Much of the fear comes from the unknown, and not knowing everyone in your audience can bring up some stress or fear. To help overcome this, practice giving your speech in front of friends, family or co-workers and getting a positive response. The more times you practice initially the easier it will be to give your speech when the real day comes.

Practice connecting to one individual at a time. Some people feel uncomfortable with giving eye contact directly to those in the audience, but the more you practice looking someone in the eye, the easier it becomes. Even if you are far away from them, the audience will feel that personal connection, and will continue to pay attention. Make sure you do not just look at the front row but speak to all of the rows of people, even those in the back.

Anyone who may be focused on too much can feel on the spot, but saying a few sentences to each person can make the whole audience part of the experience. Here are a few other things to consider when you are giving your speech.

Interruptions can happen during any speech. There could be crying babies, movement in and out of the room, or cell phones that may go off. Preparing for any interruptions that may occur can remove this stress. Do not stop your talk for any reason. By acting unphased by these possible distractions, your audience will remain focused on the speech as well.

Also, be aware of your body language. It’s easy when nervous to have a stiff body or awkward gestures. Practice saying your speech in front of a mirror so that you can see what gestures you normally do, and how you can make your body look even more relaxed the whole time you are delivering your speech.

When it comes to the day of the speech, remember to stick to the flow of your speech and it will all go smoothly. Do your best to stay in the moment at all times. Do not get lost in your thoughts or in any worries you might have. Focus on your points, and sticking to your script, and your speech will be a success.

Related posts:

1. Do You Deal with Stress that Comes from the Fear of Public Speaking?
2. Curb Your Fear of Public Speaking by Being Prepared

I revealed that while most people are aware only of the event and their action or reaction to the event (that they interpret as stress,) in actuality, there is much more going on. In our experience of stress there are other intervening, often unconscious, steps of thought and emotions that come before the action we take, or our physicalresponse to a stressful event.

In this article, I will focus on how the thoughts we think contribute to the experience of stress and how Mindfulness Meditation can help you to manage the thoughts that contribute to your experience of stress.

Mindfulness is the ongoing practice of bringing your focus to the present moment as much as possible throughout your day. It is the practice of awareness of your thoughts, emotions, your body and the surrounding environment.

The key is to practice this awareness without thoughts of judgment or criticism of self, others or situations. To manage your thoughts about your experience you must first be aware of them. Once you are aware of inner negative comments (we all have them), mindfulness meditation practice helps you to let them go and refocus on simply observing what is happening both in your body and around you at the moment.

Mindfulness Meditation Technique #1, described in Part I of this series, teaches you to refocus on your breathing.  By refocusing on this simple activity, you begin to free your mind from distractions associated with Past thinking; i.e. thoughts of yesterday, last week, last year, etc., and with Future thinking; i.e. thoughts of what may happen; both negative and positive, especially worry.

Freeing your mind from Past and Future thinking is important because stress originates from fear-based thought patterns that we have been unconsciously conditioned to think. Fear thoughts are learned over our whole lives from those who are closest to us.

Recent studies  also point to fetal experiences being formative too. As we were growing in the womb we experience the stress reactions of our mother as our own. If a mother experiences much stress during her pregnancy, chances are the child would have integrated that experience.

Mindfulness Meditation Technique #2:

Throughout your day take multiple 60 second breaks to practice focusing on your thoughts about your environment. Notice everything you can with your 5 senses. Keep your thoughts focused on looking, seeing, hearing, feeling.

What do you see around you? Notice colors, shapes, people, sensations. Notice your thoughts about everything you see. Practice seeing without judging right or wrong.

This practice can be done in a car, at work, at play, with others without interfering with your activities or really anyone else knowing.    You are merely shifting your focus. Play this mental game right now.

Focus on the task that you are doing right now in this moment. For example, if you are writing or typing, notice that entire experience. How do your fingers feel as they strike the keys? How do the keys sound as you type? Notice any tension in your body and so on. Stay focused on exactly what you are doing. When you move on to the next task, notice everything about that too.

Mindfulness is a very effective means to experience calm, inner patience and confidence, and to access clarity.  However, like other teachings we must become a student and practice daily.

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.

Have you tried this exercise? What is your experience? Please share below.

Related posts:

1. Can’t Focus? Mindfulness Meditation will Deal with Stress at Work
2. Use Mindfulness Meditation to Deal with the Stress of Job Uncertainty
3. Mindfulness Meditation Techniques to Deal with Stress – Part 1

Maybe you have forgotten how to enjoy your life? You are not alone. Many people feel that their lives have become routine, and that the stress in their life may be piling up around them. The wonderful thing about stress, however,  is that it can be removed as easily as it was created. By taking a few small steps every day, you can deal with stress in a positive way, and find your way back Buy Viagra to the life you deserve to be living.

The first thing you can do is to take a look at your emotional and spiritual self. Do you have an outlet for your emotions? Holding in emotions on a day to day basis creates an environment where stress thrives!

There are many ways you can combat this. You can try finding a trusted friend to talk to. You can purchase a journal and make sure you write down your thoughts and feelings on a daily basis. You can seek help from a professional therapist if there are deeper issues you need to address. The most important way to deal with stress is not to hold back your emotions, but to express them.

It is also important to take a look at your spiritual self. Whether you believe in a specific religion, a higher power, or just a feeling of connectedness, delving into spirituality in some format can remove a lot of stress from your life. Knowing that there is a master plan within the universe can remove some of the day to day worries.

The next thing to tackle can be any fears that you have. Fear can be paralyzing sometimes, and can grow in intensity if not dealt with. Begin by tackling a small fear, and slowly expand to larger ones. Enlist a support system if need be. Fear can create much stress in your life and should be tackled appropriately.

If you know that there are changes you need to make in your own life, but fear seems to be holding you back, take a risk and push through the fear to change your life. You will be glad you did,.

Finally, make sure that you have a sense of humor about life. Things will not always go your way, but taking the time to relax, and appreciate the joy surrounding you can do wonders, even for a bad day. Step by step you are moving closer to living the life you want to live.

Related posts:

1. Deal with Stress Today – A STRESS Tip You Can Use NOW!
2. Four Simple Ideas to Deal with Stress Right Now
3. Five Important Ways to Deal with Stress in the New Year

Try it Now – Here’s How!

DO IT THIS WAY:  As you breathe in, breathe down very deeply as if you are by-passing your lungs and breathing into the pit of your abdomen.  Think of this as breathing deep into your tail bone then breathe out slowly. This will help you to become aware to breathe deeper than usual.

We tend to hold in stressful feelings with the shallow breathing.  Think about when you are in traffic and someone cuts in front of you.  Do you step on the brake, gasp, and hold that experience in that breath? Feel some fear? Most do.

So in other words, when we are startled we breathe in the stressful experience. We do not know that we can deal with stress and breathe it out too. As we hold in many emotions we actually hold them in with our breath.  Over time this contributes to very shallow and ineffective breathing. We unintentionally create a container of stress within our bodies.

So do this throughout the day . . . Take several deep breaths as you feel stressed … Take several deep breaths as you think of someone or a situation that is uncomfortable.

Deep breathing has become one of the most effective means to deal with stress and move towards a peaceful existence. Give it a try.  Try not to underestimate something simple that can work. There is nothing to lose.

If you care to, let me know your experience. Please leave your comment below.

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