Unless you have gained some skill at Mindfulness, you may not know immediately what thoughts you are thinking. To access your thought process it is often more useful to start with noticing your feelings.

When you are aware of feeling badly or stressed, take a moment to reflect on what you have been thinking about. Chances are you have just had a series of distressing thoughts that have triggered negative feelings. Feelings of fear, frustration, tension, overwhelm, panic, annoyance, apathy, and so on are triggered by your thoughts that define what the event means to you. Once you identify the thoughts that define the situation for you, you can apply Technique #2 to let those thoughts go and replace them with neutral or more positive outlook.

What if you are not aware of all the feelings you have about the situation? This may be the case if you aren’t comfortable experiencing and expressing feelings. Many people react to stress by pushing down or numbing out their feelings believing that this will relieve stress. This couldn’t be further from the truth!

Feelings cannot be eliminated, they can only be delayed! Your emotions are an important part of your stress-handling mechanism. Your emotions, and any physical sensations are your body’s reactions to your thoughts. Entertain thoughts or a belief you are under attack – your body will react with feelings of fear – whether the threat is real or not.

To use your emotions to identify when you are having negative thoughts about an event, you must sharpen your awareness and listen! Ironically, listening to your body and acknowledging emotions can give immediate relief all by itself. Awareness of your emotional state is the first step to shifting your mind set.

To deal with stress effectively, get busy reflecting on your body sensations, feelings and the thoughts that are triggering those sensations Meditation Technique #2). The adage, “Don’t just do something, stand there!” applies here. Rather than trying to change what you can’t control in your environment, change what you can control – your perspective on the situation.

Mindfulness Meditation Technique #3:

Do this often.  Focus on your body and notice any sensations. By sensations I mean where in your body you feel tension, stress, or pain.

Then focus on noticing your sensations.  When I say noticing I also mean observing it and accepting it.

Often when we notice a tension or ache we generally are bothered that it is there.  Therefore we tend to reject it or resist it.  If we resist it, it will continue. What we resist…persists. Here is a good tip: accept whatever you feel as it is.

Our bodies are talking to us through feelings and sensations.  By acknowledging that you accept that the pain, or tension is there, it will have permission to leave you. Give it a try!

Be mindful of your inner world of sensations. Mindfulness Meditation will transform your stress to peacefulness and even joy. Practice, practice, practice and let me know how it’s going for you.

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.

Related posts:

1. Deal with Stress with Mindfulness Meditation
2. Mindfulness Meditation Techniques to Deal with Stress – Part 1
3. Mindfulness Meditation Techniques to Deal with Stress – Part 2

It is important to begin to work on dealing with stress early on, so that you can limit your stress, and thereby enrich your life. Here are a few simple ways that you can deal with your stress!

To begin with, you need to nourish your body. Choosing to eat healthy foods, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and drink lots of water. Choosing healthy foods are one way that you can help your body deal with stress. Consuming foods or drinks high in sugar or processed materials puts extra pressure on your body, making it hard for you to deal with the daily hurdles in life. Take care of your body, and it will take care of you!

The next step on your low stress journey is to let go of things happening in and around you that are outside of your control. Many people spend hours every day worried or anxious about decisions others are making that may or may not have any affect on them. Essentially, these are worries about things that are completely out of your control.

Choose to let go of these worries and insecurities, and trust that the universe has a master plan for you. This can be comforting. Knowing that we will discover this path on our journey through life can be a wonderful way to deal with stress, and an ideal way to go into each day with a positive outlook on life.

The next part of your life to analyze is how you are spending your time. Are you surrounding yourself with activities and a job that gives you pleasure? Do you enjoy your social life? If so, wonderful. For many, however, they find that the added tension in their workplace or social life can be the last straw!

If your job is holding you back, then work towards finding another one that excites you. Take up a hobby, explore an old passion. Join a new club or group about a topic you always wanted to learn about. All of these things will allow the tension in your life to melt away.

So, to recap. Nourish your body both in and out. Let go of things that are outside of your control. Find exciting new activities to supplement your life, and remove old ones that might be bringing you down. Step by step, you too can deal with stress in your life.

Related posts:

1. Four Simple Ideas to Deal with Stress Right Now
2. The Holidays are Here: Tips to Deal with Stress
3. Five Important Ways to Deal with Stress in the New Year