Tension and Stress Relief

By virtue of being alive, we are subjected to stress. It may be hard to believe, but a certain amount of stress in our lives is essential to our well-being. When we feel stress, it can be a strong motivator for making positive changes in our lives. It is a built in warning system that let’s know something is wrong and we need to make changes. We then make those changes and the stress is relieved.

However, there are times when we are not able to make the needed changes and we find it more difficult to adapt to our current environment. Often, we are not able to separate out facts from our feelings. We need to keep our facts and feelings separated. Just because we are having a feeling does not make it a fact. For instance, if you are feeling stupid, it does not mean that you are stupid in fact. But, confusing the feeling of being stupid as a fact will cause a person to feel anxiety and in turn bring more stress into their lives.

For any particular issue that is causing you stress, write down on a piece of paper all of your feelings associated with that issue then next to that list, write down all of the facts associate with that issue. In most cases, after doing this, you will see the situation more clearly and this will tend to reduce the amount of stress you are feeling surrounding that particular issue.
Our thinking often affects our feelings. By changing what we think, we can change how we are feeling, thus reducing stress.

If you find that you are having negative thoughts about a particular issue, try to change that thought to a more positive one by telling yourself something that feels better concerning the issue. Practicing a positive affirmation can do this.

Another way of reducing stress in your life is to schedule an activity you enjoy doing. Schedule to do it a little everyday. If you were not sure what that would be, take a moment and write down a list of all of the past activities you can think of that you have enjoyed doing. If possible, schedule one or more of those activities on a daily basis into your life.

For more information on stress relief log onto LAtherapist.com. For convenient self-help/hypnosis downloads for stress relief, or to listen to a free sample, log onto Tension Relief at HypnoCD.com. You may also want to check out Dr. Walton's sleep album, Stress Relief and Deep Sleep.