REDUCE STRESS BY SURROUNDING YOURSELF WITH POSITIVE ENERGY by Astrenaida Galang

Stress is part of our lives. We all experience stress in a good and bad state. A beneficial stress, known as eustress, is necessary for a balanced and exciting life. We experience this stress when we are riding a roller-coaster (if you enjoy fast rides), playing a fun game, or falling in love. Eustress gives us vitality and makes us feel alert and alive.

However, there are some unavoidable stresses that can affect our health. And when stress becomes excessive and we do not allow ourselves the opportunity to recover from these stressful episodes, our healthy state becomes changed. One may be aware that months spent in a stressful life situation can leave one vulnerable to illnesses. Relatively short periods of stress can also compromise one's immune system, elevating one's risk towards illnesses.

A negative self talk and negative energy can affect us in many ways, causing additional stress. Because of this, developing more positive self talk is an important way to reduce stress. We can help maintain a positive frame of mind, thru positive self-talk, by surrounding ourselves with positive energy. We can get that by adding the following elements to our lives:

Uplifting Music - Listening to music that not only has a soothing melody, but also an uplifting message, can be great for developing positive self-talk. Have you ever had a song "stuck in your head" for a few hours or days, the lyrics repeating themselves in your mind? If those lyrics were positive and inspirational, it's a much better mental soundtrack to have than a running stream of complaints, criticisms or self-limiting thoughts, or even songs that had more depressing or sad lyrics. (When times get tough, I often think of the classic song “Hold On”, but there are dozens of good ones out there.)

Inspirational Books - Books on strength, personal power, enlightenment, or self-help can be good resources to help us change our outlook in life and the things we say to ourselves everyday. Rather than triggering habitual self-defeating thoughts, we can find ourselves thinking of new can-do concepts when times get tough. (One good book reference is "Purpose Driven Life".)

Positive People - One of the most important ways we can get (and keep) positive energy in our lives is with the company we keep. Do our friends uplift us or bring us down? Are they critical or complementary? Ideal friendships provide support when we're down, fun when we're up, wisdom when we're lost, and positive regard when we most need it. Good friends can inspire us to reach greater heights and they see our strengths even when we thought we don't have any. Pay attention to how friends make us feel and if they’re less than supportive, start putting energy and time toward people who are.

Practice Affirmations - Positive affirmations can subtly but pervasively change our self-talk from negative to positive. Positive affirmations are great tools to reprogram our unconscious mind from negative to positive thinking. The idea is to take positive statements of what we would like to see manifested, and repeat them enough so that they become part of our way of thinking and seeing the world. (Source: Elizabeth Scott, M.S., Guide to Stress Management)


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