20 Ways to Reduce Stress and Stay Relaxed

Stress is one of the leading causes of depression and considering the pace of our modern lives we should pause and reevaluate our lives on a constant basis. As Mahatma Gandhi said "There is more to life than increasing its speed."

Here are some simple strategies to be relaxed

Focus on others - It involves taking the focus away from you and show interest in other people’s problems. When you start focusing on others problems you become more relaxed.

Have an abundance mentality – There is plenty of credit to go around. Enjoy others success and avoid the necessity to prove yourself on a constant basis.

Take one day at a time - What I have found useful is to take one day at a time. Just concentrate on what has to be done that day and once that is taken care sleep peacefully. The rest of the days will take care of itself.

Become more patient – One of the reasons we are stressed is because we feel a lack of time. We want get everything done in a hurry. The way to overcome this is to become more patient.

Ask yourself the question “Will this matter a year from now” -This thinking puts life in perspective. Yes we all blow things out of proportion at times but this question can help us get our bearings right.

Write your life sentence – Imagine yourself at your deathbed and assess how you would view your life. Would you be happy with what you are doing now? If you are not happy make changes now. Once you know deeply what you are in it for you will be more purposeful and relaxed at the same time.

Practice Solitude - This can be just 10 min with yourself. All experts suggest to practice the magic of solitude and some of the great works have come about due to a lot of time spent being alone.

Don’t argue - Yes sometimes we might have all the facts and hence we can argue endlessly to ensure we are always right. But as a wise man said do you want to be right or happy. Choosing the latter might be a better way to go.

Be Humble – Humility and inner peace go hand in hand. As Ken Blanchard said "Humility is not thinking less of yourself but it is thinking of yourself less."

Appreciate others-This is an amazing strategy as this takes the focus of yourself and as they say you can only get what you give out.

Know when you are angry - The key is to understand when we are not feeling good and quickly change that attitude to positive. 

Do one thing at a time- Allocate some time for doing one activity at a time without distraction. As someone said Multitasking is the death of creativity.

Be grateful - Yes being grateful is the first step towards being relaxed and happy. Yes having a long term vision is good but only if we appreciate what we have we can be truly happy.

Be happy with what you have – Don’t postpone happiness. This is a follow-up to the earlier point. Unless we are happy with where we are it is difficult to enjoy our day to day lives.

Get enough sleep and rise early-This is a very important one as if we do arise early then we get some alone time to plan the day better and maybe even get a quick workout. However it depends on when you get to sleep as well so plan to be early to sleep to early rise.

Concentrate on love -As Mother Teresa said "We can do no great things, only small things with great love."

Go full blast today - The bottom line is we only have a finite number of days to live. When we think along those lines life does become more important and we don't waste time on the wrong things. Give your best every day and other things will be taken care.

Understand your weakness - It is important to be aware of your weakness and then identify how you can improve on that area.

Reflect and evaluate constantly - When you feel stress coming take a time out and reassess the situation. I think stress arises due to a perceived lack of time and lack of control. So we need to constantly reevaluate and assess our pace of lives on a constant basis to ensure we stay grounded.

You are not alone - Life becomes easier when you have a lighter heart. This is another way of saying don't take yourself too seriously.

All the strategies above are meant to reduce our overall stress and stay relaxed. Ultimately whatever we can do to increase our happiness and reduce our stress levels is well worth the effort. 

The views expressed here are my own and do not represent my organization.