7 Tips for Reducing Stress and Anxiety

1. Take one thing at a time. We may have several issues to deal with at once. However the number of problems often threatens to overwhelm us. If we try to solve everything at once, we struggle to cope and we feel there is an ever-mounting burden. If we take each problem one step at a time we can feel like we are achieving something. This will give us the confidence that our problems can be solved.
2. Don’t unnecessarily add to our problems. If we already lead very busy lives we should try to avoid taking on unnecessary tasks. Don’t be afraid to say no to people if they ask you to do something that you don’t have the time for.
3. Try to live in the moment. Often anxiety comes because we are worrying about the future. However these worries often don’t turn out as bad as we feared. It is in the nature of the mind to exaggerate our problems. Our thoughts can definitely be unreliable so it is important to not pursue anxious thoughts.
4. Don’t feel responsible for other people. We often feel stress because we are worrying about other people or what other people may be thinking. However it is very difficult to change another’s behaviour. It is best to not worry on behalf of someone else. This does not mean we will not care or be indifferent to other people. It means we will do what we can and what is inappropriate but we also feel a detachment from the result.
5. We should make a conscious effort to practise relaxation techniques. If we feel stressed we can take yoga and meditation exercises to renew our sense of inner peace. Hatha yoga is a series of exercises, which are good for the body but also good for the mind. Meditation can be of tremendous help because it teaches us how to quieten the mind and switch off from the relentless flow of thoughts. Related to meditation exercises are breathing exercises. Breathing exercises help to alleviate stress quite quickly. When our breathing becomes slow, natural and rhythmical it helps to slow down our thought process and can have a very positive calming influence.

The relaxation of the mind
Has given me two invaluable things:
The silence-breath of the inner world
   And
The sound-life of the outer world.

• Sri Chinmoy [1]_

6. Try to maintain a sense of perspective. Often we worry about things that turn out to be unimportant. If we wrote a list down of what we were anxious about last year, how many of these turned out to be a real problem? Time is often a great healer, what seems pressing can with time sort itself it out on its own.
7. Share your anxieties and problems with others. People are often very happy to help, but sometimes we need to ask. If you have many tasks to do try to delegate more. Let go of a feeling of being indispensable. Most things would still go OK without us.

..[1] Excerpt from Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, Part 9 by `Sri Chinmoy.</sri_chinmoy>`__

picture of penstemon by Richard