| Copyright (c) 2007 Stephen Lau | | | | vacation to de-stress yourself, although this may be a |
| Relaxation is important to both physical and mental | | | | passive way of dealing with your stress. |
| health. Mental relaxation benefits not just your mind but | | | | Life is full of problems. Understanding yourself and the |
| also your body. | | | | things that trouble you most is an important step in |
| Stress is part of life; it is almost impossible to avoid | | | | solving your lifes problems, thereby eliminating much |
| stress. In fact, attempting to avoid stress is enough to | | | | of the stress. Your mental health is determined by the |
| create stress. Stress is what you experience | | | | way you work with and relate to others. In other |
| emotionally and internally in response to a given | | | | words, you may have behavioral problems that create |
| situation with which you are incapable of coping. | | | | stress for you at work and in relationships. Isolating |
| However, stress, ironically enough, may also be | | | | yourself in order to avoid these behavioral problems |
| beneficial in that it teaches you about how to handle | | | | only makes you more difficult to enjoy good mental |
| difficult situations in life. Learning to deal with demands | | | | health. |
| in life keeps your mentally healthy, just as exercise | | | | To deal with any behavioral problem, you must learn |
| keeps you physically fit. | | | | how to communicate easily and clearly with others. |
| Stress is related to your feelings, which signal that | | | | You must be a good listener. You must be assertive |
| something is not in order. Stress, therefore, requires | | | | without being critical or aggressive. You must learn to |
| expression of these emotions in an appropriate way | | | | trust others, and see the good, instead of the bad, in |
| in the form of mental relaxation. | | | | others. |
| Mental relaxation is possible only when you have a | | | | Eliminating stress is not equivalent to producing mental |
| plan for a balanced lifestyle, including regular bedtime, | | | | relaxation. To help your mind relax, you need to give it |
| even on weekends and holidays. The reason is that | | | | a break. When you are asleep, your mind remains |
| your bodys biological clock plays an important role in | | | | very active and does not rest. When you are |
| regulating your sleep patterns, which are critical to your | | | | awake, your mind is preoccupied with mostly past and |
| mental well-being. Plan your daily routine and pace your | | | | future thoughts. Nearly all your thoughts, including your |
| life. | | | | desires and fears, are based on either the past or the |
| Take full responsibility for you own stress. This is the | | | | future. Your desires are no more than recollection of |
| key to managing stress in your life. Never say, You | | | | the past pleasure and hope of repeating them in the |
| give me stress! Nobody gives you stress but | | | | future. Fears are also memories of past pain, and your |
| yourself. You are responsible for your own feelings. | | | | desire to avoid them in the future. To give your mind |
| Otherwise, you would be passing the responsibility to | | | | the rest it rightfully deserves, help your mind focus on |
| others that does not work in real life. | | | | the present moment. Meditation does just that: it |
| Change your attitudes and perceptions of what you | | | | enables your mind to focus only on the present |
| experience in your life. Events that happen to you | | | | moment to the exclusion of past and future thoughts. |
| remain the same, but your perceptions may vary. | | | | In meditation, you focus on your breathing, noticing your |
| Change your attitudes and perceptions to change the | | | | inhalation and exhalation, directing your mind to the |
| way you think about your experiences. Learn to laugh | | | | present, thereby shutting off wandering thoughts of the |
| at others as well as at yourself. According to studies, | | | | past and future. In meditation, you are essentially giving |
| children laugh 40 to 50 times a day, and that is why | | | | your mind a period of relaxation. There is no other |
| they are happy; adults, on the other hand, laugh only 10 | | | | way as effective as meditation in giving your mind total |
| to 15 times at the most. Do not take life too seriously, | | | | relaxation. Modern medicine is beginning to use |
| develop and nurture a sense of humor, which is a | | | | meditation to cure mental disorders because it works |
| component of mental relaxation. | | | | at your subconscious level. In Buddhist meditation, you |
| Enhance your physical capabilities to cope with | | | | experience nirvana only through meditation, in which |
| difficulties encountered. These capabilities include | | | | you empty your mind of impure thoughts to arrive at a |
| physical fitness, good nutrition, and deep sleep without | | | | mental state of enlightenment. |
| sleeping aids. | | | | Meditation, in conjunction with self-effort in changing |
| Change the environment that gives you stress. If your | | | | attitudes and lifestyle, provides the best mental |
| job gives you stress, change the job or take a | | | | relaxation for your mental health. |