We get stressed everyday from working long hours at our jobs. Most jobs, whether offline or online, aren’t really “fun” but we try are best to tolerate it through different techniques and methods. As a result, sometimes stuff happens that are beyond our control: we don’t get work done on time, we aren’t getting paid what we think we should get paid, and the “ideal life” we want seems to be drifting further and further away.

When this happens, it makes us feel stressed. But what does this word “stress” really mean? To me, it means one, two, or all negative emotions that hit us in a period of time causing our bodies to go into a break down mode. These emotions can be anything from fear, anxiety, worry, frustration, and depression; while the body can be in any state from tense, irritated, shaky, weak, and lethargic.

When we feel stressed; our bodies go into a dysfunctional state. One of the most common things people do is when stress occurs, they absorb these negative feelings and continue working, or they just wallow up in these negative feelings and quit working all together to do something more pleasurable like going through their emails, surfing on the web, and watching TV.

If you’ve ever experienced this, because I know I have from time to time, then you understand that when you work under stress or negative feelings such as worry and anxiety, you cannot focus on your work and you rush to get it done quicker. You don’t rush to get it done quicker because the work is hard per se, but because you think that the quicker the work is done, the quicker the stress will be gone. Sometimes the stress does go away, but that leaves quality of our work in jeopardy.

Similarly, allowing negative feelings to disrupt our working ethics or actions and look for more pleasurable alternatives can not only make this a bad habit, but make our work lives rather unproductive. We get nothing done, or we don’t get a lot done during the day because we’re trying to avoid stress through indulging in other pleasures. Over time, this can lead to major procrastination causing us to beat ourselves up internally because we didn’t accomplish as much as we wanted to.

So how can we cure these two things and live a healthier lifestyle?

There are a couple main things that are effective in relieving stress and it’s also important to do so because it allows us to focus better in a completely relaxed state, which ultimately leads to better productively and results. Here are some tips that will help you cope with stress.

1. Turning Negative Situations into Positive Situations

Try your best to turn every negative situation, even the worst possible ones imaginable, into a positive one. Whenever a negative situation happens, remember, it is how you deal with them that results in what emotions or feelings you feel afterwards.

For example, if you didn’t get that amount of work done that you wanted to, don’t say to yourself, “You idiot! You were supposed to finish by 9 o’clock! Why can’t you seem to finish your work on time; stop procrastinating!”

Rather, you can say something like, “Hey, I know I didn’t finish my work by 9 o’clock, but that’s okay. I got some work done and that’s better than getting no work done. I just need to remember to take it one step at a time. Tomorrow I’ll improve and can do better.”

Take it one step at a time. You’ll find out that sometimes your negative situation may be impossible to turn into a positive one, but there is always a way. You can think of many, many ways to reframe a negative situation into a positive one from using logic and reasoning or maybe thinking of it from a different perspective.

Being positive even in the worst times will be the first step of reducing stress, and ultimately the last one as well so keep this mind even after you finish reading towards the end.

2. The Power of Exercise

The second method to reducing stress is none other but the obvious and most natural way – exercise. If you find yourself to be in a really stressful situation, give yourself a timeout to take a break and go do some exercise. It’s better to take 20 minutes out of your day to relieve yourself and get rid of stress in order to work calmly for the next couple of hours, then to pretend exercise is a waste of time and then work for the next couple of hours being irritated and uncomfortable.

When you take the time to go away from the computer and go outside to do anything that gets your heart and breathing rates pumping, you’ll be able to think better, concentrate on what needs to be done, be more creative, and find ways to solve your problems. This is because about 20 percent of our blood flow from our heart to our brain is increased while doing exercise, which contributes to the overall increasing of oxygen to the brain, helping us to think easier.

So, find an exercise that you like to do, whether it’s jogging around the neighborhood or riding a bike around the park. Look at the view and see other people, feel the fresh air on your skin and allow it to enter your lungs circulating through your body. It doesn’t take too much time to do this and the benefits of exercise won’t just help you reduce stress but help the body become healthier as well.

3. Eating Way Healthier

The next to helping stress is something you can see because it occurs within us and that basically involves simply eating healthy. Stress itself already takes away from our nutrients; you can imagine how bad stress can be when a body lacks nutrients that it needs.

If you a reading this and happen to live in a metropolitan area or fast pace lifestyle, then the food you are getting probably consists of stuff like bread, doughnuts, pasta, beef, cheese, pizza and fasts foods. All this stuff doesn’t properly give the body the vitamins and minerals it needs to function at maximum efficiency, then if you add soda, coffee, or anything with sugar, it burns up minerals and vitamins that you would have gotten from eating these types of foods.

The “fresh” food we are getting isn’t as fresh as it used to be; nowadays the food that we buy goes through many different types of processes along with chemicals added to them which heavily reduces its nutritional value.

As a result of not getting enough nutrients, or loading it up with sugary drinks, you’re body will feel jittery, irritated, lethargic, weak, and tired. At this point, adding any more stress to the body one shouldn’t be surprised if they go into a period of mental breakdown.

It does take a little bit of discipline to eat healthier, as our culture and society is bombarded with advertisements that make unhealthy food absolutely enjoyable. But just be conscious of what you’re eating next time and treat your body as a good friend. For example, instead of red meat, eat fish, instead of eating French fries, eat an orange, and instead of drinking Cola, drink some water.

You’ll find this in the long run, a healthy nutrient filled body with vitamins and minerals will an important part of keeping you and your body stress-free.

4. Learning to Let Go

Physically this means relaxing your muscles. From your neck, to your shoulders, to your arms, and legs, learn to relax these parts of the body when they feel tense. Do little exercises like rolling your neck, rolling your shoulders, shaking your wrists and fingers once in a while, but most importantly letting your muscles loose.

This not only prevents body aches in the future, but also helps you conserve more energy to do your work. When your body is tight and tense, energy is wasted and blood flow is constricted throughout the body, but when your body is relaxed, blood flow resumes steadily and easily throughout the body and you’ll be saving more energy for when you really need it.

Mentally, learning to let go means stop obsessing over the little things in life. The three of the biggest things that causes our stress is: always wanting to be in control, always needing the approval of others, and always trying to be perfect. When you do not get these things, conflict occurs in the mind and tension occurs in the body which leads to all sorts of negative emotions and feelings.

Realize that you cannot control everything in life; it’s supposed to be that okay. The most important thing is to have control over yourself, that’s the one thing that you can control, rather than allowing outside factors, which you cannot control, bother you. Work on yourself rather first before you worry about anything else and when you have this part conquered, you’ll find that you’ll be less and less stressed out.

The second thing is the need for approval. When people do not feel like they are not approved by others, they can get angry or depressed. You don’t anybody to approve of you, you approve of yourself. You are just as wonderful as everybody else in the world no matter what other people think, so don’t let that area stress you out either. You are capable of doing anything anyone else can do and even better without anyone approving whatever you can or cannot.

Finally, it’s the need to be perfect. Everybody has flaws in the world even if you sometimes believe that your problems are so much different from the world’s; you just don’t know them. It’s not necessary to be perfect in everything you do because perfection is just an illusion. It’s how you see being perfect.

When you do not achieve being perfect, there is absolutely no need to become stressed out because there is nobody’s perfect. And obsessing over every action that you feel needs to be perfect when that it is against the laws of human nature, you are setting yourself up to be stressed. Relax, make mistakes, and fail. These things are okay. I always think to myself, the result of my actions may look perfect in the end, but I know the road in getting there will be imperfect

Stress is how you make of it. As stated before, if you are capable of turning a negative situation and turn it into something positive, you will most likely never be stressed out. But in case you can’t, learn to take breaks and do some exercise, treat your body right by giving it proper nutrients it needs, and learn to let go of the small things that lead to negative and emotions. It’s okay not to be able to control everything, we don’t need to seek approval from others, and it’s impossible to be always perfect. So live a relaxed and healthy lifestyle but most importantly, be stress-free. You can do it!

Tristan Lee is a writer who enjoys helping others with self-improvement and personal success. Read more of his self-improvement posts at his blog, http://www.tristanleesblog.com/.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/stress-management-articles/how-to-cure-stress-and-live-healthier-998395.html

In my previous posts, I’ve been slighting talking about wanting what we can’t have. In our human lives, each one of us set out goals to get something that we want. That is what keeps society moving and functioning. We go to school in hopes of wanting a good job, we go to work in hopes of wanting a good salary, and we want a good salary in hopes of buying a house and supporting our family.

Everybody’s want is different. Somebody who wants to travel around the world might seem lame to a computer gamer, while wanting to be a pro at owning newbies all day may not be appealing to somebody wanting to have a girlfriend or boyfriend, and wanting a loving relationship might be insignificant to someone wanting a million dollars. Nevertheless, wherever we are, whether it is in the bus looking out the window or at home looking at the ceiling, we picture the things we want in our minds.

But what about the times where we want something so bad, but we can’t have. How does this make us feel?

There are two ways where I would categories this under and that is things that seem so out of reach at the moment, and things that are permanently impossible to have. When this happens, an individual may turn what they cannot have into an obsession. It’s all they think about and what usually happens is the individual becomes so consumed of what they don’t have that they being paralyzed to take any action at all. This is a trap that we commonly fall into.

For example, have you ever liked somebody so much that all you do is think about them? You don’t know what will happen if you approach them, yet you never do anything about it because of fear. But the thought of being with them makes you feel good as well so you keep thinking about them.

Or have you ever been some place where you wanted to ask somebody out in public just for the sake of it, but as you get near, nothing comes out of your mouth? You keep encouraging yourself inside to say something, but you never take action. After you go home, you beat yourself up internally. What you wanted at the moment is gone forever and can’t have. In turn, you become depressed or unhappy.

The same goes with money. We all have that dream amount of money that we want. Sometimes we have it plastered on our wall. A day goes by and it’s good; a week goes by and it’s okay. A month goes by and you’re still making the same amount. Now you’re worried but still have faith. Two months pass by, three months pass by, five months pass by… and nothing has changed. Your worry starts to become frustration. When about a year passes by and you’re still making the same amount of money, you take the sign down and fall into depression.

Then there are wants that are permanent. Perhaps an example of these are things that have to do with physical features. Someone that is short and wants to be tall probably will never become tall once they have passed their growth spurt. They are stuck in their bone structure frame for the rest of their life. Or having a disease such as cancer and wanting a cure that does not yet exist.

The wants that are temporary, even for a split second don’t feel good, but are tolerable after a while. The wants that permanent, can produce negative feelings for years and years.

In order to solve wants that we cannot have – the permanent wants – we must first accept the situation. If we never accept the situation, then there will always be a discordance in harmony in our feelings. You want something but it’s impossible to have. These are two different feelings that are separated; they don’t match and they don’t exist in sync with each other. Thus, we tend to feel negative feelings such as anger or sadness. Learn to accept it and let go.

In order to solve wants that we cannot have at the moment – this can be anything from expecting yourself to lose a certain amount of weight within this week or make a certain amount of money within this month – what you need to do is get rid of expectations.

You don’t always have to force yourself to expect something that is unrealistic. Yes, I might get some flames for that because it’s good to “think big.” But all I’m saying is that if you constantly expect something that you want, you will turn it into an obsession and you won’t be happy during your current state because you don’t have it yet. This goes the same with permanent wants that we can’t have. Ask yourself, “Is it okay to not have this thing?” You’ll find relief if your truly believe the answer is yes.

If you learn to let go of some expectations in your life, and stay in a neutral state of feelings, then anything that is even close to better than a neutral state will give you happiness.

It’s almost as if going into a movie theatre an expecting a movie to be great, then it sucks and you go home shaking your head. Months of hype gone to waste. Or, it can be going into the movie not having expectations of anything, then the movie blowing you away. You walk out in awe. Sometimes the movie will be bad as well, but at least you didn’t expect it to be great.

It’s the same thing with wanting what we can’t have. Perhaps another way to being in a peaceful, calm state while getting to your goal is not expecting what you want an obsessing over it, but rather live life in as it comes to you during the moment and taking advantage of opportunities in a casual manner without expectations of the outcome.

This way, you won’t find yourself unhappy because you constantly are wanting something from your mind’s future, but happy because you learned to accept your conditions right now in the moment, and whatever comes to you in the future is a bonus.

If you find yourself being obsessed and doing nothing but thinking or expecting what you don’t have, take a step back; start at a neutral state. You will be more able to freely live outside of your mind, more conscious of your surroundings and more likely to take action.

Tristan Lee is a writer who enjoys helping others with self-improvement and personal success. Read more of his self-improvement posts at his blog, http://www.tristanleesblog.com/.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/stress-management-articles/wanting-what-we-cant-have-998564.html

Have you ever had strange experiences that turned into revelations?  This week I had the chance on a rather interesting bus ride.  This time the drivers did not change in the middle of the shift, but the adventure was equally as entertaining.

On my way to deal with matters I decided to ride the bus.  This bus has a driver and a ticket seller that stands near the door of the bus.  The ticket sellers typical routine is to announce the stop around 200 meters from the bus stop, then again 50 meters from the bus stop and then finally around 10 meters from the bus stop.  During the last official announcement of the stop the bus driver will often yell, “This is stop << Stop Name>> does anyone wish to get off here?  If nobody will get off we will continue to drive.”  This is because it is an express bus that prides itself on speed.

1. The passenger ignored him for the sake of not starting and argument and got off the bus.

Then at the next stop, the same exact thing happened once again.  The stop was called and after passing the stop a passenger called to get off the bus.  The ticket seller this time slightly more irritated made an announcement to the entire bus to please pay attention when the stops are being announced.

A few stops on the bus passed and again after passing the stop, 2 passengers yelled, we need to get off the bus.  Having to deal with this issue a 3rd time the driver was very irritated.  The 2 passengers were not only scolded by the driver, but the other passengers who were in a rush to arrive at their destination.  The bus then drove around 20 meters pass the stop and opened the door to let the 2 passengers off.  When the passengers got off the bus, they asked the bus driver, “Where are we?  How do we return to the bus stop?”

The bus driver responded, “?????(Unlucky children), you just go back 20 METERS.  YOU CAN SEE THE SIGN.  IT IS RIGHT THERE!”  The entire bus started laughing at these two passengers who asked what seemed to be a relatively silly question.  Once the door closed the bus driver adding humor to the current situation stating, “Next trip I will buy a chalkboard to write the stop names so people won’t continue to miss their stops!”

1. Who knows, if necessary on our next trip we may see a chalkboard with the stop written out for us!

Please feel free to use this article, we simply ask that you create a link to our website, www.fhandlove.org.cn/wellness.html .

Gerald Anthony is currently a PhD Candidate in Counseling and currently the President of The Faith Hope and Love Foundation. He enjoys languages, culture, and helping others.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/stress-management-articles/the-wheels-of-the-bus-985212.html

In today’s modern society, relaxing can be hard to do. However it is a necessary step in living a healthier and happier life. Also, if you learn how to relax more often, you will have a better understanding on how to control your stress levels.

No matter what line of work you’re in, or how much money you have, everyone needs to relax at one point in their life. If you do not relax, you will be looking at major health issues, as well, you will not enjoy your life because you will not be happy.

If you are unable to relax, and your stress builds up, you have a higher chance of developing high blood pressure, heart problems, and mental exhaustion. So, start relaxing today. However, if your reading this article, you probably don’t know some good techniques, right? Well, look at these next tips for some great ways to relax. They all work, and I use them every week myself. Also, you might want to read “Learn to Relax“, some great information there.

-Hobby
Hobbies are a great way to get your mind off what is bothering you (thus you relax). Depending on what your hobby is, it is a great way to spend a relaxing evening. And generally hobbies are in-expensive as well. The unfortunate thing for some people is that they don’t have a hobby. Whether you like fishing, car models, woodworking, shopping, knitting or sewing, some people can’t get into a good relaxing hobby. My grandfather is one of those men, he has never had a hobby. So I gave him a book about sport hobbies, and he is now addicted to golf. He even goes down to Palm Desert for a few months to play golf. And can that get anymore relaxing? As a side category, reading is a great way to relax. However, I did not put reading as a separate category because some people will not find reading relaxing. But if reading is your hobby I would suggest that you read a LOT! Reading has been proven to reduce blood pressure, and relieve your tension.

-Walk
I love to walk, whether it is around the lake, or for a walk on the West Vancouver Seawall, it is a great pastime for me. It is also very relaxing, listening to mother nature, and looking at the gorgeous scenery of Vancouver, it is a great way to relax. Also, hiking is another good way to relax, however it will take a lot more endurance to keep going.

-Meditate
Meditating is a tough topic for many people, and many people feel uncomfortable meditating. I personally think that many people have that crazy mindset about hippies sitting cross-legged and holding their hands in the air and singing coom by ya. However, meditating can be as simple as sitting down and blocking the outside world around you out of your head. I am not a master at teaching people how to meditate, but I have learned a lot from How to Meditate. It teaches beginners how to meditate and how to become more relaxed. I was trying to figure out a way to say this, but I could not say it better than this…”this book offers useful advice to anyone of any spiritual persuasion”!

-Think about something different
This is common sense, but if you think about something that you really like, it will take your mind off what is bothering you, thus, you will relax. Even if nothing is bothering you, thinking about something different is still a great way to put your mind at ease. For example, I don’t get to take many vacations because I split my work between Vancouver and Palm Desert. So I am always traveling back and forth, thus, I don’t get much time off. But I really enjoy going to Vegas. -I’m not into partying, but I love the shopping, entertainment and restaurants in their.- So, when I want to relax, I always think about my last trip to Vegas, and try and think about a really fun time I had there. And I think about my next trip there as well. It sounds really weird, but it truly works. Trust me!

-Lay down, and stare into nothing
When I first heard about this method of relaxing, I actually started to laugh. The way someone explained it to me was to lay down, close your eyes and stare at the back of your eyelids. It sounds so weird, but it really works. And if you can stare into nothing and truly think about something peaceful, you will soon be relaxing (or sleeping). I will admit, it sounds a little weird. But if you trust me and try it, you will be amazed by how it works. But try really hard and don’t think about anything. The goal here is to get your mind off the stress and everything else that is bugging you. And to try and get your mind in a peaceful state. Which usually means trying not to think about anything.

Everyone in their lifetime needs to relax, and doing all of these 5 tips at once will not work, so test them out and figure out your favorite method for relaxing. Remember, relaxing is key to living a good and healthy life. For more information, or if you would like to contact me feel free to visit my “better life blog“.

Kirk Schroeder is your Life Coach in the city of Vancouver and now online! You can visit my website at http://www.kirkschroeder.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/stress-management-articles/best-ways-to-relax-and-eliminate-stress-989832.html

        What do we mean by “body consciousness”? It means perceiving self as mortal body, forgetting self as the immortal divine entity and identifying self with physical appearance, age, status, position and wealth, attracts no of vices in the life. Example when I feel I am a young, good looking,  and wealthy  businessman I feel big of myself, this sense of feeling can make me self-satisfied, self-righteous and over confident, which is not good for me and other. Similarly at old age if I start thinking myself as old, weak and pauper, I will be depressed, sad, unhappy and disheartened. Body consciousness is sole cause of mistakes in life as it germinates ego, greediness, anger and lust in one’s life.

        Each and every religion book has mentioned about the soul, its eternity, divinity and purity . Hardly have we tried to understand and to realize this metaphysical energy, which is acting as driving force of our life. The metaphysical part of life, mind, intellect and consciousness, which are subtle and incorporeal, cannot be created or it can be destroyed but with time they pass though different stages from pure to impure, from simple to complex, from energetic to weak  or can be in reverse direction. Self realization, understanding of the life force can save us from misdemeanor. This is essential at present time to save civilization from psychological crisis.

       We all individual is a wonderful divine point of light residing in the forehead in between two eyes. As the driver controls the car sitting on the seat, similarly consciousness is controlling the each and every activity of the body sitting at the center of forehead of human body. We should understand that we are the actors playing our role in this world drama carrying the mortal coil,the physical body. And through deep introspection and analysis we can identify peace, purity, love, power, happiness and knowledge are our true nature. But due to body consciousness, we are far from our essence to adopt impurity and negativity. Realiasing self as eternal metaphysical entity the soul and its structure and nature can limit pain and problems in our life, but we have to play our role in this world drama.True perception about self and for others as an eternal, immortal spiritual energy  will elevate our role and duties. We should regain our self respect our original nature of purity then peace and prosperity will follow automatically.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/stress-management-articles/stress-is-the-child-of-ignorance-about-what-am-i–992924.html