A very good article on Depression, Anxiety and Stress Management Techniques. I agree with what the author said, that the first and foremost in dealing with depression, anxiety and stress is to take responsibility that we are in the situation now because of ourselves and we have the power to do something to change it. The second point which I would agree to is, "If we change our thoughts, we change our life."
If you're enduring a harrowing episode of stress, depression or anxiety, then seeing light at the end of the tunnel can be difficult. You just want the torment to stop. Here are three easy depression, anxiety and stress management techniques you can take today to find natural relief from stress, depression and anxiety:
1. With many changes in life, the first step is the hardest and taking the first step towards beating stress, depression and anxiety is no different. It's accepting that where you are now is solely down to you. This took me so long to realize and for years, I believed circumstances caused my anxiety, such as the timing of events, the number of events and the people involved. I also thought that because these circumstances were beyond my control, I couldn't do anything to change. This thinking deepened my anxiety. But accepting that where you're at right now is solely down to you is so important. Initially, accepting it can seem overwhelming but in fact, it's liberating.
Why?
Because when you accept that you are responsible for where you are now, you also accept that logically, you are the one who can get you out of it. There are always events outside ourselves that we can point to as being the reason for our plight. But doing this won't help. Instead, say: "No matter what happened, no matter what others did or didn't do. I and I alone am responsible for where I am now and therefore, I will get myself out of it." Doing this will remove the power external events and other people have over you and will empower you instead. And please don't confuse this with blame. This is accepting responsibility and developing the power to change and is vastly different from blaming yourself. One is destructive, the other is constructive and the difference between them is crucial.
2. Make a firm decision to get rid of stress, depression and anxiety. Say: "I want to conquer stress/depression/anxiety. These things are no longer acceptable and I'm going to take action to beat them. I want them out of my life and I deserve to be free of them."
This is another great step to take. From now on you will control these problems; they won't control you. There are many actions you can take and there are many skills you can have in your power that will effectively diminish the torment stress, depression and anxiety inflict upon you. And when you have them in your power, the quality of your life will improve dramatically. In taking this step, you acknowledge that stress, depression and anxiety aren't problems that you have to put up with and instead, you have the power to conquer them. You also realize that you deserve to live a happy and enjoyable life and that stress, depression and anxiety WILL NOT take that away from you. Indeed, you have a right to be happy and you will no longer allow anything or anyone to take that away from you.
3. The self-improvement gurus have been sharing a secret with their clients for years. It is a powerful secret that has helped millions of people around the world to change their lives. As my clients will testify, I don't believe in magic bullets to conquer stress, depression and anxiety as they rarely work. But this is a magic bullet that really does work and it will yield big results for you.
So what is their closely guarded secret and how can it help you find relief from stress, depression and anxiety? It's this:
If you change your thoughts you will change your life.
It's a simple sentence but my word does it holds power! Because the way you think about your life - and I mean everything in your life from your looks, your abilities, relationships, work, to events and circumstances you are faced with - affects how you feel.
When you're suffering a stressful, depressive or anxious episode, assigning negative meanings and outcomes to your situation is performed habitually. Continually brooding upon negative and even catastrophic outcomes is performed by all sufferers and these flawed modes of thinking are the fuel that maintains stress, depression and anxiety.
The more you think in negative ways the deeper your suffering becomes. But if you apply the secret of the self- improvement gurus, you can change your life too. Because if you carry on doing the same things - thinking in the same way - your life will carry on in the same way. But if you change your thoughts, you will change your life and you will emerge from the tunnel into a brighter, happier future. It's true - change your thoughts, change your life!
3 Natural Depression, Anxiety and Stress Management Techniques
Developing a Healthy Self-Image
Jim was standing in line at the supermarket checkout when, to his amazement, in charged an angry, aggressive man, with his browbeaten wife in tow, pushing in line ahead of Jim and several other customers. With a forty pound (twenty-kilogram) sack of flour slung over his shoulder. Handing his wife some money, he growled: "Here, you pay for the stuff." He then proceeded to stomp off with his bag of flour.
Unknown to him, there was a hole in the back of the flour bag. As he stormed out of the supermarket, he left behind a trail of white flour all the way to his car. As Jim walked out of the store, he noticed that the angry man had just discovered his now half-empty sack of flour. Poetic justice one might suggest!
What makes people like this man so obnoxious? Among other possibilities, he undoubtedly has a very poor self-image. The bottom line is that these people don't feel loved. That's why his wife was such a wimp, too. People who strongly dislike themselves tend to either become weak, passive and over-compliant and withdraw, or project their self-hatred onto the people around them by being aggressive and bullying. Because they don't like themselves, they believe others don't like them either and set themselves up to be rejected.
To overcome a poor self-image and the lack of a healthy sense of self-acceptance doesn't happen overnight. It takes time, commitment, and risk taking.
More often than not insecurity and a poor self-image has its roots in early childhood where one didn't receive or feel that he received unconditional love. But here's the challenge: What we didn't receive in childhood we need to receive now.
And how do we do that? It's simple but not easy. It's based on a principle in that, "We love God because He first loved us." In other words (spiritually speaking) we learned to love God through his love for us in that he knows us fully—warts and all—and loves us regardless ... unconditionally.
The same principle applies emotionally. To truly love others we need to be first loved by at least one safe, understanding, and non-judgmental person. To be loved by that person we need to be fully known by him or her—warts and all—and knowing us as we truly are, they love us unconditionally anyhow. It is through their unconditional love for us that we learn (in time) to love and accept ourselves in a healthy way.
It is simple but not easy in that it can be very scary because we fear that if we are fully know for whom we really are, we may not be liked and then rejected. However, it is only as we take the risk and step out of our comfort zone that we have any chance of learning how to fully love and accept ourselves in a healthy way. The more we do this the more we will improve our self-image, and consequently, the less we will get our feelings hurt and the easier it will be to deal with whatever setbacks come our way. We may still get our feelings hurt but we won't be devastated.
Dear God...
I thank you ...
that you know me fully as I am ...
and love me unconditionally...
Please help me ...
to find a person ...
to whom I can become fully known ...
and loved ...
and learn to love ...
and accept myself ...
in the same way ...
that you love and accept me...
Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz...