How to Overcome Tension And Stress

Find the Cause

An attempt to identify the cause of stress and anxiety is an important and necessary step in solving the problem of stress and tension. One should try to discover the cause of the tension. Once having established the cause of the stress, it is greatly reduced if one talks about it with friends or counselors. This is perhaps the main task of psychoanalyst, they spend hours probing the cause of tension. They often have to go back to the childhood of the patient. Once the cause of the stress is known, it then becomes much easier to find a solution. Often just talking about it helps to find a cure. The system adopted by Catholics of confession with trusted and trained priests is very much on these lines. Talking about intimate and personal problems with a sympathetic priest during confession, or with a friend, tends to reduce the cause of the tension and anxiety.

Present Life Situation
More and more doctors now believe that for successful treatment of any disease, and specially when one caused by stress and emotion, they must investigate the patient's history and present life situation, as a high percentage of illnesses are psychosomatic. The cure for such illnesses is not medicines at all but an entirely different way of thinking and a complete readjustment to the environment.

The Power of Faith
The famous pilgrimage centres of Lourdes in France and Shirdi in India, among others, are places where miraculous 'cures' have been affected. It is felt by many, however, that these cures result because of the great faith of the people that visit these places of pilgrimage. In the mind of many of these pilgrims there is a conviction that they will get well and so they get cured. Faith is a great factor in healing, that is why many doctors sometimes often give just colored water as medicine.

Appreciation And Love Help
Appreciation, love, and respect, is another area where the body and the mind have a close relationship and can affect the whole personality and bearing of a person. If you give plenty of love to a person, you may even bring about a complete physical transformation in the person.

Psychotherapy
Doctors have found that some of their patients have not only lost their muscular difficulties, but also the pains of arthritis under psychotherapy. This just gives you an idea of the power of the mind in the treatment of disease.

Effect Of Continuous Repetition
The famous Frenchman Coue based his whole theory of cure on repetition. He used to get his patient to repeat again and again and again that he was cured until the patient was convinced that he was cured — and he was actually cured! This is another example of the power of the mind for healing.

Youthful Mind And Its Effect On Body
Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, Somerset Maugham, Michelangelo and Winston Churchill are just some examples of people whose youthful minds and imagination kept their bodies young and active long past the normal span of aging. A strong intellectual interest can work wonders for the body. To ward off aging, an entire change of work, say, every 10 or 12 years, is often necessary, or may be an absorbing hobby can be pursued. All this helps to keep the body and the mind young and alert. Psychological aging is an important factor and often begins much before physical aging. The signs are clear: one becomes dogmatic, one does not want adventure for the sake of adventure, one dislikes change, and sex becomes a habit like brushing one's teeth. Watch out for this. Your mind plays a very big part in your aging process.

Shavasana
Another way of overcoming tension is to practice both physical and menial relaxation and this is done best by the ancient yogic exercise Shavasana. The Shavasana exercise if practised correctly can contribute a great deal towards reducing stress.

Change In Routine
It is always best to have a holiday: this makes a break in the stress pattern. Often just doing something continuously, day in and day out, develops stress. A complete change helps to dissolve this stress. If you normally lead a comfortable and luxurious life, go for a simple life in the wilds. If you live in the polluted atmosphere of a big town, go to the countryside where the atmosphere is not polluted. An interest entirely different from one's normal work also helps to reduce stress. Omar Sharif plays championship-standard bridge, Winston Churchill used to lay bricks and paint, F.D. Roosevelt collected stamps, Henry Ford was very interested in collecting antiques. Some such unwinding technique is essential.

Live For The Present
Many people who are drowned in worries, tension and stress are in this position because they are always thinking about what might happen in the future or about past difficulties. But the time that really matters is now, today — this is the true reality. There is no point becoming tense about something in the future; the important thing is the present: that is what really matters. Do your utmost to savour and enjoy the present — the future will certainly look after itself. This frame of mind will lessen any amount of stress and tension.