What is
stress? You
will not get any single answer to this. Stress is so subjective, it is
different for different people.
Life is
like that only: you are always bombarded by demands and choices.We will
see how good or bad stress is.
Was There Ever A Time Without Stress?
When you
were a kid, you cried to attract your mother for satisfying your hunger pangs.
Then you grew up, you entered school, and now you had to cope with the stress
of passing the examinations and various tests.
You grew up still more and went
through the stresses of preparing yourself for some vocation.
Then you get married – a time indeed to get a real understanding of what is stress. You have children, you are stressed. Now you have to deal with a different set of stressors. At this stage the main causes of stress are – how to divide time between work and family; attending to children’s demands, spouse’s demands, mounting expenditures, family members’ illnesses, etc.
Now you
get old. You get retired. Now you are stressed about health, pension,
bereavement and loneliness...
Can you ever get away from stress? Do you really want to get away from stress? Not really, since many of these stresses were brought upon you by yourself. You got stressed but you enjoyed it, it made your life worth living! You cannot imagine a life without stress.
What Is Stress If Not Life Itself?
When stress
is undesirable, you feel angry, anxious, and afraid; when it is positive, you
feel excited, alive and thrilled. The stress is the response of body to any
event for preparing itself for ‘fight or flight’. Many chemical changes take
place in the body for gearing it to meet any contingency. This is the
evolutionary response for survival of the species.
The real question is not ‘What is Stress?’ or ‘Why Stress?’ The real meaningful question is ‘How to Manage Stress?’ You don’t fight it, you don’t avoid it, but you manage it. Half of the time you are worrying about ‘What’ and ‘Why’ of it, rather than ‘How’ of it, which by itself becomes another cause of stress!
What? Is Stress Good For Me?
Positive
stress is desirable for your own good, and also for the good of your family and
also for the society as a whole. When stress is positive, you are giving your
best, you are trying to come up to the challenge. Almost all of the life’s
important moments are experienced under positive stress.
You try to give your best during examinations. It is positive stress which impels you to take your kid to the doctor. It is positive stress that motivates you to work on your negative traits. It is positive stress that drives a society to make laws. It is positive stress that agitates you and pushes you to seek out a better job even if you and your family have to go through many uncertainties and unforeseen changes.
You never
want to escape stress. You always want to manage it. It is only when the stress
gets out of hand that it becomes a cause of concern. But is still managed and
never eliminated altogether.
What is
life if it is without stress? What is stress if it is not managed! I cannot
imagine. Good or bad, stress is here to stay. Let us learn to manage stress.
MetaMind
Therapies - Practice Self Hypnosis for Stress and Anxiety Relief
On your
own you can use self hypnosis for stress and anxiety relief besides using it to
enhance self esteem, break old habits, accomplish critical tasks, get better
sleep, improve health, achieve more in life, and so many other things.
People
often equate hypnosis with magic and voodoo. Fact is hypnosis is a very
powerful tool in the hands of a trained therapist.Why hypnosis is so effective?
The power of hypnosis lies in the fact that it works at the level of the
subconscious.
With self hypnosis you implant ideas in your subconscious. You open communication channels with your mind and soul that go beyond rational understanding.This kind of brain power is not altogether unknown to us: we often use it in our everyday lives. For example, when you are about to appear in an examination, you mentally imagine performing excellently in that exam. When you are required to speak in front of an audience, you imagine that you are delivering an impressive speech.
Players
often mentally practice their coming move, just before actually making it; and
it improves their performance considerably. Sports coaches train players in
this kind of mental practice, as a part of their training program.
You can
train yourself to use self hypnosis to achieve a state of deep relaxation.
The
effects may not be obvious immediately, but with practice you will start seeing
results beyond your imagination.
What
exactly is self hypnosis? Very briefly, during self hypnosis:
- You are physically and mentally relaxed,
- Have suspended your critical and rational mind, and are open to suggestions,
- Repeat positive affirmations that you have prepared beforehand.
