Clarity For Life

Your Radical Recipe for Dealing with Stress:

Article by Nicola Walker

No matter how relaxed, positive and alert you may feel at the start of your day, the tide can swiftly turn without you even realizing it. All of a sudden you feel tense and can only think about one thing, which coincidentally is the one thing that makes you even more tense. It might be something someone said, or an expectation that wasn't met, that results in disappointment and frustration. Or maybe you’ve been pushing to get things done and have unconsciously pushed away your good mood. Now you feel frustrated, angry, anxious or even fearful.
When emotions arise, we usually meet them with resistance. We want to feel good, not grim and angst-ridden. So the last thing most of us feel like doing is actually welcoming situations that trigger uncomfortable feelings. That is why this is a radical recipe! And yet, welcoming the present moment whatever it may be, is a form of personal mastery that restores life’s flow. By breathing through and being with whatever is happening and whatever you are feeling, you can open up to inner peace and wisdom. Stressful events magically transform to simply being part of life’s intriguingly rich tapestry.
Here are five steps you can take to deal with stress and feelings of tension:

Stop and breathe.
Feel the emotion and discomfort, noticing where it is in your body.
Disconnect from labeling the emotion as sadness, anger, or from any story you associate with the emotion such as "This is terrible. I'm fed up. What's going to happen nooww?"
Feel the emotion as pure sensation. It may feel sharp, heavy, soft, swirling. It may lessen and then return in waves. Stay observing the sensations. Be curious. Welcome the sensations as another experience of being alive. Notice the comments your mind churns out and let go of them. Breathe into the sensations.
Become aware of your own energy, presence and awareness that is like a still backdrop to the thoughts in your mind and the tensions in your body.

Depending on the intensity of the emotions, after completing these steps, you may feel drawn to go out for a brief walk to let go of the build up of tension, or to stretch or rest to regain your equilibrium.
When you give stress and tension some space by resisting the temptation to get caught up in reactivity, you recognize that you are not limited to your first response to any stressful situation. Stress increases the more you dislike or resist your experience. Stress decreases the more you can bless and be with your experience. After all, you don’t know what lies around the corner. Once your inner wisdom, creativity and awareness are free to operate fully, then you are open to experience greater ease in the form of sudden ideas, enhanced communication, greater good-natured acceptance and a broader perspective.