Being Calm Under Stress

In our day-to-day life, we get over excited, overstimulated, stressed, and overworked, too much of one thing or another, whether it is our frame of mind, our emotional reactions, or something in our outside world affecting us. We all need to learn the techniques that enable us to relax at all times. What this means is we can have the ability to retrain our behaviors so that we can feel better, no matter what is happening or how we are feeling. This is a great tool for all situations, for it is in these times that we overreact, that we feel the most out of whack. We crave to feel centered, to feel at ease; we want this. So of course when we are overstimulated in some way, we not only want to feel relaxed again, but need to. So in order to retrain oneself, we must begin to look at ourselves differently. We need to see ourselves and our behaviors for what they are.

Far too often we are cooped up in our minds and take very little time to see ourselves, especially when we are overreacting to a situation. We do not see this, and therefore we get carried away. When we feel stressed, it is like we are zeroing in on the problem and everything else fades away; we do not see or feel what is real anymore. The same goes for anything that throws us off balance; we are not in tune with ourselves. This is where the training, so to say, comes in. When we are feeling off, stressed, or overwhelmed, this is when we need to check into what is real and take a look at the bigger picture. For in our haste to zero in on what we are dealing with, we are ignoring ourselves. This is all it really takes. We must take notice of ourselves first, then we are then better prepared to handle whatever is happening.

We cannot deal with anything when we are too stressed or in an emotional upheaval. We are too closed off because we are trying to deal with our problem, and we've closed the doors to what is real; we have shut off reality in a way. Have you ever heard the saying “take a step back”? That is what this is like. When we move away from the problem, take a breath, and readjust our sights, we begin to see the big picture. No matter what the problem or issue is, if we pull our attention away from it for a moment, our perspective changes. This is what we need, to not only to take a look at ourselves again, but remove ourselves from the problem momentarily. With a new perspective we can see it clearer than before, and probably gain some insight as well. We do not want to be so inside of the problem that we can't feel or understand what we are going through, or see the moment for what it really is.

So in order to fully relax in any moment, assess yourself, your reaction, and your behavior in the moment, and take a step back. Literally let go of the problem, so you can see how you are doing, truly asses how you feel and think, and determine if it is called for or necessary. This is where we realize how or when we are overreacting to something. This helps us let go of the stress and learn to relax more often. Again, under a certain amount of stress we all zero in and close off the outside world, and this is where we tend to get really off balance. Take into account everything that is happening, including how you are feeling, and assess the situation differently than you have been. What is necessary here for you to feel okay about what is happening. Perhaps just taking into account how you are doing is enough, or maybe you need to change tactics in how you have been dealing with things. Stress is a key factor in our behavior. It changes us and motivates us in weird ways. We all deal with it differently, especially when we are not aware of ourselves.

Pay attention more often to how you respond to certain situations, what you do, think, and feel. This can tell you how you receive and deal with stress. The more we understand ourselves, the better we are at letting stress go, and the easier it is to find ourselves again and be relaxed no matter the situation we are in. Basically you need to step out of the zone, and take a look at yourself and your situation. Stress is a behavior, a response, and that is all. It is definitely not a tool, not one that helps us in any way. For when we are calm and balanced, all moments, no matter what they are, can feel and be easy. It is our response that creates stressful situations, not the other way around. Retrain your response by letting yourself be aware during these moments. The more aware we really are, the less we will become stressed and overreact, and the more relaxed we will be consistently.