Less Stress in 4 Steps
Stress, stress, stress. No matter where we turn, stress seems to be as common as hydrogen. The difference between hydrogen and stress, though, is one is useful, the other isn't. I have yet to hear someone recommend stress as the key to success. Learning to defuse stress in your life can be one of the most powerful professional and personal tools that you can develop. Here's a four step process to get you started.
Understand the causes of stress. Many biologists think that stress mechanisms were first developed in the fight-or-flight reaction of our ancestors in response to physical danger. Since there aren't many saber-toothed tigers around, our minds use the same process to respond to perceived or imagined fears and threats. When life isn't how we imagine it should be, or we think that something will lead to discomfort or pain, we get stressed.
Get clear about the causes of your stress. In the mission to minimize stress, then, it's critical to identify exactly where the gaps are between your inner perception and your reality - because this is where your fear response will kick in. Instead of just saying that work stresses you out, identify exactly what about your job stresses you out. For example, do you fear not performing well in a presentation - which could lead to being let go - which could lead to not having money for food. It's admittedly a tenuous chain, but that's exactly what makes stress so insidious - it's not based on a "real" threat.
Change the context of your stress. Once you have gotten very clear about what's causing your stress, you can change either the direct causes of what's stressing you or even more powerfully, the context of your stress. If you are stressed out about speaking in public, for example, you could simply avoid public speaking, or you can change the context within which you view public speaking. Find the imagined reactions that you are afraid of, and then take steps to change your beliefs about what will happen. When you realize that your fears are unfounded, you won't stress yourself trying to avoid them.
Posted by DFish at 6/1/2009 3:07 AM 
Categories: Ideas and Observations
Tags: stress management cause of stress reduce stress stress key to success defuse stress
Categories: Ideas and Observations
Tags: stress management cause of stress reduce stress stress key to success defuse stress
Thoughtful and helpful article. I often just "think about stress" without taking it deeper as your guidelines suggest. Will mull this over. Thanks.
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Interesting read DFish. I could actually feel my physical tension increase each time I read the word stress in these 4 little paragraphs - - all 28.
I touched on this subject as well http://tinyurl.com/mmkwa8 to illustrate exactly how this so-called stress is a vicious self-inflicted, self-manifested cycle of negative energy.
Time for a paradigm shift to Eustress, positive energy, focusing on goodness. In eustress, peace reigns supreme. Cheers.
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