How to Relieve Stress

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Title: How to Relieve Stress

Word Count: 888

Author: Trevor Dumbleton

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How to Relieve Stress

Copyright 2005 Trevor Dumbleton

One question that is not asked enough by people under

stress is how to relieve stress. Unfortunately, people who

are under stress tend to simply take it as a matter of

course and simply accept its existence as though it was

some sort of natural occurrence, or even a boon! Thus,

people who are feeling the effects of stress do not

actually take the time to notice that they are under stress

and need relief. And when people are under stress, the

first part of tackling the problem of how to relieve stress

is actually realizing that there is stress that needs to be

relieved.

Are you having trouble concentrating? Are you struggling

with a project that doesn't seem to be going anywhere? Are

you dealing with people who simply will not listen to

sense? Are you frustrated with the way things are going?

Congratulations, you have stress. Okay, this is not really

something to be congratulated on, but it is important to

understand this fact. After all, the beginning of the " How

to relieve stress " problem begins with recognizing the

warning signs. Then, once the warning signs are seen,

healing can begin.

The first thing to do when you want to know how to relieve

stress is to learn how to walk away. That's right, get up,

go someplace else, and just cool off. It is often vital to

hit that reset button and take a few deep breaths away from

the action. The work will still be there when you get

back, but being there beyond your breaking point will not

get it done. An overabundance of things to do will not be

helped by a clouded mind, so give your mind a break. Then,

once your head is clear again, you can head back and bang

out the projects with the greatest of ease. Or at least

more ease than when you were sitting in front of a pile of

work and wondering how you would get through it all.

Okay, so you need a break, you have walked away, but you

are still so stressed that you are ready to pop.

Unfortunately, the previous lesson on how to relieve stress

has not worked and you need something more powerful. Well,

you need to pull out a better method. This means that you

need to simply concentrate on nothing.

When stress is way too much for a simple period of walking

away, you need to practice an exercise in meditation. This

means sitting down, closing your eyes, and thinking about

absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to

think about nothing, so you should think about your

breathing. Take a deep breath in and feel the air moving

through your nostrils, down your windpipe, and into your

lungs. Then push that breath out and feel it moving all

the way up from your diaphragm, up into your lungs through

your windpipe and out of your nostrils. Feel every motion

of the air and notice how it feels as it exits. Imagine

your tension flowing out with the air, evaporating into the

endless space of the atmosphere, diluting into a complete

dilution of oxygen. Think about nothing but breathing and

notice every moment of the experience. Then, after about 3

or 4 breaths -- or as many as it takes -- open your eyes.

You should feel as refreshed as though you just took a

quick, refreshing nap. If you don't repeat the exercise

until your mind is clear and you are able to concentrate on

your work again.

These activities are very effective for a short period of

time, but you will also need a method for relieving stress

in the long run. After all, it is taxing to notice that

you are under stress and it takes a great deal of will to

make that leap and push away all those feelings. Thus, you

need a way to relieve stress in the long term.

In the long term, the best method to choose, when you want

to know how to relieve stress, is to do what you always say

you are going to do: eat right, exercise, and get enough

sleep at night. Yes, we all say that we will do it, but

none of us every actually follow through. But, if you eat

right, you will feel better during the day, if you

exercise, you will feel better during the day and sleep

better at night, and if you sleep enough, you will actually

clear away all that fogginess that can lead to stress. So

do your body and your mind a favor by taking care of those

little things that you keep telling yourself you will do

tomorrow. After all, today was yesterday's tomorrow.

When you want to know how to relieve stress, you should

begin with a few simple methods as you slowly build up your

will power to tackle the larger work of exercising, eating

right, and getting the sleep you need. By doing all of

these things, your mind will be cleared up, you will feel

better during the day, you will sleep better at night, and

you will not have to worry about stress nearly as much.

After all, once you are relieving stress routinely, you

won't have to worry about how to relieve stress.

About the Author:

LowerYourStress.com: for everything to do with stress. Get

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