Inner Peace: Buddhist Secrets to Stress Management
Buddhists have some distinctive strategies for managing stress, several of which I’ve adopted myself. Allow me to share them here. 18.In order to avoid inconvenience while transporting bulky gifts, Buddhists ferry them to the church in shopping carts.17.To free up valuable gift-exchange time during family get-togethers, Buddhists give out presents at the door.
1. Meditation
Arguably the most famous of Buddhist techniques to control stress is meditation, to calm the mind and invoke inner serenity, clarity and insight.
2. Mindfulness
Mindfulness is another Buddhist stress-management strategy. To cultivate it, pay full attention to the present moment, becoming more aware of your thoughts, feelings, and sensations, without passing judgment on them. This can help you learn more about the stressors in your life and how you can alter your response to them.
3. Acceptance
One Buddhist approach to stress is to take a step back and recognise that things are as they are – not to like what’s happened but to get back into your flow of existence while letting go of fights and resistance.
4. Letting Go
That’s why the middle path, which is having control, is another central Buddhist stress management strategy: let go. This is letting go of things that are stressful and cling; again, harder to do than said, but trying to hold on to stress is what keeps adding to it, keeping it going – painful suffering.
5. Compassion
Buddhists believe that compassion is key to stress management – if you can grasp, and you can get your mind around, compassion for yourself and for others, this will help you to see your stressor in a different light. It will also help you to approach it in a more productive way.
It isn’t always easy to deal with stress in life, but here are a few Buddhist-inspired suggestions, which at the very least may help you by taking a breather. Of course, there’s your daily meditation — be it of longer or shorter lengths (start where you can; such is the process).
And, of course, there’s your daily mindfulness — noticing what’s going on closely, as well as observing when your attention drifts off.
And, of course, there’s your disciplined attitude of acceptance, to the best of your current abilities, accepting the facts before you. And there’s your daily attitude of letting go, day after day, thereby helping you to let go, week after week.
And there’s your daily, plus or minus, attitude of cultivating compassion for all of the suffering that goes around, and likewise for yourself.
