Forget Managing Stress: Reduce and Eliminate It

For your enjoyment, we offer the following assortment of Stress Reduction Techniques:

• Breaks: Take a break. step away from whatever it is you're doing. All it takes is just a few moments away from a stressful situation for you to regenerate and replenish yourself. A brief time-out will help dissipate heated emotions, clear your mind, calm your body, and prepare you to handle whatever you're about to go back into with all your resources mustered.

• Physical Activity- A wide assortment of activities exist that effectively reduce and eliminate stress: meditation, massage, hypnosis, prayer, walking and hiking, Yoga, Tai-Chi, weightlifting, running and jogging, playing sports, reading.

• Humor– Laughter truly is the best medicine. Even a little smile takes a load off. Watch a funny movie or TV show. Tell a joke. Recall something funny that happened to you or someone you know once.

• Treats– Needs some pampering, some love? Give it to yourself, don't wait for it to come from outside of you. Experiencing fun and enjoyment, and receiving pleasure alleviate stress. You don't have to break the bank to do it either; a warm bath, a cup of tea, a home-cooked meal will do it.

• Organization– Oftentime we think of stress as something that "piles up". Usually its tasks, obligations, expectations, and responsibilities that pile up. Stress doesn't pile up; it builds. To eliminate this affect, prioritize those tasks you have before you. Make a plan, a schedule, for realistically accomplishing those tasks one step at a time, with the most immediate, pressing, or requisite one(s) first. Having a well-organized and thought-out plan of action frees you from the overwhelming vastness of the bigger picture and allows you to focus on what's before you now: that easy and achieveable next step.

• Learn to Say No– Your world's not going to fall apart if you don't do everything asked or demanded of you. Learn to choose which tasks merit your attention and which don't. Learn to know when you've neared your limits and take responsibility for keeping yourself from extending them too far. Your responsibility is to yourself, first and foremost. If you're not taking care of yourself, you can't take care of anyone else. So say "Yes" to what takes care of you first. Then, if it won't cause you stress (and only then), consider saying "Yes" to helping satisfy the needs of another.

• Learn to Ask for Help– If learning to say ‘No' is about releasing guilt, then learning to ask for help is about releasing pride; and releasing both guilt and pride include releasing shame. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. On the contrary, it takes great courage to face your weaknesses and make yourself vulnerable to the potential judgment of another. But if you don't judge yourself; it's difficult for another to judge you, or if they do, for their judgment to adversely affect you. Extending yourself outward openly to receive the support, guidance, and assistance of another is a powerful act: one that creates an opportunity for another human being to give the greatest gift of all – service to another. Learn to enjoy asking for help, for it enriches everyone involved.

• Sleep– Nothing can replace adequate rest. If you find yourself oversleeping, then recognize and act upon the problem. But if you're losing sleep, denying yoursef sleep, or simply not sleeping soundly, allowing yourself to take time out to try and get some restful sleep is not only okay, it's imperative.

• Loved Ones– Spending time around people you love who love you is a nurturing and nourishing act that benefits you all.