The Life Coach: Reducing Stress with Meditation and Patience

Think it's expensive to utilize the knowledge of a life coach? No longer. You now have a life coach right here on Associated Content. I have a Ph.D. and I hold my degree as a Holistic Life Coach. Through a series of articles, I know not how many yet, I will share with you many ways that you can better your life. One way to better your life greatly is to reduce your stress. Stress is awful and it has been known to actually kill people. Stress can cause high blood pressure, which can lead to a heart attack. There are many ways you can relieve the stress in your life, but I am going to delve into some of the more holistic approaches to reducing stress.

The first step one must take when fighting off stress is to figure out what is causing the stress. Is it your job, your kids, your parents, your relationship or do you stress about every little thing? Are the things that stress you out things that you can remove from your life or are they things you must learn to live, and cope, with? If you have friends that stress you out they are likely toxic friends and should be removed from your life. If your relationship is stressful then maybe it is time to move on. If your children are a challenge, you must learn to deal with them. The same goes for your parent induced stresses. And for those little things that cause you stress you need to learn how to calm down.

I too let the little things get to me sometimes. When this happens you need to stop, think, breathe, and count to ten. Stop right during your act of freaking out- that is the very first step. Let's use one of my regular stresses as an example. I tripped over the dog. Now I am mad and I start to yell, and realize that I am letting a little bit of stress control me. So I stop, mid-yelling and think about what it is I am yelling for. I'm yelling because the dog got in my way and tripped me. He just wants to be where I am, it isn't his fault I wasn't watching where he was going. So, I take a few calming breaths and count to ten (just like mom used to do when I was being a snot). Everything is fine now.

Counting to ten is a good way to calm down and put things into perspective. I compared it to my mom when I was a kid, but her countdown just led to more stress, this is different. You are counting to lower your anger, not counting down to the release of it. And this only helps to combat little triggers as they come on. For bigger stress issues you'll need a bigger arsenal. The best arsenal for fighting stress is meditation.

Meditation does not have to take much time, in fact, you can fit in an easy five minutes in the morning and five minutes before bed. Sit in silence, in a comfortable place and just clear your mind of everything. You can use a candle to focus on, this will help you clear your mind and simply see and think of only that flame and your breathing. You can also use a mantra in your meditation. A good stress related mantra would be "I am calm and relaxed." Or, "I do not sweat the small things." Repeat your chosen mantra over and over for your meditation session, feel it sink in, let it be your guide for the rest of the day and let it be your final lift into an evening of relaxation.

Back to the small stuff. Embrace patience, for it is a virtue. When you are in line at the grocery store and it feels like you're standing there forever and you are getting warm and annoyed, stop. Think of something that makes you happy and focus on that. There's nothing you can do about being stuck in that line, so just wait it out and don't stress about it.