Fighting Stress!

 

Stress has become endemic in today’s modern world. Whether it is a housewife or a student or an employee working in an organization or a senior citizen – everyone is living a life that is characterized by copious amounts of anxiety and nervousness. Those who are perfectionists (Type A personalities) suffer even more. For them, every day begins with a series of tasks on their to-do-list that has to be completed. There are “n" number of services that are now available to supposedly provide solace to you – but they can create a big hole in your pocket.

Here are 7 ways that you can beat stress and say goodbye to anxiety Keep your mind active and busy – but learn to relax. Remember the old adage – “An idle mind is devil’s workshop”. Keep your mind engaged at all times. Learn to relax in between. Do activities like cooking or writing or listening to music that have a therapeutic effect. Taking a cat-nap in between is not a crime. Homemakers can try different recipes and delight their families; thanks to youtube a number of Brahmin women are demonstrating grandmother’s recipes on videos that were power-packed and nutritious. They are also earning money in the process. Even washing clothes need not be a chore – you can listen to music while you wash clothes (Westerners call this “Temptation Bundling”).

Homemakers can take tuitions, do knitting and sewing work; working women can explore innovative ways to de-stress themselves – they can solicit their families’ support to de-stress themselves and achieve work-life balance. Men can scout for additional ways of keeping themselves engaged after office hours. Men can also go and buy groceries and green groceries to help their spouses instead of sitting glued to the idiot box all the time. The 70’s and 80’s were years when women read books until television serials put an end to this good habit. It is not too late now to re-cultivate that good old reading habit. Do yoga and meditation – but be flexible. Yoga, breathing exercises and meditation are good. But don’t get flustered if you are not able to do it one day. After a 6-day work week, you may wish to sleep more on a Sunday. This is perfectly okay. Setting aside a specific time for meditation is not a bad idea at all. If you enjoy your work – be it in the office or at home, the mind is occupied and this can be akin to meditation.

Practice mindful meditation by focusing on your breath and on specific external influences – listen to your breath. You can actually hear the lub-dub of your heart. Sometimes, silence is golden. Dedicate a specific “me-time” for yourself where you can plan, plot and do what you like to do. Do something that you enjoy – every single day. Be it writing or reading or listening to music or daily prayers – it is important that you do something that you enjoy. Be kind to yourselves. Don’t be too harsh to your inner child in the quest for perfection. If you are not enjoying something but have to do it for the sake of earning your bread and butter, find out something else that you can moonlight. Eat a nutritious and balanced diet. Diet is a major factor in the physical and emotional well-being of an individual. Indulge in junk foods once in a while but stay away from addictions. Watch what you eat so that you avoid swallowing a bucketful of tablets at a later stage. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. Include pulses, sprouts, and greens in your diet. Eat raw salads and fruits. Use your creative potential and tips available on google to make delectable salads.

Minimize the intake of processed foods like butter, cheese etc. Regular walking is a must. Homemakers who do a multitude of tasks at home can devote at least 25 minutes for brisk walking every day. Working professionals can use every opportunity available to lose their calories. Do not be a couch potato sitting at one place for a long time! Limit your social media exposure. Facebook, Whatsapp, Linked In has become tools for people to make self-serving statements about themselves. Mindlessly forwarding jokes and cartoons has become a disease for many people.

A report in a Western magazine says that Indians have become berserk with Whatsapp. They just don’t know how to leverage it. Most time is wasted on WhatsApp. Be spiritual - but be flexible about rituals. It is important to be spiritual to achieve a balance between your physical and mental wellbeing. If you are comfortable with rituals, there are no issues – but there is no need to punish yourself with rituals that place an excessive demand on your time. Keep things simple. Simplicity is the essence of life. Complexity only adds to the stress. Self-healing is the best form of healing. Sound meditation, bell meditation, music therapy, perfume therapy – people are innovating in different ways to make money by capitalizing on another person’s sorrows. You may recall the movie – The Mistress of Spices – where Aishwarya Rai plays a healer who heals with the use of different types of spices.

Thanks to Google, different forms of meditation are now available – be it Sahaja or alpha meditation. Often therapists charge you a bomb without a guarantee or assurance about solving your problems. In many families, people are so busy that they do not have time to talk to each other. This is a great opportunity for so-called healers to make a fast buck. The truth is that out of 100 self-styled healers and therapists, only a handful of people demonstrate a reasonable level of credibility. Most of these professionals use effective digital marketing strategies to earn a slice of your hard earned money. Why fall prey to such devious tactics? Believe me, you can heal yourself. Our mind is like a magnet and can be used to achieve whatever we want. That is the secret!