Often we find ourselves in situations more stressful than usual. You know what I'm talking about. Situations, where everything seems to go wrong, and nothing seems to go right. These are the situations that bring you to the edge, and don't want to let you go. They may happen at work or at home, or they may happen throughout the day wherever you are. You know what I mean; one of "those" days. The question is how can you use stress management to alleviate that stress? What methods can you use in order to induce relaxation and get a relief from your stress?
Sure, you can use meditation or breathing exercises , visualization , or one of the many other relaxation methods. But what do you do when you don't seem to have time for them? What do you do when all the stress management techniques in the world don't seem to help? I'm sure that you don't have to go far to imagine a scenario like that. It can happen to the best of us.
When this kind of thing happens you and I need one thing -tranquility. Although tranquility is often a synonym for relaxation, calm, or serenity, it is also much, much more. Tranquility is that moment in time when time itself seems to stand still and when your mind is quiet. It is that feeling of wonder and silent excitement where your thoughts suddenly stop and your mind is not focused on anything in particular. In that sense, tranquility is very similar to meditation.
Simply put, meditation is the process of achieving a level of tranquility, but there are other ways of achieving tranquility, both direct and indirect. Meditation is most often done when you are sort of removed from the outside world so that nothing interrupts the meditative process. Tranquility, however, can be achieved equally well when you are alone in you room or when you are walking in the midst of a crowded street.
Tranquility is the pinnacle of stress management because when you are able to achieve a state of tranquility at will, stress has no control over you anymore. You take control of your emotions and become a true master of your destiny.
There are many ways to achieve a state of tranquility besides meditation. In fact, you have most likely got to that state unknowingly many times over. Here is one of my favorite methods. Any time you get a feeling of a sudden calmness or optimism, or when you feel that you can take on the whole world, you feel tranquility. It doesn't matter what you call it, but it is an unmistakable feeling. Why don't you see if you can recall a time when you felt something similar? I'll wait right here.
If you can't recall anything similar from your past, it's okay. You can do one even better: instead of recalling something from your past, imagine the future. Take a moment and close your eyes (after finishing reading this of course). Now, imagine something exceptional and positive that you want to happen to you. It can be anything: finding your soul-mate, winning the lottery, relaxing at a golden beach in Hawaii. Anything at all that creates a feeling of happiness and satisfaction within you.
Imagine the scene as vividly as possible and hold on to that vision for a bit. Take the time to enjoy it and bask in it. Now, choose a word that you want to be associated with that vision. It can be logically associated with what you are experiencing or it can be totally unrelated. The important thing is that you start to associate that word with the vision. You can even use the word, tranquility, itself. Repeat this word 10 times while holding on to that vision and increasing the vision's intensity and vividness in your mind. Say the word slowly and out loud. It's important that you do it out loud. Now open your eyes.
Now, any time that you feel stressed, recall that word or say it out loud. Repeat it several times if needed. This will trigger the pleasant scenario in your mind, which in turn will act as an instant stress relief mechanism. The more you do that in stressful situations, the stronger will become the link between the word, the vision, and your emotional state. After doing this enough times when encountering stressful situations, you will begin to experience a more and more powerful state of tranquility each time, and your stress will begin to subside.
