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Mindfulness Meditation Techniques for Handling Stress – Part #3

February 21, 2011 by Donna Marie

As I described in Part 1, there is much more going on with us when we experience stress than the obvious event and resulting distress reaction that we observe. We all think thoughts about the events we experience and those thoughts are determined largely by conditioning and beliefs that we acquire over time. The thoughts we think then trigger our emotional reaction or emotional state. Part 2 of this series  offered a Mindfulness Meditation Technique to manage our thoughts.

Unless you have gained some skill at Mindfulness, you may not know immediately what thoughts you are thinking. To access your thought process it is often more useful to start with noticing your feelings.

When you are aware of feeling badly or stressed, take a moment to reflect on what you have been thinking about. Chances are you have just had a series of distressing thoughts that have triggered negative feelings. Feelings of fear, frustration, tension, overwhelm, panic, annoyance, apathy, and so on are triggered by your thoughts that define what the event means to you. Once you identify the thoughts that define the situation for you, you can apply Technique #2 to let those thoughts go and replace them with neutral or more positive outlook.

What if you are not aware of all the feelings you have about the situation? This may be the case if you aren’t comfortable experiencing and expressing feelings. Many people react to stress by pushing down or numbing out their feelings believing that this will relieve stress. This couldn’t be further from the truth!

Feelings cannot be eliminated, they can only be delayed! Your emotions are an important part of your stress-handling mechanism. Your emotions, and any physical sensations are your body’s reactions to your thoughts. Entertain thoughts or a belief you are under attack – your body will react with feelings of fear – whether the threat is real or not.

To use your emotions to identify when you are having negative thoughts about an event, you must sharpen your awareness and listen! Ironically, listening to your body and acknowledging emotions can give immediate relief all by itself. Awareness of your emotional state is the first step to shifting your mind set.

To deal with stress effectively, get busy reflecting on your body sensations, feelings and the thoughts that are triggering those sensations Meditation Technique #2). The adage, “Don’t just do something, stand there!” applies here. Rather than trying to change what you can’t control in your environment, change what you can control – your perspective on the situation.

Mindfulness Meditation Technique #3:

Do this often.  Focus on your body and notice any sensations. By sensations I mean where in your body you feel tension, stress, or pain.

Then focus on noticing your sensations.  When I say noticing I also mean observing it and accepting it.

Often when we notice a tension or ache we generally are bothered that it is there.  Therefore we tend to reject it or resist it.  If we resist it, it will continue. What we resist…persists. Here is a good tip: accept whatever you feel as it is.

Our bodies are talking to us through feelings and sensations.  By acknowledging that you accept that the pain, or tension is there, it will have permission to leave you. Give it a try!

Be mindful of your inner world of sensations. Mindfulness Meditation will transform your stress to peacefulness and even joy. Practice, practice, practice and let me know how it’s going for you.

Make your daily practice easy with Donna Marie’s Relaxations for Inner Peace audio  program of guided meditations, soothing music and sounds of nature. Go now to our De-Stress Store.

Help Your Body Deal with Stress Too

January 25, 2010 by Donna Marie

Its that time of year again when stress has slowly begun to creep into many people’s lives. While stress can sometimes be a good thing, and can push you to get many things done in an enjoyable way, there are many hidden negative stressors that can affect your life on a day to day basis.

It is important to begin to work on dealing with stress early on, so that you can limit your stress, and thereby enrich your life. Here are a few simple ways that you can deal with your stress!

To begin with, you need to nourish your body. Choosing to eat healthy foods, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and drink lots of water. Choosing healthy foods are one way that you can help your body deal with stress. Consuming foods or drinks high in sugar or processed materials puts extra pressure on your body, making it hard for you to deal with the daily hurdles in life. Take care of your body, and it will take care of you!

The next step on your low stress journey is to let go of things happening in and around you that are outside of your control. Many people spend hours every day worried or anxious about decisions others are making that may or may not have any affect on them. Essentially, these are worries about things that are completely out of your control.

Choose to let go of these worries and insecurities, and trust that the universe has a master plan for you. This can be comforting. Knowing that we will discover this path on our journey through life can be a wonderful way to deal with stress, and an ideal way to go into each day with a positive outlook on life.

The next part of your life to analyze is how you are spending your time. Are you surrounding yourself with activities and a job that gives you pleasure? Do you enjoy your social life? If so, wonderful. For many, however, they find that the added tension in their workplace or social life can be the last straw!

If your job is holding you back, then work towards finding another one that excites you. Take up a hobby, explore an old passion. Join a new club or group about a topic you always wanted to learn about. All of these things will allow the tension in your life to melt away.

So, to recap. Nourish your body both in and out. Let go of things that are outside of your control. Find exciting new activities to supplement your life, and remove old ones that might be bringing you down. Step by step, you too can deal with stress in your life.

About Donna

donnamarie300

Donna Marie, a consultant, confidante, and champion of stress reduction, has developed a host of effective, easy techniques proven to retrain both the brain’s and body’s responses to stress.  Read More

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