- How to Stay Balanced During Stressful
Situations
By Debra Cohen,
LCSW
Often we start to notice ourselves
falling into anger, depression, self-pity or other responses to a
work or home situation. Here are a few ideas to implement when in
situation where a knee-jerk reaction starts to arise.
Remember it is much easier to nip
something in the bud then to deal with stress after it flowers into
physical symptoms or a bad mood. If you get into a funk sometimes it
can last for days and it's often hard to break free of it. When you
can "catch" the negative moment beginning you have a great shot at
stopping it from taking you down. I've found these helpful for
myself as well as my clients:
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Breaking out of
moods:
1) If you feel a certain "mood" beginning (ie
depression, anger, discouragement) try to do something
physical such as go running, swim, or even clean. It's good to
do something that will tune up your nervous and glandular
system. We need to break the incarnations that set into our
bodies. It is similar to stopping smoking after 1 cigarette
rather than 20 years of smoking. Sometimes if you have a shoe
and it is worn out on one side you'll see that if you put your
foot in it, it leans in that direction. |
| The mind follows the grooves it previously was
tracing out. We have the power to "change the channel" and watch a
different movie.
2) There are two breathing exercises from yoga that are very
helpful to cultivate a neutral mind. One is called "Alternate
nostril breathing" and the other is called "Breath of Fire". These
are explained in detail in the booklet I wrote. You can also learn
these from a yoga class or video or write
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
3) Identify and write down the mental tape loops that you
finding yourself repeating. By knowing what these are you can watch
it instead of take it as your own identity. The more you "see" the
dramas the less you react from within them. We all fall into our own
melodramas and soap operas and taking a bird's eye view can give us
another perspective. It helps us to not "buy into" our own story.
Our inner story is something we repeat to ourselves and others and
gives us our identity. It's good to step back and see which parts of
it are beneficial and which are messages from the past, other people
or our old identities. Just as a computer needs to have files
deleted in order to operate more efficiently, so our minds need to
have the extra "files" emptied out so we have room for new stories,
dreams and aspirations.
4) Keep a notebook of inspiring anectdotes, quotes and tips.
This helps to boost one's spirit and also to feel connected with
others that have dealt with similar feelings. Put some reminders on
your refrigerator, desk at work, car dash board and other places so
you can catch you mind and re-direct it in a positive
direction.
Inspirational
Samples
If you are distressed by anything
external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own
estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
- Marcus Aurelius
A hero is no braver than an ordinary
man, but he is braver five minutes longer. - Ralph Waldo
Emerson | 