterns and habits of your mind, you can cultivate new possibilities and positive ways of being.
If you do this regularly, patience becomes a part of your repertoire. Over time your reset button will not allow stress to rile you up as much.
Such experiences can have a transformative effect and can lead to a new understanding of life.
2. Mindfulness: Nonjudgmental awareness and acceptance of the present moment. “Being present” being the key word. When we learn to be mindful from moment to moment, the effects of stress remain far away from us. Mindfulness is a buzzword these days with talk about mindfulness pervading every level of businesses, starting from the top management. If the top management is mindful, there is no way that businesses won’t flourish.
3. Loving-kindness: Being nonjudgmental, compassionate, kind to oneself and others. By far one of the hardest things to do. Sending and giving unconditional love to ourselves, to those who we love, those we are neutral towards and those who harm us under all circumstances. When we are in stressful situations, anger towards others and ourselves quickly replaces equanimity. This practice over time helps a feeling of wellbeing pervade.
4. Impermanence: When you repeatedly remind yourself that nothing lasts forever, the stressful situation recedes into the background. When you realise that none of this will remain, the stress dissipates.
5. Morality: Checking in with yourself on all levels of morality and ensuring that you are practicing right speech, right action, and right livelihood, and doing these things with good intention will help balance your thought process. Even if a stressful situation hits you, if your actions are correct your balance can not be disturbed.
Stressful situations will never end, how you choose to deal with them will change the outcome. When you are reactive, the person who feels the worst is you. So the next time you are faced with stress, remember to pause and to respond not react.
