What do you do when stress overwhelms every part of your being?
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”
William James
Stress is rooted in thought. Our ability to “control” those thoughts are key to reducing stress. Think about it for a moment, at what times are you most stressed. For me it’s when I’m thinking about what may happen in the future or what has happened in the past. If you can learn to “control” or “reduce”, since there is no way to completely control, these thoughts of future and past and learn to be in the present stress will surely be reduced.
I’ve been battling stress in my own life recently. My father, who suffers from dementia, is getting progressively worse. This past weekend I had to convince him that driving is no longer safe, an exhausting task to say the least.
When the stress builds and begins to become overwhelming I try to remind myself of the following things.
- Life is impermanent – One of the essential doctrines in Buddhism is the view of impermanence. Which simply put means that everything changes. Nothing is constant in this existence.
- There is not much you have control over – One of the main concepts in Stoicism is that of control. There is truly very little you actually have control over. It is better to accept this fact, and focus on the things you can control, rather then fight it.
- Breathe – You’ve heard the saying “just breathe” many times. This is one of the best pieces of advise you can take. When you get stressed you tend to breathe shallower which actually increases stress. Try taking some time to breathe deeply through your nose to the count of 4; hold the breath for 7 seconds then exhale through the mouth to the count of 8 and repeat.
Stress is a part of life and it will always be. We don’t have the ability to stop it from occurring, but there are some techniques that may help reduce it. The next time your facing a high amount of stress in your life remind yourself of the above statements. It’s also helpful for me to study and read what others have learned. If you haven’t already do some research on impermanence or the stoic view on control. Sometimes seeing that others throughout history face the same challenges as you can sometimes be just what you need to calm your stress and have a better understanding of things.