In the previous articles, I’ve emphasized two points that should be clear before people move forward with self-management techniques that reduce and relieve stress and make your life richer:
- Decide that you want to free your life of unnecessary stress.
- Understand that a lot of stress is the result of living in an unnatural world.
Now, let’s get down to creating the stress-free life that we want. And the first step is to answer this question:
What do you want to experience instead of stress? You know what stress feels like and you may also know that there are many good alternatives to stress.
It really isn’t enough to say that you don’t want to be stressed. Saying that anything is fine as long as you’re moving away from stress is like saying that any place is fine to live as long as it isn’t where you’re living now. Having a specific destination in mind will help you to make sure that you end up somewhere that you like.
Different people want different things and it’s up to you to decide the flavor of life that you want to create.
So! Choose your flavor. What do you want your life to feel like instead of stressful? Do you want to live a life of tranquility? A life of ease? A life of rewarding challenge? A life of healthy purposeful striving? A life of comfort? Discipline? Achievement?
In those situations when one might get stressed, how do you want to feel? How do you want to feel while you’re late for work and stuck in rush-hour traffic? Do you want to feel internally quiet? Grateful for all that’s going well in your life? Grateful for your health and the health of your family? Confident that you can sufficiently make up for being late?
What do you want to do with your body in those situations instead of tensing it up, restricting blood flow and hyperventilating? Do you want to breathe deep? Sit up straight and comfortable? Feel your muscles loose and relaxed. Feel your heart calm, steady.
Some people want ease. Some want challenge. Some want simplicity and others want wealth. Whatever you really want, you can achieve it in ways that strengthen your mind and even return your body to a younger and healthier state.
So! What do you want?