10 Simple Ways To Keep Stress Out Of Your Life

There are proven techniques that can enable us to cope with stress successfully without having to resort to using potions like drugs and alcohol, which decrease our minds as well as our efficiency. Some of these techniques are simple - so much so that they are often overlooked or dismissed as unimportant. Consider, for example, the following list of stress reducing suggestions which are very basic as well as simple to implement:

1. Be yourself and do not play roles. Trying to be the “liberated women” or the “cool businessman,” for example, creates stress because you are not being yourself.

2. Seek people who are pleasant to be around when choosing your friends. Where possible, avoid contact with those who criticize you, criticize others or who like to constantly talk about the negative situations around them.

3. Be confident enough to admit your fears. Find out what scares you and try to determine why. Discuss these things with a close friend or family member if necessary.

RECOMMENDATION: Even more powerful than understanding your fears intellectually is noticing how you feel. Feelings are often a strong indicator of feelings long buried in the subconscious. By learning to “release” the feeling, the underlying thoughts are dissolved too – this is a process taught in the Release Technique and I strongly encourage anyone wanting more peace and happiness in life to use this program. You’ll probably come to view it as I do – it’s the single best investment I’ve ever made in myself.

4. Work on a confident, yet realistic, self-image. Recognize that you have both strong and weak points. Build on the strong points and excel in these areas. Accept your weak areas and seek help from those who have that strength; realize that you can't do everything well and trying to do so creates stress and keeps you from doing what you DO do well.

5. Be willing to compromise with other people, as well as with yourself. This is a sign of strength, not weakness. To be rigid, to refuse to give in, or to insist on winning will create tension and stress. Would you rather be right? Or would you rather be happy?

6. Make time to get away, even if only in your mind. A few minutes of privacy each day, when you can relax and think, is important even for children. Find a way to do this even if it means getting up early or going for a brief walk.

7. Do not let worrisome situations drift. If there is unhappiness or concern in your life, do something about these problems immediately. Procrastination and indecision only delay your stress and the problems tend to only get worse in time.

8. When you cannot decide what to do, always choose to do what is right. Cheating, deception, and unethical behavior can all produce guilt feelings which directly lead to tension and stress.

9. Slow down - literally. Practice moving more slowly. Low your speech when you talk and your pace when you walk. Eat with slower movements, putting down your fork in between bites. When you move slower you feel less pressured.

10. Avoid excuses. Blaming other people or circumstances does not help much. Take responsibility for yourself and your own actions.