Introduction to stress management

Stress is naturally considered a bad thing, although it is not necessarily so – it all depends on how we view things. We feel negative stress when we feel we have lost control over a situation, when we feel humiliated, infected or failure. In those scenarios, useful stress management skills may prove handier than what we'd normally expect them to be: just a little soothing.

A lot of work has been put into stress research during the past one hundred years or so, most prominently by Hans Selye. He claimed that despite the stress is nowadays (1956 when quoted) considered solely a bad thing with long-term harmful effects, it can act as a very effective motivating factor as well. Ever since the statement, even more efforts have been focused on stress reserach. Bluntly put, stress is when a situation demands the human or social resources one is uncertain of being capable providing or when one feels that he or she has lost control over events; and it is in those situations that stress management techniques prove more than useful to remain calm and coolheadedly assess the stituation. And a few of those are mentioned below:

Imagining an environment that we normally find pleasant, peaceful and soothing will help one get through a stressed situation more effectively.

Anger management is another way of expelling unnecessary stress that we may feel on a daily basis. If one would accept that anger is nothing but an obstacle to achieving a goal, then it it obvious that it is absolutely unnecessary along the way. A way of eliminating it would be letting people that matter to the person know about the changes one is trying to make, that they may lend a helping hand or at least some sort of advice. Stopping negative thougts is another. It is important to acknowledge that everyone makes mistakes, and that they are a means of improvement rather than something one should get stuck on. Also, having a healthy sense of humor and the ability not to take every single thing all too seriously is most definitely a plus, because angry people are the ones that let the tiniest of things cause more bother than they are worth.

A strong point in not getting angry over petty things is that life is too short to spend it in anger, and if one should stay angry for the most part of it, one would miss out on many joys of life, whilst it is also true that forgivining the people who have angered a person will do more good to the angered person than the ones who have angered him/her.

Taking deep breaths whilst under pressure, yoga relaxation and Zen meditation relax the body's muscles and have proven to be effective stress management techniques.