Staying calm in times of stress
It's true that stress is unfortunately a part of life. It's what it means to be human! Life will always have its ups and downs and throw us curveballs that we weren’t expecting.
It can be really helpful to have a few tools and techniques in our back pockets to tap into, to settle and calm the mind.
Mindfulness can help to reduce stress
The great thing about learning mindfulness is that we can train our mind to let go of negative thinking and self-critical thoughts that keep going round and round in our minds. You know, the ones that often exacerbate our stress! When we have too much to do, or encounter something challenging, we tend to overthink, worry, problem-solve, anticipate etc because our mind is trying to keep us safe.
Rather than continue to allow our thoughts to churn over, we can learn to notice the thinking, accept it for what it is, and let it go.
When we give ourselves the opportunity to pause, our busy mind can begin to settle and we can see things more clearly. It’s a bit like watching the snow in a snow globe gradually sink to the bottom until you are able to see through it. When our mind settles, tension in our bodies can be released too.
When we are stressed, we are more likely to make poor choices.
In moments of stress, we tend to react to situations without thinking them through. Perhaps we snap at the kids or make a mistake at work? If we stop to allow the scattered mind to become quieter, we can make better decisions on what the next right action might be. We can respond in ways which can help a situation rather than hinder it.
It might make us think twice about shouting at the kids or help us think clearly enough to fix a mistake without getting caught up in confusion or negative emotions.
Regular mindfulness meditation trains the mind
Ideally, we would be practicing mindfulness regularly, as this allows us start noticing the patterns of thinking which tend to trip us up and cause us to become more stressed. When we are fully aware of them, we see them more objectively. We don’t have to believe everything our minds tell us; thoughts are not facts!
Regular practice also helps us to see our mental habits and body reactions in the early stages of stress so that we can catch them before they snowball into something bigger than it needs to be.
Here is a simple practice to help settle the mind: A Mindfulness Practice to Calm the Mind.
