” I not only have the right to stand up for myself, but I have the responsibility. I can’t ask somebody else to stand up for me if I won’t stand up for myself. And once you stand up for yourself, you’d be surprised that people say, “Can I be of help?”” – Maya Angelou
We all need to handle stress on a day-to-day basis. Some of us deal with stress by eating , some of us take a day off, some of us float in salt water, some of us turn towards meditation and some of us undergo therapy to re leave stress. We try to do something about it, because we know that being stressed out has some serious downside to it, it may begin with that sinking feeling in the body , that mind numbing chatter that goes on inside our minds , increasing anxiety levels limiting our quality time with our friends and family and low levels of energy.
So, is there a way to beat stress?
First of all we get anxious when things don’t go the way we expect them to be. In our minds, we expect our ecosystem to be composed, systematic and cozy, but God has other plans because the world isn’t along the lines of our expectation. There are accidents, there are major health problems, economic downturns, and there are constant and never ending disruptions to the natural ebb and flow of life.
But this is the way things are intended to be, our “Stress” begins when we try to control our ecosystem.
“Nothing will work unless you do”- Maya Angelou
The question is where do we start!!
When the feeling of stress begins to encase your body :
- Begin to notice where the stress begins, try to be with that feeling observe all the sensation it is signalling in your body. You can even observe the direction in which it moves , from top to bottom or sideways , clockwise or anticlockwise.
- Notice the audio quality of this stress , observe what that tiny voice inside is trying to tell. Listen to it and try to understand its positive intentions about your stressful situations.
- Keeping asking that part about its positive intentions in bringing this up to raise your concern, until it runs out of reasons.
Once you are able to follow these steps , you can hear total silence in your head and begin to notice the state of zero resistance. This is when you begin to notice every minute details in your environment, the people around you, the surface of your skin, the delicate smell or taste of things. This is a state of pure bliss!
You will start feeling alleviated and your energy levels will gradually go up.