GOLDEN RULES OF REDUCING STRESS

We are living in a world of speed and great change. Hence today's
world has become stressful due to fast-paced lifestyles. Normal pursuits of prosperous and fulfilling lives, cause stress in modern age.
Stress management is one of the most important factors to combat heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and many psychosomatic disorders. Even smoking is directly related to stress. It is true that it is not possible to reach the zero-stress target, but it is also true that stress can be minimized to a very low level even while staying in a society where there are several commitments and responsibilities ridden with problems. The stress will be there but not at a critical level and one will be comfortable with the whole situation. But if we aim too high beyond our capacity, it must be born in mind that it is at this level of stress where the disease germinates. The real secret in stress management is stress production, minimizing whatever stress is present, and managing whatever is left.
Sir William Osler, a noble and famous doctor of modern science has the golden and inspiring words to combat the effect of stress: "The chief worry of life arises from the foolish habit of looking before and after. The load of tomorrow added to that of yesterday, carried today, makes the strongest factor. Shut of the future as tight as the past, waste of energy, mental distress, nervous worries dodge the steps of a man who is anxious about the future. Thus the golden rule of reducing the stress is to keep the stress at a manageable level."
Vulnerability to stress depends on the personality of the individual. The personality is a filter for external stimuli and it determines, to what extent the stress will leave its impact. Recognising whether the situation is life-threatening and non-life-threatening can control one's emotional level and it is better to respond than to react. Reinhold Niebuhr, an American Reformed theologian and professor at Union Theological Seminary in his serenity prayer said-

    "God grant me
      the serenity
      to accept the things
      I cannot change,
      courage to change the
      things I can,
      and the wisdom to know
      the difference ".
A large number of people have succeeded even they started out being handicapped. How disability became a boon is exemplified in Milton's higher creativity in poetry due to his blindness and Beethoven's composition skills due to his deafness. Similarly, many writers like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, who led tortuous lives, wrote immortal novels. Charles Darwin confessed that his infirmities had helped him in scientific achievement. It only requires intelligence and will power to turn failure into opportunity.

The most important aspect of stress management is to decide and determine which of the problems are within our control and which are not. If something is beyond our control, there is no need to react but to accept it and let it go. It is an art to forget an unpleasant event. On the other hand if the situation is within our control, act to master it. Constructive worrying can turn the problem into an advantage, which can become a blessing in disguise. It is also true that many of our problems are due to our own fictitious imaginations and are not real. We must feel blessed and grateful for our golden possessions and most valuable assets of our lives such as our eyes, ears, limbs, children and families. The greatest tragedy is that we always brood over what we lack. Two hundred years ago, Dr Samuel Johnson said "develop the habit of looking on the brighter side of every event, count your blessings not your troubles". Happiness does not depend on the external situations as much as the inner condition. It is the mental attitude that brings happiness. Many poor peasants toiling with primitive tools in open fields in the tropics are happier compared to those woking in air conditioned offices in advanced countries of the world. One must change his/her outlook by thinking positively and vieewing the problems as opportunities.
Thus happiness is an art of injecting the tonic of cheerfulness into ones own body and mind and bridging over the difficulties between failure and success, which helps to develop emotional resistance. Why not do it? It is within your reach to transform your personality for healthy living in a modern stressful world of existence.