On any given day you intake and process information from various sources. Some of these sources are negative while some are positive. My advice to you is to retain the positive influences and get rid of the negative. This however is easier said than done.
I am sure you have experienced negative emotions and you feel mentally tired, stressed out or depressed. What do you do then?
There are several ways in which this can be counter-acted. Before proceeding though, you must know and understand how your system deals with stress. Everyone experiences stress in their everyday life. Stress can come from different sources. It can come from pressures on the job or from at home. For example, you may experience stress on the job if you become strapped for time in meeting important deadlines.
You may experience stress at home if your income is not enough to pay your bills and you and your spouse argue about it frequently. Obviously there are too many stressful scenarios to mention all at once.
To counter stress, you must identify its source(s). In some cases, you can reduce stress by learning how to manage your time more effectively and efficiently. To do so, you must first learn to identify your priorities. Your priorities must be listed by what's most important in your life to what's least important.
The listing of priorities does not mean that your stress wil go away. In fact, for some people, their top priority in life may be to spend considerable time (and money)on something that may be directly harmful to them and others close to them like family and friends. Those type of priorities I call bad priorities. Bad priorities will no doubt increase stress in your life. Some bad priorities can be sometimes unlawful and illegal to society.
To successfully manage and reduce stress you must identify the good priorities in your life. They are the ones that are not directly harmful to you and others. Spending more time (and money) on good priorities can greatly reduce stress in your life. Good priorities are also always lawful and legal to society.
People who manage their stress well are those who know what their (good) priorities are and tend to them very well. The opposite is true that people who do not manage their stress very well are those who spend too much time on bad priorities. Do you know your priorities? Are they good or bad?
Think of how stressful your life can be when you choose bad priorities and you are exposed to more negative influences from tertiary sources. How then do you keep your mind positive? How do you cope with stress?
Your body also has its defence mechanism to deal with stress. You can reduce your stress by doing something you enjoy doing. To be effective though the pleasure activity you choose should not be harmful to your body.
The presence of a group of hormones in your body called endorphins causes you to feel pleasure. When you increase the amount of endorphins in the blood stream you increase your pleasure. The release of endorphins into your blood stream is controlled by your brain. Therefore when you engage in activities that you enjoy doing, your brain signals for the release of more endorphins.
Feeling of pleasure is the opposite to feeling of stress. Endorphins are known as the anti-stress hormone.
You can therefore reduce stress when you engage in activities that you enjoy doing. Make sure these activities are positive though. People may have diffferent activities they like. Physical activities duing sports for instance are known to cause the flow of endorphins. Simple jogging and walking can cause it. Singing and listening to music are other positive influences. Having a good sense of humor (and laughter)can reduce stress too.
Obviously, there are many other pleasure producing activities that can reduce stress. What are yours? You can write them down and do them more often.
You should be reminded though that your pleasure activities must not interfere or conflict with your good priorities. Of course there are some people whose careers, like professional athletes for instance, involve lots of physical activity.
When your career is also your main passion in life and you are excellent at and highly paid for it, then you can truly experience a low stress and healthy life. What is your passion? Is it also your career? Do you make a lot of money doing it? Are you happy?
Stress can also be added to your life by being exposed to or attacked by negative people. Surround yourself with positive people and do not react or respond to negativity.
Positive thinking can also reduce stress. Can you think of anything else that can reduce stress in your life?
Whether you are aware of it or not, every one experiences stress each day. Too much stress can harm your health, peace of mind and happiness. Stress can and will adversely affect your state of mind. In some cases it can make you sick or even kill.
The key to fighting stress is to manage it by identyfying your priorities as described above, by engaging in pleasurable activities that are also not harmful to your neighbors, thinking positive, lots of humor and laughter and by associating with positive people.
To be successful and happy, every person must make a conscious decision to apply the above principles to their every day lives.
Following this system each day can renew your mind. Each individual is responsible for renewing his/her own mind.
Renewing of your mind is a conscious process whereby you identify sources of stress (and negativity) and you get them out of your system daily. Do not dwell on them for too long. You do not focus on negatives. You do not internalize negatives. You avoid negative people as much as possible.
You must focus on your priorities each day. Do some of the things you enjoy doing, also on a daily basis or as often as possible; even it's just for a few minutes.
Find reasons to laugh and smile a lot. Lighten up. Don't be too uptight. Avoid getting angry frequently. Always keep a cool head. Avoid negative confrontations and arguments. Take a deep breathe when confronted with negativity. Count to ten or twenty, which ever, before responding to negative remarks or situations. Walk away graciously as much as possible. Do not habor hateful or evil thoughts.
Strive to be happy every day. You can be happy by making someone else happy. However, if you are not happy, you cannot make someone else happy.
I urge you therefore, be happy by renewing your mind every day.
When all else fails, just pray; like I do.
