How to Free Yourself from Stress and Live in Harmony

The first thing is to establish what stress is. In the book “Stress Without Fear” by Dr. Hans Seyle, two types of stress are identified: eustress or positive stress, and distress or negative stress.

How to free yourself from stress and live in harmony. We are used to considering stress , in general, as a negative aspect, while usually we are only subjected to stress , only we are not aware of it. Negative stress is generated because we believe we can go beyond our limits and this means not having self-knowledge.

For example, when you want to complete a project that you care about, and therefore you are subjected to stress, this is only eustress , because endorphins are created in the body. These are intended to reduce the tension that arises. When endorphins are generated continuously and adequately, the situation becomes stimulating. Furthermore, the production of endorphins generates a state of pleasant relaxation.

When you experience a situation where you go beyond your natural limits, you are unable to create endorphins. Ultimately, it is important, in the activity you are subjected to, to create a certain type of tension sufficient to generate endorphins and not go beyond your limits. You should never force it and the limit is set by yourself.

For example, when an athlete trains, he pushes himself to the limit and generates endorphins, in order to then be able to increase his capacity for eustress without incurring distress . Training consists precisely of going a little further, gradually. For example, a competitive swimmer does not begin his training by swimming 10 lengths, but instead begins by confronting himself with his limit and then overcomes it with training so as not to go into negative stress . In this way he produces endorphins that help him overcome the limit.

This also applies to work or everyday life. In this case it is better not to find the classic excuse of saying "yes but with the pace I am subjected to I can't afford it" . Also because everyone learns to manage their own life, by comparing themselves with themselves.

Often, such an excuse comes from the fact that one begins to feel pleasure in experiencing negative stress . A situation that can be defined as drug addiction . In this case, the addiction comes from the fact of experiencing pleasure with negative stress . You have to be very careful.

When you become capable of withstanding the challenges you are subjected to, you live in a situation of positive stress and you also become euphoric . In this case you become capable of allowing yourself to be successful , to grow and therefore learn to appreciate the challenges that arise.

If you push yourself beyond the limits of your biological machine, then you start to feel oppressed .

It must be considered that all situations of depression , insomnia or even physical discomfort such as gastric ulcers , are generated in situations of prolonged negative stress.

Ultimately, we must learn to know ourselves and take our life back into our own hands. To do this, we have a series of internal resources that in most cases we do not know. For example, relaxation , visualization and creative imagination .

In concluding the article I want to recommend a couple of very interesting and functional techniques for relaxation:

1. Sit in a quiet place, put a notebook and a pen nearby. Lie down and start observing your breathing. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. When you start to feel relaxed, this is indicated by the slowing down of your thought rhythms , then you start to remember happy moments that you have experienced and write them down. Please do not force it. Just direct the memory and let the images come to you. During the exercise, write down all the memories you have of your happy moments. It does not matter if you initially have only two or three. For the moment they are enough. Then, at a later time, do the exercise again and you will write down other happy memories. The notebook is useful because you will carry it with you, and when you feel under pressure, stop for a moment and read the happy memories visualizing their content. These will help you to relax and release tension.
2. The second exercise I recommend has to do with one of the most interesting resources we have available. Creative visualization . You can do this exercise whenever you feel the need, maybe even every night before falling asleep, so that you can train yourself to visualize quickly. Once you have learned, you will see that it takes very little to recall the sensation and therefore play in favor of relaxation and lowering the level of stress. Lie down and start to visualize a white light that enters from the top of your head and slowly passes through your entire body, until it reaches your feet. The white light generates a sensation of freshness and relaxation.

When you learn to use these two resources, you will realize that your stress tolerance level increases . An essential thing is to start doing these techniques thinking that you will be able to obtain benefits . Perhaps at first it seems difficult, while instead it is not, as it is only a matter of time to learn to use these resources.

I wish you good work

Gennaro Ponzo